tsherkin wrote:I'm definitely pro-trade at this point, because the Suns don't really have a future right now. The chemistry's too poor, the management's too incompetent, the owner's the new Donald Sterling and there really isn't any youth on the team anymore, none worth mentioning in any case. That means this is The Window for a title and that means you should try to capitalize on that.
I think Amare's overrated, and I am unapologetic about it. I do, of course, recognize that he's among the most beastly scorers in the league if he's put in position to succeed and that has a lot of value. The Suns should certainly not pull the trigger on the first deal that comes a long and, if they had any sense, should pull a deal that makes sense now as opposed to going for cap relief and hoping for another season.
That article from HW Paroxysm is at least partially right; Amare does a lot of 'staying with his man to avoid being screamed at.' I've seen that a couple of times, so there are at least some problems with his D that aren't his fault and it's true that the Suns have made the WCFs TWICE prior to this despite Amare's defensive issues. And if they'd had a decent big-bodied guy ala Przybilla or Ostertag and a decent wing creator aside from Nash, they would have beaten the Spurs one of these previous seasons, but their roster held them back and it's not specifically Amare who's at fault.
Ultimately though, the deal's soul; this team as is must be finished. Mike D is gone, and with him SSOL and the Suns as we know them. They can still run and gun and what-not, but they need to take advantage of Shaq right now and try to win. Or they need to commit to a full-on rebuilding project and that means moving all assets for youth... in which case, retaining Amare is wise, and god help us if he JJ's out because he's sick of ownership.
EDIT: Warspite made an interesting and relatively accurate point over in the Pistons' forum; when Amare's playing well on offense (hitting a bunch of shots in a row), his defense tends to elevate. It's an immature trait, but when he's getting his touches, he seems to get better, especially when he's hitting shots. If the Suns do intend to keep him, they MUST feed him the ball. As often as possible. Like 18 FGA/g frequently.
His energy level is directly correlated to how well he's doing on offense, and his defense is directly correlated to his energy level, or "the juice" as Mike D used to call it. Our entire team used to play that way as a unit.
