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.

With the 37-year-old Grant Hill still making big contributions to the Phoenix Suns and their current playoff run against the Portland Trail Blazers, it got me thinking about just how amazing this guy’s career has been.  He has gone through six major surgeries in his career, five on his ankles and one hernia surgery.  He is a starter for the Phoenix Suns and averaged 11.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 0.7 steals while shooting 48% from the field, 44% from three, and 82% from the free-throw line.  Through two playoff games against the Trail Blazers so far, he has upped his averages 12.0 point, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assist.  He only had 4 points in game one, but in the Suns’ game two win he had 20 points and 8 rebounds in only 25 minutes.  It is pretty impressive that Hill is still able to play at such high level, especially when you consider his age and all of the injuries he had to battle through.  If not for those injuries, Hill probably would have ended up as a Hall of Fame player.  He deserves a ton of respect for the way he battled through all those injuries and has still been able to put together a great career.

The Trailblazers and Suns both head into this series with starters out of action. It will be interesting to see how both teams respond. Here is a quick look at the matchups in this series:

Point Guard: Andre Miller is one of the most underrated point guards in the NBA. He usually is a pass first player but he has been shooting more than usual because the Blazers need him to. With Brandon Roy out for this series I see Miller to continue shooting a lot more than usual. Miller played in 82 games (66 starts) for the Blazers this season and he averaged 30.5 minutes, 14.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Steve Nash is one of the best point guards in NBA history bar none. He can score more if he wanted to because he is a excellent shooter but he likes to pass keeping all of his teammates involved offensively. Nash played in 81 games (all starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 32.8 minutes, 16.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 11.0 assists per game.

EDGE: SUNS

Shooting Guard: Rudy Fernandez will have to start at shooting guard in this series due to Brandon Roy’s injury. Fernandez is a streak shooter so we will find out really quickly in this series if he is going to help the Blazers’ cause. He played in 62 games (2 starts) for the Blazers this season and he averaged 23.2 minutes, 8.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game.

Jason Richardson is a high flyer for the Suns who likes to get out and run the fast break. He played in 79 games (76 starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 31.5 minutes, 15.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Richardson can literally take over a game when he it hot.

EDGE: SUNS

Small Forward: Nicolas Batum started his season late but he wrestled the starting job away from Martell Webster. Batum played in 37 games (25 starts) for the Blazers this season and he averaged 24.8 minutes, 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Batum is known for his defense but Grant Hill of the Suns is not a big threat offensively.

Grant Hill is a warrior. Despite having doctors repeatedly telling him to quit playing basketball he kept plugging along. Hill played in 81 games (all starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 30.0 minutes, 11.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Hill is the consummate team player so he will do whatever the Suns need him to in this series.

EDGE: EVEN

Power Forward: This should be a fun matchup to watch. LaMarcus Aldridge isn’t as big as Amare Stoudemire but he is probably the best player on the Blazers for this series. Aldridge played in 78 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers this season and he has averaged 37.5 minutes, 17.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

Amare Stoudemire has been on a mission since the trade deadline. He has played in 82 games (all starts) for the Suns this season and he has averaged 34.6 minutes, 23.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 blocked shot per game. With free agency right around the corner the Suns will let Stoudemire carry them offensively and defensively.

EDGE: SUNS

CENTER: The Trailblazers will likely try to get the ball inside to Marcus Camby more than usual as Channing Frye will be starting at center in this series and he is downright soft. On defense the Blazers will probably use Camby on Stoudemire with Aldridge on Frye. Camby played in 23 games (all starts) for the Blazers after coming over from the Clippers in a trade and he averaged 31.2 minutes, 7.0 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.0 blocked shots per game.

Channing Frye will move back into the starting lineup for this series with Robin Lopez out of action with a back injury. Frye played in 81 games (41 starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 27.0 minutes, 11.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. The Suns hope that Frye will be on his game with the three point shot.

EDGE: TRAILBLAZERS

BENCH: The Trailblazers will likely only be using three players a lot of the bench in this series. Martell Webster will likely be the player used the most by the Blazers of this bunch. He will play both SG and SF in this series. Webster played in 82 games (49 starts) for the Blazers this season and he averaged 24.5 minutes, 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Juwan Howard will be the top big man off the bench for the Blazers in this series. He played in 73 games (27 starts) for the Trailblazers this season and he averaged 22.4 minutes, 6.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Jerryd Bayless will also likely get a lot of P.T. in this series. He played in 74 games (11 starts) for the T-Blazers in this series and he averaged 17.6 minutes, 8.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He can handle either guard slot.

Goran Dragic will likely be the most important player off the bench in this series for the Suns. He will be the guy needed to run the offense when Steve Nash needs a blow. Dragic played in 80 games (2 starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 18.0 minutes, 7.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Leandro Barbosa has had a injury filled season for the Suns but he is a good basketball player. He played in 44 games (5 starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 17.9 minutes, 9.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Barbosa could surprise a lot of people with a big series against the Blazers. Louis Amundson is a big guy who will give the Suns 15-20 solid minutes of playing defense and rebounding.

EDGE: EVEN

COACH: Nate McMillan led the Trailblazers to a 50-32 record (61%) this season. In five years with the Blazers, McMillan has compiled a 198-212 record (48.3%) during the regular season and he is 2-4 (33.3%) in the post season. He gets the most out of what he has and he will need to do that again if he hopes to get a big upset in this series.

Alvin Gentry led the Suns to a 54-28 record (65.9%) this season. He now has a 72-41 (63.7%) record in his two years as head coach of the Suns. Gentry really gets his Suns to play hard and they will have to do exactly that to beat the Blazers in this series.

PREDICTION: The Suns have home court in this series and they are a more well rounded basketball team. I like the Suns to win this series in six games.

The Suns will be without starting center Robin Lopez for at least the first round of the playoffs due to a back injury. Lopez played in 51 games (31 starts) for the Suns this season and he averaged 19.3 minutes, 8.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. This will hurt the Suns especially in the first round of the playoffs because Lopez would put a body on Marcus Camby while Channing Frye doesn’t like the rough stuff under the basket.

The Suns have signed 26-year old PF/C Dwayne Jones. Jones played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Bobcats last season and he averaged 8.7 minutes, 2.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. He has now played in 80 games (0 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 7.9 minutes, 1.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. Jones will provide some depth along the front line for the Suns the rest of the season.