Something is missing.

For the Suns to tumble this far, to have become a bottom-tier offense, it is no longer just the 2010 departure of Amar’e Stoudemire. The Suns could not maintain winning without Stoudemire but they did maintain a high-scoring offense, ranking fourth in the NBA even after Jason Richardson was traded 25 games into last season.

The missing element is the Suns’ transition 3-point shots.

The transition and the 3s.

The Suns have lacked the pace they have pushed for seven seasons and they have lacked the league-leading accuracy they had on 3s for five of those years.

The Suns are taking nearly as many 3-point attempts this season but are not getting the transition 3s they like to take when they catch defenses scrambling to retreat, undermanned and unbalanced.

“The tempo has to change,” said Suns coach Alvin Gentry, whose team is averaging about four fewer possessions per game compared with last season. “We haven’t got as many transition 3s as I’d like. We’ve got to get that back. That’s where JD (Jared Dudley) has been really good and that’s where Grant (Hill) has been good shooting the corner one. We’ve got to get teams on their heels. Our defense has improved to where we’re top 10. If we’re rebounding the ball, there should be opportunities to run.”

The Suns shot 37.7 percent from 3-point range last season to rank fourth in the NBA and that was their worst clip in seven years. The Suns are shooting 32.6 percent this season to rank 17th. Without Stoudemire’s slams, the Suns still devastated teams at times with runs of hot 3-point shooting that came like a flurry of punches when they ran.

“I prefer transition 3s,” Dudley said. “I love them. There is more flow. In basketball, the right 3 at the right time is all about the basketball gods. For this team, the transition 3, when you have numbers and kick it out, is the perfect shot. There’s nothing better except maybe pick-and-roll and swing-swing (passes).”

Dudley prefers to run to the right wing spot for his fast-break 3s. If he is in the corner, he finds that the defender has a better chance of recovering with the length of the pass. But when Nash is driving, or when Hill is out in front on the break to draw defenders to the paint, Dudley can get off a clean look on a wing 3.

“When Nash throws it to you above that 3-point line, it’s time for you to shoot or I have an advantage that someone is closing out so hard that I can go by them,” Dudley said. “In transition, I don’t even look at the defender. I’m looking at the rim. I look at spacing to see who’s on the court and I’ll know at half-court whether I’m going to get the 3.”

Suns power forwards Channing Frye and Markieff Morris get transition 3s as well but they are more apt to get them as trailing big men in the secondary break.

“When Steve is attacking and Marcin (Gortat) is rolling hard, I’ve got to make that guy play me tighter,” Frye said. “It’s going to give Marcin and the other big guys that extra 3 or 4 feet. It’s a unique skill we have to shoot off the break but it just spreads the floor out more so now it’s harder for guys to rotate. Now toward the end of a game, it gets more tiring.”

The Suns added another potential weapon to recapture their transition 3-point game: Michael Redd. Much of the delay for Redd’s debut had to do with conditioning because he needs to be able to shoot on the run to fit the Suns’ style.

“You’ve just got to run and spot up, which I’m accustomed to anyway,” Redd said. “The transition 3 is part of my game. It’s just about finding the open space.”

Dudley sprints to his area, eases up on his final two steps and hits with his left foot first before planting with the right foot to shoot. Frye had been a two-count shooter, stepping into his shot, the past few years but has changed to a one-count shot, moving legs and arms together, for better balance after finding that he was leaning on shots earlier this season. It is not all new to Frye, who was taught to shoot on one count by Lute Olson at Arizona.

“Now my legs are a lot more under me,” Frye said. “The strength is there. I learned a lot from Steve (Nash) to use my butt more instead of my arms. You allow your legs to create momentum.”

There still will not be any transition 3s without a transition.

The Suns’ rebounding problems have affected that but it’s not a new shortcoming. The Suns still found ways to rank in the top five for possessions per game for six consecutive years until last season, when they were still seventh, according to basketball-reference.com. This season, they rank 22nd for pace.

“You’ve got to have someone like Grant Hill, Shawn Marion or Amar’e Stoudemire who runs the breaks so hard that the wing gets left open,” Dudley said. “It’s kind of like when we’re playing the Clippers. Blake Griffin is running so hard. I’ve got to get back. I can’t worry about Caron Butler. I’m in the lane and it’s a transition 3.”

Phoenix Suns update:

At this point, Amar’e Stoudemire should be penalized 15 yards for a late hit. Taking a shot at Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver is just piling on now, after the pileup of criticism and negative reports that have targeted him during the NBA lockout.

Today’s jab came from Stoudemire when he talked to Newsday’s Alan Hahn in New York.

When Stoudemire was asked if Sarver was a hard-liner, the former eight-year Suns star said, “Oh, no, no, Sarver for sure. He’s probably the main guy that’s pushing for this lockout. It’s not cool. A lot of people have been affected by it. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal if he just re-signed some kid named Stoudemire. Then, he would have been in good shape. Obviously, he made a bad decision.”

His last line was punctuated with a laugh.

Tweetin’ at www.twitter.com/paulcoro

Friday, October 14, 2011 at 03:45 PM

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On October 20, 2006, Boris Diaw, after one strong season replacing Amar’e Stoudemire for the Phoenix Suns, signed a five-year, $45 million early extension. Had the Suns not signed Diaw then, he would have become a restricted free agent in 2007, meaning the Suns could match any offer.

Diaw’s averages fell substantially as Stoudemire returned and become the offense’s top finisher again. Diaw would have less than half as many points and rebounds per game as Amar’e in 2006-07.

Via HoopsHype, Valley of the Suns talks to former Phoenix Suns benchwarmer and author Paul Shirley about Amar’e Stoudemire’s former lack of political sophistication.

One time we were in the locker room, this was around the election of 2004. Jimmy Jackson comes in one day and he’s talking to the guys about, well you should vote for this guy or whatever. Of course at the time it was George W. Bush against John Kerry and Amare stands up and says, ‘I don’t know what the Hell you guys are talking about because I’m going to vote for Kerry Edwards and I’m not interested in any more of this. I’m not interested in who these other people are.’ He thought that there was a man named Kerry Edwards. But again a lot of the time it was very cute because he was like this big puppy dog who could probably tear your head off.

GILBERT — Amare Stoudemire will opt out of the final year of his contract if he doesn’t re-sign with the Phoenix Suns before the deadline at the end of this month.

Stoudemire, speaking at his basketball camp Tuesday, said he deserves a maximum contract and would like it to be with Phoenix, where he has played since he was drafted out of high school in 2002. The All-Star power forward said there was “no chance” he would exercise the final year of his contract with the Suns, which would pay him about $17 million.

Phoenix could give him more than any other team — a six-year deal worth about $127 million.

“We’ve got the fans excited about basketball again,” Stoudemire said. “So what I don’t want is for me to have to leave and the fans are now not quite as excited about the game here. I want to keep the hype, want to keep the fans involved, want to keep everybody ecstatic about the Phoenix Suns.”

Stoudemire, who helped the Suns reach the Western Conference finals, can become a free agent on July 1 but indicated he would like to have things settled with the Suns before then.

Asked if he would be a Sun if he was offered a maximum deal, Stoudemire said, “There’s a very great chance of that.”

Stoudemire said his agent, Happy Waters, would meet soon with Suns owner Robert Sarver and general manager Steve Kerr.

“My agent is doing a good job of keeping the line of communication open with Steve Kerr and Robert,” Stoudemire said. “Those guys became great friends, so I’ll just sit back and let them handle it. Once it comes down to a bottom line, that’s when I step in.”

Sarver has said he doesn’t mind spending the cash as long as he gets his money’s worth. Whether that means a full deal for Stoudemire, perhaps a shorter-term contract or nothing at all remains to be seen.

“That meeting’s going to tell a lot,” Stoudemire said.

Kerr did not return a message on his cell phone.

Stoudemire averaged 23.1 points and 8.9 rebounds last season and was especially effective after the Suns decided against trading him at the All-Star break. He averaged 21.2 points in the playoffs but only 6.6 rebounds.

There is concern by some that Stoudemire eventually will need another operation on his left knee, after he missed virtually all the 2005-06 season following microfracture surgery. He also was sidelined the final months of the 2008-09 season after surgery for a detached retina.

Stoudemire, with career averages of 21.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, cited the success the team has had in his eight seasons there.

“The most important factor of playing for an organization is to be able to be totally comfortable and give them 100 percent,” he said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole career, so it’s only right to look for a maximum contract. From the time that I was here we’ve done great. We’ve done great in the community, three Western Conference finals, we’ve been in the playoffs and won 60 games or so in several years.”

Stoudemire was confident there would be plenty of interest should be become a free agent. He mentioned the near-trade as evidence.

“Now there’s a chance to get me without giving up players,” he said. “I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a recruiting frenzy, but again it could not get to that point. You never know.”