What went bad

The Suns have been a team in decline for a few seasons now. Their lack of off court stability has seen the team building process neglected and this was no more evident than last season where the team made no trades, only re-signings and a couple of insignificant free agent pick ups. Things have been so bad the fans have taken to disguising themselves at games!

Their off court lack of direction translated onto the court and the Suns struggled to compete out west. Prior management traded away their true star power over a series of seasons and today the Suns have no player who is at the "star" level to help this team get the wins. But fear not Suns fans, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, which we'll get to shortly.

The Suns chose to bring Mike Bibby back for 3 more years at the start of the season. I guess they didn't know how their rookie PG would pan out at that stage. Unfortunately it panned out to be a poor decision. Sure he's not taking up alot of cap space, but he's now one of many bench players sitting pretty on about $6m for a few years with questionable tradability. Posey, Pachulia and to a lesser extent Maxiell and Bell are similar - not great, solid depth, the kind of guys that are nice to have, but combined eating up a little too much cap.

What went good - hmmm, ok, what went not so bad

There's no denying what the shining light at the end of the tunnel is for Phoenix. Rookie PG Brandon Jennings had a sensational first up season for the Suns. He was their goto guy and their opportunity maker all in one. Putting up 20.3 ppg in your rookie season is quite an accomplishment. Of course this was probably partly due to a lack of other options for the Suns, but irrespective, he had a stellar season and gives the Suns plenty of hope going forward.

His backcourt partner in crime, Louis Williams also put up NLL career best numbers - however did miss quite a few games through injury. Together, Jennings and Williams give the Suns one of the fastest most exciting backcourts in the league, but also one of the smallest, something which may have been an issue on the defensive end of the court.

We should also mention Al Horford as a bright point. He stepped up and did his job averaging a double-double (infact Al has averaged 10+ boards every season in the NLL). No doubt the Suns would have liked more scoring production, but that will come as teh tam gels.

Stars

- Brandon Jennings, PG -

Jennings started all 82 games for the Suns and was their primary scorer for much of the season. His percentages may not have been great, perhaps that shows the pressure he was under - without many other offensive options, opposition defenses could concentrate on trying to shut Jennings down.


- Louis Williams, SG –

The Suns used the Jennings-Williams combo guard offense for much of the season, as there was litle else. Williams is an undersized SG, but he makes his mark on the court. Perhaps had Louis not missed almost 30 games through injury, the Suns may have faired a little better.

Goats

- Mike Bibby, PG –

I hesitate to call him a goat, but Bibby really isn't needed on this team. He never started a game in 09/10 and signed a 3 yr deal at approx $6m per season. Needs to be traded to a contending team that really needs some PG depth.




Looking to the future

The storm clouds are starting to clear in Phoenix and a new era has arrived. The Suns signed GM shanecdavis in the off-season. He brings good management experience and is ready to turn this team around. And boy don't they need it!

Of course they have young stuf Brandon Jennings to build this team around. Along with Al Horford up front and Louis Williams playing hte live-wire combo guard, they have a good building base to start a young team. They also snagged one of the best prospects in the draft, Derrick Favors, who just happens to play PF a position they desperately needed to fill. So there is plenty to be optimistic about.

The majority of their bench is secured for a couple more seasons - this s good and bad. Good that they have some depth on the bench, bad that they have several mediocre players taking up a little too much cap space and not giving them room to move. If they could find alternate homes for 1 or 2 players and take back an expiring deal or 2, then they could set themselves well for the future. Unfortunately one guy who may have been a handy bench player, Anthony Tolliver looks like he might go test free agency - but probably not worth wasting any GM points on trying to retain as they have some depth up front already.