Unfortunately, since I am a realist, I dont see us finishing in the top 4 this year.  We are a 6-8 seed that has potential to cause a trouble and maybe push a game 6 in the 2nd round.  Beyond that, we have to hope the Robert Horry spirits are on our side for any further advancement.

Regarding the summer league, we have another Brian Skinner type that is capable of playing for us, the question is will he play.  Robin's turn-around dunk wa a professional basketball player's move.  Skinner doesn't have that possibilty available to him, nor does he have the length to guard 7 footers like Lopez.  If he could xhoot three's...I miss Tim Thomas. 

I'll believe the numbers I see from Tucker and Strawberry when they happen in the regular season.  Tucker is a stud right now, but got less PT than Strawberry last year despite being drafted one round higher. 

I still think we should have gone after Pietrus in some way, but such is vie.  Bell, Barbosa, and Diaw are the keys to this season.  All of them step up, we are contenders.  We can't have the majority of our games where Leandro and Doris disappear, and our only fighting chance is hoping Bell is on and gets 4 or 5 threes that night.

We have made no effort to try and replace the easy baskets that Shawn got us, and have made no moves this offseason to deal with it.  Their is an enormous trust in our current roster, and we can only hope with good reason.

If we trust in this group, what have we heard about summer workouts.  Where is Boris and Shaq's weight?   Has Amare been working on tha tturn-around jumper and D?  How are Bell and Hill's nagging injuries?  Is Steve done getting his rocks off with soccer?   What is good Sir Terrence and Stephen up to with free agents?

As far as free agents go, there are a few cheapo's out there that could help us once money runs out.  J.R. Smith is worth stretching the luxury tax slightly.  Aside from that, Jason Williams, Matt Barnes, Devin Brown, Janerro Pargo, and Tony Allen would be great off the bench.  Maybe there is an athlete out there to get out on the break for easy buckets and back door cuts, some no name like Petway that used to play at Michigan.

Hurry up and get here end of October

 

 

Ed note: You spend 5 hours in the car and look what happens...I am bumping this up and also editing the post down to a quick quote and link to the EV Trib...-P Stan

I just found this out through our brethren on phxsuns.net.  i have to say that I am happy about this signing.  About time we land a decent free agent!

here's the news

Suns sign free agent Matt Barnes
Jerry Brown, Tribune

The sixth-year NBA veteran signed for the league’s veteran minimum contract ($1.2 million, about $400,000 of which is paid by league funds) and will immediately step into the rotation as either a starter or bench player on the wing. He will be in Phoenix to take his physical on Monday morning and is expected to finalize his deal afterward.

and here's how you can identify him which is still subtle compared to this....

 

Continue reading this post »

here's an interesting photo from www.barstoolsports.com:

 

Nash and Baron

 

the video is up now too:

video

 

they do seem to be friends...

friends

 

thoughts?

 

nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash
nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash nash

Link to article Wow, this looks really good. My favorite quote.... "he two rising stars were selected after stellar performances in the 2008 NBA Summer League". Drago looks more and more like another year away though....first he said he wanted to play for the suns...then he said he wants to play there....please don't be a flake....and here are a few more words to reach 75......go see hellboy 2 and batman, both really good..

Alright guys, I had been meaning to make something like this for a long time, but there's a ton of inertia with this kind of thing.  You just can't start, and when you do start, it becomes an obsession. 

We spend a lot of time talking about defensive capabilities and intangibles and the like, but rarely have I seen a full on discussion about who the best offensive player in the NBA is.  Let that discussion begin.  This graph is a eFG% vs. PPG graph for prolific scorers in the NBA.  Average values are denoted by the red lines.  The data was pulled from Basketball-Reference and the players to appear were selected by me (there is selection bias).  I tried to pick a balance of players from teams.  I picked only players with PPG over 17 (with one exception, Steve Nash).  For most of these players, it cannot be argued that they do not have the ability to create their own shot.  Teams rely on each of these players for major offensive production.

Continue reading this post »

Run’N'Gun Ep#46:Offseason Ponderings - The Roster

July 17, 2008 – 8:07 pm

On episode 46, Dave ponders the question “How will the Suns roster look next season?

This is one of several offseason episodes where we will examine an aspect of the Suns or the NBA and try and shed some light on the subject. This week we're asking the question, "How will the Suns roster look next season, and what moves could be made?"

Now that it's the offseason, its a good time to get some feedback/ask questions for the show. If you want to be heard on the next installment of Run N Gun, even if you just have a brief few words to say, dial our Call in Line on 916-912-4263 and leave a message for RNG - alternatively, email: runandgunsuns@gmail.com

Hosted By:Dave Ang
Call In Line: 916-912-4263

ed note: Bumping up to the front page as our unofficial Summer League game thread. -TS

Kinda surprised that no one has a post going for the Suns first summer league game against the Rockets.  Of course the Summer League rarely tells us anything at all, in fact I think the Knicks went undefeated last year in Vegas and that didnt do them any good when it mattered.

Overall though I'm curious to see whether or not DJ and Tucker have developed any outside shooting and look forward seeing what Lopez looks like on the floor.  Hell we might actually get to see these rooks play this year unlike last, and yes I still consider Tucker and DJ rooks since they hardly had more than a couple min. of playing time for the scant amount of games they were in.

I believe you can watch the game streaming on NBA.com, if not there is always the box score to follow.

Slovenia opened up today's Olympic qualifiers in Athens with an 88-76 victory over Korea.

Our boy Goran had 11 pts on 3-3 shooting (plus 1-1 3pt. and 4-4 FTs), 4 ast., 3 reb., 1 stl., and 1 TO.

I don't think he's starting though, so his minutes will be around this amount for most games, but he was apparently on the court during crunch time when Korea made their comeback. I think he's backing up or playing the 2 alongside their starting PG, Lakovic.

Let's hope Slovenia can keep this up. They're one of the favorites here and the top 3 teams get a spot in the Olympics. And if he makes the Olympics, we can watch him on TV!

Woo! 

via farm3.static.flickr.com

 

 

So, while initally I was quite excited to hear the Suns drafted an 'energy' big man, after all, those intagibles have always seemed to bite the suns in the ass...

But, after thinking about the Suns roster some more, I was wondering, do we Remember Brian Skinner? 

He played tough D, hustled for rebounds and blocked shots, but suddenly now the Suns are ignoring him in favor of playing Robin Lopez.

Don't get me wrong, Loopez has a lot of good traits...but why draft for a hustle Center who doesn't have an offensive game :

    WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE FOR CHEAP?! 

It seems to me if energy big man was what the suns wanted, they ought to have simply played B-Skin more down the stretch. 

 

It wasn't as if Skinner's game tapered off during the season, he just didn't get minutes

It's like the Suns are stuck in this half-ass rebuilding/ 'still a contender' mindset and it is stupid.   One the one-hand, the Suns aren't going to trade any major piece because 'we can still win it all', but on the other the Suns are drafting a guy who is a VERY similar player to someone the Suns already have, in the hopes of getting younger.  There isn't room in the rotation for BOTH Skinner and Lopez, so I really don't see any short term 'net gain' from the signing. 

We are just ditching one servicable, offensively challenged, hustle big man for another.  That won't put us over the top.

 

For next year, the Suns don't need Lopez. They have Skinner. If they want to contend they should have nabbed a shooter/ wing player which is what we need. Or at least drafted Lopez and then gone after a good wing player with agressive free agenecy, and they haven't.

Looking back at the Gasol trade, I think it's become a lot more clear that this wasn't as horrible a trade as it was made out to be. In fact, I think you can make a case that the Grizzlies did well for themselves.

They gave up Gasol, but now have gotten:

• Javaris Crittenton - a promising PG prospect, even if they're loaded at that position
• Darrell Arthur - a promising PF prospect
• Marc Gasol - a promising C prospect, who was just MVP of the Spanish league (arguably the best league in Europe).
• 9M in Salary Cap relief between Kwame Brown and Aaron Mckie
• the Lakers 2010 first round pick.

That's really not a bad haul for a high-end complimentary player like Gasol. I mean, he's 20/8 guy, which is great, but he's not a Duncan or even Amare caliber star.

I think perhaps people jumped on this trade so aggressively because the Lakers didn't have to give up any rotation players except Brown. But, in retrospect, I think that may speak more to the fact that the Lakers had a lot of quality, expendable assets outside their rotation rather than Memphis made a bad deal.

Perhaps, there were better deals, but, to me, Darrell Arthur/Marc Gasol/Javaris Crittenton/9M in cap space/1st Round Pick is pretty good for a one-time all star.

Thoughts?