Phx-Suns.Net

4. Embrace the strength of the team, which is the collaboration of starring point guards — Bledsoe and Goran Dragic.

It's clear the Suns don't have to do this, as Dragic emerged as a MVP candidate when Bledsoe was on the shelf, and the team remains very excited about Archie Goodwin, who scored 29 points with extended minutes in the season finale.

Yet the high-octane pairing is what made the Suns so unique, even if it's a luxury that will require great care and commitment. To wit:

Dragic has outperformed his current contract (4 years, $30 million). He will rank far below Bledsoe in salary when the two return next season. Dragic can then opt out of his contract after 2014-15 by declining his $7.5 million player option.

So, can the Suns afford two big-dollar point guards and still construct a championship team around them? The answer is yes, as long as Robert Sarver isn't averse to short-term luxury tax.

Len to summer in Phoenix

Quite a few of the Suns talked about being an NBA anomaly and spending their summers in Phoenix. It is not more important for anyone than rookie Alex Len, who lost his summer last season to ankle surgeries and crutches.

"It's going to be a huge summer, just getting healthy, getting stronger and getting better," Len said. "I'm going to try to stay here the whole summer and get better.

"I need to play as many pickup games as I can. Missing last summer hurt me a lot. I just need to try to play as much as I can because the game was too fast for me this year. It is going to slow down with getting playing time."

Len said he will not return to Ukraine, his home country that is torn with civil unrest, because he can get the best coaching here. Len, the No. 5 pick in June, made 42 appearances this season and averaged 8.6 minutes, 2.0 points and 2.4 rebounds.

carey wrote:I couldn't make up my mind if I was going to continue with weekly threads, go to monthly, or one thread this off season. Thanks for making my mind up for me. Heh.

Mori Chu wrote:Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the CotY votes were gathered before the Suns had even been eliminated from the playoff race. So even if we'd squeaked in, the vote probably would have been the same.

SDC wrote:

Mori Chu wrote:Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the CotY votes were gathered before the Suns had even been eliminated from the playoff race. So even if we'd squeaked in, the vote probably would have been the same.

correct. but if the suns were a "sure" playoff team like the warriors (not much difference recordswise between them and memphis in the end), hornacek would have won COTY. all the uncertainty on whether the suns will make it or not didnt help hornacek's case. the suns were in and out of the playoffs in the last 3 weeks of the regular season, and with a tough schedule playing mostly away vs quality teams, most COTY voters rightly predicted the suns would not have made it, and this factored into their decision making to give the award to a SURE THING (popovich).

Superbone wrote:Not Suns news but I don't know where to put it:

RIP Jack Ramsay.

carey wrote:

Superbone wrote:Not Suns news but I don't know where to put it:

RIP Jack Ramsay.

Oh man, Doctor Jack? I didn't see it.

“I think it’s unlikely we bring in three rookies to the Suns next year,” said Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough. “Obviously we have Alex and Archie, who we’re high on."