Boris Diaw - Salary vs.. Production

[Amen316]

This post was suppose to be after the Suns game vs Charlotte so it is belated:
This is a quick look at the 2pts/2reb/2ast player from Atlanta that Hawk fans said good riddance. That player came to Phoenix and in the season of 2005-6 made the name Boris Diaw known to all basketball fans. Boris was our lightning in a bottle after Amare went out with season ending knee surgery. Boris, Steve, and Shawn literally took the Suns to the finals of the western conference without a center or power forward. Boris was by all account front and center stage when the Suns played the Mavericks. This is when Boris was at his pinnacle as a Phoenix Sun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiXdoIHu8zE
Boris Diaw vs. the Dallas Mavericks in 2005-6 season literally played his butt off to earn a 5yr - 45 million dollar contract. After that season by all account that Boris Diaw never resurfaced more than 10-15times over the next 3 seasons. When Boris Diaws salary was analyzed from the 2006-7 season forward it appeared like this:

Code: Select all

Player Team      MPG    Strength   Salary  Def-Salary Average
Diaw   PHx   31.2      14.2         6.45        6.67    6.5mil per(2006-7)
Diaw   PHx   28.2      15.54       4.68         5.96     5.3mil (2007-08)
Diaw   CHar 38.6      22.2         9.82        10.1     9.9mil (2008-09)

Look there was a time when Boris Diaw and Steve Nash were many of the Suns favorite players. The Boris Diaw that is PLAYING in Charlotte was the Boris Diaw that many Suns fans thought they were resigning. Its a shame that in a wide open offense, without excuses its a shame Boris didnt even resemble the same player that comes to work on a nightly basis in Charlotte.

[Ninjafish]

You know there's a reason for that. Take a look at his minutes now. 38. It's by far the most minutes he's averaged in his career. We only could afford him 24 minutes this season.

There's only so much he can do with 24 minutes. He averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists per 48 minutes with us. So he was still very productive for us as a role player.

We were fools to give him up.

[NashtyNas]

Ninja, no we weren't. J-Rich is great, and a bench player getting payed $9million a year is NOT good. Only 2 other teams have those, Golden State and San An (and it only works well in San An)

[Ninjafish]

How much money did we save in the trade? (I'm not making an argument here. I don't know what the numbers are.)

[Frank Lee]

I don't look at stats deep enough to make a thread based comment.... But this trade annoyed me.... not that JRich doesn't fit...

We shuttled off two guys who were apparent challenging the so called system, yet Kerr'veball did not address the critical need of a back up PG. We were so quick to pull the trigger. It was like punishing the first kid who gets outta line to make an example for the rest of the class. Makes me wonder if this was the first offer we received once Bell and Diaw hit the trade table ?

Believe me, we made Charlotte alot better than they made us.

[Ninjafish]

Proof of that can be seen by Charlotte slaughtering us the other night. And Diaw torching Amare on both offense and defense.

But that's not even the most troubling thing. The most troubling thing is that it doesn't seem to have made us better at all. We're struggling worse now than we ever have.

[JohnVancouver]

Proof of that can be seen by Charlotte slaughtering us the other night. And Diaw torching Amare on both offense and defense.

But that's not even the most troubling thing. The most troubling thing is that it doesn't seem to have made us better at all. We're struggling worse now than we ever have.

--- I love Raja and Doris but the trade made sense, even without the drama attached re: complaints about the new coach and his alleged system.
Raja is on the downside of his career and Boris just couldn't ever seem to consistently be the guy we gave the contract to . I'm really glad to see him doing well in Charlotte but he wasn't going to play like that here, ever. Not since Amar'e came back. This board was filled with complaints about his contract and how we would never be able to move him.
When a guy is moved to a better situation and plays better, it's always "ooh, we screwed up." The Charlotte Boris was never going to play in a Suns uni.

The point Frank made above is a good one - why did we not look for a point guard if we were dealing?
Adding a guy who is tailor-made for SSOL to a team trying to master a half-court/defensive scheme seems like a weird way to go.
J-Rich is great but .... the idea of the PHX Suns having to add scoring is so bizarro it just adds to my utter dibelief at this management's history of dumbass moves. Going back to D'antoni as GM.