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| Tuesday, October 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last year: 27-23, tie-third place in Pacific (lost to Blazers in first round) Coach: Danny Ainge Arena: America West Arena (19,023) Last NBA title: None Record the last 5 years/NBA rank: 223-155 (T11th)
Outlook By Jerry Brown Basketball News It wasn't so much the mediocre record or yet another first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Trail Blazers that turned off Suns fans last season. Those things have happened before. What left empty seats in America West Arena for the first time since it was built in 1992 -- even for a playoff game, no less -- was the fact the Suns had become a boring basketball team. Even with Jason Kidd having an MVP-caliber season, the loss of high-flying Antonio McDyess and the disappointing debuts of free agents Tom Gugliotta and Luc Longley turned the Suns into an also-ran on the Valley sports scene. Something had to be done. Quickly. That something arrived in August in the form of Penny Hardaway, the Suns' $80 million roll of the dice. Can he revive his career the same way Kidd did after his arrival from Dallas? Will this be, as both players have said, the NBA's best backcourt ever? Other changes were made. A team with no post-up game and almost no inside presence now has Hardaway and Rodney Rogers, a free-agent rescue from the Los Angeles Clippers. A team with no true shot-blocker added Oliver Miller -- who has parted ways with almost 80 pounds and is back to his college weight of about 300 -- to team with Longley in the middle. The only sore spot that wasn't addressed was outside shooting; with the loss of George McCloud to free agency, an already deficient area was weakened. The Suns have to hope Rex Chapman rebounds from a horrid season and accepts his role as a backup in the backcourt.
Point guard Kidd finished with seven triple-doubles on the year-more than all the other players in the league combined-and was named an all-NBA first-teamer (and Basketball News' Player of the Year) and to the NBA's all-defensive team, both for the first time in his career. And he's getting better. The backup spot remains a question mark. Although Hardaway might see some minutes at the point, the job of understudy will go to either Randy Livingston or Gerald Brown. Livingston, signed out of the CBA at the end of last season, played well in the playoffs and turned some heads. His long battle from a series of knee surgeries might finally be won. He's not a scorer, but the Suns don't need him to be. Brown, a local product from Carl Hayden High, was a standout in the post-lockout minicamp but had trouble adjusting to the speed of regular-season games. He has worked hard to improve, but Livingston appears to be the favorite.
Shooting guard But if the injuries to Hardaway persist or the attitude that turned him into a clubhouse cancer in Orlando resurfaces, the Suns will have paid a lot of money for a big problem. Chapman lost his starting job the minute Hardaway put pen to paper. But if the veteran-who with four years of service is now the longest-tenured Sun-can rediscover his shooting touch and provide offense off the bench, his value to the team will be immeasurable. Offseason surgeries have Chapman feeling 100 percent. Two other players could figure into the mix. Second-year pro Toby Bailey played well in spurts last year and had a monster training camp. First-round pick Shawn Marion, who has everyone in the Suns' front office beaming, could see time at both small forward and shooting guard. If Kidd, Hardaway and Marion find a chemistry on the floor together, their speed alone will cause the opposition headaches.
Small forward With Hardaway and others around, Robinson will likely be counted on more for his defense than his scoring. But he remains one of the team's most important parts. And now the Suns have Marion, who gives the team a boost of athleticism that was sorely missing last season. His ability to score inside and run the floor are positives, but his lack of defensive experience may make it hard to put him on the floor long. If he doesn't play "D," coach Danny Ainge will leave him on the bench.
Power forward Spending a month with his point guard over the summer on the U.S. Olympic team will help Gugliotta, but not as much as having Hardaway around as another scoring threat. Teams will have to pick their poison, a situation in which Gugliotta thrived alongside Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury in Minnesota for two years. The Suns picked up Rogers, a 6-7, 255-pound banger, in hopes that he'd provide a post-up presence and an inside threat. But Rogers has to prove that last year -- when he arrived at camp with the Clippers woefully out of shape and disinterested -- was a fluke. If Rogers regains the form of his first few years in the league, the Suns are stacked here.
Center Miller is the wild card. His shot-blocking skills and passing ability are tailor-made for this Suns team, but being able to put them to good use is contingent on Miller staying on the floor -- and away from the refrigerator. He says all that is behind him, but he's said that before.
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