The Phoenix Suns played in the Western Conference Finals last season but the future is uncertain for them. Amare Stoudemire has opted out of his contract and GM Steve Kerr has stepped down. Could the Suns be downsizing after a trip to the Conference Finals? They need to either bring back Stoudemire or bring in a player like David Lee or Carlos Boozer. If the Suns downsize at power forward they might look to start over. If they do that they might be moving Steve Nash and Jason Richardson. It basically comes down to the Suns need to bring back Amare Stoudemire in 2010-11 and beyond.

The Suns have picked 22-year old power forward Dwayne Collins with the #60 overall pick in the NBA Draft. Collins played in 29 games (28 starts) for the Miami (Fl) Hurricanes and he averaged 12.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. He played in 126 games (99 starts) in his college career and he averaged 9.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. The Suns are thin along the front line so maybe Collins could get some P.T. as a rookie.

The Phoenix Suns have selected power forward Gani Lawal with the 46th overall pick of the NBA Draft. Lawal played in 36 games (all starts) for Georgia Tech last season and he averaged 13.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He played in 99 games (91 starts) in college and he averaged 11.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. The Suns were lucky to find a tough forward like Lawal sitting for them in the 2nd round.

37-year old small forward Grant Hill has exercised his player option for the 2010-11 season with the Suns. Hill played in 81 games (all starts) for the Suns last season and he averaged 30.0 minutes, 11.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He shot 43.8% from three point range which is off the charts good. Hill has now played in 233 games (216 starts) in his three years with the Suns and he has averaged 30.5 minutes, 12.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. It’s good for the Suns to have Hill around again in 2010-11 as he’s still a very solid all-around basketball player.

The Suns are going to have to make some hard decisions this summer. First up is Amare Stoudemire who is going to opt out of his contract thus becoming a unrestricted free agent. I think he’s going to leave as he has turned down offers to extend his contract. Grant Hill is saying that he’s going to exercise his player option for 2010-11 valued at $3.4 million bucks and he’s definitely worth that kind of money. Channing Frye is going to opt out of his player option for 2010-11 and he might get an offer too big for the Suns to match although he hasn’t closed the door on coming back. Louis Amundson is a player the Suns would like to keep but he really improved this year so he might get a decent offer from some team. Jarron Collins will likely be allowed to walk away as I don’t see the Suns making him an offer.