SB Nation User Blog: hookedonphoenix

Wild suggestion #2: Barkley for GM

hookedonphoenix — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:58:37 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Alyp4aIO5dhuVPT0ykzpzhW8vLYF?slug=ap-barkley-gm&prov=ap&type=lgns

I'm not too thrilled with Steve Kerr, truth be told. Anybody agree? It might not be the smartest move, but it sure would be a wild ride! The man took us to the Finals and we shipped him to Houston. I think he deserves better than that.

Then there's Steve Kerr. His moves are understandable, as I've said, but not really ideal. One minute we're the Spurs, the next minute we're the Bobcats, tomorrow we'll be the Hornets? We've got to go in one direction.

You know, it would probably be a terrible move, but for Charles Barkley to be the Suns GM would be one of the greatest, most hilarious moments in NBA history.

Wild suggestion: Start Jared Dudley at the 3.

hookedonphoenix — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:16:50 -0000

I really like what I see in him. Our other options are essentially Taylor Griffin, Grant Hill and Earl Clark. Clark's pretty raw, so it seems, and has some pretty terrible shot selection. Griffin is a third unit, 13th roster spot man without question. Grant Hill, to me, seems like the only other alternative, and he's on the back side of his career. Dudley can play three positions, guard three positions, is currently leading the the whole league in preseason in steals per game and leads the team in FG% with 55% from the field. I think that's a tad more useful than 63 games out of Grant Hill. Anybody agree with me?

10 team All-Suns All-Time Fantasy Draft

hookedonphoenix — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:24:15 -0000

I got this idea from Silver Screen and Roll, the Lakers blog. I thought it would be fun. The fact is, though, we're Suns fans, and we can do it better.

First ten people to post draft picks are in! We'll put up final teams at the end and have a vote-off...it'll be great fun. You can only draft players from when they were with the Suns. I feel like it would be cool. For example, Grant Hill in Detroit is off limits. Grant Hill in Phoenix is fair game. You can draft a coach in place of a player. This will give us 70 picks total, with 10 coaches.

1st pick- Charles Barkley

Edit: Yeah, but like, one pick each. Snake draft.

The Curse of Kareem and the Gamble

hookedonphoenix — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:10:56 -0000

I'm sure you solid Suns fans know the story of how we were one pick away from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1969. How good would we have been? How many championships would we have?

Since then, no Suns team without a franchise center has come close. The Finals Suns in '76 had Alvan Adams. He was still decent until '84-'85, and fell off the following year. Coincidence that we missed the playoffs in '85-'86? Maybe not.

We got back into the playoffs in '88-'89. Guess who we picked up then? Tom Chambers!

We lost Tom Chambers in '93-'94. Guess who we picked up then? A.C. Green!

We missed the playoffs in '01-'02. You know who our center was? Washed up Tom Gugliotta!

We made the playoffs again in '02-'03. You know who we had? Amare Stoudemire!

Do you see the pattern here? We need a franchise center. That's how we win games. Amare Stoudemire refuses to play center now. If so, we have to find someone who will. We gave up Shaq. Unless you find a way to pry Dwight Howard from Orlando or Al Jefferson from Minnesota, Yao's it, basically.

The gamble is this. I proposed a trade with Houston which didn't go down so well because I was trying to think of ways to deal with Houston, specifically. They have a giant that might not be back, and they're praying that he comes back, but they know they won't have him. They would really like to win so Yao Ming doesn't opt out in 2010. At the same time, their only remaining worthy asset is Yao Ming. For this reason, I bet Houston would be willing to deal Yao. They have to accept the fact that no one's going to come to Houston in 2010 if they lose all the time, and they have to sacrifice Yao to make that happen.

Richardson for Yao. The upside is that we get one of the games great giants, a great defensive presence and a perennial matchup problem. The possible downside is that he never plays for us. Our medical staff is the best in sports. If they didn't get him running in the fastest amount of time of any team that could possibly have him, I would be surprised. We don't really need Jason Richardson anyway, though, in my opinion.

The biggest problem is if Houston's bluffing. If they're bluffing with his diagnosis, and Yao Ming isn't as bad as he seems, then they bring him back as soon as possible and Yao causes problems for us on the court like he causes problems for everybody. I somehow doubt it, but stranger things have happened in sports.

Poll

Do we need a real center, or am I just hooked on superstitious mumbo-jumbo?

We do need a real center. Yao might work if we can pry him.

11 votes

We do need a real center, but not necessarily a dominant one.

30 votes

You are certainly a witch or a voodoo artist or something.

5 votes

46 votes | Poll has closed

Paul. Stoudemire. James?

hookedonphoenix — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:15:45 -0000

I propose the following.

PHX sends S. Nash, J. Richardson to Houston

NO sends C. Paul, T. Chandler to Phoenix

HOU sends T. McGrady to New Orleans

Advantages:

Phoenix: we get Chris Paul. So if we have Chris Paul and Amare Stoudemire, I think there's a legitimate chance LeBron would come to Phoenix if he's headed anywhere. Probably not, but hey, you never know. You could haul someone in with the cap space. But if not, there's still Chris Paul. A legitimate 3rd wheel isn't far off.

New Orleans: they can buy out T-Mac and get cap space. If they're serious about trading Chris Paul and getting cap space, then that's what they'll do.

Houston: Houston gets their bonafide PG that they've coveted since the deadline, as well as a competent replacement for Tracy McGrady, who's out of time.

We turn out like this:

PG Paul/Dragic

SG Barbosa/Tucker

SF Clark/Hill or Hill/Clark

PF Stoudemire/Frye

C Chandler/Lopez

Any doubts about Barbosa can be cleaned up by his 19 and a half PER and his ability to break out given the right amount of minutes and a starting job.

A little love for (Fropez?)

hookedonphoenix — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:33:15 -0000

We need a starting center next year. Chandler for Wallace seems to be off, Amare to the Warriors too. Nash is getting an extension, so he's not getting traded. I haven't heard anything about dealing J-Rich.

While I'm sure the consensus is that Channing Frye will be our starting center, what about Robin Lopez? The case for R-Lo.

a) Defense = solid

b) .7 BLK in 10 MIN = 2.5 in 30 with start?

c) Summer league game 1: 7/10 FG, 10/12 FT, 24 PTS, 16 REB, 2 BLK. Bear in mind, this is not exactly NBA competition, but still a solid line in any scenario.

Poll

Any takers for starting at center, from the University of Stanford, #15, Robin Lopez?

Sure.

37 votes

I need more proof that he can start for an NBA team.

42 votes

Maybe.

13 votes

No chance.

8 votes

100 votes | Poll has closed

Priorities -> order

hookedonphoenix — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:49:16 -0000

Maybe we're not a championship team right now, but we absolutely have the potential to rebuild quickly. I think signing Shawn Marion would be a step backwards, and perhaps what we might want to consider is jumping on the youth bandwagon, which basically created, in the early 2000's, the SSoL Suns we came to know and love. Who says we can't do it again? I think signing anyone over 24 or 25, even, is dangerous, like Grant Hill or Shawn Marion.

In other words, trading Nash, J-Rich and even Amare might help a lot. I think it would be dangerous to trade for anyone drafted in 2004 or earlier.

I'm going to rattle off a list of prospects for you in the coming months, years, drafts, free agencies, whatever. You decide.

2009 free agency

-Marvin Williams. Yes, we all know him as the guy that came before Deron Williams and Chris Paul in '05, but he's still got some improving to do. His 3PT shot is coming along. He can at least be a solid role player.

2010 draft

Noted on ESPN to be one of the strongest in history, to capitalize here might be a serious asset.

-John Wall. Think Derrick Rose. Then think of Derrick Rose finishing every shot. Then think of Derrick Rose with Ty Lawson speed. Then think of 10 APG. Now you have John Wall.

-Derrick Favors. 20/10/1 BLK/1 STL every single night. This kid could do us wonders one day.

-Ed Davis. Think of all the 4's that could get you 1 BLK. Now, how many could get you two? This is why I like Ed Davis.

-Cole Aldrich. You've seen this guy already. He went a little unnoticed thanks to B-Griff, but he put up stats that were just as mindblowing (15/11/1 BLK) last year. Plus, King Cole's 6'11" and a natural 4.

-Willie Warren. I feel like he's more of a 2, but he could probably run the point pretty well too. He was the best freshman in the country last year, though, and he could crack the top 3.

-Greg Monroe. Greg Monroe is a 6'10" Matrix. I will repeat: Greg Monroe is a 6'10" Matrix. Imagine how many rebounds Shawn Marion could've brought down had he been 6'10".

2010 free agency

- (sucks up air) Rajon Rondo, Tyrus Thomas, Carl Landry, Mario Chalmers, Randy Foye (for instance). We all know what these guys bring to the table.

The trick is to fit in with the ten roles of basketball which I can explain upon further demand (shooter, scorer, guard-like, forward-like, banger, distributor, specialist, defender, instant offense, variety show). Once you have one of each on a ten-man rotation, you essentially have the perfect basketball team. Teams have come close, but none yet have accomplished it.

Nate Robinson.

hookedonphoenix — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:34:11 -0000

Nate Robinson had a terrific year with limited minutes and an up-tempo environment. I'd love to see what he would do for Phoenix's second unit. Bear in mind, we still don't have a valid backup point guard and Nash can't play 35 minutes a game any more. The great part is we can probably get him with the MLE and a solid number of years.

I think Nate Robinson also solves Phoenix's scoring problem should we ship Jason Richardson. I think it would be beneficial to ship Jason Richardson, but if we ship him our scoring is bound to be cut dramatically unless we want another Jason Richardson. What we need is to start Barbosa at the 2 (I think) and find someone who can get 20 ppg and play good defense at the 3, 4 or 5. Clark and Wallace play good defense. You can buy Wallace out, and Clark can play the 3 or 4. Think Troy Murphy, except more marketable.

Poll

Should we pursue Nate Robinson?

Yes

42 votes

No

48 votes

90 votes | Poll has closed

Cap space!

hookedonphoenix — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:52:19 -0000

You see, with Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic most likely being bought out, we can sign somebody now! We've just entered the free agency market. Players like:

are all available. Granted, names like Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom are free agents, but probably won't be leaving their teams.

I think we should at least take a look at Ron Artest, Allen Iverson, Shawn Marion, Al Harrington and Rasheed Wallace. Sheed might fill a hole at the 5, Artest plays great defense, Iverson is a great penetrator unlike anyone we have, Marion plays great defense and is well-loved by the Phoenix crowd, Harrington had an incredible year in an up-tempo environment...at least one of these guys might be interested. Even if we don't pull in Ricky Rubio or Troy Murphy as I had suggested in my last FanPost, one of these guys would be a really great addition.

A fan's reaction to draft day: Three suppositions and why they are true

hookedonphoenix — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:31:06 -0000

There are three suppositions I'd like to prove with this post. I'm going to prove all but the third why after the jump.

a) Of all the pieces that should be traded after Shaq, it is Steve Nash, and not Jason Richardson nor Amare Stoudemire, who should be traded next.

b) Phoenix should focus on a big 3 involving an SG, an SF and a PF.

c) Phoenix loves drafting brothers of superstars. In 2008 we had Robin Lopez; in 2009 we have Taylor Griffin.

Point: Steve Nash should be the next piece traded.

Proof: Let's get something straight here. Steve Nash was one of the best point guards in the league in 2007-08. In 2008-09, he was not an all-star. One could attribute that to many things at the outset. The fact that he was playing half court basketball at a slower tempo for half of the season is a valid excuse for his low assist numbers. Truthfully, no matter what kind of basketball he's playing, he's still really old. He's my favorite basketball player of all time. Phoenix needs to ship him. Plus, his pure shooting is excellent, but...he doesn't shoot the ball. He spends most of his time dishing the ball to others. He's the best passer in history. I know. But you have to work around that. Amare Stoudemire has got to be the face of that franchise.

Solution: A passing, young, proven PG. Stephen Curry looked like the perfect Steve Nash replica, but Don Nelson isn't getting rid of him. The Suns might want to see if they could pick up Ricky Rubio. Minnesota might be more interested in Jason Richardson, though.

Point: Phoenix should compose itself of an SG/SF/PF composition.

Proof: The best teams have had three-big-star compositions. The most recent example has been the Ray Allen/Paul Pierce/KG Big Three. Two man combos (Kobe and Shaq, Stockton and Malone, Payton and Kemp) worked, but rarely, and four man combos (such as the most recent Suns with Nash/Richardson/Amare/Shaq) are much less common. If you're getting rid of Steve Nash for a young PG, and you're keeping Amare, you need two other big scorers at the SG, SF or C. And you're unlikely to pick up a scorer at the 5 better than Shaq.

Solution: Say we make the Ricky Rubio move. Trading Nash is the next step. I think a Troy Murphy/Steve Nash trade might be really interesting. Murphy had a great year, can play the 3 and would bring great size there (6'11"). He'd guard the 5 but play a 3's role. Stoudemire would play a 5's role, Clark a 4's. Murphy can shoot and he ends up on the perimeter often. He's like a young Rashard Lewis. Since you would then be a good $10M or so under the cap, they could sign someone at the SG, preferably someone who can penetrate. I want to say Allen Iverson, but I also don't want to say Allen Iverson for fear that someone shoots me.

Potential lineup:

PG Rubio/(sign somebody)

SG Iverson/Barbosa

SF Clark/C. Brewer

PF Stoudemire/T. Griffin

C Murphy/Lopez