Game 47 Bucks @ Suns - POLL ADDED

[YFZblu]

We could have easily kept Sergio, and Mike could have easily pulled and tugged at him like he did Banks.

The Suns weren't interested in developing young talent and wasting money on a crapshoot. The Suns were trying to win at that time, and made money-saving moves to ensure that our core (Nash/Marion/Amar'e) stayed together. But in the end, I think we both agree that Banks was a bad signing.

I find it amusing that you FAIL to mention my points on KT.

To this day, I'm torn on KT. Should the Suns have spent $16,000,000 to keep him? Or am I taking the wrong approach, and should my mindset be that the $16,000,000 wouldn't be used to keep KT, but to keep Nash/Marion/Amar'e/KT together. I don't comment on KT because I agree with those who say he should have been let go, and also with those who say the Suns should have paid him.

Usually I like what you have to say, both here and on the ESPN board. But this time you just assumed too much, and in the end, you were wrong.

How are they doing over there?? Is it slowly dying? I check in rarely, but it seems like it's full of trolls these days. I like the RealGM format much better...

[RunDogGun]

That failure to develop young talent, caused us to over spend in areas which resulted in letting KT go. That year, the KT worth $16 million, was a load of garbage. One could easily have said that Diaw cost us the same amount, or we were paying $8 million to keep Banks.

The part that angered me the most about that offseason was why get rid of Grants contract, a tiny $1.9 million, pass on two young point guards you can mold into your system, sign Pike a few weeks later for $1.2 million for two years, and sign a point who in no way fits your system? So in the end, we spent $4.6 million, when we could have spent $3 million. We barely played both Banks and Pike. Grant retired before the year started. Didn't Mike know he is stubburn, and if the guy didn't fit exactly, he wasn't going to play him. Even when we could have used a defensive point to guard Parker in game five, Mike still chose to use our only offensive weapon in Marion to guard Parker. Which gassed Marion, and the rest of the players.

Many of Mike's actions as coach/gm has hindered future, and recent present actions. I am not blaming him for all our troubles, never did.

As for the ESPN board, I find that many guys make assumptions on what people say, and then base their arguments on those false assumptions. So beside the troll/cockroach infestation, sometimes it can be similar to here.

[YFZblu]

That failure to develop young talent, caused us to over spend in areas which resulted in letting KT go. That year, the KT worth $16 million, was a load of garbage. One could easily have said that Diaw cost us the same amount, or we were paying $8 million to keep Banks.

The part that angered me the most about that offseason was why get rid of Grants contract, a tiny $1.9 million, pass on two young point guards you can mold into your system, sign Pike a few weeks later for $1.2 million for two years, and sign a point who in no way fits your system? So in the end, we spent $4.6 million, when we could have spent $3 million. We barely played both Banks and Pike. Grant retired before the year started. Didn't Mike know he is stubburn, and if the guy didn't fit exactly, he wasn't going to play him. Even when we could have used a defensive point to guard Parker in game five, Mike still chose to use our only offensive weapon in Marion to guard Parker. Which gassed Marion, and the rest of the players.

Many of Mike's actions as coach/gm has hindered future, and recent present actions. I am not blaming him for all our troubles, never did.

As for the ESPN board, I find that many guys make assumptions on what people say, and then base their arguments on those false assumptions. So beside the troll/cockroach infestation, sometimes it can be similar to here.

The part that angered me the most about that offseason was why get rid of Grants contract

I already told you...Because he informed the Suns that he wanted to retire before that season started.

pass on two young point guards you can mold into your system

The Suns weren't looking to mold anybody...Winning is a very short window in most cases, and one must grasp it in that moment. Besides that, do you really think D'antoni is the only person involved in these decisions? The Suns DO hire scouts, who provide information. Obviously none of the Suns scouts believed Rondo was a difference maker at the time. Rondo was selected TWENTY FIRST. You know what that means? That means the following teams felt the same way as the Suns:

Toronto Raptors
Chicago Bulls
Charlotte Bobcats
Portland Trailblazers
Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics---The Celts didn't even have Rondo as their first choice in the 2006 draft. They drafted Randy Foye

Houston Rockets
Golden State Warriors
Seattle Supersonics
Orlando Magic
New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
Chicago Bulls (again)
Indiana Pacers
Washington Wizards
Sacramento Kings
New York Knicks

All of the above teams passed on Rajon Rondo...That's 20 GM's/Owners/Scouts who didn't think Rondo was worth their pick. The Bulls passed on him TWICE, and they had freaking Kirk Hinrich at PG in 2006. Seriously...people need to stop talking like Rajon Rondo was a missed opportunity...he was an unknown...a crapshoot...Revisionist history is complete and utter garbage.

Many of Mike's actions as coach/gm has hindered future, and recent present actions.

Please give me examples of how Mike D'antoni's actions directly affected the way the team is poorly constructed right now. If you're going to continue to say this, eventually you need to support your posts with evidence. The Suns were in the WCF two years AFTER D'antoni was gone. So if you're going to partially blame D'antoni for our failure now, are you willing to partially credit him for our success last season? It makes no sense.

[RunDogGun]

So let him retire. Two weeks later we just rushed out to get Pike, who couldn't even get off the bench in CHI. I have already gone through these numbers so refer back to my previous posts. I have yet to go into the missed out on Rondo thing, so can you stop using that to try and discredit my post. I really don't care which point they were, we needed a backup point to play limited minutes, and we drafted two, and traded both. I understand that the Suns weren't looking to develop young cheap players, but to turn around and spend that money on a guy they won't play, is just stupid. And that spending caused us to get rid of KT and two firsts. Do I really need to go through this again. We got to the WCF because we went with a game plan that was the antithesis of Mike's limited rotation. Why should he be credited for that? Other than Gentry learned from Mike's mistakes. I have never said that Mike was the cause of our problems, I said that he did things to f' up this team, and he did. You have yet to prove that the items I have mentioned didn't happen. You also falsely assumed that I was looking for someone to blame for our current problems. Why do you continue to assume what I am saying and thinking?

[YFZblu]

You also falsely assumed that I was looking for someone to blame for our current problems.

Damn, I still hate D'Antoni. He totally f*cked up this team's future (present)

[RunDogGun]

I guess draft choices and not developing young players isn't considered the future to you. Keep laughing, but still haven't proved my comments wrong. Still assuming what I meant by my comments, and still getting it wrong.

[JohnVancouver]

To this day, I'm torn on KT. Should the Suns have spent $16,000,000 to keep him? Or am I taking the wrong approach, and should my mindset be that the $16,000,000 wouldn't be used to keep KT, but to keep Nash/Marion/Amar'e/KT together. I don't comment on KT because I agree with those who say he should have been let go, and also with those who say the Suns should have paid him.

I've come around to that position too - I understand that $16mil (tax in) was an outrageous amount to pay to keep KT but surely there was a better deal than they one we gave OKC/SEattle - OKC certainly did better when they traded him to SA. As I understand it, the FO had time on the clock when they dealt Kurt. Why didn't they wait?

On the other hand, if there was a beter deal possible - why would they settle for the one they got?

All I know for sure is we got reamed and it still hurts

[BurningHeart]

The Suns should have spent that money to keep him, because that was by far the best squad we have put together. Ideally, we should have traded Denver like 7 second round picks for Camby if all it took was 1 or 2 to trade him to the Clippers.

[JohnVancouver]

The Suns should have spent that money to keep him, because that was by far the best squad we have put together. Ideally, we should have traded Denver like 7 second round picks for Camby if all it took was 1 or 2 to trade him to the Clippers.

Yes, many here wanted Camby and I didn't - I was wrong. I just had a bad memory based on his time in TO

[Sun Scorched]

The problem is that you can't say it was Thomas' contract that pushed us into lux tax territory. It just seems that way because he was the most expendable.

Financially, it was the team salary that pushed us into the tax. You would most likely prorate that "tax" amount over each player's contract.

What really sucked was that Seattle then flipped Thomas to San An for a 1st rounder.....

So this: PHX sends two firsts + Thomas
Could have been: PHX receives one first for Thomas

[JohnVancouver]

The problem is that you can't say it was Thomas' contract that pushed us into lux tax territory. It just seems that way because he was the most expendable.

Financially, it was the team salary that pushed us into the tax. You would most likely prorate that "tax" amount over each player's contract.

What really sucked was that Seattle then flipped Thomas to San An for a 1st rounder.....

So this: PHX sends two firsts + Thomas
Could have been: PHX receives one first for Thomas

Here's who we had at the end of the season - I'm trying to figure out what we could have done

Could we have bought out Kurt?

Even dumping everyone not names Nash, marion, Stoudemire, Bell or Diaw doesn't make enough back to pay Kurt.





No. Player Pos Ht Wt Birth Date Exp College
2 Marcus Banks G 6-2 200 November 19, 1981 3 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
10 Leandro Barbosa G 6-3 176 November 28, 1982 3
19 Raja Bell G 6-5 204 September 19, 1976 6 Florida International University
11 Pat Burke C-F 6-11 250 December 14, 1973 2 Auburn University
3 Boris Diaw F-C 6-8 215 April 16, 1982 3
22 James Jones F 6-8 225 October 4, 1980 3 University of Miami
20 Jumaine Jones F 6-8 218 February 10, 1979 7 University of Georgia
31 Shawn Marion F 6-7 220 May 7, 1978 7 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
4 Sean Marks F-C 6-10 250 August 23, 1975 6 University of California
13 Steve Nash G 6-3 195 February 7, 1974 10 Santa Clara University
52 Eric Piatkowski G-F 6-7 215 September 30, 1970 12 University of Nebraska
8 Jalen Rose G 6-8 210 January 30, 1973 12 University of Michigan
1 Amare Stoudemire F-C 6-10 245 November 16, 1982 4
40 Kurt Thomas F 6-9 230 October 4, 1972 11 Texas Christian University