STICKY: Hill stays, Frye signs, Nash very close to extension

[Go7enKs]

I'm hoping Kerr will diligently try to trade Richardson for a good-to-great perimeter defender.

He's probably already trying...but don't be surprised if he throws a few future unprotected first rounders to make a deal happen.

Cannot continue to blame Kerr for the Kurt Thomas deal. Its ridiculous - Kerr did not make that trade. Robert Sarver did. jeez - enough already blaming Kerr for that stupid trade.

If anybody, blame Bryan Colangelo and Mike D'Antoni, especially GM D'Antoni for putting the Suns in a position where the payroll put them that much over the Luxury Tax by trading draft picks and not having rookies on the roster. But again, it was Sarver who sold the picks, it was Sarver who signed all the players - Blame Robert Sarver!!!!!!

No sorry. I blame Steve Kerr because he is the GM and he get paid very well to do that job. His job is to make trades, sign FA and stuff like that. And this job entails taking responsibility for those decisions. I know Sarver ordered him to trim salary, but neither I nor u can safely assume Sarver pushed for that particular trade. Maybe we could have fin better offers, maybe Kerr lanicked and thought that was the best deal around. Truth is six months later Seattle traded KT and RECEIVED draft picks for him. So we basically got raped in that trade and it might very well be the worst trade ever, at least worst Suns trade ever. As long as Kerr is the GM i'm gonna hold him accountable for everything that happens. Sorry but that's part of the job.

[Wayne Kerr]

the west is still very weak its only top heavy now.

i know the suns are no where near what we where.

nash is still nash, nash has not lost a step it may have seemed like it under porter, but it looked like everyone lost a step under porter, when gentry took over we look great, i know it was wins agianst the clippers but still.

nash will be nash.

richardson>bell

grant is gonna be a solid player for us like he has been.

amare 09-10 >amare any other season

and frye will be very good.

and we have a much better bench then in recent years. maybe need just one more perimeter defender.

i am not over rating them, but just saying that we all might be underating them...

we were a very good team last year.

we have only lost shaq, but he can be replaced with people who actually fit our style.

the only teams that got better in the west are lakers spurs. every other team has gotten worse.

Denver-lost jones, and may very well lose klieza. two key players on there team.

Utah-maybe better with addition by subtraction. if they they get rid of boozer. but whos to say there a lock to be better then us.

portland is still nothing unless they add a better point.

houston selects john wall with the number one pick...

golden state sucks

hornets- if healthy can be a top 5

mavs. i do not know what all the talk is about them being a contender... they added marion. cool. he is nothing like he used to be. i honestly think we are better then them.

i understand what you're saying, but i disagree with you pretty thoroughly when it comes to our roster.

Nash will be great this season, but he is not the MVP Nash he used to be. He isn't able to finish at the rim as consistently as he used to, and our pick and rolls have lost a little bit of their effectiveness.

Richardson is a better scorer then Bell, but we don't need scoring; we need defense, and Richardson doesn't play any. Richardson+Nash=a terrible defensive backcourt.

Grant will be solid.

We have no idea how Amare will play after his injury.

And Frye will be solid at best, underwhelming at worst imo.

in terms of replacing shaq with people who "fit our style"...Shaq fit our style really, really well. D'Antoni showed that we could run with Shaq and have Amare put up monster numbers. Gentry showed that we could average 120 ppg with Shaq. The reason we moved him wasn't because he didn't "fit our style", but because he cost too much money and we were getting killed on the pick and rolls with Nash and Shaq. it's not going to be any better with Nash and Amare, and now that Shaq's gone, our POST defense is going to suck as well.

The reason those SSOL teams were so great was because we had someone to cover for Amare and Nash's deficiencies...Bell/JJ/Marion covered the perimeter for Nash, Marion/Diaw/KT/Hunter covered the post for Amare. The only guy we have who can do something like that is Hill. That's it!

Like i said, we're going to score a ton of points with this lineup, but thinking that we'll be able to go deep in the playoffs with our defensive efficiencies is something that i don't agree with. Which i'm upset about theoretically, but pragmatically, we're not winning a championship this year, so if they're fun to watch i think i'll be okay.

i do not in anyway think that this suns team will go deep in the playoffs, we are simply not built for the playoffs, but i do think we are built for the regular season. and thatis why i think we will make the playoffs as a high seed. but i must assure you i think we will have a very quick exit. and with this i am a little happy cuz i would much rather make the playoffs and have an early exit then be horrible and give the thunder our pick.

[Wayne Kerr]

where has TASTIC been in any of these thoughts?

i do not think he has made one comment about any of are moves yesterday.....

[JMac1]

First off JRich can play defense, if he trys. He is an athlete period. BBall IQ? They are playing basketball, don't designing fighter planes. His effort makes him look ridiculous, not his brain. If he doesn't know what rotate means or switch, he is meantally (Please Use More Appropriate Word). Same goes for Amare. Athletically those two could be two of the best defenders in the league. So we need him and Amare to suck it up on defense, how good was Q??? Nash and JRich are fine on defense if JRich put forth an effort.

Second, we are built for the playoffs!! We are young and athletic. LB, JRich, Dragic, Lopez, Lou, Amare, Clark, Dudley, Hill (athletic) and even Frye is a mobile big!! If Lopez grows as a defender and shot block, he'd be a huge factor. They guy is 7' 260 and mobile.

We are all of a sudden a YOUNG athletic team. We are a lot bigger than the old Suns. Clark 6'10 Amare 6'10, Lopez 7'0 and Frye 6'11. We can run and play defense. Shaq is gone. We don't need a "perimeter" defender, because there is no such thing. Kobe, Roy, Melo and such are gonna let you have it no matter who's guarding them. We just need to REBOUND!!!

Don't forget, who is stopping Nash, LB, JRich, Hill, Amare, Frye and Clark in transition???


F' that!! I don't give a damn what anyone says....If you are gonna knock me out, you damn sure better get in the ring and do it, because your mouth damn sure aint going to do it. So F' what TNT says, F what ESPN say and all the rest of the muthafka's. No body is going to make me doubt my team!! As long as Nash, Stat, Hill and LB are on it, we got a chance to do whatever......and that includes winning it all!!

[rsavaj]

First off JRich can play defense, if he trys. He is an athlete period. BBall IQ? They are playing basketball, don't designing fighter planes. His effort makes him look ridiculous, not his brain. If he doesn't know what rotate means or switch, he is meantally (Please Use More Appropriate Word). Same goes for Amare. Athletically those two could be two of the best defenders in the league. So we need him and Amare to suck it up on defense, how good was Q??? Nash and JRich are fine on defense if JRich put forth an effort.

Second, we are built for the playoffs!! We are young and athletic. LB, JRich, Dragic, Lopez, Lou, Amare, Clark, Dudley, Hill (athletic) and even Frye is a mobile big!! If Lopez grows as a defender and shot block, he'd be a huge factor. They guy is 7' 260 and mobile.

We are all of a sudden a YOUNG athletic team. We are a lot bigger than the old Suns. Clark 6'10 Amare 6'10, Lopez 7'0 and Frye 6'11. We can run and play defense. Shaq is gone. We don't need a "perimeter" defender, because there is no such thing. Kobe, Roy, Melo and such are gonna let you have it no matter who's guarding them. We just need to REBOUND!!!

Don't forget, who is stopping Nash, LB, JRich, Hill, Amare, Frye and Clark in transition???


F' that!! I don't give a damn what anyone says....If you are gonna knock me out, you damn sure better get in the ring and do it, because your mouth damn sure aint going to do it. So F' what TNT says, F what ESPN say and all the rest of the muthafka's. No body is going to make me doubt my team!! As long as Nash, Stat, Hill and LB are on it, we got a chance to do whatever......and that includes winning it all!!

BlackJesus1 would have liked you haha

[Wayne Kerr]

First off JRich can play defense, if he trys. He is an athlete period. BBall IQ? They are playing basketball, don't designing fighter planes. His effort makes him look ridiculous, not his brain. If he doesn't know what rotate means or switch, he is meantally (Please Use More Appropriate Word). Same goes for Amare. Athletically those two could be two of the best defenders in the league. So we need him and Amare to suck it up on defense, how good was Q??? Nash and JRich are fine on defense if JRich put forth an effort.

Second, we are built for the playoffs!! We are young and athletic. LB, JRich, Dragic, Lopez, Lou, Amare, Clark, Dudley, Hill (athletic) and even Frye is a mobile big!! If Lopez grows as a defender and shot block, he'd be a huge factor. They guy is 7' 260 and mobile.

We are all of a sudden a YOUNG athletic team. We are a lot bigger than the old Suns. Clark 6'10 Amare 6'10, Lopez 7'0 and Frye 6'11. We can run and play defense. Shaq is gone. We don't need a "perimeter" defender, because there is no such thing. Kobe, Roy, Melo and such are gonna let you have it no matter who's guarding them. We just need to REBOUND!!!

Don't forget, who is stopping Nash, LB, JRich, Hill, Amare, Frye and Clark in transition???


F' that!! I don't give a damn what anyone says....If you are gonna knock me out, you damn sure better get in the ring and do it, because your mouth damn sure aint going to do it. So F' what TNT says, F what ESPN say and all the rest of the muthafka's. No body is going to make me doubt my team!! As long as Nash, Stat, Hill and LB are on it, we got a chance to do whatever......and that includes winning it all!!

as much as i want to agree with you..... i cant, i think a whole lot of people(including suns fans) are really underrating theses suns. cause like i said i do think we will be good, and do think we will make the playoffs, but i do not think we will do anyghing in the playoffs.

but i def want to keep j rich cause i think he will be a monster next year.

and do not think him and nash are that bad on d.

i think we are maybe one more defender away from being as good as we were in past years.

[BobbieL]

No sorry. I blame Steve Kerr because he is the GM and he get paid very well to do that job. His job is to make trades, sign FA and stuff like that. And this job entails taking responsibility for those decisions. I know Sarver ordered him to trim salary, but neither I nor u can safely assume Sarver pushed for that particular trade. Maybe we could have fin better offers, maybe Kerr lanicked and thought that was the best deal around. Truth is six months later Seattle traded KT and RECEIVED draft picks for him. So we basically got raped in that trade and it might very well be the worst trade ever, at least worst Suns trade ever. As long as Kerr is the GM i'm gonna hold him accountable for everything that happens. Sorry but that's part of the job.

Based on your comment, what you do not understand about the Sonics and Spurs trade was that was a NBA approved dollar for dollar trade - or within the 85% rule. So of course, the value going from the Sonics and Spurs would be better. The Suns trade with the Sonics was a team taking on ALL $8m of salary without giving any back - not even a million dollars of Mohammed Sene or some other stiff. And if you think Steve Kerr WANTED to make that trade - you are mistaken. Sarver pushed for it, he told him to cut costs NOW (being that summer) and not wait for the February deadline when the lux tax dollars are calculated. We are going to disagree on this one, that is fine. But at least understand the mechanics of both trades before saying the Sonics got better value then the Suns. They are apples and oranges trades.

And if you are going to blame GMs and let the owner get a free pass - Mike D'Antoni did easily as much hard making basketball moves as Kerr has. EASILY as many, if not more because of the longer term ramifications (Iguodala is still young, Fernandez, Rondo, even Sergio Rodriquez).

[JohnVancouver]

[

Based on your comment, what you do not understand about the Sonics and Spurs trade was that was a NBA approved dollar for dollar trade - or within the 85% rule. So of course, the value going from the Sonics and Spurs would be better. The Suns trade with the Sonics was a team taking on ALL $8m of salary without giving any back - not even a million dollars of Mohammed Sene or some other stiff. And if you think Steve Kerr WANTED to make that trade - you are mistaken. Sarver pushed for it, he told him to cut costs NOW (being that summer) and not wait for the February deadline when the lux tax dollars are calculated. We are going to disagree on this one, that is fine. But at least understand the mechanics of both trades before saying the Sonics got better value then the Suns. They are apples and oranges trades.

And if you are going to blame GMs and let the owner get a free pass - Mike D'Antoni did easily as much hard making basketball moves as Kerr has. EASILY as many, if not more because of the longer term ramifications (Iguodala is still young, Fernandez, Rondo, even Sergio Rodriquez).

Excellent point, and I've been guilty of reading it wrong as well. Easy to do, it was such a painful deal and continues to fester and burn even now. Also easy to forget he was making close to $8 mil after signing a 4 yr/$30 mil deal in NYC.

So in the end KT cost us:

coming: Quentin Richardson, draft rights to Nate Robinson and cash
going: first-round draft choices in 2008 and 2010
We got: second-round draft choice and an $8 million trade exception we couldn't use

Geebus.

[BurningHeart]

The reason those SSOL teams were so great was because we had someone to cover for Amare and Nash's deficiencies...Bell/JJ/Marion covered the perimeter for Nash, Marion/Diaw/KT/Hunter covered the post for Amare. The only guy we have who can do something like that is Hill. That's it!

It's like you're the only one who understands me.

[Qwigglez]

Maybe you guys are forgetting but in 2004-2005 the Suns went to the Conference Finals with absolutely no bench (Jim Jackson, Barbosa wasn't too good at the time). At the time, no one expected us to make it that far.
2005-2006, Amare is out all season, and to make things worse we lost Joe Johnson. We got somewhat deeper, by being able to go 8 man deep though. Again we surprised everyone when we went to the Conference Finals.
2006-2007, Amare is back. Suns fall to the Spurs in the Conference Semi's.
2007-2008 Suns crash and burn with Shaq in the first round against, of course, the Spurs.
Who knew the Magic would make it to the Finals this year? Took me completely by surprise. What I'm saying, the Suns are far better when the expectations are low. 2005-2006, when we lost both Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire, I figured we'd barely squeeze in the playoffs, but we managed to be a top three team in the West.
We still have a great team, that is probably the deepest team we've had in years. We could fly in under the radar and wreck havoc. Ultimately, every year we lost in the playoffs, but I feel it has not been the lack of defense that killed us, more so of a lack of depth.

[enigmatics]

please tell me what you predict.

I predict that the Suns will make one more move and that is for Dalembert. That means they finally get their poor mans Chandler (not the offensive threat as Chandler,but more then makes up for it with his health. Dont know if they get Dalembert for JRICH or if they give up Wallaces corps for it. Suns will also add Griffin. Taylor that is. Assuming we did the 76er trade for Old Ben, we have:

I just stopped reading after the mention of Dalembert.

The Suns are not in any way shape or form shooting for Dalembert. He doesn't do what they require for the SSOL system and he's a perennial underachieving head case who costs too much d*mn money. The guy has absolutely no jump shot. He only plays when he wants to.

What did we learn from the Shaq experience? We learned we need a big at the 5 spot who can excel away from the basket as to leave the lane open for Amare. Sometimes people ignore the obvious.

Anybody mentioning this momo's name needs to watch him more.

[-SDU-]

I still maintain Marion was more important to ssol than any player not named Nash. The only reason we could go so small was because of his complete versatility to play and defend any position.



As for j-rich, be careful wat u wish for..... Some of the deals being discussed out there would hardly make us a better team

[enigmatics]

Just wondering where the Suns got the money to sign Wade?

2010-
Nash -10mill
Wade -20mill
Hill - 3mill
STAT - 20mill
Dalembert - 10mill
----------------------------------
63mill

hell fill the bench with D-leaguers, that starting 5 rocks! And if Saver was willing to pay 75+mill for the past 5 seasons and NOT win a title, Sarver would definitely pay the tax for a Nash/Wade/Stat core.

I'm starting to ask myself, just which Suns team and Suns owner have you been watching? You think he's going to go into the Luxury tax just to run that 5 out there with no bench? You're out of your mind.

[rsavaj]

I still maintain Marion was more important to ssol than any player not named Nash. The only reason we could go so small was because of his complete versatility to play and defend any position.

100% true.

[rsavaj]

Maybe you guys are forgetting but in 2004-2005 the Suns went to the Conference Finals with absolutely no bench (Jim Jackson, Barbosa wasn't too good at the time). At the time, no one expected us to make it that far.
2005-2006, Amare is out all season, and to make things worse we lost Joe Johnson. We got somewhat deeper, by being able to go 8 man deep though. Again we surprised everyone when we went to the Conference Finals.
2006-2007, Amare is back. Suns fall to the Spurs in the Conference Semi's.
2007-2008 Suns crash and burn with Shaq in the first round against, of course, the Spurs.
Who knew the Magic would make it to the Finals this year? Took me completely by surprise. What I'm saying, the Suns are far better when the expectations are low. 2005-2006, when we lost both Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire, I figured we'd barely squeeze in the playoffs, but we managed to be a top three team in the West.
We still have a great team, that is probably the deepest team we've had in years. We could fly in under the radar and wreck havoc. Ultimately, every year we lost in the playoffs, but I feel it has not been the lack of defense that killed us, more so of a lack of depth.

The league was much, much weaker back then. The East was terrible. That Miami team that won was terrible. Orlando/Cleveland/Boston weren't threats. LeBron/Roy/Williams/CP3 were babies. I'm not saying those Suns teams weren't magical and epic beyond all measure, because they were, but the point is that our team is pretty mediocre relative to the level of increased competition we're facing right now.

[rsavaj]

The reason those SSOL teams were so great was because we had someone to cover for Amare and Nash's deficiencies...Bell/JJ/Marion covered the perimeter for Nash, Marion/Diaw/KT/Hunter covered the post for Amare. The only guy we have who can do something like that is Hill. That's it!

It's like you're the only one who understands me.

[DirtyDez]

^^ Haha yeah the West was so weak that year. Didn't we play Memphis in the 1st round of the playoffs in 04-05? Oh yeah we did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUjo_DNqe8A @ my guy Q-Rich's reaction

[TXSun]

the starting line up does look pretty decent now that Hill, Amare, Nash, Frye are all going to be in Suns unifors for next season. We need Chandler now.

[JohnVancouver]

the starting line up does look pretty decent now that Hill, Amare, Nash, Frye are all going to be in Suns unifors for next season. We need Chandler now.

Is Wilcox stronger in the middle than Stro? I've never really seen Stro anywhere but PF

[tigerblood]

I don't think most of u understand that we are a worse team if JR is traded. It would be a salary dump. Dude made some mistakes last year but give him a chance. He's a hell of a guard and fits our system. I'm tired of reading the ignorant trade JR posts. If u want a worse record then trade him.