Phoenix Suns
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An opposing team's scout sizes up the Suns

This whole thing with Shawn Marion -- who before training camp was basically asking to be traded -- has always been an issue. And in the past they've always been able to put it behind them. But I don't know if they can manage it the entire year by keeping things status quo. It wouldn't surprise me if the mood is growing to trade him, though Marion's agent is Dan Fegan and a lot of teams won't want to deal with him because he's so difficult ...

Around the league, Marion is known as a great rebounder, but there are some people who consider a lot of his rebounds as 'fluff' rebounds -- for instance, they say he'll get every free throw rebound to pad his stats. They say he doesn't get the tough rebounds in crunch time. He's also somebody who disappears for stretches of games. He's an athletic guy but not a skilled player. He has that inconsistent shot that can go in for stretches and then he can go cold for just as long a time. He's not a great post-up player and it's hard to run things for him, which he apparently takes as a slight, but his skill level doesn't enable him to finish those kinds of plays. ...

He feels underappreciated, but I don't think he -- like a lot of us -- realizes the pluses and minuses of his own game. As a defender he's so-so; he can overplay and create steals, but he isn't a tenacious defender. At times he was excellent defensively in the playoffs against San Antonio, but his lack of consistency is tied around his effort and moodiness -- am I being respected or not, am I important or not. This has always been under the surface in Phoenix, but the team has always put it away as Shawn being Shawn. Is enough now enough? We'll see ...

The one trade that makes sense to me would be to send him to the Jazz for Andrei Kirilenko, who sounds like he wants out of Utah. Kirilenko would play power forward for Phoenix and Marion would be the small forward for Utah, which would make them both happy. Marion doesn't like playing the 4, but he doesn't realize that he gets to take slower defenders off the dribble and that he would have a much harder time playing against the LeBrons and Carmelos every night. But I would think if that trade was going to happen, it would have been done already ...

A bigger unresolved question for the Suns is whether they can win a championship without being an excellent defensive team. I love their style of play, but I just don't think it's built for the playoffs. That's not a judgment call: I just haven't seen anybody win a title the way they're trying to win it. Until I see them do it, I won't believe it can be done ...

Steve Nash will turn 34 by the All-Star break, and they've got to find a way to limit his minutes. Any game in which they're up by a lot or down by a lot, they've got to shut him down. Every year they say they're going to do it but they just can't bring themselves to, mainly because they've had so little confidence in his backups. Marcus Banks has been a huge disappointment in that role ...

Nash was as good last year as he's ever been. His basketball IQ is off the charts, as is his unselfishness and his willingness to get others involved. His personality, along with Mike D'Antoni's, dominates and sets the tone for the rest of that team. When the star is so unselfish, it becomes easy for the other guys to be unselfish: He gives me the ball, I give him the ball ...

The question is, How do you defend him? Some teams would want him to score: Play him one-on-one and never double him, make him score 50 if he can. The alternative is to collapse on him when he penetrates, which leaves their shooters open and naturally he's able to find them for the wide-open threes that just kill you ...

San Antonio took them out of their style in the playoffs by playing tough and physical against them. The physical play really got to them. Then also the one thing San Antonio does better than anybody is help on defense. They kept Nash out of the paint, and every time he saw an opening, one of the Spurs was there to fill it up. The hole opened up and closed right away before he could get through it ...

Because of Nash's age, this is a team that is running out of time. Marion's demands have created another issue. They're starting to feel pressure that it may never happen for them. In some ways, they got a bad pull in having to face San Antonio so early in the playoffs, and then with the suspension to Amaré Stoudemire I think everybody felt cheated that we didn't get to see the two best teams fight it out on the court ...

The most interesting thing about Grant Hill coming to Phoenix is how he will fit into that offense. Usually they put four guys on the perimeter and one big guy inside. Now they're adding a mid-range shooter -- Hill is not a deep shooter from the three-point line. Now they're going to have two guys inside that line. They could look at it as an advantage -- maybe it presents options that they haven't been able to do in the past. They could put Grant down on the block and Stoudemire at the top of the key, which would present you with the dilemma of having to leave Stoudemire to double Grant in the post; or if you double off one of their perimeter guys, then Grant is a good enough passer to find the open man. Coaches get bored and they're always looking to put in new stuff, so this could be a refreshing deal for D'Antoni ...

I'm prepared to see Grant play different positions. If Boris Diaw can play the high post in that offense, then maybe they'll use Grant in new ways to create mismatches. In certain situations, he could even be used as a backup point guard to bring the ball up. ...

This is a good move for Grant because D'Antoni is a good coach for veteran players. He's not the type who would push Nash or Grant to play if they're hurt. He'll take care of them in practice, and when they practice it won't go long. Phoenix has done a good job in recent years of not suffering a great volume of injuries, and it has a lot to do with the way they play and practice ...

If Stoudemire is ever going to become an MVP candidate, his next step is to become a help defender like Tim Duncan is for San Antonio. Stoudemire has the size and athleticism to be active defensively and help cover the entire court, and it's obvious that he doesn't understand the game as well as Duncan does. I also wonder if he realizes how valuable it could be for him if he became an elite defender. He's still a young guy who looks like he's caught up in his stats, and he doesn't have the unselfishness and intelligence for the game that Duncan has. But then very few big guys do have that ...

One of Stoudemire's issues on defense is that he's always trying to hit the home run. He tries to block every shot, he tries to be intimidating. He needs to learn good solid position defensively: His feet are set, his hands are up and he's not trying to hit the ball out of the park every time. If he was solid, he would limit his fouls, be more consistent and be on the floor more. Every once in a while he'll make the right defensive play, but he comes through for them inconsistently. There are times he blows you away with his intensity, his desire, his work ethic; then there are those other times when he blows you away the other way with his lack of intensity and desire. He's hot and cold and it's hard to win at the highest level when one of your key guys is that way ...

I think everyone feels Stoudemire has turned the corner on his recovery from microfracture knee surgery two years ago. He was recovering from a minor scope on his other knee in preseason, but the way he played last year it looked as if he's recovered from his major physical issue ...

Diaw got heavy last season but he was looking much better and more active in preseason this year. He tends to defer, but the Suns need him to be more assertive and play with more energy, the way he did two years ago when he was the Most Improved Player. ...

Another guy who needs to come up big is Leandro Barbosa, who was a big disappointment in the playoffs against San Antonio after winning the league's Sixth Man Award during the season. He's a truly aggressive player with one of the quickest first steps in the league, but he was another guy who was taken out of his style by the Spurs.