Grant Hill is in the midst of a renaissance season and gives the Suns another shooting, slashing weapon. Brian Skinner has produced off the bench, offering a reasonably priced facsimile to Kurt Thomas. But is this Suns team any better equipped to win a championship? Can they really get their hooks into a top-flight team when games and titles are won and lost? And when you ask that, you’re really saying, “Do they have any better chance of getting past those darn Spurs?” This season’s first meeting with San Antonio since that exciting, controversial and gut-wrenching playoff loss last May comes at an interesting time for the Suns. They have lost three of their past four games after a 16-4 start and the same old problems are at the root. Management held an extended postgame huddle after Monday’s loss to Miami, and it wasn’t to talk about the rainy weather outside US Airways Center. Has a core that has reached two Western Conference finals and won almost 200 regular season games in 3 1/3 seasons run its course? With eight players soaking up most of the payroll that is already over the luxury tax, cosmetic changes aren’t likely — which leaves only the option of a full-fledged makeover involving one or more of the top eight players. NBA sources say the Suns brain trust is split between those who want to give this team another shot at success, those who think it’s now time for a major move and those who are on the fence after only 24 games. “If we’re ever going to be a championship team, we have to improve defensively,” is as far as Suns general manager Steve Kerr would go Sunday. “We’re watching this run of games against top competition (Utah, New Orleans, San Antonio and Dallas) very carefully. We’ve been talking about it but we talk all the time. Are there are concerns? Sure. I’d say we’re definitely in evaluation mode,” Kerr said. And if the team’s final grade reflects Saturday’s 101-98 loss to New Orleans — where the Suns let a Hornets team that had been struggling and should have been tired run wild in the first 24 minutes of what was supposed to be a statement road trip — changes might be quick to follow. The Suns are still scoring 110 points a game this year (a league-best 109.5), they still lead the league in field-goal percentage (.492). But if anything, Phoenix’s weak spots have taken a step farther backward this year. It’s not just the 105 points the Suns are allowing a game, it’s the ease with which they are coming. After finishing near the middle of the pack in field-goal defense over the past three years, the Suns are currently tied with Minnesota and Cleveland for 25th in the league, allowing teams to shoot .463 from the field. Only Charlotte, Memphis and New York are worse. And that’s not a company Phoenix wants to keep — hence the idea that something big might be on the horizon if current trends continue on this temperature-check. The record isn’t bad (17-7), but some of the losses have been ugly and even many of the wins haven’t come with a sweet taste. And not being able to count on a consistent level of effort has become a tired subject. “It’s very, very disappointing,” guard Steve Nash said. “I wish I could find a way to make sure each guy is ready to play. But what do you do, interview each guy before a game?” Or maybe, you change things up? Kerr expected a better team chemistry after clearing out the end of his bench and replacing it with a combination of youth and veteran role players. But Boris Diaw has struggled, Leandro Barbosa has been inconsistent and the back of the bench hasn’t been used — putting even more pressure on the starters to produce. Suns coach Mike D’Antoni has settled on his eight-man rotation and thinks this team could be his best, despite the early-season hiccups. He likes what Skinner has brought to the team, sees Hill as another player who can create offense when the Spurs look to shut down Nash and Barbosa and is looking forward to seeing how those changes play out on the court. “We’re a better team, better than last year,” D’Antoni said. “They are still really good, but I don’t know if they’ve gotten better. So when you consider how close we were last year … we feel good. “We’ll see how different matchups might be created. We don’t know how that’s going to work out yet. But Brian has given us toughness and with Grant … as many weapons as we had to choose from last year, now I feel we have more and more guys who can break down their defense and help Steve out when things get a little sloggy.”
Wait so they wanna win now? Okay then simple. Trade a big ending contract with their unprotected lotto (Hawks) pick for a pricey veteran and man-up and pay the damn luxury tax.
Well, someone has to do it, right? Rockets trade: Battier, Mike James Suns trade: Barbosa, Banks, Bell Suns improve defensively (c'mon, Raja Bell isn't the defensive player Shane is ), get worse offensively and are flat or improved from a salary cap perspective. Rockets improve offensively and get more athletic, quicker, etc.
suns would never do that trade.....I don't know if we really have anything that the suns want or need................Battier is good defensively, but so is Raja Bell, and Bell is much better offensively....Barbosa > James......
The only Sun I want is Steve Nash. All the other players will end up mediocre again after you take Nash out of the equation. Marion, Stoudemire, Bell, freaking Broris Diaw...all beneficiaries of the Nash/Kidd Effect. Ask Kenyon Martin about it.
Stoudamire and Marion do benefit from Nash, but they are far from being "mediocre" without him....both were good before Nash came to Phoenix...Amare was rookie of the year.......
Yeah you're right. Those two are different. But if you trade for one of those guys without Nash, all of a sudden you're overpaying.
Every player on that team can shoot jumpers at a decent percentage: they are kind of the mirror opposite of the Rockets in shooting.
Something isn't quite right and they need to make changes. If they are 100% committed to Amare, they need to trade Diaw. Amare's presence is like kryptonite to him. Barbosa has hit a plateau. To go to the next level, he needs to figure out how to be effective on the floor without scoring. When his shot isn't on, he has nothing to fall back on. But Barbosa is a great player off the bench for them and fits the system perfectly. Raja Bell is over the hill and slowly sliding down the other side. Nothing they can do about it. If I was a Suns fan, I'd be very worried about Grant Hill playing 35 mins/game. Those wheels have had a lot of problems over the years and I have to think he will break down later on this season. If not, there aren't many 35 year old players who can play their best in the playoffs with that kind of load in the regular season. Signing Marcus Banks last summer was a big mistake for them. Since Steve Kerr acknowledges they need changes, I wonder how big he is thinking. To change the personality of the team, they need to trade Amare or Marion. I'll repeat for about the 10th time: They should have traded Amare to Minny for KG. Their defense would automatically be several notches better. Plus the professionalism, maturity and intensity of KG would solve some of their well-known locker room issues.
Agreed. They get KG and they win 2 out of the next 3 championships. Maybe even three-peat. They were insane not to.