ESPN: Suns, Wolves have talked Nash trade‎

[lefty]

NBA Draft 2011 (http://espn.go.com/nba/draft)








Updated: June 22, 2011, 1:48 PM ET

Explored: Steve Nash for Wolves' No. 2




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By Marc Stein and Chad Ford
ESPN.com


Suns Explored Nash Trade

Chad Ford on the trade talks between Phoenix and MinnesotaTags: Trade (http://search.espn.go.com/trade/video/6), Suns-Timberwolves (http://search.espn.go.com/suns-timberwolves/video/6), Derrick Williams (http://search.espn.go.com/derrick-williams/video/6), Chad Ford (http://search.espn.go.com/chad-ford/video/6)

VIDEO PLAYLIST http://a.espncdn.com/icons/video2.png



Suns Explored Nash Trade (http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6691750)
Trade Impacts On Draft (http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6691254)
SportsCenter Right Now (http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6693250)



The Phoenix Suns (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/phx/phoenix-suns)' general posture has been to rebuff trade inquiries for star guard Steve Nash (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/592/steve-nash), but the Suns have had discussions this month with the Minnesota Timberwolves (http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/min/minnesota-timberwolves) about a deal that would send Nash to Minnesota in a package for the No. 2 overall pick in Thursday's draft, according to sources briefed on the talks.
The talks, though, haven't advanced beyond the exploratory stage. Sources described a "mutual conclusion" by both teams that such a deal ultimately would not work for the Wolves because of Nash's presumed desire to land with an established title contender if he finally does leave the Suns.
Nash Hangs 10

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/0622/espn_u_nashs_65.jpg No player has had more games of 10 or more assists than Steve Nash over the past three seasons. Nash has over 200 assists more than the next highest player over that time span.
Most 10-plus assist games, last 3 seasons

Steve Nash (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/592/steve-nash) 141 Deron Williams (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2798/deron-williams) 129 Chris Paul (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2779/chris-paul) 118 Rajon Rondo (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3026/rajon-rondo) 115 Jason Kidd (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/429/jason-kidd) 93 powered by http://a.espncdn.com/prod/assets/poweredby_stats_info.png


Sources say that the player Phoenix covets in the draft is Arizona forward Derrick Williams (http://insider.espn.go.com/nbadraft/draft/tracker/player?draftyear=2010&playerId=19490), although Suns officials publicly have denied reports that they have alternatively offered center Marcin Gortat (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2758/marcin-gortat) and the No. 13 overall pick for the No. 2 selection instead of Nash.
Suns president Lon Babby called into a Phoenix radio station Wednesday to say the team has no plans to trade Nash.
"I have said it a zillion times. We are not trading Steve Nash," he told "Doug & Wolf" on Sports 620 KTAR.
Nash, who turned 37 in February, has one season left on his contract valued at $11.7 million. The Wolves' fear, sources said, is that trading for Nash under those circumstances means they'd have him for a season at best before he moved on in free agency.
So the Wolves, according to sources, continue to explore other trade options with the No. 2 selection, such as a proposal to Washington that the Wizards have steadfastly declined, in which Minnesota has tried to acquire JaVale McGee (http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3452/javale-mcgee) and the No. 6 pick for the No. 2 pick.
Numerous teams, most notably New York, Portland and Orlando, have been trying to persuade the Suns to trade Nash for months, but Phoenix has quickly rejected the overwhelming majority of those overtures.

http://a.espncdn.com/i/headshots/nba/players/65/592.jpg (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=592)Steve Nash (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=592)

#13 PG
Phoenix Suns

2011 STATS


GM75
PPG14.7
RPG3.5
APG11.4
FG%.492
FT%.912



Yet the opportunity to acquire a draft pick high enough to land them a player with local ties such as Williams is a scenario in which the Suns apparently could stomach parting with one of the most popular players in franchise history.
ESPN.com reported in February that the Timberwolves already were targeting Nash, long before they knew they'd even have the No. 2 pick to dangle, as an ideal mentor to young Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, who finally arrived in Minnesota this week, two full seasons after he was selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2009 draft.
But the Wolves, sources say, likewise always have known that the prospect of actually completing a deal for Nash would be complicated and risky. The assumption around the league is that the Suns, once they do decide they're ready to trade him, would work with Nash to send him somewhere he'd like to be, if possible, as a reward for his loyal service in two separate Phoenix stints.
Nash, who's preparing to host his annual charity soccer game Wednesday in New York featuring NBA and international soccer stars, has consistently said he will not request a trade despite the Suns' failure to even make the playoffs last season.
"Maybe I'm old school," Nash told ESPN.com in January, "but I signed a contract to play here and I want to honor it. I feel like I owe it to my teammates and the city and everybody to keep battling until they tell me it's time to go."
Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. Chad Ford is ESPN's NBA Insider.

[lefty]

n today's edition of the NBA At 2: Steve Nash is not on the block...Cavs' GM Chris Grant knows the right choice...Minny still playing games...NBA Chats. Bill Ingram will be back Thursday.
Nash Not Available: Over the past year or two whenever a rumor involving a trade of Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash has come up we've held to the same comments: Nash wants to be in Phoenix and Phoenix wants Nash to be there. The argument is there is so much mutual respect there the only way the Suns would trade Nash would be if he came to them and asked to be traded, for whatever reason.
Nash is under contract for one more season at $11.7 million.
In the past couple days Nash's name has been thrown around quite a bit. There was a rumor making the rounds yesterday about the Minnesota Timberwolves offering the Suns the number two pick and whatever else it would take to make the deal work under the CBA (the Wolves have about $4 million in cap space, so they would have to send about $7 million or so in contracts back to the Suns). Then there was another rumor involving the New York Knicks (http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/post/_/id/5463/stein-ford-knicks-inquired-about-steve-nash), one that would have to center around veteran point guard Chauncey Billups for cap reasons (unless the Knicks were going to move Amar'e Stoudemire or Carmelo Anthony, which they are not).
Had the Suns changed their tune?
Regarding the Minnesota rumor, someone close to Nash told Ken Berger of CBS Sports (http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/30186974): "I can't believe (Phoenix) would do that to Steve."
Following all of this hullabaloo, Suns' President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby made an emphatic statement to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic (http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/132083): "We are not trading Steve Nash. Period. Exclamation point." (He said the same thing about center Marcin Gortat.)
Well then, it appears nothing has changed in Phoenix.
What's important to note here is in both cases the Suns took a call from a team wanting to see what it would take to get Steve Nash. They will listen – the team would be silly not to hear the inquiring team out – but the reality still is the Suns are not looking to trade Steve Nash. They may trade him if someone makes an unbelievable godfather offer, something that could alter the future of the franchise, but they aren't going out of their way. If such an offer were made, presumably they would talk to Nash about it and the two sides would figure it out.
But for now – again – Steve Nash is not available. Unless you are a team making that godfather offer, it might be best to just make a different call.
Interesting Cavs Note: By now the world pretty much agrees the Cleveland Cavaliers will probably take Duke point guard Kyrie Irving with the top overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft. Want another reason? General Manager Chris Grant.

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Grant joined the Cavaliers on July 9, 2005. The previous nine years he worked in the front office for the Atlanta Hawks, finishing as assistant general manager. Just a few days previously, at the 2005 NBA Draft, the Hawks – in desperate need of a point guard – had shocked just about everyone when they chose tweener forward Marvin Williams with the second pick in the draft. The two players chosen after him? Deron Williams and Chris Paul, widely regarded as the current two best point guards in the NBA today. Now in the top GM spot Grant has the opportunity to choose the consensus best point guard in the 2011 NBA Draft for a team who needs a reliable young leader. After seeing what the Hawks dealt with after trading Jason Terry to Dallas in the summer of 2004 until they acquired Mike Bibby at the trade deadline in 2008 – i.e., the lack of a point guard leader – it's quite doubtful Grant will allow the Cavaliers to make the same mistake.
That's not saying Irving is going to be Williams or Paul, but it saying Grant shouldn't let his team overthink this. If Cleveland instead takes Derrick Williams with the top overall pick over Irving, it should only be because they are using the #4 pick to pick up a veteran (Tony Parker?) they feel fits the team better long-term.
As for Baron Davis…I can't be the only one who thinks a Davis as the starting shooting guard experiment is something worth trying, just to see, right?
Minny Playing Games: We've talked awhile here, by various writers in various articles, about the Minnesota Timberwolves flooding the market with trade offers that include the second pick in Thursday's draft. Just about all of them have heated up the internets for a length of time – Pau Gasol, Andrew Bogut, JaVale McGee, Steve Nash, Andrew Bynum – and then at some point been resoundingly shot down by the other team.
However, it's not just the trade rumors where the approach has been…interesting. And by interesting I mean different than other teams do it, and not necessarily in a good way. Their treatment of head coach Kurt Rambis is right up there.
At this point a team should know if they want to keep their coach or replace him. If the line is so fine it takes analyzation to the point the Wolves and Rambis are at now – over two months after the season is over and not endorsement or firing – then it's time to move on. All this about needing to talk to other people, having to fill out reports…none of it is bad, but it is very public and borderline unprofessional.
"I recognize that this is painful for everybody involved, or at least awkward at a minimum," General Manager David Kahn told the Associated Press. "But I think we understand where we're at. All in due time."
This is the problem. We do understand where they are at – we just can't fathom why they are there as opposed to a point with resolution.
Rambis isn't going to simply throw up his hands and walk away, because if he resigns he doesn't get paid. If the Wolves fire him, he gets paid. If the Wolves fire him, they have to pay him and his replacement.
The Minnesota Timberwolves need to make the right decision here and fire Kurt Rambis. At this point, it's the best resolution for all involved.


Read more NBA news and insight: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=20202#ixzz1Q2QQvMNP

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

"If one point guard is good, then four should be great!" -KAAAAAAAAAHHHHNNNNNNN

[baseline bum]

Too bad they didn't keep Dragic. That would be a home run of a deal if so. Even without him it's still a solid triple off the wall. A 37 year old for a guy like Williams oozing with potential? Phoenix would be so stupid to pass on taking advantage of Khan like that.

[Findog]

Too bad they didn't keep Dragic. That would be a home run of a deal if so. Even without him it's still a solid triple off the wall. A 37 year old for a guy like Williams oozing with potential? Phoenix would be so stupid to pass on taking advantage of Khan like that.

Why does Minnesota do this deal? What is this "Nash mentoring Rubio" stuff? Isn't that what coaches are for?

[redzero]

DoK would pull a Ryan Dunn if this was true.

[badfish22]

I'm curious as to whether DoK would fancy this deal.

[stretch]

DoK would pull a Ryan Dunn if this was true.

DoK would love it, because he thinks Nash is the worst basketball player on the planet, and a worse human being than Hitler, Judas Iscariot, and Ghandi combined.

[baseline bum]

Why does Minnesota do this deal? What is this "Nash mentoring Rubio" stuff? Isn't that what coaches are for?

Because Khan is a moron is about the only explanation that makes any sense.

[pass1st]

The trade makes perfect sense in Kahn's mind. Forwards and Centers? Who needs them.