Nick Young...in the valley of the sun?

via www1.pictures.zimbio.com

This free agency, short as it may be, could be the best chance our team has to get the last couple pieces we desperately need. Who needs to be a terrible team in the meantime when we have so many bargaining chips. Here is a list of expendable players we have just lying around on our team.

Vince Carter - He makes way to much money for the inconsistent scoring threat that he is.

Mickael Pietrus - Doesn't really fit in with our team, not to mention he has voiced his desire to leave.

Hakim Warrick - Get this Amare wannabe off of our team.

Aaron Brooks - He is actually worse then then the guy we traded for him...

So we have four guys that really don't deserve to be on this team, honestly I won't miss these guys if they leave. That being said, they can function on other teams better then they can on this team which means we may have some decent bartering tools for getting better players. And if this is not enough to work with we have a couple other players I could stand to see parted with as well. Robin Lopez hasn't proved himself, but I feel like he deserves one last chance. Gani Lawal since he hasn't really played any NBA basketball seems like more of a risk then Markieff Morris who's game is better designed to adapt to pro basketball. Other then those two though, I don't want to see anyone else leave this team, including Steve Nash or Grant Hill.

So with all these chips for playing with, who will we go after. My first instinct would be Michael Beasley which seems to be becoming a more widely shared idea, however there is the issue of his supposed attitude issue. Now I think that if any team can turn around a problem player like Beasley it would be the Suns. We have a history of doing just that, if you look back and recall Jason Richardson was known as a sort of "bad boy" as well. He managed to come to Phoenix and turn his life around and launch himself as a more important player at the 2 guard position. So the fears that come with having a problem child don't worry me as much as most. That being said, he is more of a power forward/small forward and we have a plethora of them.

The other option that I think would work well is actually Nick Young from the Washington Wizards. The reason being that he is a helluva isolation shooting guard who can create shots for himself and nock down 3's with the best of them. Since the suns have never really had a dynamic isolation 2 guard we have struggled to win games in the clutch. In the past we have had to rely on a point guard who's first instinct is to pass the ball, and while he has delivered those blows countless times it would be nice to have that second option. I think Nick Young can be that guy, he seems to understand when big games are needed out of him. He hasn't had much freedom to show it quite yet, especially on a terrible team like the Wizards who struggle to win games. However I think that it has toughened him up giving him the backbone to accept the weight that comes with taking and missing a game winning shot. A toughness that will translate to wins in my opinion. If you don't believe me you can take a look at his stats, now there will be some alarm bells that go off at first glance, but upon further examination you can see the reasons why the bad sides will be corrected with age and experiences and the good sides will only get better.

Nick Young

mpg: 31.8

ppg: 17.4

apg: 1.2

fg%: 44

3pt%: 38

rpg: 2.7

So what we see here is an above average rookie scorer, who does so at a decent percentage (about what kobe shoots), but also a guy who doesn't pass the ball very well or rebound to his potential. I think both the positives and negatives will improve with a good leader like Grant Hill showing him around. The only stat that really sticks out and worries me is the assists category, but with Nash teaching him to pass and Gentry giving him an offense that isn't stagnant we should see that go up to about 4 or 5 a game. There are some major positives to his scoring ability, first of all that 17.4 will surely go up next year. Now that he has found spots on the floor that he likes and how to get separation in the NBA he should see that average break 20 a game without much work. Also his 3pt percentage will only go up with a point guard who can get him the ball where he likes it and when. Overall I think he works within our team concept well, and does not have a personality issue like Michael Beasley. He will be more of a project the Beasley, but I think he has more upside as well.

Here's to hoping we can scoop one of them up before another team realizes what a catch those two could be.