I'll be Tweeting my expedition to Indian Wells today: basketball-related or otherwise... Enjoy!

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So after days of blazing heat in Southern California, it has cooled off with a vengeance.  Weather.com's hourly forecast puts temperature at tip-off at 68 degrees with a 15mph breeze, but I suspect it will feel a heck of a lot chillier and windier out in the desert.

What does this mean for the game?

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This is part two of a five part series previewing the Phoenix Suns' 08-09 season. Part 1 can be found here.

Since the dawn of the Sarver era, Suns fans have been treated to some of the weakest offseasons since the days of television before reality TV, when re-runs spelled primetime boredom for couch potatoes countrywide.  The Suns off-seasons were similarly predictable. They could be counted on to make one "splash" free agent signing (Raja Bell, Grant Hill, Marcus Banks) and then to sell their draft picks like trading cards (Sarver's seller rating on eBay is AWESOME).

The knock on Sarver has been that he's a cheap@$$ who only cares about the bottom line.  Not so, as the Suns roster has been among the most expensive -- and winningest -- since he assumed ownership of the team.  More accurate is that he's penny wise (selling draft picks, which is arguable the cheapest way to acquire and develop talent) and pound foolish ($45 mil to Boris Diaw, $25 mil to Marcus Banks, $40 mil to the Shaquille O'Neal Restraining Order Defense Fund).

This offseason, though, with the aid of new consigliere Steve Kerr, the Suns sought value, value and more value.  Lacking money to throw at their problems, the Suns hit the draft and the NBA's bargain bin alike to rejuvenate their aging bench and replace Coach D'Antoni.   Let's take a look at what they found.

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Say this for Steve Kerr: he's knows how to make an impact.  Just 14 months after assuming the mantle of Phoenix Suns' general manager and president of basketball operations, with the signing of Goran Dragic, he has remade the Suns in his own image.

Franchise-altering mega-trade? Check.

Hand-picked head coach? Check.

Sacrificing athleticism and offense for role players and defense? Check.

Betting the future on an unknown hand-picked foreigner? Check.

It all seems to have happened so quickly, as if Kerr just pressed one of those "Easy" buttons from Staples.  Trade a franchise player here, draft and sign a couple role players there, hire a head coach here and presto-change-o, it's a whole new Suns team taking the floor next season.  If all this leads to a championship this season, who could blame Kerr for approaching the dais for his turn with the Larry O'Brien carrying his giant phantom huevos Sam Cassell-style?  He will have turned a Western Conference semi-finalist into a first round washout and back to contender in a little over 2 years.  7SOL will be become SSOL (Shawn's shit out of luck) and everyone will wonder whatever happened to that nice guy with the apostrophe in his name who always had his hand in his pocket on the sidelines.

And if it doesn't?  Well, though the Suns are signing Dragic to a 3 year deal with team option for a 4th, I'd imagine that deal to come in around $2-3 million a year.  Pretty cheap even if Dragic stinks like a Euro armpit.  Furthermore, after riding out a couple of mediocre seasons, everyone except for Diaw and Barbosa come off the books after the 2009-2010 season.  In other words, barring complete disaster over the next 24 months, Sarver and Kerr get to push the "Reset" button.  I bet the Knicks wish they could have said that 14 months into Isiah's Reign of Terror.  If Kerr has chosen to fly too close to the sun as a first time GM, he's certainly set himself up for a soft landing.  The luxury of knowing that if he doesn't land with the Suns, his fall will be broken by giant pile of TNT's cash can't hurt either.

Fortunately for the franchise, with the notable exception of the D'Antoni departure (which I could never quite tell whether it was acrimonious or amicable), he's done all this with the same amount of fanfare as a man backing out of his driveway.  It's all been just another day at the office for the former Wildcat.  All of which is fitting for a guy who's spent his career under level heads from Lute Olson (old, ring-winning Lute, not new, nutty, tabloid-divorce Lute) to Phil Jackson to Greg Popovich.  Right or wrong, he knows the results will speak for themselves.

As Phoenix Stan noted in the comments to the fanshot below, we've already played the "Genius or Moron?" game once with Kerr and it didn't end so well. But last year, it was possible to lay some of the blame at the feet of a stubborn if successful head coach.  With a full season, a full roster and full coaching staff of his choosing this season it might be less "genius or moron" and more "my way or the highway" for Steve Kerr.

Before it gets too far in the rearview mirror, let's all give a big healthy, hearty round of applause to Phoenix Stan for his Vegas Summer League coverage.  If you followed his posts from Sin City, you know he raised the bar for Suns reporting on this site with his missives from Thomas & Mack and his Twitter stream, live from Hooters.  If you didn't read his coverage, go back and do so now.  It's a great glimpse at the future (and not-so-future) of this Suns club.

Thanks, Phoenix Stan!

Depth Charge?: What a difference a year (and a coach) makes.  With the addition of Matt Barnes, the Suns are suddenly 10 (I'm lookin' at you, Alando) deep with a PG - who will log minutes - yet to be signed.  That's 3-4 extra bodies the team hasn't had the last few seasons.  I'm not looking forward to it.  It means more nuanced analysis of line-up efficacy, a diffusion of responsibility and less time with the stars on the floor.  In other words, more work for us and less work for individual players.  Oh, wait.  That's a good thing.  Sorry, I still haven't quite put the D'Antoni Era behind me (see below).

Here are some other Suns-related tidbits...

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The East Valley Tribune is reporting that Goran Dragic will stay in Europe next season. 

The Suns’ options at backup point guard next year appear to have been further limited after second-round pick Goran Dragic told a Spanish newspaper that he expects to remain with Tau Ceramica for next season.

“It is certain that the Suns wanted to have me, but I believe that the best thing for me is to go to Spain and try to find a place for myself in Baskonia,” Dragic, translated from Spanish, told El Correo newspaper on Thursday.

If true, this certainly puts the Suns in a bind at the back-up point guard position.   The only question remains: Which old man will they sign now?  I hope P-Stan sees something totally awesome from one of our point prospects in Vegas (if he can tear himself away from the slots long enough, that is).