You are the Suns GM, what do you do this offseason?

[Andrew]

GM's get more money than you think...

 

[Hat]

Unfortunately, it's not as easy as just trading Diaw. TJ Ford is close to Diaw's contract, but would you honestly trade them straight up?? Toronto would probably love that, but Ford is way undersized and over paid. TOR doesn't want TJ, but are stuck with him as much as the Suns are stuck w/ Diaw.

We need a backup PG and badly, so yes I would do it straight up (but Toronto could throw in someone else I'm sure since BC is there). He's young and has some gametime experience. Diaw, I'm afraid, will go back to his pre-playoff self, gain an extra 20lbs, and be out of shape come training camp time. He's not playing for the French team this summer, and Dirty Scottsdale certainly doesn;t burn enough calories.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

GM's get more money than you think...

from what I hear the severence is a realistic rubber.....

 

[btimsah]

Sign and draft depth, depth, depth and depth. And hire Van Gundy. Need to work in some young point guards and centers to play behind Shaq and Nash if they both come back.

 

[dodie53]

listen to offers from other teams.

sign the BPA in the draft.

pray.

pray.

pray.

 

[Michael]

We're pretty much stuck for the next two years thanks to Shaq and his 20.000.000$ deal.
I'd try to make sure to be in a good position to lure some of the 2010 free agents to Phoenix.

Therefore NO longterm, high-paid contracts that would ruin the opportunity.

Since I wouldn't want to upset Amaré and don't see a point in blowing up the team with our 2010 pick going to Seattle (or OKC) anyway, I'd probably go for another try to win it all.

Minor tweaks in the roster only, with a coaching change only when a suitable coach is available. I'd rather try to talk to Mike about our weaknesses and require him to change some issues.

Hire a defensive minded assistant coach and look for some shooting coach for DJ and a personal coach to develop Alando and our rookie.

 

[HooverDam]

You're stuck between a rock and a hard place with the way the roster is currently constructed.

I'd keep D'Antoni (there's no one better available, face it). I would really look hard into finding a Marc Ivaroni replacement, maybe Mark West? They need someone to work with Amare and just ride him. If Amare wants to be an All Time Great, he needs to at least become passable at defense.

Try to make sure Shaq can stay in shape in the off season and not do his typical take the entire regular season off next year.

Because Shaq probably will miss a ton of time next year, I think its important to keep Brian Skinner and try to find more minutes with him. I'd even consider putting him in the starting lineup, since we saw how Amare improved when he had a 5 starting next to him.

Bring back Giricek, he's a nice wing player, good enough defender, and was a great fit in this offense.

Shop Diaw like a mad man, see if you can get anything from him. I love the mismatches he creates, and he's awesome when he's on, but thats very rare. Realistically, the Suns probably won't be able to move him though.

Keep LB. As I see it, LB and Amare are the future of the franchise. Once Nash-Hill-Shaq are done, the team will need to build around LB and Amare.

With that in mind, they need to look for (in this order) a 1, 5 and 3 in the draft. Westbrook seems like a combo guard, so the Suns should probably avoid him, since they have LB. Augustine is obviously extremely under sized, which is a bit of a worry. If they take a PG, he'll be paired with LB in the back court in the coming years, and unless LB can dramatically improve on defense, taking a guy like Augustine may lead to a really weak defensive back court.

Id look into taking a Javale McGee type and hope he can develop into your 5 of the future. If DeAndre Jordan somehow fell to the Suns, he'd be a heck of a pick. Also, the Suns and their UA alum front office needs to avoid Budinger like the freakin' plague. I just can't grasp why he's being projected as a mid first rounder. He's the type of guy I'd love on my team if I had a pick in the 30s, but not at 15.

There's a lot of good 3's in this draft, so they could certainly take BPA between their 3 need positions. Chris Douglas Roberts, Donte Green, or Nicolas Batum could all be good picks.

Also, I'd tell DJ Strawberry that he has a chance to be a Bruce Bowen/Raja Bell type player. He's a bit undersized for it, but he could perhaps be the Suns 3 of the future. If he can keep growing on defense, and work on his corner 3, that would be huge. I really think he can grow into that 3 point specialist who's a big pest on defense.

Basically, the Suns don't have many real options other than to stand pat, and try not to blow the draft. Since the Suns have sold so many picks, they absolutely have zero margin for error in the draft.

EDIT: Also, I haven't seen him play other than Youtube clips (which don't really count), but NBADraft.net has Slovenian PG Goran Dragic being available around the Suns 2nd pick. He's 6'4'', apparently not a very good defender, but tries and is still young and very thin. He could be a 2nd round steal. If the Suns go big or wing in the first round (which I suspect), he'd be a great 2nd round pick up.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Here is the damage for '08-'09

O'Neal		$20.0M
Stoudemire	$15.1M
Nash		$12.3M
Diaw		$9.0M
Barbosa		$6.1M
Bell		$5,0M
Hill		$2.0M
Tucker		$1.0M
Strawberry	$0.7M

Total	$71.2M

Sarver tells me we cannot exceed $73M in payroll. So acquiring big-name FAs is out. I dont fire D'Antoni. We give it one final run in '08-'09 before the firesale of '09-'10 (also D'Antoni's final contract year).

There are no expiring contracts that end after the '08-'09 season, so trading for cap space isnt realistic next season. The fire sale is in '09-'10: Shaq for $20M, Bell for $5.25 and Nash's $13.1 team option that I will most certainly decline prior to that season.

I hope Hill exercises his player option. You wont find that kind of value out on the open market.

I resign Giricek.

I field all offers of youngish players for Amare and hope I can get 2-3 decent players with cap-friendly numbers. I'll have to work the trade machine and see what is out there.

I draft the best junior/senior college player available (Brandon Rush?) with Atlanta's pick (15).

Going into '10-'11, the only players under contract are Diaw (1 year + team option), Barbosa (1 year + team option), Tucker, 2008.1, 2008.2, 2009.1, 2009.2 (all cheap), plus whatever I get for Amare. This minimizes the pain.

Never trust a Laker fan. Of course you want to get rid of Amare.

 

[buttsR4rebounding]

For the next 2 years the Suns will have a team built around Shaq. It does not take a top notch point guard to throw it into the post to Shaq. Nash seems to be the player that might be the best trade bait. A team like Denver would be a good candidate. They desparately need a distributor and outside shooter. They don't play any defense so that wouldn't be a huge concern. There has been talk of Camby being available. Camby and Najera or Kleisa and a 1st round draft choice would give the Suns much more flexibility in front court. Shaq's declining minutes due to age and foul trouble and Amare's propensity to foul often leads to Diaw playing the post. He seems to be much more effective as a 3. This would require the Suns drafting the best available point guard in the draft which is actually pretty deep at that position this year.

 

[FArting]

1. Develop Alando Tucker and DJ Strawberry
2. Play the bench more
3. emphasize defense
4. keep our draft picks this year instead of trading them away

 

[jibikao]

I think even the Spurs fans will tell you D'Antoni needs to go. D'Antoni's whole strategy is let Nash run and let him be creative and when Nash struggles, the whole team struggles. Have you seen how Pop micro-manage his TEAM? And not just one player? As good as Tony Park is, I've seen him getting yelled at way more than any other Grade A players. Why? Because Pop controls the team and that's what coach does.

I think this team has seen its best under D'Antoni. Trust me, it won't go any further.

 

[nashman]

Way to call it jibikao now that Dantoni is pretty much gone.