Before Amare Stoudemire thinks about an extension in Phoenix -- if the team is even thinking of one -- he wants to wait and make sure the franchise is committed to winning a championship.

Before Shaquille O'Neal heads off to the broadcast booth -- hey, big fella, what happened to owning the Orlando Magic? -- he wouldn't mind talking about an extension of his deal, which pays him one final $20 million hunk this coming season. Can he play beyond 2010 at age 38?

Your move, Robert Sarver.

Will Phoenix's managing partner be willing to pay the luxury tax this season and beyond -- given that both Nash and Stoudemire expect raises -- after watching the postseason from the outside this season? Will picking Nash over Stoudemire or vice-versa cause the other to seek greener pastures? Is this an old team that needs to be swept away with an eye toward the lucrative free agent market in the summer of 2010, or does it deserve one or even two more kicks at the can given, as disastrous as last season was, they were possibly only a few games away from getting as far as the Denver Nuggets have in the West?

Um, wait and see.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT: Personally, Shaquille O'Neal moved into the top five in all-time NBA scoring and Steve Nash reached the top 10 in assists. After failing to win more than three games in a row all season, the Suns ripped off six straight wins in March to make things interesting. But the hole they dug was too deep to crawl out of.

TURNING POINT: Two stints did in the Suns: the 1-5 swoon in January that wound up costing Porter his job and a six-game losing streak in early March that pushed the Suns to ninth in an eight-team race. The Suns had avoided losing streaks consistently during the Steve Nash era, but they couldn't sidestep them this time.