With all the media hoopla surrounding the Phoenix Suns this last year and off-season, one would expect this team to be 30-52 next year. However, I am here to tell everyone that the reports of the Suns demise have been greatly exaggerated.

The Suns are coming off a 46 win season in which the team began only 28-23 while Terry Porter was the coach.  After that debacle, Kerr and Sarver realized that the Suns roster thrives with an uptempo style and promptly replaced the offensively challenged Porter with Alvin Gentry. The Suns went 18-13 the rest of the way and scoring was greatly increased. In addition, there were 5 separate games last year when the Suns were beaten by either a buzzer beater or lost the lead in the final minute. With 5 more wins, the Suns would have been the 6th seed in the Western Conference last season.

This off-season really began when Shaquille O’Neal was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. The team has already stated that neither player will really have an impact on the Suns next season. However, moving Shaq will have a huge positive impact on the Suns. Everyone is well aware that Steve Nash is not an excellent defender; coupled with Shaq on the pick and roll turns into career nights for opposing Point Guards. With the pieces that the Suns currently have, I expect Amare Stoudemire to play a lot more Center. Amare believe it or not, is not as susceptible to the pick and roll due to his speed and leaping ability. This may be the one and only time I will say this, but Amare at Center is a defensive upgrade for the Suns.  As it stands today, it looks more and more likely that Grant Hill will wind up with the Knicks or Celtics; thus allowing Jared Dudley to step into the starting SF role.  Here would be today’s starting lineup:

C: Amare Stoudemire PF: Earl Clark SF: Jared Dudley SG: Jason Richardson PG: Steve Nash.

So to summarize, the Suns starting lineup still has 2 premier scorers (Stoudemire and Richardson) and one of the best Point Guards of all-time in Steve Nash. Jared Dudley is a hard worker and solid defender and that is exactly the kind of attitude Earl Clark needs to mimic, especially considering his lack of focus at times at Louisville. The quickness of this team will be simply unmatched by any team in the NBA. The bench is still pretty solid with Leandro Barbosa, Lou Amundson, Alando Tucker, Goran Dragic and Robin Lopez. I am not saying the Suns are in the echelon of the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Magic and Cavaliers; rather they could fight for as good as the 3 seed in the West with their current roster. It is early still in the off-season, but what other playoff team in the West other than the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs have improved? That being said, the Suns could be one piece or one major injury from being in the thick of things in the West.

The Suns could easily fly under the radar and be written off completely for next season. If they can acquire a decent big-man such as Channing Frye (as has been rumored) in Free-Agency, they may exceed a lot of people’s expectations in 2010, especially the media’s.