They may have played their last game with Amare, but Fropez and Dragic will lead the Suns' summer league team. (AP/Rick Scuteri)

On the first day of free agency the Phoenix Suns’ big news of the day was … yes, that’s right, they announced their summer league roster and schedule.

Not exactly the same shock value as Detroit signing Ben Gordon and Charlie V for just south of $100 million, but it probably won’t have the same long-term ramifications either. (What is Joe Dumars thinking?!?)

As expected, the Suns’ roster for games July 13-19 in Vegas will include point guard Goran Dragic, shooting guard Alando Tucker and center Robin Lopez as well as draft picks Earl Clark and Taylor Griffin, both forwards, to give the team a nice starting five of veterans and draftees for coach Dan Majerle.

It will be really great to see how much more aggressive Dragic is after a half summer of work, if Lopez has developed any kind of an offensive game after working out with his brother and whether Tucker can show signs of developing into a legitimate NBA player one day (or at least legit trade bait).

Paul Coro reports that Dragic has added seven pounds and is down to 3.9 percent body fat. As a point guard with a year in the pros, I expect him to be the leader of this team and really start to prove his worth as a future PG in the NBA.

Clark should get a chance to show his versatile game and begin to see how he will fit in with his future teammates. I could see him throwing up some ridiculous box scores.

Still, summer league is more important for his rookie counterpart Griffin, who is playing for his spot on the Suns, or possibly a spot with somebody else if he’s eventually waived. [Read more →]

Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon, Ron Artest, Jason Kidd, Lamar Odom, Shawn Marion,  Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Andre Miller, etc.

July 1 is here, and finally teams that have been penny pinching in hopes of grabbing a big name free agent this offseason can pounce.  Unfortunately, the Phoenix Suns are far from being one of those teams. 

We all know the financial situation of the Phoenix Suns pretty well - it’s ugly.  The Diesel trade did free up some dollars, but most of that money is being used to dig the Suns out of a financial hole rather than to sign big name players. 

Everyone from the Suns’ 2008-09 roster is on contract as of now except for Grant Hill, Matt Barnes, Stromile Swift and, of course, Shaquille O’Neal.

Assuming Swift will not be re-signed, what should the Suns do with Grant Hill and Matt Barnes?

Grant Hill

Grant Hill was terrific last season, arguably the most productive player on the team.  The Suns have stated that he is No. 1 on their free agent list. At 36, he was the Suns’ best perimeter defender, best transition finisher, and healthiest player … yes healthiest (played all 82 games)!

Grant Hill did everything in his power to earn a new two-year deal this offseason. With that said … I DON’T think the Suns should re-sign him. Yes, Grant was outstanding last season, but as Kerr so emphatically continues to state, “We are a team in transition.” 

The front office wants this team heading in a new direction. That direction of youth does not fit a 36-year-old Grant Hill.

It is time to give Earl Clark and Jared Dudley a shot at the rotation, and re-signing Grant Hill will slow down that process. Although Grant Hill is still a good basketball player and an even better man, it is time to stray away from the elderly + Amar’e approach and go young.

Final Verdict: Do not re-sign. [Read more →]

 

If the Suns aren't going to get close to equal value for Amar'e Stoudemire via trade, why not make some moves and build around the 26-year-old All-Star?

I have lobbied for an Amar’e trade on VotS several times before, as I assumed Amar’e would undoubtedly be gone after next season and the Suns should get some quality players in return while they can.

Those two assumptions appear to be wrong, changing my stance on the talented big man. 

Stoudemire’s agent has made it public that Amar’e would like to sign an extension this summer. Apparently he wants to stay in Phoenix and be “the man.”

Amar’e can express his love for Phoenix all he wants, but if the right deal came up, I would still ship him off in a heartbeat. The only problem is the right deal has yet to surface.

Reportedly the Suns had agreed to a deal in principle with the Warriors before the draft, a deal that included the 7th pick.  Assuming Stephen Curry would not be available, the Warriors were set to draft Arizona’s Jordan Hill for the Suns. Hill would then be sent to Phoenix along with Andris Biedrins and Brandan Wright and possibly other role players.

When Curry fell to the Warriors, Nellie and the boys backed out and jetted to the Bay with their new boy toy Steph Curry. If only Minnesota drafted Stephen Curry the Suns would be able to begin the rebuilding process around guys like Jordan Hill, Andris Biedrins, Earl Clark, Leandro Barbosa, and Goran Dragic.

While Memphis, Atlanta, and Chicago have been rumored to be interested in Stoudemire, the Golden State deal is the only one with substance. Teams are shying away from STAT’s health issues (eye and knee) and max contract demands, making it harder and harder for Kerr to move Amar’e. 

With all of that said, why not keep Amar’e?

In order for Amar’e to be happy in Phoenix and for the Suns to remain competitive, several things need to happen.

This offseason the Suns need to: [Read more →]

Shaq and the Suns seemed to be running the wrong way during much of his tenure. (AP/Paul Connors)

When Steve Kerr traded Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal, he bluntly proclaimed that history would either see him as a genius or a moron for making the deal.

With a season and a half of hindsight, it doesn’t take much of a genius to see that Kerr is looking like one hell of a moron right about now, a distinction that Suns fans can only hope will be different in the aftermath of a likely Amare trade.

To see what Kerr was thinking, let’s go back to February 2008, with the Suns atop the Western Conference and still considered a favorite to win it all.

The Suns were coming off three consecutive heart-breaking postseasons in which injury and bad luck contributed to the team’s Seven Seconds or Less style ending short of a championship.

With Joe Johnson’s face injury, Raja Bell’s calf injury and the Amare/Diaw suspensions, I would argue that we never got to see the Suns at 100 percent before playoff elimination.

I would have liked one more season, even just one last season to see if those Suns that we all knew and loved could put it together at the right time.

Kerr, on the other hand, saw a team that didn’t play the brand of defense and didn’t have the interior presence that wins in the playoffs.

He won championships with Tim Duncan patrolling the paint and the Bulls’ suffocating defense bullying opponents, and he just didn’t feel like the Suns could win the way they were trying to do so.

Of course, if you believe what has been said, Kerr wasn’t even the one who pushed for the deal. Apparently Mike D’Antoni of all people had to convince Kerr this team needed a shot of Diesel fuel (if you can believe that).

Legend has it Kerr was the last one in the room to give his OK, and he was most skeptical that it would work.

But the Suns did this deal because they saw a crumbling elite team with Marion bitching about his role on the squad while yearning to be the top dog. They felt this just wasn’t working when the defenses stiffened up in the playoffs, and they made the one move you never would have thought they’d make: they acquired the NBA player least suited to play under D’Antoni. [Read more →]

Steve Nash picked a hell of a time to host his second annual celebrity “Showdown in Chinatown” soccer game in New York City.

In the hours following Nash’s Wednesday charity event, all the Suns did was trade Shaq, draft a future building block in Earl Clark and come awfully close and then possibly not to trading Amare Stoudemire.

Not exactly your average news week.

I obviously wasn’t in New York to watch and soccer isn’t exactly my sport of choice in any case, but here’s some links and videos from around the web about a match that also included Suns forward Grant Hill, ESPN hoops writer Marc Stein, Raptors forward Chris Bosh, Spurs guard Tony Parker and a host of soccer stars.

TrueHoop report from a D-Leaguer

Suns.com report via InsideHoops.com

Stein live tweeting the game

For good measure, here’s the Suns.com link to Earl Clark’s introductory presser from Friday.

Don’t believe anything coming from the Phoenix Suns or Golden State Warriors camp for the next week and a half because they might be telling the truth and they might be lying through their teeth.

The only thing we know is this: Amare Stoudemire will not be traded to the Bay Area until July 8 at the earliest, the first day such a deal involving Warriors base-year compensation player Andris Biedrins can be consummated under salary cap rules.

So long as they have this week and a half, what does either team gain by telling the truth?

They can’t tell their respective fan bases that this is going to happen just in case something beyond their control leads to it disintegrating, and even more importantly both sides may as well try to get the other organization by the balls in hopes of milking them for all they’ve got.

This is what The Arizona Republic’s Dan Bickley feared would happen after the Suns got nothing of use basketball-wise for Shaq. Bickley feels the Cavs were in a desperate enough situation that Phoenix should have been able to pry their first-round pick in the deal (DeJuan Blair, anyone?), and by not doing so “shows the leverage the rest of the league has when dealing with the franchise in Phoenix.”

Then Steve Kerr went on ESPN during the draft and talked about the Suns being “a team in transition” enough times for the league to certainly get the picture. The Suns are rebuilding, and feel free to take what you can get.

In this context, why would Golden State say anything other than what Don Nelson did at Stephen Curry’s introductory press conference on Friday?

“He can unpack his bags and relax. He can buy a house. We drafted him because we think he’s a terrific player that fits right into our program. He ain’t going anyplace.”

What, you thought Nelson was going to say he has a deal in place with the Suns and spend an awkward week and a half waiting out a deal that might never happen if Amare decides he doesn’t want to sign an extension in Oakland?

No, he’s going to play his cards right and see if he can make the Suns panic and deal Amare without Curry, which would be a monumental mistake. [Read more →]

The talk in Phoenix this week has revolved around the Shaq trade and all the questions about a possible Amar’e trade to Golden State that may or may not happen at this point, but remember or not there was something called the NBA Draft Thursday night on top of all the Amare and Shaq fun.

The Suns, of course, selected Louisville forward Earl Clark at No. 14 and Oklahoma forward Taylor Griffin at No. 48. Here’s our grades on the pick:

14th Pick – Earl Clark

Grade: A

The Suns are in dire need of an athletic hybrid SF/PF, and Earl Clark fits that mold. He rebounds, defends, scores and handles; he is the complete package.  He does need some fine tuning in the shooting and strength categories, but that will come with time.

Steve Kerr said it himself, if Clark didn’t drop to the Suns, we would have seen yet another Suns traded draft pick.  So clearly, Clark was the man from day one.  Guys like Jrue Holiday, James Johnson and Austin Daye were still on the board, but luckily Kerr and company made the right choice.

Clark is the perfect addition to the Phoenix Suns, and fans hope that the team may have a Shawn Marion 2.0 with a mid-range game. Whether he is playing next to Robin Lopez, Tyson Chandler, Andris Biedrins, or even Amar’e Stoudemire, Earl Clark is going to have success.

As is evident from the pandemonium at US Airways Center, the Suns’ front office had an extremely busy day, but ultimately they walked away with their guy in Earl Clark. [Read more →]

What do these guys have in common? They're likely soon-to-be All-Star big men traded by the Suns this offseason.

When I went to dinner Wednesday night, we lived in a world of the Nash-Amare-Shaq Triumvirate, and nobody on Planet Orange seemed to have any clue where this organization was headed.

Not much more 24 hours later, you can see the future of this franchise starting to come together, as the Suns attempt to recreate the new Run-and-Fun Suns in the image of the old Run-and-Fun Suns.

First off with what we know, Shaq is gone, for better or worse. The Suns don’t have his low-post game to bail them out nor his fun-loving attitude to aid team camaraderie, but they are also free of his albatross of a contract and ball-demanding, paint-hogging ways on offense.

A day after ridding themselves of the Shaqtus, the Suns drafted Earl Clark with their lottery pick, the type of versatile talent who can do many of the things Shawn Marion did.

I have written many times during this draft process about how badly the Suns missed that jack-of-all trades defender. The Suns were wowed at how he could bang with the bigs in one breath and then guard a speedster like Brandon Jennings in the next during workouts.

Last year an opposing guard seemed to put up a career high every few games, and eventually Clark will be that stopper who ensures that doesn’t happen anymore.

Oftentimes last season, the Suns just didn’t have the personnel to match up with their opponent on the defensive end.

One of the saddest yet indelible moments of last season that really can be seen as a microcosm for the entire year came in that March home game against Dallas when Dirk went off against Matt Barnes, Grant Hill and anyone else the Suns threw at him.

The Mavs ran the same play over and over again, sending Dirk to the top of the key to isolate, and even though they knew exactly what was coming, the Suns just never could stop him. They were undermanned and thus without a prayer.

Clark brings the length to match up in such situations, and his versatility alone should certainly improve Phoenix’s defense at least a bit.

By trading Shaq and bringing in the Matrix Reloaded (Clark), the Suns are essentially reversing that fateful trade and admitting the errors of the Shaq deal in the first place.

As they say, admission is the first step toward recovery, and there’s no question that this sequence of moves is a great initial step for the Suns. [Read more →]

The Suns picked the versatile forward they crave in Earl Clark.

PHOENIX – When the Indiana Pacers were on the clock, members of the Suns’ front office were on the edge of their seats.

Then the Pacers selected UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough 13th overall, and you could here the cheers coming from the Suns’ draft room.  

It is clear that from the second pre-draft workouts began, Earl Clark was the Suns’ guy. He has the potential to develop into an All-Star, he fills a need, and is a great fit for Gentry’s Run-n-Gun system.  

Clark slipped past his projection and luckily for the Suns fell into the laps of Steve Kerr and Alvin Gentry.  If Clark was to be selected before the Suns 14th pick, it was almost certain that the Suns would have moved the pick.  

Steve Kerr said it himself during the post-pick press conference: “We entertained moving our pick for the last hour.”  

He went on to say, “The one guy who we said we aren’t moving if we have (at 14) was Earl.”

Clearly, Earl Clark was the guy atop the Suns’ draft board from the start.  The question was, would he fall past teams like the Nets, Bucks, and Bobcats?

As for the new Sun, head coach Alvin Gentry praised his versatility and defense.

“I like his defense, the fact that he plays a good post defense,” Gentry said. ”He is a very active defender, he’s got very good hands. Obviously that’s an area we have to get better in.”

Kerr elaborated, “You’ve gotta have people with the size and mobility to stay with someone like that (Dirk Nowitzki), so that was probably the deciding thing about Earl for us.”

Clark brings the Suns defense, rebounding and scoring as well as being a player who can develop into a future piece of this franchise.  Clark certainly will not come in right away and start, but as he refines his range and physical strength he will begin to get minutes.  

“He’s not going to beat out Jared Dudley or Lou Amundson,” Kerr said. “If he is, he’s gonna be really good.”

Whether Clark breaks the rotation or not next year, the Suns got a gem with the 14th pick.  Alvin Gentry compared his game to former Sun Clifford Robinson, without the shooting range. [Read more →]

The red-headed, less talented Griffin may not have been what Suns fans were hoping for, but Steve Kerr and David Griffin alike are very high on Taylor Griffin.

PHOENIX – Taylor Griffin, the Suns’ 48th selection in the 2009 NBA draft, was never even thought of as a serious candidate to be drafted this year.  He lived in the shadows of his younger brother during his years at Oklahoma, but the Suns saw past that.

David Griffin seemed to be the guy pushing for Taylor throughout the draft process, as Griffin likes his namesake’s athleticism, aggression, and overlooked size. He measured bigger than most people initially thought, at 6-8, 235 pounds. 

He was nowhere near a standout at Oklahoma, averaging only 9.8 ppg and 5.8 rpg his senior season. But it is his hard work and relentless attitude that caught the Suns’ eye. 

David Griffin compared Taylor to current Suns Lou Amundson in that he hustles, brings energy and can guard multiple positions. 

Steve Kerr described him as, “A winner. Plays hard every possession. Just does a lot of things well. I think he can continue to develop his jump shot. If he gets a smaller guy on him. he’s got a low-post game. He’s a good passer, puts the ball on the floor a little bit.  He’s just a basketball player.” 

Kerr also said he was surprised that people weren’t higher on him.  The Suns apparently have a history of taking the “under-appreciated” brother (Robin Lopez last season).

If Kerr continuously insists that Earl Clark will not crack the rotation next season, than it is safe to say that Taylor may not even make the team.  If he does, he can provide a lot of energy and athleticism to the Suns’ depleted front line. 

The Suns need all of the bodies that they can get, and Taylor Griffin should be able to come in an provide some minutes off of the bench, if he indeed ends up making the team. 

If Taylor Griffin does in fact turn into a Lou Amundson 2.0 or does even half of what baby brother Blake does, I’m sure Suns fans and Alvin Gentry alike would be satisfied.