Amare Stoudemire had the best season of his career last year. The potential that he has is immeasurable at this point, but he still needs to work much harder on his defense and rebounding this off-season. You can see his flashes of defensive greatness throughout the year—but then he gets lazy at times and makes foolish fouls.
He has shown that he is virtually unstoppable on the offensive side, and has the athletic potential to be an All-NBA first-team defender. Next year, he needs to establish offensively that this is his team and he is offensive option number one.
He performs a nearly perfect pick-and-roll with Steve Nash and should get more passes down in the post against the slower power forwards.
Steve Nash obviously lost a step last season. It really showed in the playoffs when he became a defensive liability while on the court against Tony Parker. He was sloppy with the ball and had many turnovers in critical situations.
He attempted to change his style of play to adjust to O’Neal throughout the season, but it inevitably led to his poor production in the playoffs. He had absolutely no chance of keeping up with Tony Parker defensively. He needs to be in better shape next year and be held accountable defensively.
The Suns also need a dependable backup point guard to relieve Nash of his heavy minutes. It is becoming more and more important to have a strong point guard in this league, and Steve Nash needs to prove his best days are not behind him.
Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa are both under contract for next year. These players both have great potential but are very inconsistent and could not be counted on in critical situations.
Barbosa is a lightning-quick player that can take anyone off of the dribble. This year, he changed his style, settling for jump shots and three pointers.
Barbosa is at his best when he drives to the basket off the dribble and creates offense for himself. He needs to develop strong confidence in what he does best and become the NBA star that he can be.
Raja Bell has always been known as a great defender, but struggled to guard Manu Ginobili in the playoffs this season. He suffered several injuries which negatively impacted his offensive numbers as well.
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