Really? Wow. Man, you gotta keep a team like that together. Johnson and Marion gave you defense as well as offense, more than enough to offset the offensive juggernaut that team was.
And Deng/Iguadola, among many others... Y'all have any clue what D'antoni could do with Richardson on the roster! I wonder if Amare is complain about not getting enough touches. I can't believe the Cavs couldn't put together a more tempting offer for Richardson.
I think J-Rich struggled in Charlotte because they wanted him to be the #1 option. Some guys aren't great at being #1 options, but great at being #2 options and thriving off others. He should be able to get back to that in Phoenix.
the bobcats got the better of the deal diaw can score some buckets and help ur offense and raja can help defensively as for the suns they just added another declining player to the team
Just goes to show you that some of the best deals go down without anyone knowing. Nobody had a clue that we were getting Artest, nobody had a clue that this trade was in the works....pretty crazy. PHX just got the dynamic scorer that they've been missing to compliment Nash and Amare in the starting lineup. They definitely just jumped the likes of Dallas, San Antonio, Portland, and maybe even Denver in the West.
What exactly would that accomplish?? We already have a small PG coming off the bench...why would we give up a huge part of our bench for someone we already have?
I'll put $1,000 down that says they will not surpass San Antonio or Portland, definitely not Denver. I'll give you Dallas.
Well, the reason the Suns may not surpass these other teams, is chemistry. To build a team that wins takes time.
That year, JJ wanted $50MM/5yrs. Sarver stood his ground at $45MM/5yrs. Besides the Shaq trade, it's the stupidest thing the Suns have done since Sarver bought the team. What a missed bargain! I don't know how well Diaw will do playing for LB. LB will either make him play hard every game or Diaw will shrink and play like an even bigger sissy. Bell is in decline. JRich is the best player in deal, but the 2-for-1 hurts the Suns depth. If creaky old Nash, Hill or Shaq miss very many games, the Suns will miss the playoffs.
Bell and Diaw are both overrated beneficiaries of the Nash run D'Antoni offense. Diaw also has motivation problems while Bell is just flat out not nearly as good as advertised. The media needed to create subplots during the Lakers/Suns series 3 years back so they took Bell, a solid but not great defender, a tried to turn him into the Kobe Stopper. Jason Richardson is going to thrive playing next to Nash. Now if the Suns would just fire Porter and make Nash a player/coach (not sure whether I'm joking about that or not) then look out. Nash Richardson Hill Amare Shaq Barbosa Barnes That's a pretty good mix of strength and athleticism right there. The depth is an issue now especially when you look at how old that team is. If one or two of the bench guys step up then that team is capable of beating pretty much anyone in a 7 game series with a little luck.
The Suns are full of Irony. They fired D'Antoni since he lacked defense, even though he had incredible offensive. Now they just traded away their best defensive players for more offense, but they no longer have the coach that can bring in the offensive firepower. What are the Suns planning? Do they actually have a base to their plans, or are they just making random trades. Sure this trade could be a steal for the Suns talent wise, but they just threw away more depth and defense. Now, I honestly wonder how Suns will get things done on both ends of the court. Defensively, they seem to pose no challenge. Now offensively, they may have gotten better (but we still got Artest and Battier to handle j-rich), but their current coach will never give what D'Antoni can give offensively.
I read that they're gonna have Grant Hill in the starting lineup because he didn't adjust well to the bench, so it'd be: Shaq Amare Hill Richardson Nash 6th men- Barbosa/Barnes Not bad at all.
It may seem like a bargain, but with the CBA, adding Joe Johnson's contract wouldn't be an arithmetic operation but rather exponential one. You couldn't have as many max/near-max contracts as they had--that's why they dumped first-round picks, sold Kurt Thomas, raised ticket prices, etc., even after letting JJ go. They even had to sell Luol Deng in order to afford their team! I was amazed that the Hawks team brass, desperate to do something, forked over good players/picks for him when it was clear the Suns would not (could not) re-sign him. As for JJ, the guy is way too oversensitive to handle the pressure of being on a championship-caliber roster for long--trust me, I'm a Celtics fan, and while I was pissed that the franchise gave up on him so fast (esp. when the Suns wanted Kedrick Brown in the trade in question, not JJ), he has big knocks/issues that nobody seems to notice. This isn't hate but honest observation. He's perfect in the situation he's in though. Plus the Suns weren't much worse without him. The added depth helped more than having a wing they didn't need. The next year, not '04-05, was their season. Too bad their playoff series with SA was rigged. Anyway, back on topic-- I think this is a lateral move for the Suns. The edge in overall talent is negated by the fact that they lose depth/cashed in their remaining trade assets. As you said injuries are a pall that's cast over the team--Nash's back could go out any day, Shaq can only play in spurts, Hill is injury-prone, Amare misses games, etc. Further, thus far the problem hasn't been talent but chemistry. And by chemistry I mean the fact that Amare has gotten totally out of control and Nash seems complicit.
