The Phoenix Suns must be pretty damned happy to be heading home for the All-Star Game, secure in the knowledge that at least someone will be engaging in some stunning play this weekend when Phoenix hosts the festivities. Because, man, Phoenix fans sure as hell haven’t been treated to a hell of a lot of good play from their Suns lately. This is a team that’s been built for a run at the title for several seasons now, but is in free fall mode and could very well be on the verge of being blown up. From 61 wins two seasons ago, to 55 last year, and this season? Thanks to an ugly 6-10 run over the past month, including back-to-back 17-point losses, Phoenix is only on pace for 45 wins for the season. The Suns looked pretty good heading into Christmas, but now look overmatched.

Currently, Phoenix is in ninth place in the Western Conference and on the outside looking in at the playoff picture. Fortunately, eighth-place Utah doesn’t exactly look ready to pull away and, below them, the Suns have no one to fear. But if Phoenix doesn’t get its act together real fast, I think we could be looking at a major rebuilding program in the desert very soon. Working to their advantage, the Suns have an easy go of it coming out of the break, with a home and home against the pathetic Clippers and then another easy home game against Oklahoma City before Boston pays a visit.

Of course, coming off serious beatdowns in Philly and Wednesday night in Cleveland, nothing can be considered easy for these Suns. But they do have a chance to start the second half on a run, so optimism is warranted. Sort of.

Getting hammered by the Cavs especially stung, considering how much Phoenix has had Cleveland’s number in recent years. In fact, the 109-92 loss snapped the Suns’ four-game winning streak against Cleveland. Dating back even further, Phoenix had been on 15-4 run against Cleveland. But as we have all seen this year, these are not your father’s Cavaliers.

Steve Nash definitely is ready for the All-Star break. The dude has been so badly beaten up of late, that Coach Terry Porter decided to give him Wednesday off to get an extra couple of days rest before the second half. A right shoulder problem that he says has caused him pain for weeks has made him a bit gun-shy from downtown. Have you noticed that Nash is attempting just two 3-pointers per game this month? Worse yet, he’s only sinking a fifth of them. Captain Canada definitely needs some downtime, but I’d be very worried about his prospects in the second half, especially if Phoenix starts to slide out of the playoff chase. Wait for a couple of nice lines and then peddle him. Speaking of peddling Nash, he’s been discussed in trade rumours, but the team says that he’s untouchable.

With Nash out, Amare Stoudemire got extra touches – 21 of them to be exact. He only sunk nine, but combined with his excellent work at the line, that was good enough for 27 points – his highest scoring game since January 29. Stat hasn’t exactly been dominating the glass the past three games, but he did record his second straight three-block game. Still, it’s pretty obvious that he’s mentally checked out of this situation given his recent comments. The rumours are flying fast and furious now, and a trade out of Phoenix can’t happen soon enough for both him and the team. Stoudemire has stayed healthy again this season, but after shooting a career best 59 per cent last year, he hasn’t come close to matching that, and his scoring has dropped off substantially as a result. He’s also struggled to share frontcourt touches with Shaquille O’Neal, as the two of them tend to trade big nights, but rarely have good games together.

Grant Hill, who we recommended as a decent wire pickup back in December, has proved to be a bit inconsistent lately, but he came through with an efficient 14 points Wednesday on 6-of-8 shooting, adding five boards, three assists and a block. Hill has been playing a bit less the last couple of months, but he’s been highly efficient (he’s now shooting a career best 52.5 per cent from the field) as his scoring just keeps rising each month. Another untouchable (according to the Suns’ brass), Hill could be in for a big hike in offensive responsibilities depending on how the trade deadline shakes out for Phoenix.

Phoenix, the best-shooting team in the NBA, shot 65 per cent in the first half on Wednesday, yet somehow trailed 64-52 heading into the second half. What’s up with that?

Normal second-unit offensive sparkplug Leandro Barbosa — another apparent untouchable on the Suns — got the start at PG with Nash out. And while being the floor general seemed to affect his offense (he was just 4-for-10 for nine points and one 3-pointer), he did manage to drop seven dimes and pick up four boards with two steals, so all was not lost for his owners. Barbosa has cooled off from downtown tremendously after his blazing January, but he’s still filling it up from beyond the arc better than he was to start the season. Overall, however, this has been an incredibly disappointing season for the Brazilian Blur, who has simply not been able to build on his breakout campaign of two years ago. Clearly, he’s no longer a must-own fantasy asset in standard sized leagues.

RotoRob was asked to guest on RotoExperts.com’s RotoRadio: Hoops Edition radio show Monday night, and Tom Lorenzo, Hector Castro and I engaged in some spirited fantasy basketball chat. All that was missing was a fireside and some brandy.

What type of gun should you use to off yourself now that Al Jefferson is done for the season? Are Ramon Sessions and D.J. Augustin for real? And will the Geico lizard finally get slam-dunked at the All-Star Game this weekend?

We covered all of these issues in the show and tackled the real burning questions that face the fantasy owner on the precipice of the second half of the NBA schedule. Ready for some lively hoops chatter? Check it out here.

No one is going to try to tell you that the New Orleans Hornets aren’t a great team, one capable of challenging for the Western Conference title this spring. However, despite the team’s success – they have won five of their past six (and six of eight), have a chance to finish a perfect 3-0 on their current home stand with a win over the pathetic Warriors on Friday, and are likely headed for a second straight 55-win season – the Hornets are not nearly the powerhouse they were in 2007-08, at least offensively.

Last season, the team had a top 10 offense and top five defense, but can make only one of those claims this season. While the defense is even better this year – only Cleveland and Boston are giving up less points per game – the Hornet offense is now among the league’s worst with just over 96 PPG. While the addition of James Posey has helped, none of the team’s big four – Chris Paul, David West, Peja Stojakovic and Tyson Chandler – are doing better this season, and in the case of the latter two, are actually doing much worse offensively.

Despite the offensive struggles, the Hornets sit just one game out in the Southwest Division, with a huge game in San Antonio on Saturday for division supremacy.

We suggested considering Devin Brown back in November, for he had been promised extra minutes. Sure enough, he got them, averaging over 20 MPG in December, but Brown failed to impress and he’s barely played so far in 2009. In fact, he had taken three straight DNP-CDs before an injury to Morris Peterson in the first half Wednesday opened up a chance for Brown. And take advantage he did, to the tune of a season-high 18 points with three treys and a steal. Everything he heaved up was falling (6-for-7), so don’t expect that to happen very often. Brown hasn’t had the opportunities to earn starts and play significant minutes this season like he did last year with Cleveland, but that could change. Put him back on your watch list and see how things play out.

As for MoPete, his injury won’t exactly send any owners scurrying to the waiver wire. Jeez, has he ever fallen off the map — Peterson hasn’t even played as many as 10 minutes in over three weeks. While he’s getting into more games this month, he’s so low down in the rotation that it doesn’t matter at all. And the fact that Peterson hasn’t been as aggressive this season – and hence has not been able to take advantage of his solid FT shooting when he does play – has only helped exacerbate the fact that he’s never been more irrelevant.

The hallmark of any great team is its ability to dominate at home. Well, after a rough start (splitting its first six games), New Orleans has been virtually untouchable at the refreshingly corporate-name-free, yet-screaming-for-some-marketing-touch-to-its-moniker New Orleans Arena, winning 13 of 15 since, including the past four after taking out Denver Wednesday night.

How good has Paul been? Can you believe this dude has dropped at least 10 dimes in 30 of 40 games this year? Sick. Fantasy MVP? Me thinks so, despite King James’ exploits.

New Orleans can definitely thank the second unit for this latest win. While Denver’s starters were outscoring the Hornet front five by 14, the battle of the benches was a completely different story, as the Hornets won this by a whopping 29 points, 42-13. And that was despite the fact that sixth man Posey absolutely stunk the joint up (1-for-13, six points). Brown’s huge night and continued solid work from Sean Marks (six points, seven boards and a block) made the difference on this night.

The incredibly frustrating year continues for Chandler and his owners as he missed his fourth straight game Wednesday because of an ankle injury. We mentioned above that his offense had taken a beating this year, but if his fall were limited to scoring, it would be only half bad. Heading into the season, we had Chandler pegged a shade below top 10 centre status, but thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness, he’s barely in the top 50 now, and to wit, has been winding up on the waiver wire in smaller leagues. Chandler had been shooting well recently before getting hurt, but he gets so few touches per game, that it’s hardly noticeable. The bottom line here is that with his no-longer dominating rebounding totals, Chandler contributes in far too few categories. His FG percentage has dropped significantly this season, he’s never sunk a three-pointer in his entire career, he’s a lousy FT shooter who has gotten worse this year, he’s scoring three less points per game, and his assists have been cut in half. Damn, the only thing Chandler’s doing better this year is blocking shots. He’s swatting 1.4 per game, up from just 1.1 BPG last season, but still down from his career-best 1.8 BPG which he matched in his first season in The Big Easy. He’s supposed to be back before the All-Star Game, so no point in cutting him yet, but if I owned him, I’d wait for him to post a double-double or two, then I’d shop him like mad.

Also MIA for the Hornets lately is West, out the past five games because of back spasms. We ranked West as a top 20 forward this season, but he has not quite been able to build on his career year in 2007-08. The timing of West’s injury was particularly lousy, as he had been putting up his best numbers of the season in January, averaging almost 22 PPG. While West’s TOs have dropped this year, unfortunately so have all the rest of his numbers. At this point, he’s day-to-day, but despite his decreased output this season, West remains a must-own player.

Best sign of the night for the Hornets: they shot 48.6 per cent from the field even though Paul had a crappy 3-for-12 game. Despite their less than impressive offensive numbers, the Hornets haven’t been a bad shooting team (46.01 per cent, good for 11th in the NBA), but to have a night like this against a tough Denver defense (the Nuggets are fourth best in the NBA at limiting opponents’ FG shooting) when Paul struggled with his shot definitely bodes well.