[nffl]

Keep Nash, Bell, Hill, and Amare. Buyout Shaq. Trade Diaw. And actually you know what, keep Barbosa too. We aren't paying him as much as Diaw, only around 6 million a year. At least with his presence we will have legitimate shots at making the playoffs in future years. FIRE D'Antonai and Kerr. Bring in a proven coach, or an Assistant HC from another team (like Avery was except he was in house).

Either draft Donte Green, or somehow tradeup. I doubt that is likely, but if we do blow this team up I'd like an Eric Gordon or an Anthony Randolph. Thats trading up from 15 to 7-8.

In this new NBA, we need an elite SG. I think we have a much better chance at success with a scoring athletic 2 guard (athletic does not mean Barbosa or Bell). Maybe we should take a chance on Keith Bogans while we look for that guy.

Maybe we'll suck next year and grab James Harden in the lottery.

[604flat_line]

Originally Posted by AZsportsDude

i do hate to see this but i think steve needs to go. he's a great guy and a good player but i dont see any fire from him at all. other than hitting that big 3 he has not impressed me at all in this series. GS will not give us baron for nash.

WHen your entire team is lacking that fire, its not the individual players, its the coach. The coach's job is EXPLICITLY to prepare the team and motivate them to play their best. D'Antoni simply failed to do his job, period.

[604flat_line]

Originally Posted by nffl

Keep Nash, Bell, Hill, and Amare. Buyout Shaq. Trade Diaw. And actually you know what, keep Barbosa too. We aren't paying him as much as Diaw, only around 6 million a year. At least with his presence we will have legitimate shots at making the playoffs in future years. FIRE D'Antonai and Kerr. Bring in a proven coach, or an Assistant HC from another team (like Avery was except he was in house).

Either draft Donte Green, or somehow tradeup. I doubt that is likely, but if we do blow this team up I'd like an Eric Gordon or an Anthony Randolph. Thats trading up from 15 to 7-8.

In this new NBA, we need an elite SG. I think we have a much better chance at success with a scoring athletic 2 guard (athletic does not mean Barbosa or Bell). Maybe we should take a chance on Keith Bogans while we look for that guy.

Maybe we'll suck next year and grab James Harden in the lottery.

I think we had a better team with Joe Johnson and Steven Hunter but heck thats in the past. I really think Joe Johnson was a huge deal though, imagine if we still had him, it would really open up the floor for Amare and other guys.

I completely agree with your initial assessment though. We aren't lacking in anything talent wise, we just need some a couple young guys and 1 maybe 2 solid vets to come off the bench, replace the 2 D'Antoni's with someone experienced and accomplished and we should be ready to go to the finals at the very least. The time for this core isn't over yet and it won't be for another year or 2.

Hold on to Diaw and Barbosa, seriously. These guys are young, durable, and have LOADS of potential. At worst they might turn into really good bench guys, at best they could both be perenial all stars. I'll take that.

I honestly think that the Colangelos were why we were doing so good, and once we lost both of them we lost all our mojo. I don't want to see any player movement until the front office and coaching is shored up. I don't think Kerr made a bad choice with Shaq, I still like that trade plenty, but the coaching just doesn't cut it so much so that we need a brilliant GM to put things back together.

[Kunlun]

The Suns can't blow this team up. They have no picks the next couple years and nobody will take anyone from the team other than Amare.

[Aylwin]

Originally Posted by Kunlun

The Suns can't blow this team up. They have no picks the next couple years and nobody will take anyone from the team other than Amare.

That's what I'm thinking also. There's a few things we can do but the biggest move would be to replace D'Antoni. A new coach would bring immediate change. He could change the way the Suns play and could also change the mindset. It's what the players need.

Defense, for example, has always been a weakness. I don't blame the players too much though. I think Bell, Hill and even Diaw are good defenders but defense is about strategy and strategy is the responsibility of the coach. We complain that Amare's weak on defense. But who does he have to teach him? And who's insisted that he play center?

As for the individual players, here's my view:

Amare - A keeper who could probably improve a lot under a better coach
Nash - I'm biased towards him but I think he's the best player on the team
Shaq - Keep him or buy him out. It could work either way with a new coach.
Hill - Keep him. Veteran's minimum and still a good player.
Bell - We can use him if he stays but it's not big deal to get rid of him.
LB - Keep him. He has talent and not expensive.
Giricek - Expendable.
Diaw - Tricky one. Most of the time I want to get rid of him. But he still shows enough promise for me to be willing to give him another chance under a different coach. He probably needs a tough disciplinarian who'll give him regular kicks in the butt. Just look at how Parker has developed under Popovich.

[604flat_line]

Hey guys lets go kidnap Rick Adelman, sound good?

We need an older, seasoned, playoff experienced coach like a mother****er.

[Dissonance19]

Originally Posted by Kunlun

The Suns can't blow this team up. They have no picks the next couple years and nobody will take anyone from the team other than Amare.

We have next yr's pick.

[IceMan23and3]

Originally Posted by Dissonance19

We have next yr's pick.

Unless we manage to have three 35+ year olds that are constantly logging more than 35mpg every game and eventually break down before the all star break, I don't see any chance of us getting a good pick out of it!

[Dissonance19]

[DANNY]

dont be so down suns fan you guys should build around shaq

he made a championship promise, he will deliver

[Steez]

D'antoni getting fired is a good start, I think.

[Aylwin]

Originally Posted by Steez

D'antoni getting fired is a good start, I think.

If you ask me, that's enough. Any thing else we do in the offseason is a bonus.

[Kekai]

No Suns ball for a long time...well there is always next year
We need to get rid of Barbosa already. He is just not cutting it. 1-7 today, laid a goose egg the other game 0-7, **** game 4, we were up the whole game and he was playing against the spurs scrubs. I love him, hes such a loveable guy but he needs to go already.

[Tiz]

Just looking at it from a financial standpoint something is going to have be done in the offseason.

Include the Player option on Hill and the team option on Strawberry, the payroll is at just over $70 million for next season and that only covers 9 players, so would have 4 spots to fill. Now granted if Dantoni sticks around all he needs is 8 players.

Diaw's stock probably went up after his playoff performance (and unlike Tim Thomas and others he was not playing for a contract). So he is probably going to be the easiest to move.

Bell and Barbosa are a steal at the current salaries ( 6 & 5 million) and doubt you get get something back of equal value at those dollar levels.

Shaq's contract is just so big that I doubt we could move it. Maybe just need to ride out another year and see what a buyout may look like of the final year of that contract. Unless of course the Sonics are bound and determined to piss off the fan base even more and could be convinced to take a trade.

Amare should stay put. Future of the franchise.

There are some teams out there that have some very interesting pieces that may be good for the Suns. The two that come to mind are Golden Sta