2014-2015 Finish: 46-36

Season Highlight

The Suns put together a team lead by several underappreciated players and found a way to make it all work out quite well. On many cases they were dealt some tough blows but found ways to get past those obstacles and land on two feet. Just on paper a starting lineup of Omer Asik, Josh Smith, Chandler Parsons, and Kemba Walker is solid but not striking fear into most teams’ eyes… especially when they don’t have a big time bench sitting behind them. But GM pennywise knew exactly what he was doing when he put those pieces in place and was able to coax every bit of productivity out of that lineup.

Season Lowlight

Larry Sanders… jeez man, seriously!? The Suns were all primed and ready to go with a nice balanced lineup. Penny had players he liked at every position and then Larry just decides to get high and stop playing ball. If there is a bright light to this situation, it is that the Suns don’t end up paying an enormous sum of money to a player that doesn’t want to play… he actually just left all the money on the table and walked away. This sobering news got the Suns season off to a frightening start.

Best Trade

The Phoenix Suns trade Rajon Rondo and Cleannthony Early for CJ Miles (not the model), Kosta Koufos, and Kemba Walker

As part of a huge 4-team deal that had pieces and draft picks flying all over the place, the Suns managed to get 3 very good players for 1, and depending upon opinion they may not have given up the best player in the deal. Rondo has had a rough year or two so combining him with a prospect to bring in a great 2k player in CJ Miles, an underrated center that could start for many teams in Koufos, and to top it off a point guard that may already be better than Rondo in Walker was HUGE. The Monta Ellis deal was potentially the signature deal of the year for the Suns but this is the one that puts them in a great spot going forward.

Worst Trade

The Phoenix Suns send Thabo Sefolosha to the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors send Kris Humphries to the Phoenix Suns.

I loved pretty much every move penny mad this year. However, despite Thabo not being a traditionally great 2k player and on the downward slope of his career, he’s the better piece in this 1 for 1 deal in my opinion…. Kris Humphries has been in the headlines more for his past dating life than his basketball skill This was the Suns’ first trade of the year and at least it got better from here.

 

Other Notable Trades

The LA Clippers send Monta Ellis to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send Ben Gordon, Shabazz Muhammad and Rodney Hood to the LA Clippers.

The Phoenix Suns send a 1st-Rounder (Pho) and 2nd-Rounder (Pho) to the LA Clippers.

The LA Clippers receive 10 GM points. The Phoenix Suns trade -10 GM points.

This deal was a season-maker for the Suns. Monta was a known scorer coming into his stop in Phoenix. Even with that, the results were even better than expected. With as stunning of a deal as this was for the Suns’ playoff fortunes last season, it didn’t bring them a championship (or even get them out of the first round). So the problem now is that Ellis could walk out the door or more likely, soak up a lot of the front office’s attention in trying to retain him meanwhile, they sent out two solid prospects in Rodney Hood and Shabazz Muhammad along with both of their draft picks.

The Charlotte Hornets send Omer Asik to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send Kris Humphries and Larry Sanders to the Charlotte Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets send a 2nd-Rounder (Ind) to the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns send a 1st-Rounder (Pho) to the Charlotte Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets trade -5 GM points.The Phoenix Suns receive 5 GM points.

This was another deal that was great for the Suns’ chances in the playoffs last season; it also isn’t too bad going forward. I already talked about the downside of both Humphries and Sanders above. So that they were able to get a starting center, a second round pick, 5 gm points and clear both of those guys off of the team is pretty solid. The downside here is the possibility that Parsons and Ellis could both be gone, heading this team towards the lottery and that pick gets a lot more valuable…

Best FA Signing

Steve Blake was a nice minimum salary pickup and is one of the four Suns currently under contract. He appeared in all 82 games (starting 4), which is impressive on its own for a 35 year old. He was a steady hand at backup point guard.

 

Worst FA Signing

They only had two signings during free agency last season, so I guess Steve Blake being the best makes Joey Dorsey the worst. He did play in 49 games including starting 8 of them. He averaged almost 4 and 5 in only 15 min/game, which isn’t all that awful. He’s not a guy that is going to move the needle a whole lot and he’s an interior banger which is an unappreciated skillset in the NLL.

 

Star

Monta Ellis – He averaged almost 32 points/game on 46% shooting. He was an absolute scoring machine. He provided the team a huge shot in the arm and scored about a third of the team’s points most of the time. He was the perfect fit next to a very defensive-oriented lineup. Now they’ve just got to hope that he comes back for more ball domination next season!

Surprise

Josh Smith – Penny is big on touting the underappreciated value of his athletic forward, and the confidence in him paid off big time this season. Smith started all 82 games, played 37 minutes/game averaged almost 17 and 10 on better than 50% shooting. Smith has fallen out of favor with many in the league, but these near all-star level numbers for a playoff bound team has to go at least a bit towards redemption.

Goat

Larry Sanders – Sometimes you want to tell the goat player on your team to just go home. Well, with Sanders he was the goat because he went home. Sanders had just received a HUGE payday from the Suns, was on the front end of a very promising career, and just decided to hang them up all together! The Suns recovered from it well, but this blow almost crushed Phoenix’s whole season.

Draft Report Card

They traded their whole draft for Monta. Pennywise has been a big proponent of going for the certain veteran talent instead of rolling the dice on an unknown… a view shared by a few prominent NLL GMs and not too many others. Turning uncertain draft picks into a 30+ppg scorer certainly sounds wonderful, and it probably is if they can convince him to stick around!

Looking to the Future

There are only 4 players currently under contract, but there are a good number of key players in the rotation that are more or less known to be coming back. The uncertainty is really concentrated on the future of Chandler Parsons and Monta Ellis. If the Suns can pull off some wizardry and keep both guys around, then they can roll forward with what looks like a very promising core and under penny’s leadership they should be aiming at starting the playoffs on their home court. However if the plan backfires and both of those guys pack their bags and go on their way, then we’re probably looking at a lottery bound team that isn’t in possession of their next 1^st round draft pick.

Upcoming Free Agents

Is “everyone” a valid answer?

Omer Asik – Seemed pleased with his new home in Phoenix and has no reason to look elsewhere since the Suns will both pay him and play him.

Monta Ellis/Chandler Parsons – Both of these guys have been displeased with the franchise. They haven’t really given much indication as to why, but it is going to be tough for the team to convince both of them to come back. Maybe the Suns can pick one and sell them on being the “star” all by themselves and they’ll buy in?

Kemba Walker – This is going to be basically a formality. The Suns want him to stay and he’s restricted… he’s staying.

Kyle O’Quinn – I assume that the Suns will be fine footing a reasonably sized bill to lock up this young big that has shown a bit of potential.

James Ennis – If he feels like there is a defined role for him off of the bench, he’ll probably come back… If Parsons bolts for elsewhere and he has a shot to be a sixth man, he’d be crazy to leave.

Jason Terry – The Jet is running out of fuel. He can still shoot as well as most guys, but he’s slowing down. The Suns will probably want to bring him back for a fairwell year, especially if they struggle to fill out the rest of their rotation.

Kosta Koufos – This is a player that has the potential to slip out the door if the Suns pay too much attention to their flashier free agents. If they get distracted throwing money at Omer and Kemba and making hourly phone calls to Monta and Chandler, Kosta may not see the point in coming back, especially already feeling a bit slighted playing behind Asik.

JaMychael Green/Markel Brown – These two are kind of in the same boat… each has shown a bit of potential but not enough to show they’re ready for minutes this season. They’re really playing for an NBA contract and the Suns will be obliged to provide it if they are trying to round out the roster.