Rebuilding the Phoenix Suns...

[pja123]

DRAFT:
#14 pick - Ty Lawson
why?
Lawson is a promising PG who could learn a lot under the tutelage of Nash.


TRADES:

Trade no.1 (between Phoenix & Washington)

Suns get:
Andray Blatche
Oleksiy Perechov
Mike James
Etan Thomas

Wizards get:
Shaquille O'Neal
Louis Amundson

WHY IT COULD WORK FOR THE SUNS:
They deal away the Diesel, but get back a nice youth package centered around Andray Blatche. He's a talented big with good perimeter scoring skills. He and Stoudemire would compliment each other nicely. Perechov has been a major disappointment, but could turn things around in a new city. James and Thomas are cap fillers.

WHY IT COULD WORK FOR THE WIZ:
A quartet of Arenas, Jamison, Butler, and O'Neal would make the Wizards an instant contender in the East. And that's not even mentioning Nick Young and whomever they nab in the draft (could be Griffen). Best of all, this doesn't hurt the Wiz financially.
WIZ LINE-UP:
PG-Arenas/Crittenton
SG-Young/Stevenson
SF-Butler/McGuire/Amundson
PF-Jamison/Draft Pick/Songalia
C-O'Neal/Haywoode/McGee


Trade no.2 (between Phoenix & Dallas)

Suns get:
Jerry Stackhouse (waived)
Antoine Wright
Matt Carroll

Mavs get:
Jason Richardson
Goran Dragic

WHY IT COULD WORK FOR THE SUNS:
They save money by removing JRich's contract off the cap and getting Stack's deal, which is guaranteed for only 2 mill.

WHY IT COULD WORK FOR THE MAVS:
JRich and Dragic would bolster the Mavs backcourt immensly. They're getting a 20ppg scorer and a good shooter in Dragic for practically nothing.
MAVS LINE-UP:
PG-Barea/Dragic
SG-Richardson/Terry
SF-Howard/George
PF-Nowitski/Williams
C-Dampier/Draft Pick/Hollins



NEW SUNS ROSTER:
PG-Steve Nash/Mike James/Ty Lawson
SG-Leo Barbosa/Matt Carroll/Antoine Wright
SF-Jared Dudley/Alando Tucker
PF-Andray Blatche/Oleksiv Perechov
C-Amare Stoudemire/Robin Lopez/Etan Thomas

-This team is much deeper and more talented than the current incarnation. The finances are better and the team is set to have major cap space in 2010 while maintaining a rock solid nucleus of Amare (if re-signed), Blatche, Barbosa, Lawson, and Lopez.

[InBoobieWeTrust]

I highly doubt that Washington trades away Blatche to get back one year of Shaq Daddy.

[pja123]

I think the Wiz would definitely consider it. They have a good young big to groom in Javale McGee and a quality backup PF for Jamison in Songalia. Plus, they're going to get a top-4 pick, which could net them another talented big like Griffen or Thabeet. Basically, Blatche isn't needed. And getting a starting center who can dominate games like Shaq is worth giving up someone like Blatche.

Given the tumultuous season the Wiz are going through, it would be wise to consider making a splash this summer to revamp the roster and try to lure back fans.

[ecuhus1981]

DAL would definitely consider their deal, although J-Rich isn't exactly the type of player I'd consider worthy of sacrificing 2010 capspace. Giving out Carroll in the process helps, though.

[old rem]

Seems that if the Suns are all about get cheap ASAP...they avoid matt Carroll who's a backup vs J Rich who's a starter.

#14 is p[erhaps 2-3 slots late for Lawson.

The Big Shaq deal? well.....The Suns do salvage something. The Wiz..if Arenas is okay...might make something of this even if it's a year.

[pja123]

The Suns are looking to cut costs, but I don't think acquiring Carroll's 3.5 mill salary would be a deal breaker. Yes, his contract is long, but the yearly average salary isn't burdensome. Besides, if the Suns look to dump JRich's contract I don't think they'll be able to get straight expiring contracts in return.

[wiff]

I think the Suns simply let Shaq expire. I don't think they will get back any solid youthful talent for a one year rental of Shaq. Plus the Suns owner is looking to shed salary. So even if he trades Shaq he is still going to have to pay someone the 21 mil that is owed on a contract.

They could trade Shaq to a team like the Thunder who should be around 9-11mil under the cap and the Suns would only have to take back about 10mil in salary. But do you really want to trade Shaq for Earl Watson and Damien Wilkins? Especially when you don't even own your own draft pick?

Suns need to hang on to Nash and Shaq for one more season before they blow it up. Because if they blow it up this season they will get nothing to show for it except angry fans.

[djthesonicsfan]

Interesting idea, wiff. Shaq for Watson & Wilkins. While the Suns aren't likely to pay tax next season, Sarver still saves $11M on a team that looks to be getting further & further away from being able to contend for a spot in the playoffs. I also think you're dead on regarding their draft pick. Talk about lack of incentive (other than financial) towards rebuilding. However, what about this idea...

Shaq & Suns 2011 1st (unprotected) for E Watson, D Wilkins & Suns 2010 1st (top 3 protected)

The Suns likely get their pick back so they can at least tell their fans "we made several good runs at it, we had some back luck, but our window has shut, we're going to rebuild for another run in the future and getting our 2010 pick back is our first step in that direction". Nash is tearfully released. They then rebuild around Stoudamire, Richardson, Lopez, Barbosa and the pick. And their 2009/10 salary team salary is about $40M. Maybe they even sign, or pretend to go after, a free agent.

Ya, I know for us this would bring back bad memories of the Patrick Ewing debacle. And who could possibly create a bigger circus than Shaq, especially if didn't 100% buy into the idea that his swan song mission was to bring Durant & company to the playoffs. Totally riddled with risk. But still, I wouldn't mind pushing out that Suns pick another year. Looking into the future I see a lot of notSonic rookie contracts coming due a few years from now. It's not good from a salary cap management perspective to have so many rookie contracts coming due in such a short period of time.

Starters - Westbrook, Thefolosha, Durant, Green, Shaq
Rotation - Weaver, Collison, Krstic, Harden?, White

Ya, no way would I do this. It'd turn a young team just beginning to formulate their own identity into a circus act with the league's biggest clown as it's leader. Still, it's an interesting idea.

[wiff]

DJ you need to come over to the dark side and post in the notsonics forum. Everyone there is civil. It's not your fault our team got hi-jacked. I know you were a couple bucks short of the 450mil it would have been needed to save the Sonics.

All the OKC fans on the forum understand the Sonics fan hostility towards the owners. But like me you love the game and the GM and the players.

Until the city of Seattle steps up to secure a new team I'm going to keep following the one I grew up with. It would be nice to have you over there.

Oh and about the whole Phoenix debacle that is happening right now.

With Sarver saying it is possible they could use the "termination clause" in Nash's contract to save 7mil on the cap and not have anything to show for it, why not trade Shaq and save 10mil or so as well.

Shaq isn't what he use to be but you would have to think it would increase the Thunder's TV ratings. Sure Shaq would hate OKC but he would love Durant, Green, Westbrook and the top 5 pick. Plus you have got to love the way Kyle Weaver has been playing and the nice little pick up of Thabo for the Delonte West TPE and draft pick.

So DJ considering how weighted the Wally Z and Delonte West trade with Cleveland was did Presti make up for it using the TPE he had from West with the low 1st rounder for Thabo?

Here I thought Presti got the short end of the stick (and he did) but he used that little TPE to perfection.

[A-Town Connection]

DAL would definitely consider their deal, although J-Rich isn't exactly the type of player I'd consider worthy of sacrificing 2010 capspace. Giving out Carroll in the process helps, though.

Exactly. Maybe if they want to go for broke and win now( which would require more moves), then maybe. Dallas gets better, but I think Stacks contract could be very appealing to another team.

[dantian]

any meaningful rebuilding plan for the Suns starts with trading Nash, because with Nash dominating the ball, one round and out like under DA's last is the best to expect. Makes no sense.

Nash to Por for Bayless/Blake works as Por are 6 mil below cap

Then, JRich to Minn for Miller/Carney; Shaq/Tucker to Cav for Wallace/Varaijao/Hicks. Let Barnes walk and Hill decide whatever he want. We have

Amare/Wallace/Miller/Barbosa/Bayless
Varaijao/Amundson/Hicks/Hill/Dudley/Carney/Dragic

[Mamba Venom]

Nash to NY for a #1 pick + ???

Build around Amare
and trade away
Hill, Shaq, and Nash

rebuilding = keeping and young talent