Marion or Chandler and the #2 pick, You be the judge.

I have to disagree on the more athletic Amare point. I think he'll be perfectly healthy, and he's only going to get smarter about his play.

The Suns didn't have Diaw, K. Thomas, T. Thomas, or Bell in 04-05.

San Antonio has increasingly fewer years left to maintain greatness, with no really young talent coming up to sustain it.

Dallas will still be a force, but consider this:

Amare > Nowitzki,
Bell can guard Terry,
K. Thomas + Amare >> Dampier + Diop + Mbenga

additionally:

Dallas relies heavily on zone defense. From Wikipedia:

Weak on the perimeter? Exploited by teams that pass well? Can't box out?

Sounds like it plays right to the strengths of Phoenix.

 

marion is a better defender than chandler. marion is a better rebounder. potential is nice but marion is much much better than chandler. this would put the suns practically in rebuilding mode with one player who has potential but can't stay in games and one rookie. granted they need depth but i think they are giving up too much experience and nash's window is limited.

 

From a talent standpoint, it kills the Suns. Marion's their best individual player by far. He's not the scorer that Amare is, he's not the leader and engine that Nash is, but I don't think this Suns team can be the same without him. He means way too much to them defensively and offensively. They've shown that they can thrive without Amare. Obviously Nash makes them go. But Marion is just as crucial, period. Take him out and they're done as an elite team. I'm just going to throw it down like that.

I would think this move would be all about financial flexibility. Amare's deal kicks in next year, and Marion is due $15.1, $16.4, and $17.2 million in the next 3 years. Tyson makes right around $10, and the #2 pick could be Tyrus Thomas making around $4 million. It would give you a young forward pair (Thomas/Stoudamire) that could thrive beyond the Nash era, which can't last for more than a couple more years at best.

I'm not saying I'd do it, but that's what it looks like to me.

Evan

 

Those guys realize that Yao turned the corner this year and that if Yao and McGrady are healthy and now we add another big piece this year with the MLE, along with another big piece in the draft, they do not have the answer. Phoenix is easily beatable by a team that can shoot the lights out and plays the half court game and plays defense. That is going to be us my friend.

Why you doubt us? Phoenix cannot compete with us unless they upgrade their defense significantly. They will produce a lot of points, a lot of wins, a lot of playoff appearances, but they will not win anything until they become efficient playing half court basketball. D'Antoni is Doug Moe II. The players will love playing for him, they will love running up and down the floor, and not having to play defense, they will love giving up the outside shot and then releasing and heading for the other end for the dunk. But, although they will be outrageous to watch, just like the Moe Nuggets were, and although they will make a whole lot of players look good when they are really average, they ain't gonna win anything playing that way. And once Nash loses it, look out. The whole house of cards crumbles.

Don't kid yourself. There are teams quaking in their boots at the thought of us picking up a player like Roy or Morrison to go along with a player like Mike James and 111. Those guys know that Van Gundy can coach and he is a master of defense and if we just have guys on the floor that can toss it in the bucket, they are going to have their hands full.

THERE IS NO ANSWER FOR YAO MING.

 

"Slow it down, and take what the defense gives us!"

 

Marion will make 15 million next year while I think Chandler is going to make around 10 million. If you consider the fact that phoenix will probably be in luxury tax land. That 10 million dollars could make a big difference in being able to resign Diaw and Tim Thomas.

 

You might want to check out Amare's stats when Nash is out of the lineup before making such a rediculous statement. Even in his best season playing with Nash, Amare wasn't as good as Nowitzki the past two years. Nowitzki can do pretty much anything Amare can, plus he is a superior passer, a much better FT shooter, and has 3pt range like a top notch shooting guard. Amare is 4 years younger, so he will be around longer, but for the next few seasons, I would take Dirk every time.

 

Tough call. Marion is the only small forward I can think of that can grab you 20+ boards and net you 30 points on any given night. He's had some lack luster shooting performances in the playoffs but at the same time had some phenomenal games as well.

The thing that's so amazing about the Suns to me is how they remind me of the old Jazz teams. They'd toss in a scrub to play with Stockton, and Malone, and all of a sudden they'd play far better than what they really were. The Rockets need to look no further than Shandon Anderson for proof of that. Russell is also another good example.

Compare those examples to players like Joe Johnson who is still very talented but overvalued his impact on the floor, and Quentin Richardson. These were players who were essentially part of the core makeup of the Suns a couple of years ago. I was even one of those people who touted that they would be fortunate to be a #8 seed last year due to those two losses, as well the injury to Amare. Nevertheless they found players that didn't skip a beat to the Suns style of play and had a very successful year. Boris Diaw basically took over the PG role when Nash needed rest like JJ, and filled in a scorers role when Nash was on the same court. He basically was an exact replica of JJ. Except he's younger, arguably more gifted, and cheaper.

Then they traded for Tim Thomas who's reputation throughout his career was an underachiever. Yet he played to his potential with the Suns offensive schemes, and had a great midseason. Again he was basically an exact replica of the role Quentin Richardson had the year before.

My point with all that is perhaps its the system the Suns use that makes them so successful and not so much the players. Perhaps Marion's impact on the floor won't be as big with another team. Perhaps Chandler's impact will be worthy of the contract he's received under the Suns system. Maybe Nash and the Suns system will help him play to his potential. Tack on that they could potentially draft Rudy Gay, a player of similar stature and potential as Shawn Marion, and the deal might actually be worth it. The system might actually keep him interested in playing his all every night, opposed to the slacking reputation he built up in college. And if that's the case, then the deal might actually be worth it to the Suns.

 

The winner is Phoenix hands down. Why?

Not only do they get a player that can play center for them, but one that can play it well defensively. Lets just say Amare comes back to full strength by opening day:

C-Chandler
PF-Amare
SF-Diaw
SG-Bell
PG-Nash

And they STILL have Barbosa,Eddie House and Kurt Thomas on the bench. AND they can try to re-sign Tim Thomas too. And THEN add on the #2 pick?? That, to me, is one killer lineup. Lets just say that the Raptors pick Aldridge or that euro kid, and Morrison is still on the board. Can you imagine what that would be like? Morrison getting those open 3s??? It would be unreal.

C-Chandler and K. Thomas
PF-Amare and (re-signed) Tim Thomas
SF-Morrison and Diaw
SG-Bell and Barbosa
PG-Nash

As for Marion, he's a pretty good player. Awesome fantasy player. But one thing that irritates me about him is his inability to finish. I've watched so many botched lay ups from him that it's sickening to think how a player with so much athleticism and so much hops can botch lay up after lay up. And don't even get me started on the playoffs. Couple that with the way Diaw played in the playoffs, Marion is expendable.

The Bulls, on the other hand, just lost their best defensive player AND their only big man AND they just gave up their #2 pick.

 

You've got some good points. I see what you mean by how Chandler might be 'actually good' on the Suns. However Marion is an all-star, very versatile game can defend the perimeter and post effectively, also very explosive at times and does many of the intangible hustle plays. Basically has an all around game. He's just awesome man. Chandler's 'potential' is the same boring story we hear of with Swift. Sure he's a pretty good defender(at times), can block shots, and a solid choice to start in many NBA teams. But he's crap on offense. I just don't see why Suns would want him instead of Marion. They already have Kurt Thomas so they could move Amare to PF and even Brian Grant I believe. Those three are sufficient enough to Cover the C/PF position I believe with Marion moving over to PF once in a while. If they trade Marion they will have a glaring hole at SF with uneven distribution of big men.

 

this would be worse than the brand to clippers trade.

 

The only rational thinking on the Suns part that is that Marion 9 times out of 10 disapears when the playoffs start. He just doesn't take his game to the next level when his team needs him the most.

I'm assuming that Diaw and Amare will take up the slack, and Chandler will get most of his points in transistion. He would help a lot on the defensive end.

The bulls, however, would take a pretty big leap with Marion.

 

the bulls give up their centre and their hope of drafting a centre. i take it it the writer has a bulls court ben wallace story on file ready to be published.

 

Ha lose rebounding their getting the best rebounder in the nba lose rebounding plz man!

 

For which team because it cant be so for the suns because when brand went to the clips he was extremely young marion is not a youngster ne more so unless you mean chandler is the next brand your post is whack!

 

The suns should draft JJ with a later pick. all those open threes and he wouldnt have to worry about being a stopper.

 

History disagrees with you. Name a single player who has returned from microfracture surgery as athletic/explosive as before. There are very few players who have underwent that surgery and come out as even half the player they were. Jason Kidd is the only person I can think of off of the topic of my head who came back after microfracture surgery and didn't lose too much from his game. Guys like Antonio McDyess, Penny Hardaway, Danny Manning and Grant Hill were certainly never the same again.

 

I guess it's that time of year again when the annual Shawn Marion trade rumor pops up.

I have to agree with LondonsBurning in that you get the feeling that anything Phoenix touches turns to gold. Tyson Chandler would probably come in there and average 20rpg while considering that Amare and Marion were both drafted #9, whoever they picked at #2 would end up in the Hall of Fame. It's definitely enticing if you're Phoenix. You can possibly take Bargnani, reuniting Dirk with Nash.

They won't go through with it though. Marion is the best rebounder, pound for pound in league history (Rodman excluded). They won't make this deal when they turned down McGrady two years ago. They won't trade him because he's the reason that whole Phoenix offense works. They're not going to trade him right when they're on the cusp of a championship.

 

Agree. I think they were lucky at times in the playoffs for sure, but I bet they're thinking that they should give it a go with amare in the same lineup. I mean, damn, they got to the western conference finals. And they ran outta gas. So, no need to do any crazy trade, just add a few pieces here and there to add more depth, and we shall see if nash still has enough in the tank to get them to the top.

But it all depends on amare, pretty much.

 

They need a shot blocking presence in that line up. Chandler lacks a lot in his offense output, but the Suns desperately need help in the middle. This was apparent against the lackluster Kwame Brown and Chris Kaman. They realize they need someone in the middle cuz that run and gun isnt going to do much in the playoffs. Even Dallas has Dampier and Diop. So those who say "look at Dallas, etc, etc," they have some sort of inside presence.

With the #2 pick, however, they can still pick up Morrison who will make up for Marion's offensive numbers.