Roster
# Player Age Ht./Wt. Salary
1 Amare Stoudemire 25 6′10″/249 $15,070,550
3 Boris Diaw 26 6′8″/235 $9,000,000
10 Leandro Barbosa 25 6′3″/202 $6,100,000
BEEP! BEEP! Speed. It’s what Barbosa’s game is dependent on and also the name of a decent Keanu Reeves movie. Let’s hope Barbosa never gets a peg leg, because if he does, well…we can always call him Captain Barbosa I suppose. He does have a solid 3P shot, but a lot of that is dependent on Nash creating for him and the space he gets to shoot because of his speed. Two years ago he started to develop a nice midrange pull-up, but he regressed a lot last year, though he still put up solid numbers. Barbosa’s speed and long wingspan give him potential on defense, but like the rest of the team, it’s only flashed almost never. His contract isn’t too bad, especially considering the eight figure salaries demanded by players like Monta Ellis and Ben Gordon.
13 Steve Nash 34 6′3″/178 $12,250,000
15 Robin Lopez 20 7′0″/255 $1,623,720
17 Louis Amundson 25 6′9″/225 $797,581
Undersized center, but pretty athletic. If the Suns running game slows down it won’t be because of him. Expect him to hustle every time he comes in. Not a complete stiff on offense like Steven Hunter. I’ve heard comparisons to David Lee and Mark Madsen. If he doesn’t he won’t be around for long. Also, has a samurai haircut going on, which could make for a cool pregame video. Vaguely basketball-related, but it would be kind of cool.
19 Raja Bell 31 6′5″/215 $5,000,000
22 Matt Barnes 28 6′7″/226 $1,200,000
29 Alando Tucker 24 6′6″/205 $1,001,880
I absolutely hated this pick. Not with Nash heir apparent Petteri Koponen on the board! But Alando’s grown on me a little, he’s put up some big numbers in the D-League, so that’s got to count for something, right? Scouting reports peg him as a solid all-around player. He’s supposed to be in great shape coming into the season, and rumor has it he improved his 3P shot. We’ll see if he gets any more PT to show the organization what he’s got this season.
32 Shaquille O’Neal 36 7′1″/325 $20,000,000
33 Grant Hill 35 6′8″/225 $1,976,400
44 Sean Singletary 23 6′0″/185 $442,114
