DRAFT PICKS

Robin Lopez, C, 7-0, Stanford: He is not nearly as offensively-gifted as his twin brother Brook, but Robin offers the defense, shot-blocking ability and high-energy motor the Suns have lacked in the middle. Perhaps the pick-and-roll against the Suns won't be an automatic two points with him in the post.

Goran Dragic, G, 6-4, Slovenia: Kerr said the 22-year-old, left-handed Dragic, who is under contract to a team in Croatia for at least next season -- although the Suns will revisit his contract situation in the coming days -- could be the long-term successor to Steve Nash.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
His defense remains a disappointment and his attitude is still in need of a monkey wrench. But Amare Stoudemire once again (post-microfracture) established himself as a scoring machine (25.2 points per game, fifth in the league) and ended the season with a string of 18 straight games of at least 20 points.

After moving to the power forward spot when Shaquille O'Neal hit town, Stoudemire averaged 28.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.66 blocks. If O'Neal comes back in shape and Stoudemire can maintain those numbers over a full season, the Suns will have a dominant Kobe/LeBron/Carmelo-type scorer.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
Lots of candidates here. Raja Bell wasn't healthy much of the season. Steve Nash faded in the second half of the season. Boris Diaw didn't come close to living up to his $9 million contract.

But the winner has to be Leandro Barbosa, went from Sixth Man of the Year and the toast of Phoenix to likely trade bait after a disappointing season in which his shooting percentage dropped, his defense again failed to improve to NBA level and his third chance to serve as Nash's backup at point guard again fell flat. At season's end, the forever smiling, affable Barbosa had turned moody and sometimes sullen. With his biggest cheerleaders -- the D'Antoni brothers -- headed elsewhere, his time in Arizona could be up.

BIGGEST NEEDS
With Boris Diaw now penciled in at small forward and Shaquille O'Neal and Robin Lopez in the middle, the Suns' three most pressing needs are a big two-guard with a defensive mindset and three-point shooting ability (keeping Gordan Giricek is a possibility), finally filling the gaping need for a backup to Steve Nash at the point guard spot.

FREE-AGENT FOCUS: After signing Matt Barnes, the Suns still have two roster spots left. The most important opening remains at point guard, where a backup to Steve Nash must be located. The final spot could go to a second backup point or to a post player to provide depth behind injury and foul-prone Shaquille O'Neal and rookie Robin Lopez.

PLAYER NOTES

--The Suns confirmed report that they made inquiries about a possible sign-and-trade deal with the Atlanta Hawks for F Josh Childress before he decided to leave the NBA and sign a deal to play in Greece.

The Suns had the $8 million exception from the Kurt Thomas trade with Seattle to work with (which expired on July 21), but the deal almost certainly would have included either G Leandro Barbosa or F Boris Diaw in an attempt to balance the contract and keep the Suns from taking a further luxury-tax hit.

But Childress was looking for a contract similar to the one he got in Greece (well in excess of even the nearly $7 million a season offered by Atlanta), which was more than the Suns had anticipated. And the Hawks appeared to have little interest in a sign-and-trade deal, figuring they were still in the power position to sign the restricted free agent with the number of NBA teams with cap space shrinking around the league.

--After showing his chops in a dramatic role in his new Nike commercial during the spring, G Steve Nash teamed with new Clipper Baron Davis to try his hand at comedy in a spoof of the movie "Step Brothers" last month in Santa Monica. The video, making the rounds on the internet, features some impressive dance moves by Nash.

--G Allan Houston, who has been working out in Phoenix and working closely with the Suns medical staff much summer, feels his surgically repaired knees are 100 percent and he expects to return to the NBA at age 37.

But the Suns, who can always use another shooter and have seen his comeback attempt close-up, don't appear to have serious interest at this time.

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