I think the Suns will get rid of Vince Carter at the deadline, but is it a movement of present or future? I mean, it will be a trade thinking in PO and being a championship contender, or it will be a trade thinking in rebuild from next season?

 

There are many possibilities, but I'm not a GM and I don’t know much about this. I have an idea that I think isn’t going to like the Suns fans and followers of BSOTS. Memphis has an expiring contract (Zach Randolph); he is a double-double machine and Memphis want to get rid of him because he is not in the plans for the future (they intend to extend Marc). I know that many people will say that if chemistry, that if the character, that if this or that or the other... but the reality is that Zach is a 20-13 right now. I know he isn´t a great defender and can be selfish, but I also know that he can fill the void created by the departure of Amare.

 

The problem may be that we must find a third team to take the expiring contract of Vince Carter and can offer the Grizzlies something they might need.

 

We lose nothing; if the experiment fails, we have relief for next season and if the experiment is a success we can offer him a fair extension.

 

Anyone that thinks Vince Carter is this team's only problem needs to get laughed at. But he is probably my least favorite Phoenix Sun of all-time.

This sentence of Scott Howard has made me think that this was a good time to write a fanpost.

A rosterbation idea? No. It’s really more fun, at least I think so.

This is to say who is your Phoenix Suns least favorite player of all-time, or at least you know.

My choice: Nikoloz Tskitishvili:

He played for the Suns in the 2005-2006 season, only a few games. He was a high draft pick and although he didn’t succeed in any team, I thought he would be a good asset for the Suns; tall, fast, decent shooter.... But the reality is that he was a bluf (Spanish expression) that means more or less "Person or thing covered with a prestige that is revealed later unfounded"

Who's yours?

 

The first thing I have to say is that this is not the typical fanpost about trades.

 

For some time I ask myself this question: What the Suns need to win a championship? Who knows !!

 

The main protagonist of the rumors in recent weeks is Carmelo Anthony. Can the Suns make an effort to get him? In theory, yes; the Suns have more or less what the Nets have, that is, an expiring contract (Carter), first-round picks, and other good assets, Childress, Warrick ...

 

Denver is a team with problems; their All Star player wants to leave. This, in practice makes them a rebuilding team. If Carmelo doesn’t sign an extensión, then is probably that both Nene and JR Smith doesn´t sign either. In that scenario I think that the Suns should make a strong push to get both Carmelo and Nene; in this case we should include a big. Why not a trade Nene and Carmelo x expiring (Carter) + Robin + Childress + first pick and cash if necessary? It´s an option to improve the team, but there are many others.

 

I don’t believe that Dragic was the future starter point guard of the Suns, so I think is time to make an effort in order to get an All Star point guard; I'm thinking in Chris Paul. Is the NBA selling the franchise? Is there any chance?

 

Many fans think that what the Suns need is a PF; Who? Josh Smith? He is a good defensive player, but can we add him without losing too much?

 

As you see, there are many options to improve the team; what is your choice?

Poll

What the Suns need to win a championship?

11%

Carmelo Anthony

11 votes

2%

An All-Star point-guard

2 votes

34%

A defensive power forward

33 votes

23%

A miracle

23 votes

28%

The sum of all these things

27 votes

96 votes | Poll has closed

 

If we are to believe the comments from BSOTS fans, Josh Smith is one of the favorite players to play the PF position with the Suns. Why not? Is it possible? Do we have the right players to try a trade? I think so.

 

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=26xyn3n

Hollinger's Analysis: +10 wins

With this trade you have increased this team's projected wins by 10.

Woof!!!  10 more wins; that means 64 wins in the 2010-2011 season, or what is the same, court advantage all the series.

Why did the Suns should make this trade? For obvious reasons, there is no need to explain.

The problem is Atlanta. They have resign JJ, but I get the feeling of being a very unbalanced roster; from my point of view there are many guards and PF, and few SF and C. For the SF position they are very week: Marvin Williams and Maurice Evans, that’s not much. They may play with Bibby – JJ – Williams – Turk - Hordford.

It’s clear that the Hawks aren’t dumb. What else can we offer? 2 first  rounds, 2011 and 2012? Clark? Why not?

 

It seems that 2 first round are too much, but they would be very low, in fact, they would be the n º 30

Suns' roster. A strong starting lineup: Nash-JRich-Hill-Josh Smith-Robin. Off the bench:: Dragic-Childress-Dudley-Lawal-Frye. My bet for the PF position is Lawal. Why? There are 96 minutes available for four players in the front court. Josh Smith played 35' last season; Frye played 27’ and Robin should be important this year and play 25-30'. If Robin plays 25' there are 9' for Warrick. I think these 9’ should be for Lawal and see his progress.

Then we can use Warrick to get a future first round and cut the payroll.

The current payroll is  61,846,737 m$ with 13 players. If the trade is carried out successfully we have a payroll of  63,330,887 m$ with 13 players. But what is more important, we have a younger roster, more balanced and the possibility of using players (Warrick, Clark, JRich) to improve the team via trade, or getting future first rounds.

I was just thinking about writing a fanpost talking about another hypothetical trade when I read the fanpost of jaxis and I've got an idea.

 

Jerseys. If there is a differential element in any team of any sport, this is the jersey. In the NBA there have been many teams and there are many different jerseys, even teams that have changed their jerseys throughout its history.

 

I will not tell you a story about the jerseys of each team, I just go to tell you what are my favorite jerseys throughout the history of the NBA.

 

 

Firstly, the Nuggets jersey from the 80s, the famous rainbow jersey.

 

 

Secondly, the Washington Bullets jersey.

 

 

Thirdly, the Hawks jersey. A classic.

 

 

 

It’s your turn. What is your favorite jersey?

According to several sources “Carmelo Anthony is now suggesting that he will test the waters of free agency next summer”.

 

What does this mean? From my point of view is the opportunity to sign an All Star player in order to rebuild the team around him.

 

For the 2011-2012 season the Suns have committed  46 m$ in 8 players: Nash-Turk-Childress-Frye-Warrick, Dragic-Clark and Lopez; always assuming that both Turk and Childress and Warrick will be with the team at the start of the 2010-2011 season.

 

If the new GM works well and can get rid of Turk, then the Suns may assume the hiring of a real All Star: Carmelo

 

Let's go to make a poll:

Poll

Should the Suns try to sign Carmelo?

61%

YES, he is the best SF in the league behind Lebron

190 votes

17%

NO, at least there are a dozen SF as good as him and cheaper

53 votes

21%

NO, we have Dudley

65 votes

308 votes | Poll has closed

 

Over the next days and weeks the news from the Suns will be very few, at least I think so.

That's why I thought of writing a post talking about the vacations. It’s a kind of gambling (more or less as Seth usually does) and we only have to say if we are already on vacations and how we enjoy them.

 

I'm going to start. As once I said, I live in Spain and now I'm on vacation, just as my wife and daughters, they are 14 and 18 and are students. We usually go to rest in August somewhere in the Spanish coast, sun and beach. Other times we visit any European city, Paris, London, etc.

 

This year we decided to visit other european countries and these last days we have been in Hungary, Czech Republic and Austria, knowing the cities of Budapest, Prague and Vienna. They are cities with much history and cradle of the Austro Hungarian Empire. They are also very beautiful cities. Honestly I think it was a wise decision.

 

Now is your turn. Are you on vacation? What are you going to do during this period? Be free to express everything you want.

Sorry, I know that this is a basketball blog, but not every year we win a World Cup. In fact it's the first time.

As the song says:

"We are the champions ...."

"We are the champions ...."

"We are the champions ...."

"WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS...."

I know it's difficult, but I would like to create a fanpost next year saying the Suns are the new NBA champions. Although I'm sure any of you would do better than me.

 

 

Two of the highest payroll teams in the league are Lakers and Celtics. What does this mean? Is necesary to spend a lot money to have any chance of being champion? Probably yes, but you have to spend well, not like the Knicks.

 

I believe that when a businessman or a business group buys a team, do it because: a) is a fan 2) have much money 3) wants to win a championship. I don’t think they are thinking about making money; although I may be wrong.

 

What are the sources of revenue for the teams? Ticket sales, advertising, merchandising, etc. One of the most important sources of income during a season has to be  playoff games.

 

This season the Suns have played eight home playoff games. If they had made the finals, it would be 10-11 games. How much money are we talking about? 20 m $?  30 m $? 40 m $? I do not know, if anybody knows, be free to say it.

 

What do I mean by this? I mean that teams can have a payroll above the salary cap and pay luxury tax, because they will have extra income in playoff and thus may balance the books and not have deficits.

 

Following this line of argument the Suns should sign a quality free agent to have a serious chance of being champion, regardless of the money spent.

 

What free agents the Suns might be interested? Wade and Bosh. Wade for obvious reasons and Bosh if we cann’t reach an agreement to extend Amare.

 

How much worth Stat? 5-6 years / 100-110 m $?

How much worth Bosh? 5-6 years / 90-100 m $?

 

We currently have eight players under contract: JRich-Nash-Barbosa-Hill-Clark-Dragic-Robin-Dudley. Their payroll is $ 42,984,529 m

 

We must try to trade Barbosa to any team for a 1st round pick. Minnesota? Raptors?

We can also make an effort to sign Frye. 4 years / 15 to 16 m $?

 

Then we have: 42984529 m$ - Barbosa + Frye = 39.884.529 m$ in 8 players.

 

+ Amare or Bosh (18-20 m$) + Wade (18-20 m$) = 75.884.529 or 79.884.529 m$ in 10 players.

 

+ Dwayne Jones in the place of Lou (100.000 $) + the 1st pick get in the trade of Barbosa = 12 players and a payroll of 76-80 m$ .

 

And what is more important: a real great team

 

Starters: Nash-Wade-Hill-Amare/Bosh-Robin

 

Off the bench: Dragic-JRich-Dudley-Frye-Jones

 

+ Clark  + 1st pick

 

Thinking that the payroll this year was 75.3 million m $, doesn’t seem a bad operation to try to sign two free agents (Amare / Bosh and Wade).

 

We can also use JRich to strengthen the team with a pivot: someone tall and good rebounder and a bench player for the SG position. In short, there are many possibilities, but it all starts with wanting to spend money.

 

Every player has made a very good season. But now is playoff time and is time to differentiate between good and great players.

There is a player that is failing everyone: coaches, teammates and fans in general. That player is Channing Frye.

Frye is in the last year of his contract and has announced that he will opt out of his contract. But in the way he is playing in playoff is very difficult to get a big improvement.

Against the Blazers he shoots 26.6% from 3. He improved against the Spurs (54.5%) thanks to the 2nd game( 5 of 6 ), but against the Lakers he has been an autentic disaster; we all know their %.

 

Pressure? Dizziness?

The question is:

 

Poll

Does he deserve a new contract?

45%

Yes

48 votes

54%

No

58 votes

106 votes | Poll has closed

 

Everyone seems to think that finally Stat will be traded. Which team will he go? If we pay attention to rumors: Miami.

 

But what can we get in return? Let us speculate:

 

-         A star player: Beasley

-         An expiring contract: Jermaine O'neal

-         A player to match salaries: Dorell Wright

-         A first round pick.

 

to make the deal work, we must throw in JRich.

 

The statistic isn’t an exact science and often doesn’t show the reality of things, but we can use it to get a rough idea of things.

 

Statistics say that the Suns sent to Miami:

 

35.7 ppg - 13.6 rpg - 2.9 apg - 1.6 st in 65.8 mpg

 

and The Heat sent to Phoenix:

 

34.7 ppg - 17.1 rpg - 4.1 apg - 2.1 st in 79.2 mpg

 

Which team is better?

 

Nash - JRich - Hill - Amare - Robin

Dragic - Barbosa - Dudley - Frye - Lou

 

or

 

Nash - Barbosa - Hill - Beasley - O'Neal / Robin

Dragic - Dudley - Wright - Frye - Lou - Robin / O'neal

 

I think the second option is better, but it's just an opinion. Furthermore, this option has the advantage that you still can try to make some trades to improve the team.

 

An example:

 

Barbosa + Beasley to Phily X Iggy

 

And if you really have a first pick from Miami, you can go for a PF.

 

For the next season the Suns would have committed  35,949,336 m$ in eight players and a promising future.

 

What do you think?

 

THE WRONG WAY

 

I don’t particularly care if the owners lose money; all of them are millionaires, businessmen who buy a team as a distraction from their usual occupation. I think the only thing that hurts them (if they have losses) is his pride, not his money.

 

We cann’t say that Sarver is a cheap owner, the problem is that he has occasionally made bad trades, we all remember the fiasco MarionxSacq. If Sarver insists in this way, the trade Stat+Barbosa  x Iggy+Dal  or Stat+Jrich x Iggy+ Brand mortgaged the sporting and economic future of this team.

 

The Suns are now a team that can compete against any other team. The team only needs a few minor adjustments. Long ago I have been saying that Stat must remain with the Suns. I think the main aim of the GM at this time should be trying to find a team for JRich seeking thereby reinforcing some shortcomings, the defense in position 2.

 

What about a trade with Nets Jrich x Lee+Simmons

 

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yk7uk8j

 

If Barbosa is recovered for the PO and at the same time we can strengthen the team with the trade of JRich, we will talk in the PO.

There are several ways: 

 

- Draft pick 

- Via trade 

- Free agents 

 

What is wrong with the Suns draft picks? Why they choose players will not play? Let us recall the most recent picks:

 

- In 2007 we picked Tucker; although the player had a good career at the university, in Phoenix were Raja Bell and Barbosa, which gives him few options to play; other possible picks in this draft were Carl Landry, Marcus Williams, Glen Davis and Marc Gasol; the problem was that the coach was D'Antoni and the mentality of the GM and coach would be: think about the present and not in the future. A mistake by the GM. 

 

 - In 2008 we picked RoLo; D'Antoni wasn’t the coach and we wanted to build a team with a different style. The first question is: "Is RoLo a smart player?" "What is his IQ?" "Why isn’t he playing? "Surely the coach doesn’t trust him. This affects him negatively and when the player plays some minutes wants to do too much in the short time he plays; obviously he plays with anxiety and makes many mistakes and fouls, and consequently the coach doesn’t trust him; it's a vicious circle. Another mistake by the GM.

 

- In 2009 we picked Clark. Why? Is the GM thinking of him as the future starter small forward? Or maybe the GM is thinking of him as the future starter power forward? In this case is the GM thinking trading Amare? Almost all the players picked in 1st round play many minutes, not so in The Suns, Why? Why The Suns lost the opportunity to evolve and improve the team via draft? The answer seems to be a  file X. 

 

This season started well for the Suns. There was good chemistry in the locker room and the success of the early season (November) has helped. The players were happy, the coach was happy, and even less common players were playing minutes and of course the fans were happy.

 

I imagine the coach's goal is to reach the play offs; but suddenly come defeats, the coach has more pressure and the team plays for the result; the coach remain faithful to his style of play but increase the minutes of the starters and cut the minutes of play of the bench players and plays with 8-9 players instead of 10-11

 

From my point of view this is a transition season and still having clear that the goal is to reach the PO, I also think that it would be necessary for some players to play more minutes in orden to give them confidence and see if they have level to play in the NBA. 

 

To strengthen the roster via sign & trade in the future you should know what are the players with whom you count and whom not, and if these players don’t play, you'll hardly know.

 

 

Before the season started I think few people expected a very hopeful beginning. What is the problem? The main problem is that people start to want unreasonable goals. At first people were happy with achieving the PO. However, after a 10-2 people believe that we can compete against the best teams and when the first unexpected defeat comes we came down and begin the criticism.

 

One of the major problems of the Suns for long time has been the lack of rebound. What can we do? The answer is simple: signing a specialist. But who? And by whom?

 

One name comes to my mind, Noah. He isn’t only a good rebounder, he is in one way or another a complete player; no a great player, no a superstar, but a complete player. He can run, score, rebound, defend ....

 

Whom do we place on the other side of the scale?

If we want to make a trade this player must to be Amare.

 

Let’s see the statistics:

 

	Min	Ppg	Rpg	Apg	Bpg	St	TO	Shots pg
Amare	35,5	19,8	7,5	1,2	1	0,6	3	13
Noah	33,5	12,1	12,6	2,3	2	0,7	1,8	9

 

What is more important: to score or rebound? I think rebounding is more important because there are many scorers on the team but not good rebounders.

 

Moreover Noah could play center while Frye would play power forward, which is his more natural position. Noah can defend big men better than Frye.

 

I talk about defense because defense is one of the main factors for a contender team; of course, also the talent, chemistry, etc.. are.

 

Celtics, Spurs and even Lakers can score 85-90 points in a game and win. The Suns NO. That's because a good defense.

 

Damn, I'm extending more than I thought. Well, I finish.

 

Why the Bulls would want Amare if they already have Noah? I don’t know, but you can put any other name where I wrote Noah.

Today is a sad day. Today has died a journalist, special, different. He made me enjoy with the NBA with his style so characteristic of a game broadcast. Today has died Andrés Montes.

 

I know that for you is a true unknown, but in Spain was an idol. Perhaps you have seen him in any All-Star because he was there every year and his image was very characteristic www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhN1GsqZ7kE

 

He quickly connected with fans and people in general.

 

We interviewed him in our radio program and was special.

 

I have nothing more to say. Rest in peace.

 

It would be very easy to be a GM having all the money in the world and with the great players wanting to play on your team. But usually the reality is just the opposite. So you have 2 options: be quiet or risk.

 

Let's play to be a GM. I would make a risky change: JRich x Eddy Curry. I must say that I looked at the ESPN trade machine and the trade doesn’t work, but only for  100.000 $, so I guess that this problem could be solved.

 

Arguments in favour of the trade:

 

- We have good scorers in the roster and SG & SF position are well covered.

 

- We need big players.

 

- This trade involves changes in the starting lineup; Hill can play at SG and Dudley at SF, keeping LB as 6th man. This team: Nash-Hill-Dudley-Amare-Frye is better defensively and keep scoring capacity.

- Coming off the bench: PG: Dragic-Barbosa SG: Barbosa-Tucker SF: Clark PF: Lou-Curry  C: López

 

- It seems that this season Curry is better physically. He has always been a good scorer in the low post. With the duo López-Curry we can emulate the duo Chander-Curry. One is the rebounder and the other the scorer.

 

- Looking at the financial aspect of the operation, you can save 2,8 m$ in salary and other 2,8 m$ in luxury tax the 1st. year and 3 m$ in salary and other 3 m$ in luxury tax the 2nd. year.

 

To end: I know JRich is an asset for the team and Curry is an ( ? ). But, do we have anything to lose? I think not because we aren’t a championship contender team, simply we are a team that can make a good season.

I usually see many basketball games: NBA, Basketball Spanish league, European Championships and there is a thing that caught my attention a lot: the different distribution of the minutes of play in the NBA and other leagues.

 

In the NBA there is a clear differentiation between starters and bench players and the minutes that each one must play. Even the moment that they have to play those minutes.

 

In Europe it doesn’t happen.

 

NBA coaches have fixed ideas. There are at least 3 times during games where this happens:

1.         Start of the game. Always starters (logical)

2.         Start of the 3rd. quarter. Always starters (??)

3.         Final minutes. Always starters. (?????????)

 

How many times a team has lost a match in the final minutes for making a change (starter x bench player) that was playing well, simply "because the starter has to play"?

 

I remember games of the Raptors; in the final minutes TJ Ford always had to play and Calderon had to go back to the bench.

 

I understand that there must be a hierarchy, but I also understand that coaches must be flexible and if a player is playing well he doesn´t have to be replaced by the simple fact of being a bench player.

 

I repeat, this doesn’t happen in Spain. I look for an explanation and the only thing I can think of is that all NBA coaches have been players and customs often endure lifelong.