Stefanski Seems In No Rush To Trade Miller

[underpressure]

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Sure that makes some sense. Then again, would you think a championship team desperate for inside defense and toughness would trade away it's one tough inside player (Kurt Thomas) and two first round picks for just a trade exception???

The luxory tax makes teams that aren't willing to pay it make moves that seem to make no sense.

My point is if the Suns are in cap hell they should rather trade Marion or Diaw who do not impact the Suns as much as Amare. Amare is supposed to be their franchise player if Nash steps down. I cannot believe that they get rid of him for the sake of avoiding the luxury tax. That would be beyond terrible.

[wow444]

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My point is if the Suns are in cap hell they should rather trade Marion or Diaw who do not impact the Suns as much as Amare. Amare is supposed to be their franchise player if Nash steps down. I cannot believe that they get rid of him for the sake of avoiding the luxury tax. That would be beyond terrible.

Here is the thing though...neither of those guys gets you the defensive shot blocking Center which is the primary point that Simmons was making. The only way I think you get Amare is by trading Sammy to get him. Sammy can guard Duncan and Bynum and can run the floor in the D'Antoni's system. I think you can get away with a front court of Amare and Jason Smith, especially in the East. So a trade of say SD, Thad, our 1st next year and Ollie for Amare and Banks meets all of Simmons criteria for getting Amare. The trade makes both teams better.

Get rid of Banks contract - check
Get some interior defense that can play in our system - check
Get some picks and or young talent also - check

[The Guilty Party]

My point is if the Suns are in cap hell they should rather trade Marion or Diaw who do not impact the Suns as much as Amare. Amare is supposed to be their franchise player if Nash steps down. I cannot believe that they get rid of him for the sake of avoiding the luxury tax. That would be beyond terrible.

Ahhh... but there is where you and I are apparently wrong. The reports have come out of Phoenix say that Amare has a bit of an attitude problem and that he is wearing out his welcome out there. Some people (media members) also seem to believe the Suns on-court chemistry was better when Amare was out of the lineup. If these reports are in fact accurate, then moving Amare may make some sense.

From a distance, all I see is Amare the Beast who dominates most of the games that I watch on television. However, what I do not see on a nightly basis is his supposed extremely weak defense or his attitude problems. If he were moved here and the team kept Dalembert next to him, it might make up for those defensive issues. However, the attitude is a concern since he plays an extremely fun style of ball and plays on a team that wins a large majority of it's games. How would he take to playing here and winning about half of the time??

[underpressure]

I would be spinning it the other way around. The Suns should somehow search for a hardnosed defender without giving up Amare. Do they have the pieces to make it work? I do not know but it is sure smarter than trading Amare just based on his bad defensive play.

Did not play Amare his best ball versus the Spurs in the last playoffs, btw?

[UptownPhilly]

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Here is the thing though...neither of those guys gets you the defensive shot blocking Center which is the primary point that Simmons was making. The only way I think you get Amare is by trading Sammy to get him. Sammy can guard Duncan and Bynum and can run the floor in the D'Antoni's system. I think you can get away with a front court of Amare and Jason Smith, especially in the East. So a trade of say SD, Thad, our 1st next year and Ollie for Amare and Banks meets all of Simmons criteria for getting Amare. The trade makes both teams better.

Get rid of Banks contract - check
Get some interior defense that can play in our system - check
Get some picks and or young talent also - check

Interesting. If we give up Thaddeus Young/Dalembert we definitely need to find a way to acquire Josh Smith or a SF that plays lockdown defense.

Miller/Banks/Ollie
Iguodala/Williams/Giricek/Green
Josh Smith/Carney
Jason Smith/Evans/Randolph/Hill
Stoudemire/Booth

That's a sick lineup. The defense of Iguodala and Smith would probably make up or exceed that of Dalembert's.

[The Guilty Party]

Did not play Amare his best ball versus the Spurs in the last playoffs, btw?

Last year??? Hmm, I don't remember last year other than when he screwed up and got himself suspended. Three years ago was when he was at his best in the playoffs when he consistently gave Duncan all he can handle. Also, I seem to recall Amare blowing off the team meeting after the Spurs series last year which sort of goes with his supposed attitude problem. Let me see if that's actually true....


http://www.nba.com/suns/playoffs/tribun ... 70520.html

Yes, it is true but D'Antoni dismissed it as no big deal.

Either way... my point is that I believe Stefanski will use the cap space in a trade and not just sign a FA. What other "high scoring PFs" do you believe will be available via trade?

[wow444]

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How would he take to playing here and winning about half of the time??

Do you really think this lineup would be a .500 team in the East?

AM/LW
GG/WG
AI/RC
AS/RE
JS/CB

[UptownPhilly]

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Do you really think this lineup would be a .500 team in the East?

AM/LW
GG/WG
AI/RC
AS/RE
JS/CB

We'd be above .500.

We're 3 games under .500 now with a bummy team.

[The Sixer Fixer]

Am I the only one who believes Ed is not going after any of the FA's this summer? Stefanski stated over and over when he was hired that he is against the idea of overpaying players and putting his team is financial hell. While Okafor and Smith would look nice on our team, in order to get them here we would have to severely overpay for them.

I have said the same thing. I think Ed's primary goal is going to be finding a trade to get that PF. Unless he like Jamison, I think the trade route will be the only other option. I'm not sure either Okafor or Smith fit the profile he has layed out for the type of PF he wants and they both will probably command more $$ than he wants to pay them. I doubt he would give out a long term contract to either if they aren't what he wants (scoring, back to the basket style PF).

I know it was mentioned that Marion may be the guy he really wants, but I'm not convinced of that. Marion is not a back to basket style guy and would be a short PF. I think he will fit great with an athletic lineup, but with the age factor, I think guys like Brand, Gasol, Amare, and my sleeper pick...Krstic (RFA) all fit better than Marion long term. I would not be unhappy if we got Marion though, just not my 1st choice.

If going the trade route, the PF's I pray that we avoid at all costs are Zach Raandolph, Gooden, Al Harrington, J. O'Neal and Villanueva. For different reason, I think all those guys would be horrible fits.

I believe Ed is happy with $10MIL in cap space because he plans on trading it and not just banking on overpaying someone. Look at some of the deals that were done this past off-season.

I'm pretty confident he's looking to get more cap room and 10 mil is not quite enough in his eyes to get that "impact" player. It might be enough if going the trade route, but I still think he sees a big diefference between 10 and 14 mil.

[dbodner]

Amare's defense has been really bad this year. Borderline brutal. Really has been his entire career, although marginally better at PF than C. I'd worry about mortgaging the farm for him.

[The Sixer Fixer]

Interesting. If we give up Thaddeus Young/Dalembert we definitely need to find a way to acquire Josh Smith or a SF that plays lockdown defense.

I think many people have a misconception about Josh Smith and his D. He's not what I would consider a "lockdown defender". He's actually not a great man on man defender. He's a bit lazy from time to time. What he is good at is help defending and blocking shots vs. a teammates man (in transition or coming from the weak side). I think he COULD be a very good man on man defender (has the skills), but he's not that rigth now (especially when playing PF as he is this year). I think a lot of people just see blocks and assume that means he's a great defender.

[The Sixer Fixer]

Amare's defense has been really bad this year. Borderline brutal. Really has been his entire career, although marginally better at PF than C. I'd worry about mortgaging the farm for him.

Agree - he's a more athletic version of Zach Randolph without the off court issues imo. I still love the guy and would love him to be here, but at his price, I think he'd rank at best 3rd on my list. Granted that's still high, but it just goes to show there's not than many great PF's (who could be available) out there. I'd put Brand and Gasol 1st and 2nd on my list right now. Granted Gasol isn't the best defender either, but I think he's better than Amare and he's got a more complete game (meaning he will actually pass the ball from time to time).

[dbodner]

That being said, I don't consider a Dalembert/Young trade mortgaging the farm, but I also don't think Phoenix would trade him for a package of that quality.

[LieCheatSteal]

Why would Stefanski say that he was in a rush to trade Miller? (which I think he is because if he makes this move, they would be the only team in the offseason with cap space to add impact players). The last time the franchise said that they were going to trade someone, they got like 20 cents on the dollar (Snider and the Iverson trade).

[The Sixer Fixer]

Why would Stefanski say that he was in a rush to trade Miller? (which I think he is because if he makes this move, they would be the only team in the offseason with cap space to add impact players). The last time the franchise said that they were going to trade someone, they got like 20 cents on the dollar (Snider and the Iverson trade).

I don't think Stefanksi is blowing smoke when he says he's not looking to deal Miller. If he's saying that in the media, but truly has other intentions, GM's around the league would already know that. Either he's making/fielding call to/from them about Miller's availability or not. It's no secret to other GM's so no need to lie in the media since they don't control what actually happens. I think other GM's will know from the nature of the conversation if he's really available or not. I do believe Ed will keep Miller unless he is blown away with an offer.

[tk76]

My guess is that Ed was thinking about trading Miller when he got here, but has been blown away by the level Miller has been playing at- and now is afraid to give him away.

I don't think that even NBA people appreciate the level at which Miller plays until they watch him play on a regular basis. People assume he can't shoot or score- and then they see him go off for stretches in games. They assume he is not a winner (because of the teams he's been on) and then they see how clutch he is when it looks like a game may be getting away from them.

[freshie2]

MM/TL mentioned Miller being the last piece for Boston during the afternoon ESPN radio broadcast. TL has Detroit ahead of Boston d/t Billups being able to dominate the game in the fourth quarter and Boston having no answer for him...they need to upgrade the PG position to get out of the east. I don't see it happening, but just wanted to throw that out there.

[tk76]

Unless Boston starts losing badly to Detroit head to head, I don't see that they would really fear them. Rondo likely is a better defensive PG than Miller, although he lacks savvy and experience. Boston's players can score fine without a top level PG running the show.