How the Phoenix Suns can get back into championship contention

03:55 PM ET 11.29 | Three years ago the Phoenix Suns were a very good basketball team. They had the league's best offense (averaging an ungodly 115.3 points per 100 possessions, according to basketball-reference.com), and were led by two-time MVP Steve Nash; a 27-year-old Amar'e Stoudemire; and an explosive bench that featured Leandro Barbosa, Goran Dragic, and Jared Dudley. Summing up their season, the 2010 Suns were less than a handful of plays away from breaking into their first NBA Finals since 1993, making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals before succumbing to the Lakers. Fast forward to present day and the team has been completely renovated. Nash is playing for the enemy in Los Angeles and Stoudemire is nursing a slew of injuries on the sidelines of New York. The only two players who remain are Dudley and Dragic (who was traded from Phoenix to Houston in February 2011, but later signed a four-year, $30 million deal with the Suns as a free agent this July). As currently constructed, the Suns have no superstar caliber players, which are integral to contending for an NBA championship. This summer they made a hopeful run at the perpetual mirage that is Eric Gordon, but were foiled when New Orleans matched their maximum contract offer sheet. The money saved was probably for the best, as Gordon remains on the sideline with a lingering knee injury, but it doesn't help Phoenix's current situation from a talent standpoint. The way I see it, there are three ways this team can get back on the right track toward the first championship in franchise history faster than anybody might expect.

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