I was reviewing the NBA rumors on ESPN a short while ago and read the following...

 I'd also ask for the Knicks' upcoming No.1 pick, but that lottery-bound prize is long gone, Isiah Thomas having sent it to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury deal. If Walsh ever dangles his '12 pick, maybe he can get someone to take Curry/Jeffries.

So I know we gave away our 1st round draft pick for 2010/11....do we still have New York's possible lottery bound pick? 

Indiana is waving Jamaal Tinsley....it would be awesome if we could get him for the min this year as a backup point guard. He's experienced and had some pretty good seasons in Indiana. The biggest issue, besides some off court behavior (and the on court brawl) is that he's been pretty fragile. He's missed about 30 games a season. Maybe the trainers here in town could help w/that.

I like Dragic...but this would be an area I think the Suns do need to improve in this season.

So unless some fantastic deal is available, we have 12 of our 13 players on the Suns set for the upcoming season. The question is....who will # 13 be? Will it be someone that doesn't see any game time at all (i.e. our 2nd rounder)? Or might it be someone that could contribute? I know that Ike Diogu is a free agent (I believe he was on the Sacramento Kings this last season). I'm assuming we could sign him for the veteran min. Thoughts? 

Let me start out by stating that I'm a big Steve Nash fan. I also think the team as it's presently built can make some noise in the playoffs. But it's not going to win it all. So...with that said and with Boston trying to move Rondo earlier...how about....

Nash and Richardson

for

Rondo and Allen

The Celts would be a much better team w/Nash this year and possibly next year, whch is what they are looking for. Could you imagine Nash, Richardson, Pierce, Garnett, and Wallace all in the same lineup?

The Suns would still have two veterans this year (Allen and Hill) and do reasonably well. This is Allen's last year so we could let him walk after the season. We'd have dumped Richardson's contract and we'd have our new starting PG. Sarver would love it b/c he could lower payroll by $5 mil this year and a whole bunch more next season (the Celts would have to throw in another small salary....like $200K).

2010 Starting Lineup for the Suns

Rondo

Barbosa

Clark

Amare

Lopez

Talk about cap flexibility and a great young starting 5 (plus Lou, Dragic, Dudley, Frye, etc).

What do you think?

While I'm relatively happy with the current makeup of the Suns now, there's definitely room to improve. One way is through a deal for Chandler. Another could be in a sign and trade deal with any team that's interested in our expiring contracts we pickup up for Shaq. Have that team sign Lamar Odom and trade for those contracts. That would definitely give us some more size/skill. Our starting lineup would look like:

PG Nash

SG Richardson

SF Hill

PF Amare

C Odom

Odom could slide to the 3 if we needed a bigger lineup w/Lopez.

Why haven't we negotiated a new 4 year deal with Lou Amundson. He's making about $800,000 next year. He's a fan favorite and the type of high energy guy that the team needs. We could probably sign him for $7 mil for 4 additional years now. It might cost us $16 mil or more once the coaches help him fix his free throw shot etc.  We really can't screw up that much from such a small deal...since rosters are so big anyhow. Reward him and save us money down the road...Thoughts?

Steve, While the last season and a half has been horrible, there's still hope for the upcoming season. Here's our best chance...

1) Trade Wallace for Chandler.

2) Convince Marion to return for the full MLE.

3) FInd a sucker to take on Richardson's contract and pickup a large expiring contract (so we can pay Amare and Nash for the next couple years ***). 

Our lineup would look something like...

Chandler/Lopez

Amare/Lou

Marion/Dudley/Clark

Barbosa/Dragic

Nash/Dragic

If I owned the Phoenix Suns, I wouldn't have made many of the moves that Sarver did over the last few years (starting with not extending Joe Johnson). But, I agree with Sarver about Amare. I wouldn't give him a max contract . With his injuries to his knees and eye, it wouldn't make sense. I'd offer him $14-15 mil a year. If that wasn't acceptable, I'd be in rebuilding mode b/c he's the only player on the roster you might build around right now.

Without a commitment from Amare (at the right $), I'd trade Nash immediately (for youth and picks), I'd try to do the same w/Amare and w/Richardson. I certainly wouldn't extend any offers to older or potentially injured players (such as Hill, Chandler, etc).

EIther you have a team built around Amare or you trade as many of the big salaries and older playes away and stock picks.

On the other hand, if he were to sign at the right price, I'd try to bring in Chandler (for Wallace's contract) and extend Nash for 3 years (at the $8 million that Kidd was offered). One could argue that they wouldn't accept these contracts...if that's the case, trade them or let them walk...