Despite averaging 58 wins over the last two seasons and reaching the Western Conference finals in 2005 and 2006, the Suns of "Seven Seconds or Less" fame have run out of time.

Mike D'Antoni is headed to the New York Knicks after repeated clashes with general manager Steve Kerr over everything from his lack of attention to detail (defense, late game plays), to playing more than eight players every night to accepting suggestions from the rookie GM, who owns five championship rings.

But even though a new coach will be coming in, not much else will change on the Suns because they are locked into an aging roster with a bloated payroll. The top seven players (including Grant Hill, who is expected to pick up his $2 million player option) make nearly $70 million, which will have the team scraping its head on the luxury-tax threshold again.

The only player with trade value and a reasonable contract is guard Leandro Barbosa, who signed a five-year, $32 million deal that still has four years left to run. The Suns might look to turn Barbosa into a legitimate shooting guard with some defensive toughness (Ron Artest?) and hope that the No. 15 pick in the draft can help (a backup point guard, finally, for Steve Nash would be first on the need list.)

The optimist hopes a full training camp with Shaquille O'Neal, Amare Stoudemire, Nash, Hill, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw will erase some of the mistakes and clumsiness the Suns showed after the huge Shaq deal for Shawn Marion in February.

The pessimist sees Shaq turning 37, Hill 36 and Nash 35 during the season and wonders if there are enough oil cans in the desert to produce one more shot at a closing championship window.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT
After losing six of their first nine games with Shaquille O'Neal and with their playoff lives hanging in the balance, the Suns beat San Antonio on national television on March 9 and used it as a springboard to a seven-game winning streak that locked up a fourth straight 50-win season. O'Neal finished the game strong, furthering the hope that the Suns now had an antidote to Tim Duncan and their arch-rivals. The run included home wins over the Spurs, Nuggets, Warriors and Rockets -- teams the Suns had struggled against to that point.

TURNING POINT
After the winning streak gave the Suns a chance to obtain the homecourt advantage in the first round and have a say in their opponent, they blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to Dallas -- again on national TV on April 6 -- and failed to show up for a key loss in Houston five days later. As a result, the Suns were helpless on the last night of the season as Utah lost meekly in San Antonio, ensuring they would play Houston in the first round of the playoffs instead of the Spurs and the Suns right in the path of the team that annually ends their season.

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