With Amare Stoudemire gone to play in New York, are the Suns doomed to lose without their star power forward? I certainly hope not. I don’t think they will be the same team without him, but they do have great players and I believe they will find a way to win. Even though Amare has left, with the recent additions of Hakim Warrick and Josh Childress, and trade with the Raptors giving Leandro Barbosa for Hedo Turkoglu, they should be able to help enough. With Steve Nash leading this team, he is one of the best point guards ever. The Sun’s starting five will be Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Hedo Turkoglu, and Robin Lopez. The Suns also have a great bench that proved itself greatly in the 2010 playoffs with Goran Dragic, Louis Amundson (Free Agent), Jared Dudley, and Channing Frye. Also the recent signing of their second round draft pick of power forward Gani Lawai out of Georgia Tech who averaged 13.1 points and 8.5 rebounds last season.
Don’t get me wrong, they will not be the same without Amare because he was such a powerhouse force inside. They have not made a quality replacement of Amare, but they are obviously setting up their team to win without him next season. The Suns still have one of the best 3-point shooting teams, maybe even better with their new additions. However, they are going to need to find someone to take over for Amare’s excellent play and tremendous performance during both the regular season and the playoffs. I believe they will still make the playoffs next season and be a tough team to beat, but without Amare, or a top player to play as their big man, then they are not going to make it to the end of the playoffs until they find a better replacement. They need to make sure they resign Louis Amundson, and use their energetic and outside shooting bench to power through next season.
With both Steve Nash and Grant Hill at ages 36 and 37 respectively, they do not have too many more years in them. Both are still great players and their age won’t affect the play of their game except for decreasing stamina until they retire. However, I don’t know if any player has more endurance than Nash who had his right eye swollen shut after getting stitches from taking an elbow from Tim Duncan and continued to play and sweep the San Antonio Spurs. This was not the first time Nash was injured in the playoffs and continued to play. When he broke his nose against the Spurs in the playoffs a couple seasons ago, or when he even broke his nose again in the series against the Lakers in the most recent playoffs after colliding heads with Derek Fisher. Nash proceeded to snap his own nose back into place on the court so he could keep playing. Nash has to be the toughest players in the game.
By position, the Suns are pretty much the same team as they were last year. Their point guards are excellent with Nash and Goran Dragic to back him up, shooting guards are still great with J-rich and newly acquired Josh Childress. Small Forwards are good with Hill and Dudley, centers are good with Lopez and Frye, and the question is will their power forward position be solidified with Turkoglu, Warrick, Amundson, Earl Clark, or rookie Gani Lawal? The Suns are still a great team, however, being a Phoenix Suns fan myself, I am afraid without Amare they won’t get to the finals without another top player in the game. However, I do have hope for the Suns, and hope one day they will bring me a championship.
Original Story:
http://fansided.com/2010/07/13/the-su...
