Don’t write off the Phoenix Suns vs. the NBA bookmaker odds for next season just yet. The Suns did lose Amar’e Stoudemire in free agency to the New York Knicks but they have acquired Toronto’s Hedo Turkoglu and Atlanta’s Josh Childress. The Suns are going to look at lot different next year with those two players in the lineup and Phoenix could still have success vs. online bookmaker NBA odds.
Bookmaker odds favored the Suns quite a bit this past season as Phoenix made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. It was thought that after they lost Stoudemire that the Suns would slip but getting Turkoglu and Childress puts them right back in the mix in the Western Conference. The Suns are sending Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones to the Raptors for Turkoglu. The Raptors are expected to send Jones to Charlotte for Boris Diaw.
Phoenix will also be getting Childress from the Hawks in a sign-and-trade deal. The Hawks didn’t have the money to pay Childress since they had already signed Joe Johnson to a big deal. Childress has already agreed to a five-year $34 million contract with the Suns. The Hawks do get a 2012 second round pick as part of the deal. Childress signed a deal in 2008 to play for a team in Greece but Atlanta still held his rights. Online bookmaker stats indicated that he averaged 11.1 points per game in four seasons with Atlanta.
The Suns are likely to have a new head of basketball operations in former player-agent Lon Babby and he represents Turkoglu and has represented Childress in the past. The Suns are going in a different direction than they went when Steve Kerr was the general manager. It is obvious that Babby convinced Phoenix management to bring in Turkoglu and Childress. Last season was a terrible one for Turkoglu who signed a five-year, $53 million deal with the Raptors. He averaged just 11.3 points per game and rarely impacted bookmaker NBA odds. That is well below what he had in 2007-2008 when he averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists with Orlando. Turkoglu is said to have given up at least $5 million in bonus money and reduced guaranteed money to make the deal work.