2008–2009

• 46–36

Offensive

• 113.6 (2nd)

Defensive

• 111.6 (26th)

Under Contract:

• G: Leandro Barbosa
• G: Goran Dragic
• F: Jared Dudley
• F-C: Robin Lopez
• G: Jason Richardson
• F-C: Amar'e Stoudemire
• F: Alando Tucker

Acquired Via Trade:

• F-C: Ben Wallace (from Cavaliers)
• G-F: Sasha Pavlovic (from Cavaliers)

Free Agents:

• F: Luis Amundson, (Team option)
• F: Matt Barnes, (Unrestricted)
• F: Grant Hill, (Unrestricted)
• G: Steve Nash, (Team option)
• F-C: Stromile Swift, (Unrestricted)

Areas of Strength:

After making the change to go with Alvin Gentry as the coach late in the season, the Suns banded together without Amar'e Stoudemire and made a decent run at the Playoffs. With the trade of Shaquille O'Neal, though, the Suns may be headed for rebuilding mode.

Needs Work:

The league seemed to copy the Suns' seven-seconds-or-less scheme the last several seasons. That is until Denver abandoned it and got to the conference finals playing tough-nosed defense with mostly the same personnel that was scoring in bunches and flaming out in the first round the last several years. Maybe it's time for Phoenix to do the copying.

Two Stats That Matter:

• 109.4 – Phoenix's points per game in 2008-09, best in the NBA.
• .744 – The Suns' team free-throw percentage last season, ranking them 26th in the league.

The Way To Go:

If Steve Nash's team option for next season is picked up, as Phoenix's front office has made all indications will occur, then think of 2009-10 as sort of a last hurrah for this chapter of Suns basketball. Nash will team with Stoudemire and Jason Richardson to create a group whose names might carry more weight than their games at this point, but there is still enough talent on this team to make a run at a low playoff seed. After missing on Robin Lopez in last year's Draft, Phoenix will be looking big again, but are in the position at No. 14 to really just grab the best available guy at that point. The trade of O'Neal will help the Suns avoid being as close to the luxury-tax threshold, but don't expect many huge moves this summer via free agency. Trading Shaq was done to free up cap space for the future, not this summer. There's always a chance they dangle Stoudemire on the market again, but that probably wouldn't happen until February when and if the team looks like it doesn't have the juice to make a postseason run.

Fan Predictions

Expert Predictions