DDS: Phoenix Suns

[SnDvls]

It's 2006 and Phoenix Suns' Owner Robert Sarver has just hired me to be the new GM as former GM Bryan Collango has left to Toronto. Sarver belives that this team has all players to make a championship run and the coaches to help with that as well.

I report to duty on my first day of work and promptly my phone rings as I get to the office...it's the owner Mr. Sarver.

RS: I wanted to call and welcome you to the Suns organization and just get a quick feel from you on how you think we'll do this year?

TB: Well Mr. Sarver I believe we're championship material and we should be in contention to win it all. With a playmaker like Steve Nash here and Amare and Shawn healthy I don't see why our expections should be any lower.

RS: That's good, that's what I want to hear. The marketing department has come up with a great promotion this year, "Eyes on the Prize." Our fans will be expecting nothing less than a title this year. So how much is this team going to cost me.

TB: (Knowing that he is willing to spend money and we are going to get hit by the luxury tax this year I let him know now) We'll be $10-$15 million over the cap.

RS: Not a problem it's yours...now get it done and bring me a ring.

And with that it's time to look at the whole team now.


NOTE: the file I'm using has the ending rosters for 2006 so they are a little off.

[Izulde]

Get Caron Butler!

[SnDvls]

I've got a strong coaching staff behind head coach Mike D'Antoni with Marc Iavaroni, Alvin Gentry and Phil Weber on the bench.

D'Antoni is very good at developing players and strategy and a players potential so I'll lean on him for his opinion early and often.

All of the assissants are just about average in all categories so I'm not sure how they'll be. Lucky for me every coach on the team is on a one year contract so depending on the outcome of this year we may see a new face or two there next year.

[SnDvls]

I've got 14 players under contract, all from Bryan Collango or D'Antoni when he was the temporary GM.

The total salaries is $55,371,580. That puts me $2,226,580 over the cap. I told Sarver we'd be $10-$15 million over so I got lots of wiggle room if needed for this year.

My roster breakdown looks like this;

PG
Marcus Banks, Leandro Barbosa & Steve Nash

SG
Eric Piatkowski & Raja Bell

SF
Boris Diaw, Jalen Rose, James Jones & Jumaine Jones

PF
Kurt Thomas, Sean Marks & Shawn Marion

C
Pat Burke & Amare Stoudemire

of my current roster Burke, Marks, Ju. Jones & Rose are all free agents after this year. While the three big guys Nash (2011) Marion (2009) and Stoudemire (2012) are locked up for a few years to give us a good core and to make a few runs at the title.

I'd really like to get a true center so Amare can play PF and Marion SF, but the Suns have never had a true center and ever since the "coin filp" to lose Lew Alcinder to the Bucks they seem cursed to never have one either. We'll see if I can change that at some point.

[SnDvls]

I make my first trade at GM.

I send to Chicago my 2008 1st Round Pick, SG Piatkowski & PF Marks for
Chicago SG Thabo Sefolosha.

He's a guy I know the Suns have been wanting for a while and give me a good shooter off the bench even if he's a rookie. It also brought me to only $1,992,961 over the cap now.

Sefolosha was the 13th overall pick in this past draft so giving up my '08 pick won't hurt too bad and the two players I gave up would have seen slim to none in playing time so I like this trade so far...I'll relook at it during the All-Star break to see if I made a good choice.

[SnDvls]

I inquired about Dalembert from Philly, but I wan't willing to give up two # 1's to get him so it looks like Amare will be my center for this year at least.

[SnDvls]

Next year if I stand pat will be at over $76 Million in salary so I'll have to win this year if I have a chance at keeping this team together for any sort of long haul.

[SnDvls]

The Season Preview mags have come out and I'm picked to finish 1st in the Western Conference. Suprising to me are the Mavs at 10th and Spurs at 13th.

[SnDvls]

I'll be letting Coach D'Antoni do all the work as coach and just checking in on him every month or so.

[SnDvls]

Well we have an impressive 13-2 record through November matched only by the Spurs who have a 14-2 record.

Both my losses were on the road (at New Orleans & at Utah) by 4 points or less so nothing to worry about there. Kurt Thomas was out twice during the month with a bad back...that's why he's on the trade block.

We're scoring a league best 112.1 points per game and only allowing 95.1, for fourth in the NBA. Who says the Suns don't play defense.

Nash is 16th in PPG rignt now with 24.9. 12.2 assists put him in first there and he's currently fourth in 3PT% at .493.

Stoudemire is first in rebounds with 14.8 a game having 25 against the Mavs too.

Marion is his usual self averaging 20 PPG and 10 boards with 2 blocks and 2 steals a game to add to his value.

[SnDvls]

December closes out with a 23-6 record, but saw me have several players dinged up, but thankfuly I didn't lose any playing time from them.

We ended the month on a six game winning streak including a five point win over San Antonio.

In the East Miami is running away with the Southeast division title holding an eight game lead over Washington while compiling a 23-9 record.

While the West is a lot closer in each division. The Spurs hold a 2.5 game lead over the Rockets in the Southwest Division to close out December with a 26-5 record. Dallas is struggling with a lowely 13-16 record and at this point would be out of the playoffs. Over in the Northwest Division things are a lot closer with only Portland out of the running for the division title. Denver leads by a .5 game over Minnesota with a 17-12 record, but also only holds a 3.5 lead or less to everyone else by the Trailblazers.

In the Pacific Division I have a four game lead over the Lakers and seven games over the Kings with both the Clippers and Warriors already out of the running two months into the season.

My defense has gotten a little worse, but otherwise there is very little change on how anyone is playing as a team or individually.

[SnDvls]

I had a 15-game win streak that started in December finally come to an end in January by the Pistons, but I still ended the month with a 39-8 record and now have a 12 game lead over the Lakers too. The Impressive January record also allowed me to take over first place over all in the race for home court advantage for the playoffs as the Spurs continued to a 38-9 end to January.

Dallas will have to make an amazing run in the second half of the season if they want to make the playoffs. As it stands now they are 12th in the Western Conference standing with a 19-24 record. It doesn't appear that they have had any major injuries either.

Miami still is the leader in the East, but the Bulls & Cavs have closed the gap to 2 games for the top sead over there.

As a team we are averaging 113.0 PPG and allowing 96.7 so no drop off there at all.

I decide now is a good time to lock up Mike D'Antoni so I offer him a 3 year deal @ $4,000,000 which he accepts to keep him here for 3 more years.

[SnDvls]

At the All-Star Break I end with a 45-9 record, still an 11-game lead over the Lakers.

Steve Nash & Amare Stoudemire are both named to the All-Star team as starters and perform well for the West who lose the game 122-115.

[SnDvls]

February comes to an end with a 48-9 record and a 12.5 game lead over the Lakers.

Dallas has gotten hot lately with an amazing 29-27 record now and is trying to close in on the Spurs.

[SnDvls]

We end March on an 11-game winning streak and have brought our overall record to 62-10. Our 19 game lead over the Lakers will lock us into the playoffs with only 10 games left for us.

The Spurs have kept pace with me all year with a 62-11 record. We don't meet again in the regular season, but I'm sure we'll see eachother in the playoffs.

The Mavs put together an amazing run since they were pretty much dead in the water as they now have a 43-29 record and look to make the playoffs as a 4 thru 6 seed.

In the Northwest Division the T-Wolves are holding off the Nuggets and Supersonics by .5 games and 3.5 games each.

The Eastern Conference sees The Bulls (50-22) as the #1 seed right now, but both the Cavs (48-23) and Heat (49-25) have a chance to catch them.
The Atlantic Division winner will be their only team in the playoffs as no one has an above .500 record. Currently Boston (32-40) and New Jersey (33-41) are tied for first.

[SnDvls]

To my suprise there were no trades at the deadline either.

[SnDvls]

End of the Regular Season

We finished with a 71-11 record 21 games over the Lakers and 3 games over the Spurs to clinch home court throughout the playoffs.

Nash was 14th in scoring with 25.1 while Kobe Bryant lead everyone with 33.3. Nash also lead the league in assists with 11.5.
Stoudemire ended up tied for 6th with 11.4 rebounds per game which was lead by Dwight Howard 14.1.

The Eastern Conference seeds look like this;
1) Chicago
2) Cleveland
3) Miami
4) Boston
5) Detroit
6) Indiana
7) Washington
8) New Jersey

The West is;

1) Phoenix
2) San Antonio
3) LA Lakers
4) Denver
5) Dallas
6) Houston
7) Minnesota
8) LA Clippers

[SnDvls]

All of the higher seeds win game one with my victory beign a 125-97 victory

[SnDvls]

Game two is won by Phoenix 129-85.

The Spurs, Bulls & Celtics also take 2-0 leads while all the other series are now tied 1-1

[SnDvls]

I pick up a 123-99 victory in game three lead by 24 points by both Kurt Thomas & Steve Nash.

Boston & San Antonio are the only other 3-0 teams in the playoffs.

Chicago, Indiana, Washington, Houston & Denver all hold 2-1 leads.

[SnDvls]

A 109-90 win closes out the first round for the Suns as we wait on the winner of the Denver/Dallas series that is tied 2-2.

San Antonio will also be waiting around as they took their series 4-0. With Houston holding a 3-1 lead over the Lakers.

On the East side Chicago, Boston & Washington all have 3-1 leads while Miami/Indiana are tied 2-2.

[SnDvls]

Denver & Houston both lead 3-2 while Boston has finally advanced 4-1.

Washington, Maimi & Chicago all lead 3-2 as well.

[SnDvls]

Houston, Denver, Miami & Chicago all finally win their series 4-2 and the lone series left sees Cleveland & Washington tied at 3-3

[SnDvls]

Cleveland finally advances 4-3 over Washington

In the West we have a 1 vs 4 and 6 vs 2
In the East we have a 1 vs 4 and 3 vs 2

[SnDvls]

In the West the lower seeds pick up the wins as I beat Denver 121-112, the East was opposite as the lower seeds win.

[SnDvls]

Everyone ties up thier series except mine as I beat up on the Nuggets again 133-101.

[SnDvls]

More of the same as I take a 3-0 lead with a 124-104 win.

All of the higher sees now have a 2-1 lead.

[SnDvls]

My series has ended with the Suns winning 100-79 and taking the series 4-0.

Houston, Boston & Miami all have 3-1 leads and I'd imagine 2 of the 3 will get through now with such a lead.

[SnDvls]

Miami moves on 4-1 while the Spurs and Bulls show some life to trail 2-3 each.

[SnDvls]

Boston eliminates Chicago 4-2 and with a sub .500 record is in the conference finals. San Antonio tied up thier series 3-3.

[SnDvls]

San Antonio finally wins 4-3 against Houston, but Bruce Bowen is hurt with an injured ankle.

[SnDvls]

We have extended our winning streak to 18 games with a 114-102 win in the Western Conference Finals to take a 1-0 lead over the Spurs.

Miami also beat Boston.

[SnDvls]

Lost my first game in over a month 97-106 as the Spurs tie up the series 1-1. Boston also got a clutch win to tie up their series as well.

[SnDvls]

We get home court back with a 118-97 win to take a 2-1 lead and not to look ahead, but Boston also has a 2-1 lead.

[SnDvls]

The Spurs tie it back up 2-2 with a big 102-84 win while Boston is one win away from the Finals

[SnDvls]

A nice come back game to win 103-80 and take the 3-2 lead for us. Maimi seems to have some life left as they bring the series to 3-2 in Boston's favor.

[SnDvls]

A 115-104 loss allows San Antonio to send the series to game seven as Miami has done the same.

[SnDvls]

The Spurs end our season 115-110 in OT and will play the suprise team of the year as the Celtics with a 37-45 record make the Finals also.

Boston lost both games by more than 20 to the Spurs in the regular season.

[SnDvls]

Well the Finals were exciting as both teams held home court and it came down to game seven where the Spurs won 92-87 to win the title.

[SnDvls]

Draft Lottery

the 3 worst teams were Portland, Golden State & Toronto.

As the order was revealed Golden State fell to #5 meaning that Charlotte and Memphis made it in the top 3. Pick #4 was Portland who had the worst record last year. Pick #3 was Memphis Pick #2 was Toronto and making the biggest jump to #1 was Charlotte.

[SnDvls]

League Awards

MVP - Steve Nash, Phoenix
Defensive Player of the Year - Andrei Kirilenko, Utah
Rookie of the Year - Andrea Barganai, Toronto
6th Man of the Year - Jamaal Magloire, Portland
Coach of the Year - Gregg Popovich, San Antonio

First Team
PG Steve Nash, Phoenix
SG Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
SF LeBron James, Cleveland
PF Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas
C Dwight Howard, Orlando

Second Team
PG Gilbert Arenas, Washington
SG Tracy McGrady, Houston
SF Paul Pierce, Boston
PF Tim Duncan, San Antonio
C Shaquille O'Neal, Miami

Third Team
PG Chauncey Billups, Detroit
SG Ray Allen, Seattle
SF Wally Szczerbiak, Boston
PF Kevin Garnett, Minnesota
C Marcus Camby, Denver

First Team Defensive
PG Jason Kidd, New Jersey
SG Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
SF Andrei Kirilenko, Utah
PF Tim Duncan, San Antonio
C Ben Wallace, Chicago

Second Team Defensive
PG Gilbert Arenas, Washington
SG Tracy McGrady, Houston
SF Gerald Wallace, Charlotte
PF Kevin Garnett, Minnesota
C Marcus Camby, Denver

First Team Rookie
PG Jordan Farmar, LA Lakers
SG Brandon Roy, Portland
SF Adam Morrison, Charlotte
PF Andrea Barganai, Toronto
C LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland

Second Team Rookie
PG Rajon Rondo, Boston
SG J.J. Redick, Orlando
SF Rudy Gay, Memphis
PF Shelden Williams, Atlanta
C Patrick O'Bryant, Golden State

[SnDvls]

I get the year end phone call from Mr. Sarver letting me know that the team was close, but he wants it all. I let him know we'll be paying the luxury tax this year and he tells me he doesn't want to so I need to take care of that...we'll see if that happens.

As far as coaches go I offer Marc Iavaroni 2 years at $700,000 to be my first assistant and Alvin Gentry 2 years at $500,000 to continue with me for next year. I also offer Kevin O'Neill my third assiatant job for 2 years at $450,000.

[SnDvls]

Since I have D'Antoni locked up for 3 years I need some assisants. I bring back Marc Iavaroni as my 2nd assistant, Billy Donovan comes on as my 3rd assistant and after negotiations failed with Alvin Gentry I bring on board Kevin Pritchard as the #1 guy.

[SnDvls]

Well we have the 30th pick in the draft in the first round and pick #60, or the very last pick, in round #2 so well see who we can pick up.

[SnDvls]

Marcus Banks and Kurt Thomas are two players I'd like to move...now, but I have no takers so I'm going to be way over on the cap this year.

My pick comes up and I feel I need to look for Steve Nash's replacement down the line and Oregon PG Aaron Brooks is still there for me so I take him.

What Brooks lacks in defense he makes up for in offense and ball handling...with a year behind Nash he'll be a very good backup and in two years ready to take the job from Steve.

With my last pick of the draft I go with SF Quinton Hosley of Fresno State...I sign him to a one year deal, but I don't expect much from him...he's here to help get some scrub mins. and give a little D to the Suns team.

[SnDvls]

Free Agency is here and I need some front court help for Shawn & Amare...I put out offers to Grant Hill for the mid level exception along with several other one year offers to James Posey, Chris Mihm, PJ Brown & Eddie Jones.

After it is all said and done I signed James Posey, PJ Brown, Eddie Jones to one year deals and Joe Smith to a two year contract.

Rookie Quinton Hosley is cut...he wouldn't see the court anytime soon.

I then assign Brooks and Sefolosha to Albuquerque of the NBDL.

My salary is over 82 Million so I'm almost 30 Million over this year, but I did manage to sell out all my season tickets for the year.

[SnDvls]

The preview mags come out here's how the East & West shake out according to them.

East

Charlotte
Chicago
New Jersey
Toronto
Detroit
Cleveland
Atlanta
Washington
Miami
Boston
New York
Indiana
Orlando
Milwaukee
Philadelphia

and the West

Golden State
Phoenix
Utah
Sacramento
Houston
Minnesota
Denver
LA Lakers
Portland
LA Clippers
Memphis
New Orleans
Dallas
San Antonio
Seattle


so the mags think that the two teams in the finals last year won't make the playoffs this year...hmmm.

[SnDvls]

My roster breakdown looks like this;

PG
Marcus Banks, Leandro Barbosa (Starter @ SG), Steve Nash (Starter) & Aaron Brooks (NBDL)

SG
Raja Bell, Eddie Jones & Thabo Sefolosha (NBDL)

SF
Boris Diaw (Starter), James Jones & James Posey

PF
Kurt Thomas, Shawn Marion (Starter), PJ Brown & Joe Smith

C
Amare Stoudemire (Starter)


Again like every Suns team....we still need a true center...until then Amare and the committee will handle that duty.

[SnDvls]

After the first month of the season the mags are way off on there predictions.

San Antonio has the league's best record at 13-3 followed closely by Houston at 13-4 and the Suns at 12-3.

The T-Wolves and Sonics along with the Kings are not far behind any of the early leaders.

In the East it's total chaos as no one seems to want to win their division.

The Bulls at 10-2 lead the East with a three game lead over Detroti (8-6) in the Central. Defending Eastern Conference Champion Boston is close behind with a 10-4 record. There is no one better than .500 in the Atlantic Division again...while Miami proves the preseason mag wrong again leading the Souteast by a slim half game lead over Washington, but everyone is still within 3 games of eachother.

Teams that need to turn it up or they are lottery bound after the first month; Portland, Utah, Memphis, LA Lakers, Golden State, Toronto & Cleveland.

[SnDvls]

Month two sees the Suns (24-6) holding an 8-game lead over the Kings (15-13) in the Pacific Division and a small lead over the Rockets (23-8) for the best record overall. We're undefeated at home so far going 16-0 and well on our way back to the playoffs.

Nash is third in assists per game, but I have no one that stands out in any other leader catagories.

The Suns again rank #1 in points per game at 110.6 and are second in defense at 94.9.