Phoenix Suns notes: ESPN’s West grades not a fan of Suns offseason

Professor Chad Ford was not kind on the Phoenix Suns in his evaluation of their offseason.

Ford gave the Suns a D+ for their summer and ranked them ahead of only the Denver Nuggets in the West; Denver got an incomplete with the Carmelo situation still up in the air.

Wrote Ford:

"Babby is a respected agent and has been a voice of reason over the years, but his first moves this summer didn’t wow anyone. Turkoglu is a good fit in the Suns’ system but he’s grossly overpaid with four years, $40 million left on his contract. Childress is super versatile, but was he worth a six-year, $33.5 million contract? And did I mention that he and Turkoglu both play the same position as another Babby client — Grant Hill?Meanwhile the Suns are very thin up front. Frye turned one good season shooting the ball off the bench into a starting gig and $30 million. The team also paid Hakim Warrick $12.75 million over three years to help back him up. Third-year big man Robin Lopez is the team’s only true physical presence in the middle.Gentry and Nash will still figure out how to get the most out of this squad and maybe even sneak the team into the playoffs — but the direction the Suns are heading is clear and it won’t be long until darkness covers the land of the sun."

After Ford and John Hollinger ranked the Suns 27th in ESPN’s future power rankings earlier this summer, I doubt Ford will be expecting any holiday cards from Suns fans. But was the Suns’ offseason really that bad?

I don’t think so. They avoided overpaying Amare Stoudemire but still made him a respectable offer, which really was the best they could do in this situation.

I don’t think Josh Childress was overpaid (although perhaps when you consider the Dudley factor). Channing got market value in what was an early inflated market for big men not named Lou Amundson, and the big question mark is Hedo Turkoglu.

The Suns needed to roll the dice to stay competitive in the final years of the Nash era, and they did exactly that with the Turkoglu trade.

In reality it’s too early to judge an offseason before it even ends and if Turkoglu flops Ford might not be too far off. The Suns could certainly use a solid power forward, but from where I’m sitting this is the deepest and best-scoring team in basketball, something the Suns managed to become (or should I say stay?) despite the loss of their top scorer.

Judging on any scale, I’d say that merits a grade higher than a D+.

Is Dampier an option?

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix tweeted that the Suns are among the many teams interested in free agent center Erick Dampier, a potential signing Bright Side’s Seth Pollack endorses.

It would not hurt to get Damp for a one-year, low money deal to play the emergency Jarron Collins role, but I don’t see him making much of a difference either.

Dampier is 35 these days and hasn’t made much of an impact since he left Golden State. Sure, he’s not wildly overpaid anymore, but do the Suns really need a mediocre player to add to their rotation? I don’t think so. They already have 10 rotation players, with Earl Clark and Gani Lawal on the outskirts. I do think they should make a move for a big man, but that guy isn’t Dampier.

Dowdell receives camp invite

The Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro reported that point guard Zabian Dowdell has accepted an invitation to Suns training camp, and veteran point guard Chucky Atkins is expected in camp as well.

Good for Dowdell. This will be his first NBA camp, and he deserves it after providing solid point guard play for the Summer Suns the past few seasons.

I think he has a legitimate shot at a roster spot, with the Suns likely to take either Dowdell or Matt Janning as their fifth guard. Janning’s deal isn’t guaranteed, so it would not be difficult to part with him if Dowdell beats him out.

I feel it could be beneficial for the Suns to have more of a pure third point guard (Janning is a combo guard) if nothing else to allow Nash to rest more during practice while keeping two natural point guards on the floor. Both guys now have that chance they’ve always dreamed of, and the better guy should break camp with the Suns.

Wrapping up FIBA

As if we didn’t write enough about the FIBA World Championship on this site, here’s one final note (at least until training camp).

Hedo Turkoglu finished the tournament averaging 12.3 points, 4.2 boards and 3.4 assists per game. He made 40.5 percent of his shots, including 41.7 percent of his threes.

Most importantly he was the driving force behind his home Turkey squad that made it all the way to the FIBA finals, and the confidence he inspired in his countrymen cannot be understated. For all the negativity he generated in Toronto, he was and is a rockstar in Turkey. You could tell how much this meant to him and we can only hope that this tournament was more about playing his way into shape for Hedo rather than being something that affects him later on this year.

Goran Dragic averaged a nearly identical stat line: 12.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg and 4.1 apg. He shot 43.0 percent from the field but did much better on twos (54.0 percent) than threes (27.8 percent).

Dragic helped Slovenia to a 4-1 mark in pool play and a dominant round of 16 victory, but his squad lost three straight from there to finish eighth.

Overall this tournament was very positive for The Dragon as he got reps against top competition as a go-to guy leader of a quality team. That experience should serve him well this season in Phoenix.

Suns announce Treloar hiring

John Treloar, a 30-year basketball veteran, will assist Lon Babby and Lance Blanks “in all personnel decisions and will lead the club’s draft scouting process,” according to a team release, after he was named the Suns’ director of player personnel. Todd Quinter held that role last season; he will be back in the pro scouting department this year.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for John and his knowledge of the game,” Blanks said in the release. “His longstanding track record of consistency and success are admirable. He is a perfect fit for what we are trying to do.”

Added Babby, “We are excited to add John Treloar to our basketball operations department. He brings a wealth of experience and will enhance our ability to evaluate players from all sources.”

Suns announce broadcast schedule

The wait is over, we now know which channel all 82 Suns games will be televised on.

We have known the Suns’ national TV schedule for a month now, but the Suns released the official broadcast schedule on Wednesday. My45 will air 41 games (36 away) in its 23rd straight season of Suns basketball coverage. Fox Sports Arizona will cover 32 of the games, and everything else will be televised nationally.

Nash to speak at Educare Arizona groundbreaking

Steve Nash will share some words at Brunson-Lee Elementary School, the future site of Educare Arizona’s education and health center, on Thursday morning during the groundbreaking ceremony for Educare Arizona’s early childhood education and health center. The center is expected to provide about 200 low-income kids from birth to five years old in the Balsz School District  “with high-quality full-day, full-year education and care that will set them on a pathway for success,” according to a release.

The Steve Nash Foundation is an Educare Arizona anchor funder.