What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

[dbdynsty25]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

They should try to get ratliff. curry, chandler, dalembert, one of these 4 would do good all good athlethic shot blockers and with decent speed and a post presence. For the Draft they should go and see if Johan Petro falls down to the 21st pick he would do good a 7 footer with good speed, ike digou could do good also and for the back up point guard, if A.Daniels doesnt take the option it would make him a free agent and they can probably pick him up, mighty mouse is also a free agent, Marko Jaric is a restricted free agent but he's probably worth a look 6'7 good vision, good speed, has good conditioning, and last but not least i hear that Sarunas Jasikevicius is coming to the nba and we all know what he can do

If they sign Johnson and Amare to extensions this summer, they won't have money to do ANYTHING you just mentioned. They will have the mid level except, and the draft picks, but that's about it. They aren't going to make a big splash in free agency that's for sure.

[caliph79]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

Word is Hunter is going to pick up twenty pounds in the offseason. I don't know how credible that info is though.

[ajaxab]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

Saying the Spurs weren't clearly the better team is not the same as saying the Suns are the better team, and he never used the logic you're saying he did here (better because they lost).

The disagreement lies in the definition of 'clearly better.' To me, beating another team 80% of the time (4 out of 5), no matter what the score, means 'clearly better.' If being 'clearly better' means one team has to blow the other team out four straight times, then the Spurs were not clearly better and few, if any, teams have been clearly better than their opponents.

[Vince]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

Everyone says the Spurs are the better TEAM than the Suns. How? The Suns played like crap the first 3 games, led going into the fourth quarter in 3 out of 5 games, Joe Johnson was out for two games, Shawn Marion and Quentin were ICE cold, and the Spurs STILL had to play PERFECT basketball in the fourth quarter to BARELY edge out the Suns in games 1, 2, and 5. Hell, they even couldve lost game 3 had it not been for Duncan's Godlike FT performance. More disciplined? Better execution? Maybe.....but dont tell me the Spurs were clearly the BETTER team. I dont buy it one bit. The Spurs should've blown us out in most of the games the way we played, if they are so much better.

God I'm so happy the Suns lost...

[Streets]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

1) Get a real Center... An athletic one who can finish but can also play defense. We saw that the Suns play no interior D. Amare can't play that position as he's not fully committed on D yet. Plus, Nash lets his man into the lane at will. So much that it becomes laughable. I would suggest either Drafting Channing Frye(Trading up) or keeping Steven Hunter and making him the full time Center(He did preety well vs Duncan using his length)

2) Get a Defensive point...Steve Nash is brutal on D. Cause of this, bigs have to rotate all the time and consequently, they are in horrible position to get defensive rebounds. Which is why SA dominated the offensive glass so badly

3) Bench Q...I'll be blunt, I hate his game...Stand on the 3pt line, jack up shot, after shot, after shot, after shot. I think he's more suited being a spark plug shooter off the bench ala Brent Barry, plus you need to accomodate the new center and you aint benching JJ. He has athleticism, but seems reluctant to use it.

4) Make a better commitment to D. As someone pointed out, they have the athletes, they just need to be willing to do so. Sacrificing 6pts on O and putting that unused effort on the defensive side won't hurt.

5) Bench play. It was clear PHX's bench was a joke with journeymen and guys who were there only to there write blogs. They need some fire power. I'd suggest doing a sign and trade and trying to get a guy like Bobby Simmons or Chris Duhon who's a great perimeter defender. Gary Payton will be available. If he wouldn't mind only playing 20 minutes a game, bring him in with the MLE.

Having said all that, great season by the Suns. They brought back the fast break, a few tweaks here and there and they will be a championship team IMO.

I see a theme here

[Vince]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

I see a theme here

Hahahahaha

[Kashanova]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

If they sign Johnson and Amare to extensions this summer, they won't have money to do ANYTHING you just mentioned. They will have the mid level except, and the draft picks, but that's about it. They aren't going to make a big splash in free agency that's for sure.

they could make some trades, could probably get the guy from lithunia for a mid level

[nkhera1]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

They should try to get ratliff. curry, chandler, dalembert, one of these 4 would do good all good athlethic shot blockers and with decent speed and a post presence. For the Draft they should go and see if Johan Petro falls down to the 21st pick he would do good a 7 footer with good speed, ike digou could do good also and for the back up point guard, if A.Daniels doesnt take the option it would make him a free agent and they can probably pick him up, mighty mouse is also a free agent, Marko Jaric is a restricted free agent but he's probably worth a look 6'7 good vision, good speed, has good conditioning, and last but not least i hear that Sarunas Jasikevicius is coming to the nba and we all know what he can do

good ideas but i would be happy if the Suns could just re-sign Joe Johnson and Amare and have a good draft. A part of me is wondering how well the Suns would have done with Joe Johnson playing the whole series but another part of me is saying the Spurs still would have won. However I hope the Suns are able to draft a big man but I don't know who will be available at their pick. Hunter is decent, I mean he can't score but he is a good shotblocker and takes pressure off Amare. I hope Hunter improves during the offseason and if so this team may not be too bad.

[NINJAK2]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

Thank you, Ruben. The Suns couldve EASILY won this series, if a few chips fell the other way. The Spurs should be lucky they even came away 4-1...

The starters need to be healthy. Thats just huge. We need a bench just to back up the starters in case of injury, they dont need to be a big factor if starters arent hurt. If Marion and Q had even DECENT series', the lack of a bench wouldn't have a lick of importance.

I think we need a real center not b/c things the C will do.....but rather to move Amare to his natural position and shift everyone else back. It allows everyone to play more comfortably, and for Amare to hopefully add some longevity to his career.

I'm really surprised Q wasnt benched in favor of Jim Jackson once Joe Johnson came back. The guy did nothing in the Spurs series, and he mightve been better off the bench.

We just have to cut down on those damn offensive rebounds the Spurs kept getting. I wish there was some sort of rebound specialist out there. If it wasnt for those damn offensive rebounds the Spurs kept getting, we wouldve had an even better chance to win.

Everyone says the Spurs are the better TEAM than the Suns. How? The Suns played like crap the first 3 games, led going into the fourth quarter in 3 out of 5 games, Joe Johnson was out for two games, Shawn Marion and Quentin were ICE cold, and the Spurs STILL had to play PERFECT basketball in the fourth quarter to BARELY edge out the Suns in games 1, 2, and 5. Hell, they even couldve lost game 3 had it not been for Duncan's Godlike FT performance. More disciplined? Better execution? Maybe.....but dont tell me the Spurs were clearly the BETTER team. I dont buy it one bit. The Spurs should've blown us out in most of the games the way we played, if they are so much better.

Great season. I say add one more guy, and play defense like the last two games, and we're in the Finals.

IMO the Suns played like crap the first 3 games because of the Spurs. If they were pretty much dominating every opponent they met in the playoffs prior to the Spurs that should say alot about SA's team. The difference in the series was the fact that every person who stepped on the court for SA contributed something and the same could not be said for the Suns players. Q was flat out pathetic in this series and Marion was average at best. Mainly because of the Spurs defense which didn't allow them the opportunities that they routinely score off of--alley oops and wide open 3's. The Suns need a GOOD back up PG and a Defensive minded Center to get out of the West. A healthy Ratliff would help them a great deal which would send Q to the bench. Marion should get the start because he can do a lot more than Q on the floor. Hunter has potential and Jackson did a commendable job for them.

Johnson, Nash, Marion, and Amare are the nucleus of PHX. Everyone else should be considered trade bait for the pieces they need.

[tenth]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

The disagreement lies in the definition of 'clearly better.'

I'm not really interested in the argument. I only responded because you paraphrased him as saying something he never said. Saying the Spurs aren't clearly better is not the same as saying the Suns are better, my only point there.

[cdubdiggity]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

y do people think that jus cuz phx lost to san antonio that run & gun does not work in the playoffs...I honestly believe that with Phx healthy(shawn marion & JJ) they could have won that series in 7. Injuries r wht kept PHX from winnin not the spurs "defense" I do believe the suns avg 100 plus points againt the spurs...wht was the spurs season avg in points allowed??? around High 80s?? iono but yea no excuses tho...the suns went from bein 1 of the worst teams in the league to the best record and went to the conference finals...good enuff...

[NINJAK2]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

y do people think that jus cuz phx lost to san antonio that run & gun does not work in the playoffs...I honestly believe that with Phx healthy(shawn marion & JJ) they could have won that series in 7. Injuries r wht kept PHX from winnin not the spurs "defense" I do believe the suns avg 100 plus points againt the spurs...wht was the spurs season avg in points allowed??? around High 80s?? iono but yea no excuses tho...the suns went from bein 1 of the worst teams in the league to the best record and went to the conference finals...good enuff...

You are right run and gun worked up until SA. Maybe if they don't face SA and instead they face Seattle, Phoenix would be in the finals. You can use the crutch of injuries, but everyone is beat up at this point in the season so...................

Do you think TD was 100% out there? Horry? PHX averaged 113 against Memphis, 117 against Dallas and 103 against SA. The Spurs did not hold the Suns to 80 points a game but it's obvious that they completely shut down Marion and Q thus holding the Suns to 12 points under their Postseason average prior to the Spurs. They played D.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

no excuses, the spurs were the better team. Injury or not, you have to be prepared with what you have. Bowen shut down marion, Q rich choked throughout the playoffs. I was at the game last night and saw stoudamire pass up a couple passes to Q because he had no confidence in him as well as nash.

Hopefully we can sign Johnson...but i doubt it because some team is going to give him a huge contract the suns can't match. I liked that idea about bringing Payton here, i think that would be a great backup and bring some D to the suns.

Man, had the worst irony last night; i got hooked up with box seats right behind mike tyson, the best seats ever, then they lose...ahhhh

[ShaKobe]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

You are right run and gun worked up until SA. Maybe if they don't face SA and instead they face Seattle, Phoenix would be in the finals. You can use the crutch of injuries, but everyone is beat up at this point in the season so...................

Do you think TD was 100% out there? Horry? PHX averaged 113 against Memphis, 117 against Dallas and 103 against SA. The Spurs did not hold the Suns to 80 points a game but it's obvious that they completely shut down Marion and Q thus holding the Suns to 12 points under their Postseason average prior to the Spurs. They played D.

While it's true that everyone is beat up and hurt at this point of the year, they were still there. They played the entire series. Joe Johnson didn't get to play in the first couple of games, and I think that it really hurt the Suns. Maybe moreso than people think. I'm not making excuses, cause SA played great, and might have won even with a healthy JJ. Who knows?



As for what I think the Suns need to get to the Finals next year:

1. Everyone work on their games over the summer. Amare needs to work on his footwork, D, and some low-post back to the basket moves. Everyone needs to just get better and not just rest on their accomplishments.

2. Condition, condition, condition. They need to be in tip-top shape again for next year. Their stamina and endurance needs to be thru the roof for them to run like this next year. Everyone is gonna be prepared for it, so they have to be even better at it.

3. Either draft an athletic big man who can start at center or trade for one. I think this one move will solve a lot of problems for the Suns. They improve their bench, hopefully get better at D, and add some size. I think Tyson Chandler would be a really good fit for this team. He rebounds well and is a good shot blocker. I was thinking Stromile Swift, but he's a bit short to be manning the 5 in the west. Then, you can move Q to the bench, and have Q, Jim Jackson, McCarty, and Hunter off the bench.

4. Either draft or trade for a solid, defensive PG who can run. I think Earl Watson is becoming a FA this summer, and he would be a great fit.


To me, it's just those two spots that they need some help at. Other than that, I see no reason why they shouldn't be at or near the top of the west again next year.

[cdubdiggity]

Re: What the Suns need to do to get back to the WCF and win it....

Marion was more hurt than people think I believe...and Q...give him a break....this was his 1st playoff appearance...The whole suns team were not used to the playoffs...wit the exception of Marion Nash and Amare...and Amare & Marion only played 1 round...oh well w/e like I said no excuses...better luck next year