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http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/ar ... sside.html

Paul Coro wrote:In July 2004, Turkoglu was a 25-year-old free agent who had been a part-time starter in San Antonio. The Suns, after deciding Kobe Bryant could not be wooed, struck fast in free agency by landing Nash. They wanted to pair him with Mehmet Okur. When Okur received a $50 million deal from Utah, Phoenix turned its focus to Turkoglu.
......
Nash made a recruiting call to Turkoglu in the five days between his commitment and Turkoglu's visit.

"It's another in the long line of what-ifs," Nash said. "Joe Johnson was still a bigger one."

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Wow..Nash's wording there is spot on - another in a long line of what-ifs. It's funny, last night I was trying to remember where Turk started his career.

if only KOBE could have been wooed!




anyways, as intriguing as that lineup would have been... i hate turkoglu...

actually, Turklu went for less money to the Magics than what we gave Q! Though at that time, he wasn't as good as he is now. Wasn't he drafted by the Kings?

Well, if you're going the route of weak-d-massive-o, the way the Suns have... Okur-Amare-Turk-Bell-Nash would have been nasty as Hell.

Yeah Turkoglu was on that Kings team that should have beaten the Lakers in the early 2000's...

tsherkin wrote:Well, if you're going the route of weak-d-massive-o, the way the Suns have... Okur-Amare-Turk-Bell-Nash would have been nasty as Hell.

Wowww

BUT if you think about it, shooting-wise Frye = Okur, Jrich = Bell and yeah we fall short at that 3 spot.

So yes we would have been a bit more stacked as far as SSOL, but call me crazy because I think we have gotten to a point where we wouldn't even need Turk. Hill isn't a pure shooter but he is QUICK and has higher IQ than Turk.

Miklo wrote:BUT if you think about it, shooting-wise Frye = Okur, Jrich = Bell and yeah we fall short at that 3 spot.

This is very much untrue; Okur >>>>> Frye. He's a better rebounder at both ends, he's a more versatile scoring tool (he's not just a spot-up 3pt shooter) and he's just much more valuable to the team.

J-Rich < Bell of that period because Bell was a much better defender.

Any chance raja is bought out? I know azibuike blew out his knee so they might hold on to him but I'd LOVE to see him back in a suns uniform. Talk about a boost. People might say there are no minutes for him here but there would be trust me. We could probably decrease Nash's minutes by 4 or 5 a game decrease J rich's minutes by 4 or 5 a game and rotate dragic barbosa and bell at the backup 1 and 2. if nothing else Raja deserves to be on this team back to the running and gunning style.

They could have just played JJ at the point, signed Hedo and drafted Igoudala like they wanted...That's what I hoped for at the time anyway

C-Amare
PF-Marion
SF-Hedo
SG-Igoudala
PG-Johnson

Man that team would have been sick...

Of course you'd start Joe Johnson at PG over Steve Nash

rsavaj wrote:Of course you'd start Joe Johnson at PG over Steve Nash

Heh.

Imagine Nash/JJ/Turk/Amare/Okur, with Bell off the bench..

Or even Nash, Turk, Marion, Amare, Okur, with Bell of the bench?

Sweet fanciful Moses...

Ha, I'm probably the only guy who was hoping we'd get Kobe and Okur (and admit it...come on...)
I was stoked with Nash, just didn't expect it and for that much money, which of course was a bargain looking back at it.

Okur
Amare
Marion
Kobe
JJ

Would still kick all sorts off ass...keep the draft pick and take Iggy....Barbosa off the bench as well...

As much as I hate Kobe, who wouldn't want him on their team? When Kobe asked out of LA a few years ago and named Phoenix as one of his desired destinations, I was freaking out...Simmons even put together a ridiculous trade that netted us Garnett and Kobe together, at the expense of Marion and Amare I think, haha.

rsavaj wrote:Of course you'd start Joe Johnson at PG over Steve Nash

I was giving an example of what it could have been if they didn't sign Nash.

MaryvalesFinest wrote:

rsavaj wrote:Of course you'd start Joe Johnson at PG over Steve Nash

I was giving an example of what it could have been if they didn't sign Nash.

Ah, my bad.

tsherkin wrote:

Miklo wrote:BUT if you think about it, shooting-wise Frye = Okur, Jrich = Bell and yeah we fall short at that 3 spot.

This is very much untrue; Okur >>>>> Frye. He's a better rebounder at both ends, he's a more versatile scoring tool (he's not just a spot-up 3pt shooter) and he's just much more valuable to the team.

J-Rich < Bell of that period because Bell was a much better defender.

Please reread the quote, I said shooting-wise Frye>Okur and JRich>Bell and I certainly stand by that.

Bell was great then yes, but if we shift our focus to defense (which we didn't), keep in mind we are talking about today's squad. The question that inspired my post was how would we be today if we had Turk. I'll take JRich over Bell right now, period. Bell is still a better defender but he is not untouchable anymore; we could pick up plenty of pieces that would fill that role.

Okur may be a better rebounder than Frye but Frye can run more. Believe me, I'm not sold on Frye; I think it's silly to have a straight-up spot up 3 point shooter at the 5. So I'll give you that point.

Miklo wrote:Please reread the quote, I said shooting-wise Frye>Okur and JRich>Bell and I certainly stand by that.

And I still disagree, because Frye is not going to shoot 47% on the season and isn't an established 37.5%+ 3pt shooter like Okur.

I'll take JRich over Bell right now, period. Bell is still a better defender but he is not untouchable anymore; we could pick up plenty of pieces that would fill that role.

Now, yeah, but not then.

Okur may be a better rebounder than Frye but Frye can run more. Believe me, I'm not sold on Frye; I think it's silly to have a straight-up spot up 3 point shooter at the 5. So I'll give you that point.

I think that the basic principle is fine, he gives the Suns that extra edge, but he needs to not suck on D and to be better on the glass.

sunsfever68 wrote:Any chance raja is bought out? I know azibuike blew out his knee so they might hold on to him but I'd LOVE to see him back in a suns uniform. Talk about a boost. People might say there are no minutes for him here but there would be trust me. We could probably decrease Nash's minutes by 4 or 5 a game decrease J rich's minutes by 4 or 5 a game and rotate dragic barbosa and bell at the backup 1 and 2. if nothing else Raja deserves to be on this team back to the running and gunning style.

Would be amazing to have Raja back. Nash's best friend playing with us again couldn't be better. He'd help lead the bench of Amundson and Dudley, the all-heart players.

TASTIC wrote:Ha, I'm probably the only guy who was hoping we'd get Kobe and Okur (and admit it...come on...)
I was stoked with Nash, just didn't expect it and for that much money, which of course was a bargain looking back at it.

Okur
Amare
Marion
Kobe
JJ

Would still kick all sorts off ass...keep the draft pick and take Iggy....Barbosa off the bench as well...

Man, I was really excited for Kobe to come here. It would have been a kick in the face to Lakers fans. I was actually disappointed when the Suns first got Nash, I didn't think the focal point of the off-season was to revolve the team around another point guard, like so many years past.