ESPN: KG wants Phoenix

[BacktoBasics]

The door is closing on Phoenix and in a few years they'll need to revamp a Nashless team. Amare is a great young talent but there are questions that only time can answer and well....Garnett is the better player now and the better player for at least the next 3 years to come.

If they want to contend now pull the trigger. If they think they can contend 5 years from now I guess hang onto him but I don't see them finding another Nash in 5 years.

[Supergirl]

I don't buy this at all.

Your first premise is that Amare will still be "tearing it up" in 3-4 years. This guy lives off of his legs, not his skills, and those legs have taken a big beating so far. Amare missed an entire season with a microfracture surgery, and unless he changes/expands his game, there will be more of that.

Garnett, while he has definitely spent some time up above the rim, is a skilled player. The only thing he doesn't do as well as Stoudamire is score inside, though he likely could do that if he didn't pass and shoot from the outside as well as he does.

Garnett is in great physical condition, he's a smart basketball player with every skill there is, and he plays defense. Garnett may be six years older, but judging on what I've seen, Amare is a much better bet for the glue factory in four years than Garnett is.

Second, you're going to criticize Garnett for not going to the Finals in twelve seasons even though you know good and well he's been surrounded by garbage most of that time? The one year he had good help (not great) around him, Minny won 57 games and advanced to the WCF. Amare's been on a loaded team in 05 and 07 and he couldn't get any futher than Garnett did.

I think many on the pro-Amare side are a little too impressed with his dunks, because Garnett is better than Amare at literally everything else.

I agree that Garnett is better than Amare right now. And maybe Amare will fall to another injury, and be more like Kenyon Martin. But it's also possible that Amare will go on to becoming the closest thing the league has to a "next Tim Duncan" which is an equally real possibility.

Amare hasn't had much opportunity to prove himself in Phoenix - he's had 3 seasons, one of which he missed entirely due to injury. Last season he was spectacular, but still learning. He could be due for a breakout playoffs next year.

KG could make Phoenix instant favorites for next year, but I would still wonder whether they could make it past the Spurs, esp given what they migh have to get to give him up. If they have to give up Barbosa, Marion, or some of the depth they have right now, they might not make it through a series against the Spurs. KG and TD neutralize each other, but the Spurs have Parker and Manu who Phoenix had no answer for either this past playoffs.

And after next year, when KG and Nash will be both solidly in their 30's, on the decline in terms of basketball years, then what happens? Phoenix will be stuck with two GINORMOUS contracts for two old guys.

This has the potential to make the Suns winners, but it also has the potential to bite them in the asses. That's all I'm saying.

[SRJ]

This has the potential to make the Suns winners, but it also has the potential to bite them in the asses. That's all I'm saying.

Well, that's certainly fair, and you don't seem keen on mortgaging the future for the present if you were in Steve Kerr's shoes.

Here is my rationale for pulling this trigger, conducting this explanation from the Suns' perspective:

With Amare Stoudemire in the 2005 and 2007 playoffs, we are 3-8 against the Spurs. To replace Amare with KG would make our offense more versatile, and it would improve our defense against Tim Duncan and our help defense in general. If Amare continues his career at his current level of play (and with his knee, that's hardly a given), he may begin to enter his peak as Nash declines. We may have fewer years with KG than Amare, but bringing him in now would pair him with another MVP still playing at a very high level.

Anyway, that's where I'm coming from. It's a huge gamble in terms of salary and age, but with Nash's window closing they more or less have to put all their eggs in one basket. One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different result each time; the Suns have tried to knock off the Spurs twice with Amare and it hasn't worked. Maybe Garnett will change that outcome.

BTW, Amare won't really become the next Duncan if it all turns out for the best. I see him as a Moses Malone without all the rebounds.

[td4mvp3]

I don't buy this at all.

Your first premise is that Amare will still be "tearing it up" in 3-4 years. This guy lives off of his legs, not his skills, and those legs have taken a big beating so far. Amare missed an entire season with a microfracture surgery, and unless he changes/expands his game, there will be more of that.

Garnett, while he has definitely spent some time up above the rim, is a skilled player. The only thing he doesn't do as well as Stoudamire is score inside, though he likely could do that if he didn't pass and shoot from the outside as well as he does.

Garnett is in great physical condition, he's a smart basketball player with every skill there is, and he plays defense. Garnett may be six years older, but judging on what I've seen, Amare is a much better bet for the glue factory in four years than Garnett is.

Second, you're going to criticize Garnett for not going to the Finals in twelve seasons even though you know good and well he's been surrounded by garbage most of that time? The one year he had good help (not great) around him, Minny won 57 games and advanced to the WCF. Amare's been on a loaded team in 05 and 07 and he couldn't get any futher than Garnett did.

I think many on the pro-Amare side are a little too impressed with his dunks, because Garnett is better than Amare at literally everything else.

given that, why would minnesotta want amare, then?

[SRJ]

Because if Garnett is going to walk at the end of his deal, the Wolves get nothing at all for KG. The Wolves are going to have to get something for him. Amare is young, and if those legs do hold up they get an explosive inside scorer for KG.

[baseline bum]

Sarver
Kerr horrible GM
Garnett would have stayed on the bench
Garnett would have played defense
Donaghy
Garnett probably still the better player in 2012
Suns fan having to root for the Lakers so Nash can get his ring

[rayjayjohnson]

[Clipper Nation]

Amare is the next Kenyon Martin. Book it.

Wrong.... Kenyon Martin is insurable....

[monosylab1k]

I forgot about this thread, the one where Suns fans were insisting that Amare was a team-first guy with a great at ude.

[Leetonidas]

Phoenix Suns

[monosylab1k]

I don't understand why people excuse Amare's behavior by saying "he is young." LeBron James is 22, and he doesn't act like a child. Tony Parker is 25, and he doesn't act like a child. Carmelo Anthony doesn't act like a child.

although this might be the most re ed comment in the thread.

[baseline bum]

^ I like Extra Stout's posts normally, but that one

[LnGrrrR]

Quality bump