R.I.P. Phoenix Suns (2004-2008)

Its official: I’m no longer a Phoenix Suns fan. They have reportedly parted ways with Mike D’Antoni today, officially ending an era.

First, let me give some background to my fanhood. I’m from Portsmouth, Virginia, part of the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area. There are no pro sports where I’m from, so you kind of have free domain to like whoever you want to like as a fan.

In the NBA, I started off as a Bulls fan during the Jordan Years. After Jerry Kraus ruined the team, I moved on to the Raptors, as Vince Carter became my first post-MJ favorite player. While Vince was doing his thing in Toronto, I also started becoming a big fan of a little point guard with a crazy game in Dallas, Steve Nash.

The Mavericks were coached by Don Nelson around the turn of the century, and had an exciting young nucleus of Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Michael Finely. Later on, they added Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker to the mix, and would hoist threes and run and gun with the best of them.

As Vince started to earn a reputation as a guy who didn’t care and I started to compare my unorthodox game to Nash’s, Nash started to become my favorite player.

When he signed with the Suns prior to the 2004-2005 season (my second year of college), Nash and Phoenix became entrenched in my favorite team slot. The Suns signed Nash and Quentin Richardson, and hired an unknown coach named Mike D’Antoni.

They trotted out a starting line up of Nash at PG, Joe Johnson at SG, Q. Rich at SF, Shawn Marion at PF, and Amare at C that season. They ran, they gunned, they shot a ton of threes, and it all revolved around Nash’s play at PG. He’d throw all sorts of passes at any and every angle, bang threes, and make everybody around him better.

He was so important to that team, that he deservedly won the MVP that season with some of the most pedestrian stats of anyone who’s ever one the MVP award. His numbers from that season (15.5 ppg, 11.5 ast, 3.3 reb) wouldn’t jump out at you, but if you watched them play that season, you understood why he won the award.

For the next few years, they would rely on Nash, his ability to find anyone at the court at anytime, and the ability to hit threes. Players like Quentin Richardson, Raja Bell, Walter McCarty, Jumane and James Jones, Leandro Barbosa, Jim Jackson, and Tim Thomas would become integral to their outside attack, although most of those players only played there for a year.

On the interior, it was Marion, Stoudemire, Steven Hunter, Kurt Thomas, Boris Diaw and Grant Hill. Nash held all of these seemingly mismatched and uninspiring players together, made the marginal ones effective, and the good ones great.

Two things interest me about their strategy. Besides the Joe Johnson situation, who could’ve and should’ve resigned, but didn’t, I always wonder why they didn’t keep the same group of guys together? Another one is why wouldn’t they use the damn Hawks pick, or any of their own picks?

Getting back to the point, something strange happened this season. It was clear that either Amare or Marion had to go. My thought was to move Amare for someone like Rasheed Wallace and spare parts (who would fit in perfect with their offense, and fix their hole in the middle). Instead, they chose to trade Marion for Shaq.

That move, coupled with their slow removal of consistent outside threats that weren’t important to the team’s grand scheme (the lack of James Jones type guys), basically transformed the Suns from an innovative team to a regular team. An old regular team. An old regular team that was exposed by the Spurs.

In away, D’Antoni had to go. He might end up landing in a place like Toronto, where he’ll be allowed to do what he does best. 7 seconds or less. My only hope is that he takes Nash with him where ever he goes, so Steve can be rescued from the doldrums of having to play regular basketball.

Tale of Two Trades

For the Lakers, they got Pau Gasol for 1 cent on the dollar. Kwame Brown’s expiring contract, the draft rights to Pau’s little brother, Aaron McKie’s contract, two draft picks (likely to be late 1st rounders), and Javaris Crittenton.

So basically the Grizzlies gave up their franchise player, a 20 and 10 guy, for a rookie combo guard and two draft picks. No wonder Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was so mad.

There’s no question the Griz could’ve gotten a lot more for Gasol than they did. It appears as if they were looking for young players, draft picks and cap room, not current value (like the Bulls or Nets could’ve gave them).

For Memphis, it assumes that someone would want to sign there. I’d say that’s a bad assumption. For the Lakers, they will now have arguably the best starting lineup in the league when Andrew Bynum comes back.

Bynum at the 5, Gasol at the 4, Odom at the 3 (an all 6’10 frontcourt), with Kobe and Derek Fisher in the backcourt. They still have depth too, with Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Rony Turiaf, and Trevor Ariza coming off the bench.

In fact, I think they’ll be the favorites to win the west if Bynum and Ariza make it back this year.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns made one of the biggest head-scratching trades of all time. They shipped disgruntled forward Shawn Marion and bench riding backup point guard Marcus Banks to Miami for Shaq.

This is a trade that makes little sense, especially now. Their thinking is Shaq can defend guys like Tim Duncan, Andrew Bynum/Pau Gasol, and other big men in the west that usually torch Amare Stoudamire.

What Suns GM Steve Kerr didn’t realize is that Shaq is not only washed up, but he’s worst on defense than he is on offense.

One mistake people have made about criticizing this trade is saying he’ll mess up their fast break offense. You don’t need five players to run a fast break. He messes them up in the half court.

Now, the Suns half court revolves around Steve Nash running around making plays, pick and rolls, and everyone staying active around the perimeter. The lane is usually clear, giving Nash opportunities to penetrate and get lay-ups or get open shots for other players.

With Shaq, the lane will now be clogged up. Additionally, you can’t really run a pick and roll with Shaq at this point in his career. Also, he’s just as big of a crybaby as Shawn Marion is about not getting touches.

He still draws double teams on occasion, which could open up the perimeter, but they never had a problem opening it up before.

I definitely understand that somebody had to go between Amare and Marion, but that person really was Amare Stoudamire. They had one of their best seasons the year he was injured. Boris Diaw was allowed to start, where he’s best, and he flourished.

The perfect trade would have been Amare for Rasheed Wallace and another bench contributor. Rasheed can play defense and he can shoot the tree, making him the perfect fit for what Phoenix does.

If they were going to deal Marion, deal him for some one better than Shaq. Get multiple talented players, like Andres Nocioni and Tyrus Thomas from Chicago, get Jermaine O’Neal, get Richard Jefferson, get a Pau Gasol.

Instead, they panicked and traded for Shaq. Good luck with that for the next 2 ½ years.