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.

The Suns showed some fight in the 4th quarter Saturday Night but they dug too much of a hole in the first three quarters when they were losing 91-74. The Suns were also outrebounded 41-31 in this game which certainly didn’t help their cause. Amare Stoudemire led the way for the Suns in this game with 27 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots. Steve Nash helped the cause offensively with 21 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Jason Richardson pitched in with 13 points in 29 minutes on the floor. Channing Frye (12 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 blocked shot) and Goran Dragic (12 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in only 18 minutes) helped out off the bench for the Suns. The Suns fought hard in this series before falling 4-2 to the Lakers.

The Suns played a hard game last night leaving everything on the floor but they forgot to block out under the basket giving Ron Artest a chance to beat them and he did with a layup. Steve Nash led the way for the Suns in this game with 29 points, 3 rebounds and 11 assists. Amare Stoudemire was working hard with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots. Channing Frye filled up the stat sheet off the bench last night with 14 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. Jason Richardson had a rough game with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. The Suns are now down 3-2 to the Lakers with Game #6 in Phoenix tomorrow night.

The Suns outrebounded the Lakers 51-36 last night but it was the bench that won the game for them as they outscored the Lakers’ bench 54-20! Amare Stoudemire led the way for the Suns last night with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Steve Nash played with his newly fixed up nose but he only shot 3 of 11 from the floor as he finished up with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists. Channing Frye was a beast off the bench for the Suns in this game with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot in 35 minutes on the floor. Leandro Barbosa pitched in with 14 points and 2 rebounds in only 17 minutes off the bench. The Suns have evened up this series at 2 games apiece.