the run-and-gun era's former stars

[sunsblood]

in 03-04 we went 29-53. then came the run-and-gun era and sixty-two wins the next season. six years later we have seen JJ, Marion, and Amare change teams.

my favorite suns players have always been those we have drafted...barbosa, matrix, amare, now dragic. the suns have been making good draft picks since the beginning of time. a perfect example: wesley person at #23 overall.

so here's the question...

how are/will some of these guys be perceived by fans now that they are on different teams?

for me, marion is a true sun and one of the best players to develop through our franchise. he became too expensive to keep, but who knows, maybe he will end up finishing his career with the team that gave him the freedom to become the matrix.

on a side note, my issue with the marion trade is that it came too late. we could have traded him at a higher value two years earlier, and if we had, joe johnson could still be our starting shooting guard.

so what about joe? the guy played hard for us night in and night out, was unselfish, got jacked up in the postseason in phoenix vs the mavs, and proved our front office right in trading for him. our front office slash owner messed this one up as they could have just given him the 55-60 million extension he wanted one yr before his contract was up. had there been a nash-jj backcourt for another 5-8 years, it would have been regarded as a top-5 backcourt this decade. that might even be an understatement.

amare stoudemire?

one of the best #9 overall picks in the history of the game. i remember that draft night, and when i saw us pass on caron butler, i was a bit bummed and confused. the extent of what i knew about stoudemire was simply the few clips they showed of him dunking on high schoolers. 5x all-star, and 4x all-nba first or second team in his eight years w the suns. my hard feelings have almost always been directed toward the management of the suns organization, and if they wanted to keep him bad enough, he'd still be a sun; maybe a sun for life. standing tall and talented. im proud to be fan of his.

[MaryvalesFinest]

The only mistake was letting JJ go and Sarver admitted that even. Marion was asking for a max contract and we all see what happened when he left...the same can be said about Amare, might not decline on the same level as Marion but they did the right thing by letting him go.