Findog
12-20-2007, 04:09 AM
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/104663
The Suns might be on the verge of making a major move:
NBA sources say the Suns brain trust is split between those who want to give this team another shot at success, those who think it’s now time for a major move and those who are on the fence after only 24 games.
“If we’re ever going to be a championship team, we have to improve defensively,” is as far as Suns general manager Steve Kerr would go Sunday. “We’re watching this run of games against top competition (Utah, New Orleans, San Antonio and Dallas) very carefully. We’ve been talking about it but we talk all the time. Are there are concerns? Sure. I’d say we’re definitely in evaluation mode,” Kerr said.
I came across a comment on freedarko that proposes that rather than getting rid of Amare, Marion or Diaw, the Suns should get rid of their franchise PG:
http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2007/12/still-got-it.html#comments
I've said it before, but IMO if the Suns want to win a title they have to get rid of Nash. Nash has been at the helm of the highest scoring team in the NBA for 7 straight seasons now and has yet to even sniff a game in The Finals.
The Suns barely beat a Parker-less Spurs team the other night, and that doesn't bode well for them, because Parker can be an absolute demon if he's not well-covered, and with Nash on him you can bet he won't be. Phoenix's problem this year is that in addition to having no one to guard Parker, they now have no one to guard Duncan since they foolishly traded Kurt Thomas away. Call it a wash if you want, but I don't see B. Skinner doing anywhere near the job that KT did on Duncan last year in the playoffs.
With Duncan able to run riot on the Spurs that's gonna let Parker blow past Nash for one easy layup after another come playoff time, and that's if the Suns even get to play San Antonio. There's a lot of teams in the West with inside games this year and the Suns have absolutely nobody to play post defense. In addition to not having anyone to guard Duncan, the Suns are going to have that same dilemma if they face Utah (who guards Boozer?) or Houston (who guards Yao?), and it's looking like they might even have that problem if they face the Lakers again (who guards Bynum?). Phoenix better hope they get to play the Warriors, the Nuggets or the Hornets in the postseason, cause if they play a team who actually has a down-low scorer they're going to have problems.
So why trade Nash? Well it's right there in the longform article. You can't trade Marion or Raja to upgrade the D cause those guys are elite at those positions. If you trade Amare you better get a beast on both ends of the floor cause otherwise you're losing the one post threat on offense. Grant Hill's contract is too small to bring in anyone of impact in a trade. So who you gonna trade? Trade Nash. Trade him now while his stock is high before age takes his game over the cliff and kills the one thing the Suns are good at. You wanna keep running and gunning? Trade him for Jason Kidd and really rape the Nets in the process to do it (Kidd's all hot and bothered to leave NJ anyway). Trade Nash and dump Diaw and Marcus Banks' bad contracts on the Nets along with Eric Piatkowski for Kidd, Jamal Magloire, Sean Williams and Marcus Williams.
You don't want to trade Nash for Kidd? Find somewhere else to trade him. You'd think that you'd be able to net an absolute windfall if you traded Nash, and Phoenix should do it cause that Nash way of playing basketball is only good for winning regular season games but is pretty bad when it comes to winning championships. You gotta have defense and interior scoring if you want to win in the postseason and the Suns have a distinct lack of both. Even worse than lacking badly in those areas, Nash negatively contributes to those deficiencies cause he's absolutely horrid defensively, and all his dribbling precludes any kind of inside-out post game. Nash is a phenomenal player, but if one thing has been proven over and over the last 7 or 8 seasons it's that a team built around Nash can't win a title, no matter how many All-Stars you surround him with; because even though he might help pad their individual stats, he's not conducive to playing championship-style basketball.
The Suns might be on the verge of making a major move:
NBA sources say the Suns brain trust is split between those who want to give this team another shot at success, those who think it’s now time for a major move and those who are on the fence after only 24 games.
“If we’re ever going to be a championship team, we have to improve defensively,” is as far as Suns general manager Steve Kerr would go Sunday. “We’re watching this run of games against top competition (Utah, New Orleans, San Antonio and Dallas) very carefully. We’ve been talking about it but we talk all the time. Are there are concerns? Sure. I’d say we’re definitely in evaluation mode,” Kerr said.
I came across a comment on freedarko that proposes that rather than getting rid of Amare, Marion or Diaw, the Suns should get rid of their franchise PG:
http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2007/12/still-got-it.html#comments
I've said it before, but IMO if the Suns want to win a title they have to get rid of Nash. Nash has been at the helm of the highest scoring team in the NBA for 7 straight seasons now and has yet to even sniff a game in The Finals.
The Suns barely beat a Parker-less Spurs team the other night, and that doesn't bode well for them, because Parker can be an absolute demon if he's not well-covered, and with Nash on him you can bet he won't be. Phoenix's problem this year is that in addition to having no one to guard Parker, they now have no one to guard Duncan since they foolishly traded Kurt Thomas away. Call it a wash if you want, but I don't see B. Skinner doing anywhere near the job that KT did on Duncan last year in the playoffs.
With Duncan able to run riot on the Spurs that's gonna let Parker blow past Nash for one easy layup after another come playoff time, and that's if the Suns even get to play San Antonio. There's a lot of teams in the West with inside games this year and the Suns have absolutely nobody to play post defense. In addition to not having anyone to guard Duncan, the Suns are going to have that same dilemma if they face Utah (who guards Boozer?) or Houston (who guards Yao?), and it's looking like they might even have that problem if they face the Lakers again (who guards Bynum?). Phoenix better hope they get to play the Warriors, the Nuggets or the Hornets in the postseason, cause if they play a team who actually has a down-low scorer they're going to have problems.
So why trade Nash? Well it's right there in the longform article. You can't trade Marion or Raja to upgrade the D cause those guys are elite at those positions. If you trade Amare you better get a beast on both ends of the floor cause otherwise you're losing the one post threat on offense. Grant Hill's contract is too small to bring in anyone of impact in a trade. So who you gonna trade? Trade Nash. Trade him now while his stock is high before age takes his game over the cliff and kills the one thing the Suns are good at. You wanna keep running and gunning? Trade him for Jason Kidd and really rape the Nets in the process to do it (Kidd's all hot and bothered to leave NJ anyway). Trade Nash and dump Diaw and Marcus Banks' bad contracts on the Nets along with Eric Piatkowski for Kidd, Jamal Magloire, Sean Williams and Marcus Williams.
You don't want to trade Nash for Kidd? Find somewhere else to trade him. You'd think that you'd be able to net an absolute windfall if you traded Nash, and Phoenix should do it cause that Nash way of playing basketball is only good for winning regular season games but is pretty bad when it comes to winning championships. You gotta have defense and interior scoring if you want to win in the postseason and the Suns have a distinct lack of both. Even worse than lacking badly in those areas, Nash negatively contributes to those deficiencies cause he's absolutely horrid defensively, and all his dribbling precludes any kind of inside-out post game. Nash is a phenomenal player, but if one thing has been proven over and over the last 7 or 8 seasons it's that a team built around Nash can't win a title, no matter how many All-Stars you surround him with; because even though he might help pad their individual stats, he's not conducive to playing championship-style basketball.