Looks like Amare won't be the only big name leaving the Suns this year. God I hope Morey goes after Nash. Here's the link. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3890478
Read the article first, nobody on that team is safe. The Suns wants to clear 40 million in cap space this year into next. Only way for that to happen is to move the big guys and get back mostly expiring contracts.
Their owner is not doing so good financially and in my opinion is wanting to sell the team and at the same time save himself alot of money beforehand. Losing 40 million for the Rockets would be like losing Yao, T-mac, and Rafer all at the same time. It's a pretty big hit to a playoff contender. They won't be able to compete.
That is all the article talks about in reference to Nash. They can move 40 million by moving Amare and Shaq. Moving Barbosa wouldn't hurt either. Nash still has a few good yrs left in the tank as a serviceable starting PG on a championship contender. Either he will stay on the Suns or get traded a few yrs later. Steve Kerr knows how valuable Nash is
Shaq and Nash are both off the books after next year. That's roughly $33M right there. Amare/Barbosa/J-Rich are all the guys to move if freeing up as much cap space as humanly possible is your goal.
Thats what i'm saying! If we could actually get a decent point guard out of the deal this season would be looking more and more like a Championship year for the Rockets. Hell gimme Barbossa while you're at it too. I really think Kerr is trying to trade away all the Dantoni players, i mean look who the last two guys were that were shown the door(Diaw, Bell), both quality players helping out a struggling Bobcats. Bringing Shaq to a run and gun team was about the dumbest idea ever created and instead of Kerr admitting his mistake he would rather dismantle the team and say they are going young? I don't get it. Amare is only 26 how young do you want them Kerr? In my opinion they should build around Amare, I think he's earned at least that.
Here's a lengthy Bill Simmons article from last year about the Suns decline http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080501 So much to say here...WHAT are they trying to do with this team? They went from 1 big move away from contention, to all off a sudden wanting to shed 40 million dollars off payroll in one year?? The Grizzlies entire payroll is $52 mil. The Suns have basically the same payroll as the Rockets at $75 mil. And they want some young talent back. Talent they could have ALREADY had if they didnt sell all their draft picks? Strange as it seems now, Shaq going to LA kinda makes sense now.
Maybe, maybe no. http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/art_garcia/02/04/western.insider.20090204/index.html
Stick a fork in that franchise. If the Suns had hired a decent coach, they might have avoided the J-Rich trade and be doing well this season. Steve Kerr won't be given the chance to completely become Matt Millen, but he's doing his best in a short time. What really dooms the Suns is that Kerr looks safe when he should be #1 on the chopping block. Sarver should be given a sanity test if he allows Kerr to hire their next coach. Kerr needs to go so a new GM can start from scratch, with hiring a new coach being the first task.
A lot of hype for this Sun's trade thing. I bet at the end of the day Shaq,Amare, and Nash are still Sun's when the trade deadline is over.
Why does everyone keep blame Kerr for the downfall of the Suns? It's my understanding that Sarver was the one who really wanted Shaq, and now it sounds like he's the one who wants to trim the payroll. That's not even mentioning all the horrible moves before Kerr arrived like letting Joe Johnson go then giving away Luol Deng, Nate Robinson, Rajon Rondo, Sergio Rodriguez, and Rudy Fernandez over the course of four consecutive drafts.
If I were the Rockets, I wouldn't want Nash- getting old, defensive liability, different system, etc.
Shaq going back to LA would be unreal, but I don't think Kobe would want him to come back. He still wants that championship without Shaq.
The Suns are currently 9th in the WC and over LT by $4M. For a franchise that's given away players and first round picks just to get under LT in the recent past I'd say it's more than just hype.