No less interesting than Kidd's foray into free agency is the case of Suns swingman Grant Hill. During his participation in Steve Nash's annual Showdown in Chinatown charity soccer game in New York last week, Hill said he is determined to listen to every proposal he gets, figuring that this could be his last real chance, at 36, to be widely courted.
Fresh off a trip to the Western Conference finals, Denver keeps coming up as a team hot for Hill, who earned less than $4 million over the past two seasons with the Suns. He just played in all 82 games for the first time in his career, averaging 12.0 points and 4.9 rebounds and shooting a robust 52.3 percent from the field. Boston is another team that has Hill on its radar, and more are sure to emerge.
The Suns, meanwhile, certainly should have a shot to hang onto Hill, given his close ties to Suns guard Steve Nash -- assuming Nash eventually accepts the contract extension Phoenix is offering -- and Hill's affinity for the athletic training staff that has resuscitated his career after some six years of injury misery. Yet if Hill receives a full midlevel offer from a contender he likes, Phoenix won't try to match, given its well-chronicled desire to keep moving away from the luxury-tax line.
Talks have undeniably cooled for the Suns and Warriors on the Amare Stoudemire trade front, but I was told against Tuesday that (A) it is a virtual lock that the concept will be revisited since the teams have been exchanging Amare proposals since February and (B) Phoenix has not abandoned the idea of dealing Ben Wallace to New Orleans for center Tyson Chandler.
The biggest obstacle with Amare remains Golden State's unwillingness to even consider including No. 7 overall pick Stephen Curry in the deal and the Suns' lack of interest in a deal without Curry. The other main obstacles haven't changed, either, with Golden State needing assurances about Stoudemire's health (knee and eye) and willingness to sign a contract extension (up for debate) before going ahead with such a swap.
As for Chandler, Phoenix continues to be intrigued by the idea of gambling on a big man who, when healthy, has the qualities Nash been lobbying for: Chandler's athleticism, defensive presence and mobility. But Phoenix also fears that bringing him in will drag the Suns right back into the sort of financial straits that motivated them to dump Shaquille O'Neal's contract to Cleveland for two players (Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic) who have no future in the desert.
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