[mary]

Suns' plan: Go forward, get better
Lockers cleaned, goodbyes said, rumors begin

Doug Haller
The Arizona Republic
May. 20, 2007 12:00 AM

The Suns walked out of their home locker room Saturday, their belongings stuffed into bags swung over their shoulders, their post-basketball intentions spread all over the country.

Their playoff elimination in south Texas just hours earlier hadn't quite sunk in. They have an entire summer to ponder what went wrong during their series with the San Antonio Spurs, which not only consumed basketball fans across the Valley, but those around the country as well.

The Suns had entered the Western Conference semifinals as the favorite, but how quickly that changed. Steve Nash's very own blood, streaming from his nose, might have cost the Suns in Game 1. Then came the hard foul from Robert Horry in Game 4, the altercation and the suspensions of Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw that might have cost the Suns advancement, and ultimately a championship.

"This is tough," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But again, when you hang around the guys that we have, you hate it that we fell short, you hate it for the city and the fans, but in that locker room it's still a great feeling. Today's the first day of trying to get better for next year."

Stoudemire, the Suns' leading scorer, said nearly the same thing after Friday's loss. It was all about getting better, coming together, working together, building a championship team. The Suns center didn't elaborate Saturday, because he never showed at US Airways Center, an unexcused absence as the team convened a final time. (mary's note: what a classy guy!)

D'Antoni acted like it wasn't a big deal but admitted the Suns had chemistry issues, maybe deeper than anyone realized.

"I don't want to get into it a whole lot," D'Antoni said, "but we can really improve that. Last year at the end everybody was crying. This year (everyone) was like, 'daggone,' but it wasn't the same heartfelt stuff that a team should produce." (mary's note: I bet there isn't a single Suns player that has ever uttered the word "daggone").

Nash was still having a hard time dealing with the series drama. He admitted he would always wonder what would've happened had the Suns been at full strength for Game 5 in Phoenix. It made the team's third straight Pacific Division title, the franchise-record 17-game winning streak and the 61 regular-regular season wins easy to forget.

Changes could be in store. The Suns face a luxury-tax hit estimated at $12 million if they return all of their core players and draft and sign their three first-round draft picks. As usual, Shawn Marion, a four-time All-Star, is rumored to be the first out of town.

Nash urged patience.

"You just can't throw everything away and start deciding what you need right now," he said. "It takes a little time to let it sink in and figure out where it is we need to improve. . . . It's not like this group is a finished product. We still have guys who are improving and growing."

D'Antoni agreed.

"We want to win a championship as much as anybody," he said. "If it means we got to get deeper, it means we got to get deeper. If it means we got to get a better player here and there, we're going to try everything we can. We are set up pretty well with draft picks and we have a lot of talented players, so we have a lot of choices." (mary's note: sounds familiar!)

And a lot of time to reflect on the last few weeks - or, in some cases, let it go. As Nash talked with reporters, reserve center Pat Burke drove up in a cart with teammate James Jones, their belongings sitting on a flatbed behind them. Burke honked the cart's horn, telling the media to step aside.

"Let's go," Burke said. "This is the Suns moving forward."

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