Nash Blames Porter For Raja/Boris Being Traded

[The Diesel]

Hey guys,

I read an article on AZ Central today (Will post the link later in this post) where Nash sounded PISSED that Raja and Boris were traded pointing out that the team had no replacement for Amare after he went down injured.

Here's what he said and he blamed their dislike for Porter as the reason they were traded.

Losing Amaré hurt us because we traded Boris (Diaw)," said Suns guard Steve Nash, referring to a December deal that sent Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary to Charlotte for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley. "We didn't have a backup so we played threes (small forwards) at the four (power forward) spot. That's a big problem. We played fairly well in spurts but it's hard to overcome not having a four on the roster. Hindsight is 20-20. Obviously, at the time, we were disappointed to see those guys go because we love those guys and they're great players. But under (former coach) Terry (Porter), it wasn't working. They didn't like playing for him and he didn't like them. So they traded them.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/04/06/20090406spt-suns.html

I miss Raja and Boris. Raja was a great defender, shooter and was the heart and soul of this team.

Boris has been missed really badly because the team has no back-up for Amare now that he's gone and he's playing GREAT for the Bobcats.

Porter destroyed this season along with Kerr.

I, like others, wouldn't be surprised if Nash is traded this off-season. The guy was miserable under Porter and seems pissed that they traded Raja and Boris.

[The Diesel]

What are your thoughts on his comments?

He just said this yesterday...

[lilfishi22]

Kerr destroyed the team. When it looked like we were sucking hard, he traded our two best defenders because they weren't happy with a system that obviously was not working. Porter should've been fired long before we made a trade for Jason "leave game-winning 3pt shooters open" Richardson.

Sure, having 9mill a year Doris coming off the bench is ridiculous, but right now he's probably the one guy we wished we still had. And in all honesty, Raja was more of a symbolic defensive presence for us rather than a real defensive player, since he has declined a fair bit since last year, but I would still love to have him on our team non the less.

[pidi]

raja was messed up, didn´t play the defense we used to see from him and doris just played well under dántoni. i like the trade and i think we got the better outcome from the trade. just think if ama´re wasn´t been injured we would have wooped some asses.

all of you forgot that we got dudley also in that trade, a young player who can play defense, hustles and someone who can realy improve with age.

it´s not the fault of j-rich or dudley that we suck that much. i loved the trade at the time it happens and i still love it.j-rich is a nice guy who loves to drink and drive, just like everyone in here does. harhar.

[holidayhell]

Its always somebody elses fault for this crap season according to Nash. He's been pointing fingers all year long. The dudes completely unhappy here. Thats why Dallas put "him out of his misery" the last game.

Never before in the history of the NBA has a team led the league in scoring and not made the playoffs. I hope they get a plaque of some sort for this.

Goddamn joke of a team.

[Ninjafish]

I wonder if we can trade JRich for either Bell or Diaw now. I'd be for it.

I'm sorry, but anyone who still thinks we got the better of the trade is really just crazy. Charlotte got considerably better and we got considerably worse. That's obvious. (Offense wise, we stayed the same, but defense wise, right now is by far the worst we've ever been)

[WTFsunsFTW]

I was all for moving Diaw, even at the expense of Raja.

Some of you must have that short term memory lapse going on, because Diaw had been STEALING his paycheck for the last 3 seasons.

He was overweight, passive, and overpassed more times than I can count. His interviews enforced the concept that he wasn't going to acknowledge his shortcomings or improve them in any form.

He led the league in open layups turned into stupid passes. He is the antithesis of what every bball-loving child is trained to become throughout their formative years.

You guys can come out now and rant and rave with your expert hindsight analysis until your fingers fall off, but there is NO convincing me that moving Diaw was not a fantastic move.

Now, if you want to fault Kerr for not securing a backup 4 in return, I've been on that bandwagon since the trade happened and there is plenty of room for you.

JRich gives us the high flying, legit rebounding guard that helps the team in more ways than he gets credit for. His offensive production was streaky this season, but was wayyyy down on the laundry list of issues we had on this team.

On the other hand, we landed a gem in Dudley who has improved by leaps and bounds every game he played for us.

The general consensus when the trade happened was that it was one of the most mutually beneficial trades to come around in a long time, and I see it that way to this day. Blaming our inability to get into the playoffs on the trade is disingenuous. Blaming it on Kerr for not collecting all the necessary pieces to get there is much more accurate.

[b-ball forever]

Well yeah, it was obviously a horrible move. The defense went to absolute trash and getting even thinner up front was a dumb idea.
At first there was hope that Rich might be able to not be absolute crap on defense with less of an offensive load to carry, but that's obviously not the case.

Raja didn't lose a step at all, he just wasn't motivated under Porter (which he admited himself). He's got a similar role with the Bobcats now as he had with us (perimeter defense and spot-up shooting), and he's playing very good on both ends. He'd be a lot better fit @ SG for this team then J-Rich.

Diaw was overpaid for the role we gave him, but at least he brought depth up front and post-defense. J-Rich is even more overpaid then Boris.

[SunsWinSunsWin]

Look. Hindsight is 20/20. Enough of the Monday morning quarterback crap.

The #1 person to blame is Sarver. No need to explain.
Kerr is #2. No need to explain.

Porter was pathetic but I can't "blame" him as he never was a good coach to begin with. Look at #2 instead.

Management has made this team very hard to root for. The team is filled with low BB IQ players, IE J-Rich, Barnes, Barbosa...

Suns need to rebuild around Dragic, Lou, Dudley, and maybe keep Barbosa as he has a nice contract. Nash is done as a Sun. Let him walk or trade him, I really don't care. Amare we should extend as he will improve over time, but he should not expect a max deal. Let Barnes walk and get rid of J-Rich asap for anything. Even trash.

Diaw is a big loss for us. Yeah he gets fat at times and lazy at other times, however his BB IQ is sky high and I do regret losing him. Dudley could make the transaction easier to cope with. Raja is getting old and his lateral movement is not 100% anymore with his bad knees and ankles.

The worst trade this team has made over the last few years was giving up KT and 2 number 1 picks for a conditional 2nd rounder. That was a idiotic move which deserve as much criticism as it has received. Giving up Rudy Fernandez was also a bone-headed move.

I am rooting for Portland in this years playoffs. I hope they can make some noise. I'm very happy to hear Manu is out as the Spurs dynesty days could be over as Duncan is not getting any younger.

I hate being a Suns fan but since I have lived in Phoenix all of my life I can't help myself. If you "choose" to be a Suns fan, then remember the golden rule. NEVER get your hopes up, as the Suns will ALWAYS break your heart.

[elly23]

Look. Hindsight is 20/20. Enough of the Monday morning quarterback crap.

The #1 person to blame is Sarver. No need to explain.
Kerr is #2. No need to explain.

Porter was pathetic but I can't "blame" him as he never was a good coach to begin with. Look at #2 instead.

Management has made this team very hard to root for. The team is filled with low BB IQ players, IE J-Rich, Barnes, Barbosa...

Suns need to rebuild around Dragic, Lou, Dudley, and maybe keep Barbosa as he has a nice contract. Nash is done as a Sun. Let him walk or trade him, I really don't care. Amare we should extend as he will improve over time, but he should not expect a max deal. Let Barnes walk and get rid of J-Rich asap for anything. Even trash.

Diaw is a big loss for us. Yeah he gets fat at times and lazy at other times, however his BB IQ is sky high and I do regret losing him. Dudley could make the transaction easier to cope with. Raja is getting old and his lateral movement is not 100% anymore with his bad knees and ankles.

The worst trade this team has made over the last few years was giving up KT and 2 number 1 picks for a conditional 2nd rounder. That was a idiotic move which deserve as much criticism as it has received. Giving up Rudy Fernandez was also a bone-headed move.

I am rooting for Portland in this years playoffs. I hope they can make some noise. I'm very happy to hear Manu is out as the Spurs dynesty days could be over as Duncan is not getting any younger.

I hate being a Suns fan but since I have lived in Phoenix all of my life I can't help myself. If you "choose" to be a Suns fan, then remember the golden rule. NEVER get your hopes up, as the Suns will ALWAYS break your heart.

i couldn't have said it any better myself. by the way nice avatar.

[NashtyNas]

The #1 person to blame is Sarver. No need to explain.
Kerr is #2. No need to explain.

I disagree. First to blame has to be KERR/D'Antoni over Sarver any day... As great a coach D'Antoni was for us, his "GM" status really killed this team.

[SunsWinSunsWin]

The #1 person to blame is Sarver. No need to explain.
Kerr is #2. No need to explain.

I disagree. First to blame has to be KERR/D'Antoni over Sarver any day... As great a coach D'Antoni was for us, his "GM" status really killed this team.

Sarver is #1 to blame. The buck stops with him. He made the decisions to trade away picks. He made the decision to HIRE Kerr in the first place. He made the choice to make financial decisions before making basketball decisions.

D'antoni made two bone headed moves(overpaying Banks & Diaw) and was to arrogant to preach defense, but then again how can you with players with no defensive awareness?

[shamelessblazer]

you guys need some high-energy youth eager to play defense and be aggressive:

Jerryd Bayless

I'm on board the Blake/Bayless/pick for Nash/pick wagon.

I want to turn Blake/Bayless/ and our pick into Nash for a year (or more) and Stephen Curry long-term.

You guys would get some nice youth and save a LOT of money.

[TXSun]

let the finger-poiting begin. I blame Kerr, noone else.

[eastsidecrossover]

Sunswinsunswin, you just said "Suns need to rebuild around Dragic, Lou, Dudley, and maybe keep Barbosa as he has a nice contract." Are you freakn kidding me??? Please, tell me your kidding. If not, I cant take anything you say serious. If this is your observations, then you are in Mary's class to IQ. Some of your observations are wrong and he traded some picks because MD would not play them and let them ride the pine. So, he traded them away. the other moves have been finicial and have been bone headed (the KT trade). Theres a mix bag here and you have to see the facts sunswin.

sd1306 got it right. If you watched what has been going on since 2004 with decisions here or there, this has been a snowball effect of why the suns are in this position. Kerr/MD are more so the ones to blame then Sarver. He is #2 to hire and let some of these morons run this team. He has wanted to stay out of the lux tax which by the way MOST teams try to do. It is stupid to pay dollar for dollar and you end up losing more money. Plus, suns have had one of the highest payroll the past 3 years.

Its funny to see these knee jerk fans come on here and say its this persons fault, we should have never traded Diaw and Raja blah, blah, blah. You sound like a bunch of winners. Point is, these preModonna’s did not get the job done. They had enough talent to get this done and they did not win. Coaching and front office can only go so far when you have guys like this on this team. They failed! I love Nash, great guy, but I am sick of his whining and crying about boohoo they traded Raja and Doris. Get over it and win games man.

[The Diesel]

How can you say they didn't get the job done? It's because of Porter!