azdad1978
Championship!!!!
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Jan. 10, 2005 09:10 AM
As remarkable as this season has been thus far for the Phoenix Suns, what makes their sudden rise to stardom even better is, this is just the beginning. Behind some excellent draft picks, solid trades and key free-agent acquisitions, the Suns have put together a roster that is not only the youngest in the league but, more importantly, one of the most talented.
When you look a little further down the line you see a team that is not built for one season but for the long haul. And with complete control of almost their entire roster, it's very easy to see the Suns as one of the elite teams in the NBA for the remainder of this decade.
Clearly Phoenix will be wreaking havoc on the rest of the Western Conference for a long time. How they got there is another story. A franchise that had been marred in mediocrity since the end of the Charles Barley era realized that it could no longer just make the playoffs to keep its fans happy. The Suns were victims of their own success to some degree. And trying to maintain a winning product for years was what mattered most. Phoenix was somewhat afraid to start over, afraid to be in the draft lottery and concerned with how the fans would react to a losing team. It took some gutsy moves by General Manager Bryan Colangelo that allowed the Suns to let the past fade and concentrate on a new era of Suns basketball.
First and foremost, Colangelo waved the white flag on the 2001-02 season when he sent Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk, two veteran players, to the playoff-bound Boston Celtics for Joe Johnson, who was the Celtics 10th pick overall in that year's draft. The Suns went 36-46 that season and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 1987-88 campaign.
Phoenix had hit the jackpot in 1999 draft when they selected little-known Shawn Marion with the ninth overall pick. And again in 2003 when they went with high schooler Amare Stoudemire.
With Marion, Stoudemire and Johnson in the fold the Suns had a young nucleus of talented players to build around. And they thought they had another one in Stephon Marbury, who came to Phoenix in the trade that sent Jason Kidd to New Jersey. But sometime after locking Marbury up to a long-term contract following the Suns' surprise playoff run of 2003, the organization decided that the nucleus of players they had was not the right group.
To the surprise of Suns fans, the organization dealt Marbury to his hometown New York Knicks in January last year. It was a move made to not only change the chemistry of the team; it also gave the Suns much more flexibility on other changes in the roster.
While Phoenix had some good young players to build around, they also had some heavy contracts in the form of Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Tom Gugliotta. Those contracts handcuffed the Suns from the perspective of salary caps and prevented them from making any significant changes to the roster.
But with Marbury and Hardaway gone, the Suns suddenly cleared $130 million in contracts. Gugliotta's final-year contract would soon come off the books, as well. And suddenly a team that had three young players on the rise also had enough cap room to add significant pieces.
Those pieces - the team initially had Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady in mind - ended up being Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson. And as much as Bryant and McGrady would have brought excitement and sold tickets in Phoenix, they will turn out to be the best signings the Suns never made.
The Suns have Nash and Richardson locked up for the next five years after this season by committing $100 million. Marion signed a maximum contract extension just two years ago and is tied up for the next four years following this season. And Stoudemire, who had his fourth-year option picked up recently for next season, is expected to sign a six-year extension for the maximum before Oct. 31 that will pay him in the neighborhood of $85 to $90 million. Backup point guard Leandro Barbosa is under the Suns' control for the next three seasons.
The Suns could lose Steven Hunter and/or Jake Voskuhl, who both have player options for next season. And Casey Jacobsen's $1.8 million option was not picked up this past off-season, making him a free agent after this year.
The key decision in the off-season for Phoenix will be what to do with Joe Johnson, who is a restricted free agent. The Suns will have the right to match any contract offer that is given to Johnson. The Suns want to keep Johnson and are making moves now - trading Zarko Cabarkapa - to put them in a better financial position to retain him. But a lot will depend on what type of offer Johnson receives in the open market. Johnson would have signed an extension this off-season for $50 million, but Phoenix, having just completed the Nash and Richardson contracts, was in a wait-and-see mode at the time. Chances are, if Johnson wants to stay with Phoenix and hasn't increased his demands then something can get done. If Johnson can't be retained, look for the Suns to fill his spot with the upcoming draft pick they could get from Chicago. The Bulls owe the Suns a first-round draft pick and have protection this season if they end up being among the top three picks in the draft.
Currently the Suns have the third lowest payroll in the game at $43 ½ million. They have the best record in the NBA and a team of young stars who all get along. But most importantly, they have a roster under their control. The nucleus of this team will be together for a long time. And while they might not get off to a 30-4 start every year, they should be a legitimate threat in the Western Conference for several years to come.
And maybe, after all this time, this run-and-gun group will be the one to finally bring an NBA championship to Arizona.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cheapseats/gambo/0110rant.html
Special for azcentral.com
Jan. 10, 2005 09:10 AM
As remarkable as this season has been thus far for the Phoenix Suns, what makes their sudden rise to stardom even better is, this is just the beginning. Behind some excellent draft picks, solid trades and key free-agent acquisitions, the Suns have put together a roster that is not only the youngest in the league but, more importantly, one of the most talented.
When you look a little further down the line you see a team that is not built for one season but for the long haul. And with complete control of almost their entire roster, it's very easy to see the Suns as one of the elite teams in the NBA for the remainder of this decade.
Clearly Phoenix will be wreaking havoc on the rest of the Western Conference for a long time. How they got there is another story. A franchise that had been marred in mediocrity since the end of the Charles Barley era realized that it could no longer just make the playoffs to keep its fans happy. The Suns were victims of their own success to some degree. And trying to maintain a winning product for years was what mattered most. Phoenix was somewhat afraid to start over, afraid to be in the draft lottery and concerned with how the fans would react to a losing team. It took some gutsy moves by General Manager Bryan Colangelo that allowed the Suns to let the past fade and concentrate on a new era of Suns basketball.
First and foremost, Colangelo waved the white flag on the 2001-02 season when he sent Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk, two veteran players, to the playoff-bound Boston Celtics for Joe Johnson, who was the Celtics 10th pick overall in that year's draft. The Suns went 36-46 that season and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since the 1987-88 campaign.
Phoenix had hit the jackpot in 1999 draft when they selected little-known Shawn Marion with the ninth overall pick. And again in 2003 when they went with high schooler Amare Stoudemire.
With Marion, Stoudemire and Johnson in the fold the Suns had a young nucleus of talented players to build around. And they thought they had another one in Stephon Marbury, who came to Phoenix in the trade that sent Jason Kidd to New Jersey. But sometime after locking Marbury up to a long-term contract following the Suns' surprise playoff run of 2003, the organization decided that the nucleus of players they had was not the right group.
To the surprise of Suns fans, the organization dealt Marbury to his hometown New York Knicks in January last year. It was a move made to not only change the chemistry of the team; it also gave the Suns much more flexibility on other changes in the roster.
While Phoenix had some good young players to build around, they also had some heavy contracts in the form of Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Tom Gugliotta. Those contracts handcuffed the Suns from the perspective of salary caps and prevented them from making any significant changes to the roster.
But with Marbury and Hardaway gone, the Suns suddenly cleared $130 million in contracts. Gugliotta's final-year contract would soon come off the books, as well. And suddenly a team that had three young players on the rise also had enough cap room to add significant pieces.
Those pieces - the team initially had Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady in mind - ended up being Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson. And as much as Bryant and McGrady would have brought excitement and sold tickets in Phoenix, they will turn out to be the best signings the Suns never made.
The Suns have Nash and Richardson locked up for the next five years after this season by committing $100 million. Marion signed a maximum contract extension just two years ago and is tied up for the next four years following this season. And Stoudemire, who had his fourth-year option picked up recently for next season, is expected to sign a six-year extension for the maximum before Oct. 31 that will pay him in the neighborhood of $85 to $90 million. Backup point guard Leandro Barbosa is under the Suns' control for the next three seasons.
The Suns could lose Steven Hunter and/or Jake Voskuhl, who both have player options for next season. And Casey Jacobsen's $1.8 million option was not picked up this past off-season, making him a free agent after this year.
The key decision in the off-season for Phoenix will be what to do with Joe Johnson, who is a restricted free agent. The Suns will have the right to match any contract offer that is given to Johnson. The Suns want to keep Johnson and are making moves now - trading Zarko Cabarkapa - to put them in a better financial position to retain him. But a lot will depend on what type of offer Johnson receives in the open market. Johnson would have signed an extension this off-season for $50 million, but Phoenix, having just completed the Nash and Richardson contracts, was in a wait-and-see mode at the time. Chances are, if Johnson wants to stay with Phoenix and hasn't increased his demands then something can get done. If Johnson can't be retained, look for the Suns to fill his spot with the upcoming draft pick they could get from Chicago. The Bulls owe the Suns a first-round draft pick and have protection this season if they end up being among the top three picks in the draft.
Currently the Suns have the third lowest payroll in the game at $43 ½ million. They have the best record in the NBA and a team of young stars who all get along. But most importantly, they have a roster under their control. The nucleus of this team will be together for a long time. And while they might not get off to a 30-4 start every year, they should be a legitimate threat in the Western Conference for several years to come.
And maybe, after all this time, this run-and-gun group will be the one to finally bring an NBA championship to Arizona.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cheapseats/gambo/0110rant.html
