That was me. [ESPN.COM] Now Shaq is on the trade block. 02-07-2009, 02:55 AM #8 Either Porter goes or Nash goes by the deadline, you can mark it on your calendar. Not like it was rocket science predicting that, the Suns are absolutely horrible this season. I can't even watch their games anymore because I feel like i'm witnessing a rape. Unfortunately it looks like Nash will now stay with the Suns. When the players win out the coach goes and the players stay usually.
Anyone ever watched the movie Little Big League that came out in the 90s? About the kid who inherited the Minnesota Twins after his grandfather/owner died and gave him the team? And how the kid did a horrible job running the team the first half of the movie? That's Steve Kerr. The unfortunate part is that Kerr still doesn't know how to run the team. Sure, it's hard to work for an owner who's counting every penny but the moves and hiring Kerr have done have all been questionable to downright WTF? But, then again, Sarver himself pretty much torpedoed what once was a very good team. Mistakes made by Sarver in the past few years from what I can remember: 1. S&T Joe Johnson to the Hawks 2. Trading Quentin Richardson 3. Selling their 1st Round picks year after year after year 4. Turning down trade for KG (the much-rumored Amare for KG deal a year ago) 5. Trading for O'Neal 6. Firing D'Antoni 7. Hiring Porter If it wasn't for Sterling, I'd nominate Sarver as the worst owner in the NBA
We need Phoenix to blow it up, rebuild and start over. The more games they lose the closer we get to locking up a playoff spot. Currently, there are nine teams competing for eight spots with 11 games separating the 9-10 seeds. Simply stated: the more the nine seed (Phoenix) struggles the closer we get to at least qualifying for the post season.
Thats why Porter getting fired is a bad thing. We also don't want Phoenix to trade Shaq because he is really weighing them down. I would be really surprised if they trade Amare at this point. If they trade Shaq and fire Porter then they caught on and the Suns might get back to the top of the conference. Just hope that the buyout for Porter doesn't get accepted and Porter stays the rest of the season. Also if Porter does accept the buyout then the Suns will probably just use one of the coaches they already have the rest of the season to keep the costs down since they are already paying them instead of bringing in a new coach.
Nah, you're overreacting. A coaching change requires adjustment time, installation of a new system and in some cases acquiring players suitable to play in whatever new system the coach brings. Sure, there cases of a new coach 'lighting a fire' but anybody that's followed the Phoenix situation closely knows they're a disaster right now. The more changes they make, the more "blow it up" style moves they make.....the better off we are. Phoenix is teetering on the edge right now and given the Amare rumors it looks like they're ready to reset, reload and play for the future. Credit: cheap owner and shaky GM for ruining a top five team in the league. (That's a different argument though)
Didn't they lose out on guys like Iguodala and Deng so they could just drop their picks? Oh and Joe Johnson would be nice.
I'm not going to accept this as truth until it's confirmed. Count me skeptical. To not even give a coach one full season is really jerky and puts a very negative spotlight on an organization. For the record, I didn't think Porter was a good hire and I wouldn't be surprised if he is fired after the season, especially if the Suns miss the playoffs or put up little resistance in the 1st round.
And Rajon Rondo. Basically their cheapass owner cost them not only the present but the future as well.
That's a good read. But, regarding the OP here, is there anything to substantiate that Porter is fired? I haven't seen this reported anywhere.
This misses the summer of 2004 fiasco where Joe Johnson asked for 5yrs/$50MM and Sarver stuck to his guns at 5yrs/$45MM. They could have had him locked up for cheap and the summer of 2005 acrimony and separation doesn't have a chance to happen.
Current conference standings Code: 1. * LA Lakers -- 2. * San Antonio 6.5 3. * Denver 6.5 4. Portland 9.5 5. Dallas 10.5 [I] [B]6. Houston 10.5[/B] [/I] 7. New Orleans 11.0 8. Utah 12.5 [COLOR=Red] 9. Phoenix 13.5 [/COLOR] 10. Golden State 24.5 Its clearly a 9 team race. Golden State is 11 back of #9 Phoenix. If you're a Rockets fan you WANT Phoenix to crash even harder with their moves.
Sarver owns up to this huge mistake, which is the biggest of his tenure IMO. http://ktar.com/sports/?nid=21&sid=1084496 Suns owner discusses the team, rumors February 12th, 2009 @ 10:54pm by Adam Green/Sports 620 KTAR In a wide-ranging interview with Sports 620 KTAR's Gambo and Ash Thursday, Suns owner Robert Sarver discussed everything from the excitement of hosting the All-Star game to the uncertainty surrounding the team. While Sarver said no one booed league commissioner David Stern, who last appeared in the Valley before the infamous playoff series with the Spurs in 2006, he understands there are many Suns fans who are not fans of his right now. "In this business everything gets publicized, and about half of it is factual and half of it isn't," he said about reports that he was talking with other NBA owners about potential trades. "At the end of the day it is my job to do the best I can to make the team successful." Sarver went on to acknowledge that he has made some mistakes in the 5+ years that he has owned the team, most notably letting former Sun Joe Johnson leave. "We could have signed him for fifty-million bucks and didn't, we wanted to let the season play out," Sarver said. "He ended up getting a max contract which we tried to salvage at the end. "If I could go back and redo one thing that would be it, that was a big mistake on my part." At this point in his ownership, however, Sarver is rumored to be on the brink of seeing more Suns leave town. To that, he said, nothing is guaranteed. "We may not make a deal with anybody - we may stay put," he said. "But this year, more than any, we're more receptive to looking at what we can do to try to improve." Sarver said part of the problem with deciding what, if any, moves to make is that the team has been inconsistent with its play throughout the year. Currently 28-23 and one game out of the Western Conference playoff race, Sarver said that if the team had won more games against sub.500 teams people would view the team differently. "Had we won four or five of the games against the bad teams and not lost them we would be sitting in third or fourth place," he said. Sarver went on to say that he feels the team as it is currently constructed could compete. If the team is to turn the season around without making a roster move, the thought is first-year head coach Terry Porter may be the one to go. Sarver did not give his head coach the proverbial "vote of confidence," instead saying that Porter could do better. "Could he do a better job? Yeah, absolutely," he said. "There are things he has done and could do better, just as all of us."
It might be the biggest mistake, but it wasn't the biggest sin. Selling first round draft picks for cash. I could never support a team that's owner did this.
While I agree that basically giving away a lottery pick is indefensible under any circumstances, this is a bit of revisionism. By all accounts, that draft was considered horrible at the time and only 3 or 4 deep. The popular slogan was that there was really no difference between the lottery (outside of the big 2) and the rest of the first round. While in hindsight, there were some very nice players sprinkled throughout the first round (Martin, Al Jefferson, Nelson, Iguodala, Josh Smith, Biedrins, etc.), this abundance of talent wasn't apparent at the time. But still, terrible move.
The worst part about having to shave Brian Grant off your books? They didn't have to take Grant on in a trade. He wasn't some unfortunate byproduct of some bigger deal that brought in better player(s). And he wasn't some former contributor who they signed five or six years earlier that was just playing out the string. They signed this guy, for two years, in the summer of 2005. After a season with the Lakers where he looked like one of the worst players in the game. Couldn't get off the floor, couldn't rebound, couldn't help anyone. And after he was waived with the amnesty rule, they signed him. Colangelo signed him, for two years. Pitiful.
