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Ranking players before the season seems to be all the craze this summer. So to take a break from analyzing team needs, fits, strengths, and weaknesses - the combination of SB Nation Arizona and the guys at Bright Side Of The Sun ranked the 25 most important faces for the Phoenix Suns coming into this season. Of course we had a little fun with it.
The criteria is pretty simple, who do we, as individuals, fell is the most important person in the franchise this season.
If you look at most franchises there are people that are extremely pivotal to the success of the year and others that are just there. Sure, someone will come out of nowhere and surprise us showing that they are more important than originally anticipated, but, until then, this is our ranking and we are sticking to it.
Our esteemed panel consisted of Jim Coughenour, Alex Laugan, Jacob Padilla, Leiland Tanner, the 7footer, and of course myself -- Kristofer Habbas.
Time to polish off the teens here with Suns Rank:
15. Shannon Brown (15)
Second Year With The Suns
Position: Shooting Guard
Brown belongs right there in the lower-middle of the Suns' pack. The guy can get hot, and he can throw down a mean slam dunk, but otherwise he's lucky to have a strong rotation spot. - Alex Laugan
14. Michael Beasley (14)
First Year With The Suns
Position: Forward
Skittles. SuperCoolBeas. Beastly. Whatever you call him, Michael Beasley is a total wild card. He could put it all together, or he could tear it all apart. Therefore, I believe situated right between the good half (No. 13) and the sucky/unkown half (No. 15) is the perfect place for him. Also, this: http://i.imgur.com/tVdHg.gif -- Jacob Padilla
13. Luis Scola (13.6)
First Year With The Suns
Position: Power Forward
If the Suns did anything right this summer -- at this point it is arbitrary to speculate right or wrong, but it we were in the business of doing that the biggest "right" they did was winning Luis Scola off of amnesty waivers. The bang-for-buck with Scola should be great as there are not many go to posts in the league making 4.5 million a year with a proven track record of 15.6 points per game and 8 rebounds per game as a starter. While he is not the future of the team he makes them immediately better and competitive whereas without a player like Scola the team would have no player on the roster used to getting a bucket in the final six-to-eight seconds on the shot clock with regularity. That will be his inherent value this year. -- Kristofer Habbas
12. Channing Frye (12.6)
Fourth Year With The Suns
Position: Forward/Center
Frye seems to be retreating further and further from his days as an ICMF (ice cold... well you know). The ice water in his veins has grown more tepid. The shoulder injuries have mounted. Channing started as a white hot streaky bomber from deep. Then he developed an interior game. He became a more stalwart post defender. He even improved his defensive rebounding. The problem is that he's never been able to amalgamate all of these skills into his arsenal at the same time for a sustained period of play. Hopefully the hot hand is back this year, because when the Frye Guy goes cold it makes me Grimace. - Jim Coughenour
11. Markieff Morris (12.3)
Second Year With The Suns
Position: Power Forward
Well, despite a rough rookie season under difficult circumstances, Markieff Morris still showed enough to be called the best first-round draft pick the Suns have made since taking Amar'e Stoudemire in 2002. Morris is coming off of a dominant Summer League performance and word out of the voluntary workouts in Phoenix is he has appeared to have matured a lot since last year. Based on all this evidence, I think it's fairly obvious that Morris is going to become a superstar and franchise savior. Or maybe I'm reading that wrong, and he's just going to be a good rotation player and possible starter. - Jacob Padilla
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We now enter the Top 10. No question some surprises are still to come, but also these next ten names will essentially make-up the leadership circle for the year in some way, shape, or form.
What do you think of the list so far? Were we unfair to those listed? Is your favorite player, coach, or Suns personnel member not listed? Well, that is a good thing because the list is in reverse order going from 25-1, remember?
Keep up with the rankings: 25-21 (9/17) 20-16 (9/18) 15-11 (9/19) 10-6 (9/20) 5-1 (9/21)