2011-2012 Finish: 33-33

Season Highlight
Playoffs! The Suns turned their recent misfortunes into a successful season, reaching the playoffs for the first time since 07/08. Its been quite a while off in the lottery, but finally with some strong management and some direction, the franchise looks to be on their way to securing a regular playoff spot. This season was just a 50% win record, but with a good young core this team is on the rise. The emergence of Klay Thompson to play alongside star PG Brandon Jennings and Sf DeMar DeRozan will see the Suns become a force in the west.


Season Lowlight
The loss of Chauncey Billups to injury just 2 weeks into the season was a big blow. Billups was probably one of the most dominant guards in the league for the 8 games he played. While they would have had one of the smallest backcourts in the league (Jennings and Billups), it would have been interesting to see how much further they could have gone with the veteran presence of Billups playing the house down.


Best Trade
The Houston Rockets send Shawn Marion, Eduardo Najera and Jonas Jerebko to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send Zaza Pachulia, Yi Jianlian and Jan Vesely to the Houston Rockets. The Houston Rockets receive 3 GM points. The Phoenix Suns trade -3 GM points. This was a great deal for the Suns. Marion is still capable of plenty, Jerebko is young and capable of being a quality bench contributor and all they really gave up was the potential of Vesley (Pachulia is average and Yi is pretty much a bust).


Worst Trade
The Oklahoma City Thunder send Sundiata Gaines to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send Quincy Pondexter to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Gaines is nothing much (and now he's not even in the NBA) - sure they needed a backup guard, but meh. Pondexter is no star either, but he'll surely have more of a future than Gaines.


Other Notable Trades
The Phoenix Suns send Jason Maxiell and Derrick Favors to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Portland Trail Blazers send Marcin Gortat, Jon Brockman and Ekpe Udoh to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns receive 3 GM points. The Portland Trail Blazers trade -3 GM points. Gortat and Udoh are nice pieces for Phoenix - Gortat slotted straight in at starting C and Udoh is still finding his way, but should be good depth for both bigs. Brockman - meh. They gave up Favors, who was a big draft pick, but he's struggling to find his potential - and Maxiell who is serviceable but a short arse PF. Decent trade for both teams really.
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The Suns also traded away the always injured Greg Oden for 3 gm pts. Pretty good value really.


Best FA Signing
Kenyon Martin - F - Martin is getting on and he plays for a different team every year. But he can still offer some depth and at only $2.5m he's good value. He gave the Suns a good bench option at PF and put up good numbers.


Worst FA Signing
Kwame Brown - C - most teams were scared off by Kwame and his $7m asking price - sure it was only a 1 year deal, but it was a lot for an ageing guy. And then he got injured. Never put foot on the court - $7m down the drain. Bummer!


Star
Brandon Jennings - G - tough call to pick who is the gun player in this team, there are a few who put their hand up. But Jennings is the glue that bound it all together for the Suns this season. He is emerging to be one of the best PGs in the league - a capable ball handler and distributor, lightweight fast and a good scorer. He and Billups may have been lethal had Billups stayed healthy.


Surprise
DeMar DeRozan - G/F - OK, so he's not a total surprise - everyone expected him to put up good numbers, but I needed to write up something about him cos he came damn close to being the team's star. Injured Billups aside, DeRozan led the Suns in scoring with 22.3 ppg at 49%. He's a strong slasher and gives this team great scoring balance.


Goat
Hello Kwame and his $7m paycheque - I'd break that down to how much $s per game only it's not possible to divide by 0. Need we say more.


Draft Report Card
I'm gonna give them a strong B++ (yes, thats 2 pluses). Some might say taking Perry Jones III with pick 16 was a reach, but I personally love the pick (infect I was very tempted to take Perry at 15, but I took his bro Terrence Jones [the first] instead). Perry has a big upside - he looks like a 4 but is capable of guarding 3s and has range and athleticism. If his knees hold up this could be a great pick. With pick 46 they took Kyle O'Quinn - hmmm, dunno - depth in the bigman department is handy.


Looking to the Future
The Suns future looks really good. Strong management has put them in a good position to go forward with a youthful roster and a few quality vets. Jennings is already a star and he may go on to be a superstar. Klay Thompson looks like he will be a gun scorer, just what the Suns need at SG - length and great shooting touch. DeRozan then rounds out a tremendous back 3 - he goes hard to the rim and attracts defenders giving Thompson and Jennings room outside. Add Gortat who isn't a kid, but is still young for a good big man, and you have a really good young core. Add young guys Perry Jones, Udoh and Jerebko and that is plenty to build with. Then there are a few quality vets in Marion and Billups. What more could you want? Well how about roughly $15m in cap room? Yes, there's that too, even after signing the few FAs they need to sign. That can get you another quality piece. The Suns are on the way up.


Upcoming Free Agents
Billups will be back - cheap - but another year older and coming off an injury. Hopefully he can find some of the touch he had before going down last season. Jeremy Evans will come back too - he's bench depth. Gaines and Amundson will likely go bye bye, but they aren't really needed.

The Suns have some $s to spend - they could do with some depth in the guard positions. They may even chase a big name if there are any to be chased.