Channing Frye was great last season, but the Suns should still look for an upgrade. (Photo Courtesy of Chelsea, Flickr)
When Amar’e Stoudemire left for the Big Apple, the Suns were left with a huge hole at the power forward spot. Nearly a year since STAT joined the Knicks, the organization is still looking for a starting caliber player at that spot.
During last offseason, Phoenix acquired Hedo Turkoglu from Toronto to place him in Stoudemire’s old spot. In only 25 games in a Suns uniform, the Turkoglu experiment at the four spot was a complete disaster. The undersized Turkoglu failed to get comfortable offensively and was a liability defensively against many teams power forwards. Turkoglu eventually became part of the deal that brought Marcin Gortat over from Orlando.
After the failed Turkoglu experiment, the Suns then turned to Channing Frye to start at the four spot. As a starter, Frye was arguably one of the Suns best players during the second half of the season. He had career highs in points, rebounds and blocks and drastically improved his game down inside.
Despite Frye’s great season, the Suns will and should be looking for a starting power forward this offseason. Frye showed improve in his game, but he still isn’t your prototypical power forward type. He is a bit undersized and isn’t the great rebounder that you want from your power forward spot. Neither was Stoudemire, but he more than made up for it for his athleticism on the offensive end. Frye doesn’t get those easy baskets like Stoudemire did frequently.
How the Suns can get that power forward could prove to be difficult. This seasons draft is one of the worst talent wise in recent memory. All the good big men are projects and it will probably take at least two to three years for them to be contributors at best. The Suns would have to hit the jackpot with picking at 13 and they haven’t had a lot of luck in recent drafts.
There isn’t a ton of top level talent on the free agent market either. Zach Randolph was expected to be one of the top free agents in this year’s class, but Memphis locked him up during a few weeks back because of his superb play in these playoffs so far. With the Suns financial situation, he was a long shot to be in a Suns uniform anyways.
The Celtics have both Glen Davis and Troy Murphy who will be free agents. There is a better chance of Murphy being let go than Davis since he is older and has struggled with injuries the past couple of seasons. Because of that, he probably wouldn’t cost a ton of money. That would make him an attractive option for Phoenix.
Kenyon Martin, Al Thornton and Chuck Hayes also will be unrestricted free agents during this summer and could be guys that the Suns show interest in. Martin is getting up there in age, but he is still a solid player at this stage of his career. He would want the most money between the three.
Thornton is a guy that the Suns have long showed interested in, but it is scary how similar he is to Hakim Warrick because of his athleticism and lack of ideal size for the four spot. Hayes is a great rebounder for his size, but it is hard to see Houston letting him go after he put up career numbers across the board.
Phoenix’s best bet is more than likely through a trade. Throughout the season, many Suns fans were asking for the organization to ask Sacramento about the availability of Jason Thompson. The 24-year-old reminds some of a poor man’s Stoudemire. It could prove tough to get Thompson though, especially with the Kings expected to let Samuel Dalembert walk. A Thompson/DeMarcus Cousins frontcourt could be nasty for the next several seasons. Why would the Kings want to jeopardize that by trading Thompson?
The Suns will have some options to look at for the hole at their starting power forward spot this offseason, but with not having a lot of money to spend and being limited in the draft, it could be hard for Phoenix to make a move. The organization will have to get creative by either making a move through the draft or a trade or moving a contract or two in order to become active in the free agent market.
Cross your fingers that happens because it hasn’t for several offseasons now.
Original Story:
http://www.sunszoo.com/2011/05/phoeni...
