If we kept him, we would be giving up on Warrick, Clark, Lawal, and Collins. He immediately becomes the backup PF and prevents us from developing them. That diminishes the value of these other players. On the other hand, he is another chip we could use to trade.
In the end, though I think we should only sign him if he can’t find a deal somewhere else. I hate to give up the rebounding and hustle though.

and that he might be traded.
Lou could be very valuable in a package trade mid-season. We also don’t know how D. Collins will fare, and we don’t know about injuries. I’d rather have Lou than J. Collins or any of the other bigs on the market – he plays bigger.

I lived in the dorms at UNLV when a super quiet freshman named Lou Amundson moved onto my floor. We mostly just did the guy head nod in the hallway and never really talked, but along with Marion (and Banks, unfortunately), Lou’s been a Runnin Rebel connection for me and a favorite for all the reasons everyone else loves him.

That said, he seems to belong on a team that’ll give him 20 minutes a night. I am for helping him as much as possible by signing him and trading him somewhere he can thrive.

because I agree with 2NASHTY, I would rather have Lou on the court right now than Clark or even D. Collins. Anyways, if we are worried about playing time, for the younger guys, is the D League really out of the question? I know we sent Clark down there for three games so he could have more playing time. Why not do that for a longer period and see if he can’t start to take away the mental aspects of the game.

That being said, he does deserve to play more, but if the FO offers one or two years, that can let Lou be on the look out for a better situation in a few years.

Lou deserves better than this. If we keep him their aren’t enough minutes to go around. We have to give minutes to Clark and Lawal to see what we have in them. I hope Lou gets paid and has plenty of playing time wherever he goes.
Lou if no one signs you come to Oz and play for the Adelaide 36ers. The weather is the same and we can give you all the cool steak and beer you want.

Lou is a good example and an inspiration for the kids not only in Phoenix but all over the world.

His patience, very tough ‘give-it-all’ play and humility is very rare in the NBA.

How can Sarver refuse such a player who actually bikes to work?

With the confidence Gentry will give him, and the coaching Cartwright will give him, I expect him to be a starter when Grant retires and Hedo moves into the starting 3.
     If Lou were to improve his FT shooting and develop his mid range jumper, he could win out as the 2nd team PF. Let’s see what happens.

That is where I go to ride the midway rides and eat corn dogs and deep-fried Twinkies. What does fair have to do with this? Lou has options, we have options. If he finds that his best option is to take whatever role and contract we would offer him, then he should do that. Yeah, he’d get very little playing time as our 3rd string backup C/PF, but then again, look how much time Jarron Collins got last year. Injuries happen and he’d be a great insurance policy. Lawal and Dwayne Collins? Those guys might be players someday, but they’re mysteries right now. We can hardly rely on them.

NO WAY. Lou is a good defender, but too small to be a center. PHX should sign a real center— Mark Blount would be pretty good. If the Suns got one More REAL Center they would be the best team in the WC and a champion team, no doubt about it.

We need room for Gani Lawal and Dwayne Collins— they will play bigger roles that most think this year. We need to drop guys who don’r really want to be in PHX. We just need to get draft picks for the guys who don’t really want to play here.

That would include Clark, and possibly Dudley (if he is wanting to go, and feeling crowded out. We could then pick up someone like Scottie Renyolds as well.

Get draft picks and draft a great Center next year.

For now, we just need a back up Center who is big and can play good defense and OK offense, with decent rebounding— As opposed to OK defense (due to fouls), poor rebounding, and no offense (Jarron Collins).

Don’t give any things we need anyway and get the last piece we need ( one more true Center).

he brings tremendous heat and heart to a team. I say offer Lou a contract that gives him a raise for his performance last season. Put him in the mix and let him and every other forward on the team fight for minutes. If Lou continues to improve his hands, shot, and free throw shooting, there is no reason not to have him on the team. He will challenge every other pf on the team to play harder and earn minutes. If Lawal, Turk or whoever cannot out produce Lou, then that person will have to sit. In a way, I was disappointed with the seemingly small amount of improvement Lou made in his shooting last year. He is a terrific athlete and has size and strength. There must be someone out there who could help him with his shooting stroke.
Sure the Suns have signed some players for more money than Lou would be offered. If Lou beats them out in a fair competition then you could get rid/trade the other players. If Hakim Warrik can’t out rebound, out defend and out shoot Lou… As far as giving PT to the rookies, forget it.
Whoever wrote that Lou is not a good defender apparently doesn’t watch the Suns play. He is not only a good one on one defender, he is a terrific post defender. Watch the games and you will see Lou come from the weak side time after time to cover the post and challenge and block a great many shots. He has the defensive back of his team mates. OFFER LOU A CONTRACT. If he can’t earn minutes then that is the way it is. I sure wouldn’t bet against him.

One more Center like Mark Blount would make the Suns a Championship team.

The Suns almost got past the LA Fakers this time, but Stat and Fyre were just not enough to defend (Stat never really specialized at Defense, Frye is learning to defend and rebound better). Lopez did well, but he was coming back and couldn’t play as many minutes as we needed then.

One more True Center is the key for the Suns to overcome a team when we must play two centers (Fakers in the playoffs, etc.) on the field at times. Also keep in mind that just a couple wins in the regular season ( and winning the other regular season game in PhX vs. LAL) would have put the Suns as the #1 seed.

If we have Rolo and one more True Center, other teams won’t be able to dominate with size, and the Suns will be virtually unstoppable in the playoffs.

Mark Blount would need to get in shape a bit, but he is a “Grant Hill” type of player (experienced, and wants a championship), a good defender, good rebounder, 6-7 points a game.

Another True Center would only need to get 6 points, 6 rebounds, 20 minutes for the Suns to be the best in the Western Conf. Rolo can do the rest ( I expect that he will get 14 points, 8 rebounds a game, now that STAT is gone.

The point is, we don’t need to have an all- star back-up Center, and shouldn’t trade away to get one.

Give up players who want more money for draft picks, and we can get a top quality Center in the first round next year. We just need a True Center who can meet the above qualifications for the next 3 years or so.

I expect Collins and Lawal to be played for 5-10 minutes a night in games, to help them develop. Lawal and Collins could eventually replace 70-80% of Stat’s offense, and can be better defenders than even Lou is.

Dwanye Collins is a PF who can operate in the Offense while guarding a Big Man on Defense (it would help if he were on with Frye.)

The point about Dudley and Clark is that we should get draft picks for them if they don’t really want to play here.

I would clear out Clark now (not a good fit for our team [more so than Lou or Dudley}). IF, that is, IF, Dudley wants more money and playing time, let’s see if we can get something we need (like draft pocks)— from a team that would like him and play him (Nets, Knicks, Bulls, etc.).

Suns must develop what we have gotten in the draft, rather than keeping what doesn’t work, what the Suns don’t play, or what won’t really improve.

Otherwise, we will have wasted our draft picks again.

Why keep Lou even now: Reason 1) chemistry chemistry chemistry – if the Suns learned nothing else last year chemistry matters – I think Suns are totally underestimating the % of that chemistry that came from Lou – he was always on the court when the 2nd line made their playoff comebacks last year, the Suns may have already burned that bridge but I’m hoping not (I would have kept Lou over signing Warrick given (given we signed Turkoglu & Childress) and Reason 2) we really dont ‘have a 4 so whose to say we wont’ see Turkoglu or Warrick playing 3 – still have 10 players but some nights depending on match-ups you may want to go bigger (or smaller) – so the more high energy, proven pieces the better.

And he’s a great insurance policy if one of the 3 ‘new guys’ doesn’t ‘work out’ – chemistry, character, hustle, etc.