jlove

I got to thinking about who the Suns could possibly look at if they decide to package their picks to move up or if they trade out 1 or both of ther picks this summer. I took a look at the CBA and their players. Some of these stats for these guys look pretty good. If you follow the CBA and/or have any info on these guys, can you please shed some light on the subject?




---------- AVERAGE PER GAME ----------

MIN
REB
AST
STL
TO
BLK
PTS
James Thomas
37.2 14.6 1.1 0.6 3.0 0.6 19.6

Geoff Husted
24.5 7.5 2.0 1.2 1.3 0.4 10.4

Carl Mitchell
37.6 9.1 1.4 1.6 1.4 1.1 15.7

Chris Alexander
32.1 10.1 0.8 0.5 2.1 1.9 9.4

Eric Chenowith
34.7 12.7 1.5 0.5 2.4 1.0 12.0

Lonnie Jones
38.3 8.3 2.4 1.3 3.0 3.8 15.0

Jamar Brown
34.6 7.6 1.2 0.7 2.1 0.8 12.7

Cheyne Gadson
31.1 3.6 6.6 1.4 3.2 0.1 14.5

Elvin Mims
27.6 6.1 1.5 0.9 1.0 1.2 11.3

Jeremee McGuire
25.2 6.8 2.4 0.8 1.7 1.0 10.2


Thomas: 6’8” 235 lbs. ‘04
Husted: 6’11” 265 lbs. ‘05
Mitchell: 6’9” 215 lbs ‘02
Alexander: 7’1” 260 lbs. ‘03
Chenowith: 7’1” 275 lbs. ‘01
Jones: 6’11” 240 lbs. ‘02
Brown: 6’9” 220 lbs ‘02
Gadson: 6’4” 205 lbs. ‘03
Mims: 6’5” 210 lbs. ‘02
McGuire: 6’11” 223 lbs. 03


I know Chenowith spent some time in the league and had half decent numbers for his minutes played.

George O'Brien

It is hard for me to imagine that there is a CBA player who could be much help for the Suns. They certainly had the incentive to look at htese guys hard when KT went down.

At this point the Suns roster is fairly full, so to make the team a new guy from either the draft or free agency has to be better than what the team has:

There are seven rotation guys who are locks:

Nash
Stoudemire
Marion
Bell
Diaw
Barbosa
Kurt Thomas

There are two others who might be expendible, but will be on the team if not traded

Jones
House

Tim Thomas is a free agent and probably beyond their price range. It is unlikely that Jones stays if TT is signed.

Grant has a player option for the second season and is likely to return if he chooses.

There are three guys whose status is doubtful:

Tskitishvili
Burke
Thompson

IMHO, the most likely scenerio is that TT leaves and Grant stays. A better result would be if TT stayed, Jones was moved, and Grant retired, but that seems unlikely The likely result is a core of 10 guys. .

Right now the Suns have two first round draft picks who get guaranteed contracts. It is unlikely the Suns will carry more than 13 players baring injuries. At this point, it does not look like a CBA free agent would have much chance.

All of this would change if there is a trade or two. I don't hink they will trade one of their top seven, but everyone else is fair game. If there is a "many for fewer" players deal, all bets are off.

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azirishmusic

Chaplin

I will be completely surprised if Skita is NOT on the Suns roster next season.

George O'Brien

I won't. There was story in the Republic a few weeks ago to the effect that the Suns would be evaluating Skita over the summer to determine if they would pick up the second year of his contract. That statement was a lot weaker than I'd have expected from a team that was seriously impressed by him after a few months of practice.

In any case, if the Suns do manage to clear enough to re-sign TT, I think Skita is all but gone

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azirishmusic

elindholm

I agree with Chaplin, Tskitishvili will be on the roster. Whether he plays is a different story. But for only $800,000, there's no reason not to keep him around.

I don't think it's a given that House will be on the team even if not traded. He could opt out and chase bigger money elsewhere.

Moving Jones seems not unreasonable. I'm still pretty high on him, but I must admit that his inconsistency is starting to get annoying. He will be 26 when next season starts, so he isn't exactly young anymore. I would think he has decent trade value, since a lot of teams could use a lanky SF who shoots 39% from three-point range -- it's just that the Suns already have a surplus of similar players.

I agree with George that the Suns are quite unlikely to keep both Jones and Tim Thomas. If they really want Thomas and can get him to take the MLE, or close to it, Jones has to be traded. I think there is almost no chance that Thomas will take much less than the MLE. Bell took $23.8M/5yrs and I'm sure that figure will not be far from Thomas's mind, assuming he and the Suns try to work out another deal.

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Chaplin

Shoot, George, the Suns as much as said that they picked Skita up for next season anyway.

Errntknght

I think the Suns will bring Skita back if his salary, minimal as it is, doesn't get in the way of something else they want to do. But then, its hard for us to judge things like how fragile he is and his work ethic - and both things are possible issues from the little I know of his history. The decision makers might have seen enough to change their minds about having him here next year.

I saw just enough willingness to take the ball to the hoop and to mix it up in the paint to hope that these are non-issues. I can't say I saw anything on the defensive end to get me excited.

HooverDam

This offseason will be interesting for sure. W/ BC now gone, I wonder if the team will refrain from blowing things up and keeping only 4 players year to year. Let this core of 7 or so grow together and we could have a good thing. I love us having 2 1st round picks and I hope we can get a back up PG/PG of the future and a decent big man.

thegrahamcrackr

Skita will be back. He has a minimum contract and he is going to be a better person to have on the bench then say, Thompson. We have to fill out the roster somehow.


If Tim Thomas is back, I will be astonished.

Our top 7 is going to be

Nash
Bell
Marion
Thomas
Amare
Barbosa
Diaw

We can't afford to pay the 8th man in the rotation the MLE - which he will get. However, paying Jones to be the 8th man makes perfect sense.


I personally hate the idea of have 2 first round picks in the this draft. We need to package them to move up - or trade one of them away for a future pick. We just don't need 2 rookies next season.

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