Sarver Needs to sell to a more DEVOTED owner

[Nando88]

http://arizona.sbnation.com/phoenix-sun ... stoudemire

Cruel Reminder For Suns Fans That Owner Sarver Is A Banker At Heart

Fans of the Phoenix Suns have long rued the fact that owner Robert Sarver is a banker, whether or not the "frugal" connotation that comes with that is true or not. (Hint: It's not. The man may misspend his money on the wrong players, but he does spend it.) Well now, thanks to the Arizona Republic, the team's fanbase gets an in-depth reminder of Sarver's day job.

After reading the article, something immediately popped out to me: Bob $a(r)ver only devotes about 20% of his time to the Phoenix Suns. A lot of us probably assume that he spends most of his days thinking about how to improve (or destroy, depending on your viewpoint) the team, and then checks in at the ole bankin' office when time permits. But alas, he basically ignores the Suns and focuses on how to stop losing all of his money in the tankin' bankin' gig. Of course, he does manage to cause a lot of ruckus in that 20%.

Sarver only needed 20% of his available tinkering time to let Amare Stoudemire walk, use the money "saved" in that disaster to sign Hakim Warrick and Josh Childress to long-term deals (two players that barely cracked the season-long rotation), and trade for Hedo Turkoglu, probably one of the worst fits in a Phoenix Suns uniform outside of current pariah, Vince Carter.

Re-signing Channing Frye and Jared Dudley worked out, and I still believe Childress will be an effective player for the team as soon as they give him regular playing time. So, it wasn't all bad. But Bobby-boy might need to up his time allotment to figure out where the hell this team is going in the next couple of years.

[Note by Seth Pollack, 04/07/11 1:07 PM MST ]

For those that follow such things, the details of Saver's business losses are interesting:

Stung by the recession and real-estate slump, the company has been unprofitable for the past three years. It lost $10.8 million, or 17 cents a share, during the fourth quarter of 2010, although that was much better than the year-earlier loss of $26.9 million, or 41 cents a share.

It also received $140 million from a sale of preferred stock to the government through the Troubled Asset Repurchase Program. The company plans to repay the money over the next 24 to 36 months, while paying dividends in the meantime.

[YFZblu]

I'm no Sarver apologist, but really...The Sarver bashing is getting pathetic. Why blame every single bad decision/deal on him? You do realize the vast majority of the Suns personnel decision are made by his employees, right? Of course he doesn't spend all of his time on the Suns...that's what he pays GMs/Presidents/Vice Presidents/Scouts/Development/Coaches for...

In 2007, people hated on Sarver...then in 2009 it was Kerr/Porter...Now everyone seems to be jumping all over Sarver again. IMO it's just a little too convenient. An NBA front office is an extremely complex organization...Blaming one man is ridiculous.

[Nando88]

Bashing?

the article shows that the suns are NOT his priority. thats fine. but sell to someone who will COMMIT to building a great team

[YFZblu]

Bashing?

the article shows that the suns are NOT his priority. thats fine. but sell to someone who will COMMIT to building a great team

Blame him for not hiring better front office personnel...But it's not like he's the only person in the organization who wanted to ditch Amar'e and sign Hakim Warrick/Turkoglu/Childress etc... Assistant coaches, doctors, GM's, Presidents, etc all played a part. What a short-sighted view..I can see it now.

Lon Babby: "No Robert, Hakim Warrick is terrible...We need to sign Amar'e and keep the team together!"

Sarver: "I CAN'T HEAR YOU I CAN'T HEAR YOU LOL"

[Miklo]

I don't think this is way too legitimate of an approach.

So what if he has other businesses? You'd find that a vast majority of NBA owners are involved in other businesses and spend plenty of time managing them, or their "parent companies". Sarver started as a banker, but many take the alternate path of extending the scope of their NBA ownership group to include more types of business (see: Maloof brothers). Mark Cuban, who I pick because he literally has to be THE most devoted owner, spends a ton of time working on other things, he's one of the most well-known entrepreneurs in the US.

And who cares if Sarver spends 80% of his time on his banking ventures? How much time do you really think an owner needs to sit there and think about his team's strategy every day? I think it's a huge stretch to imply that if Sarver would just spend a few more hours every day thinking about the Suns, he would make different free agency decisions. Plus, at crucial times - the trade deadline, draft night, free agency - you know he spends more than 20% of his time on the Suns. This article is just nitpicking without knowing the whole story - does Sarver cut Suns related meetings short because he's not committed, etc? I seriously doubt it. And again, find me owners who aren't involved in any other businesses and who spend 100% of every day planning who to sign in 5 months.

I'd be much more concerned by his banking losses (and the downside of the TARP program being that you're essentially committing to being "troubled" for longer), and whether he would try to stop losses by adjusting his Suns ownership strategy. But even that hasn't proven to be legit, as he hasn't shied away from spending in general.

[phxsports]

Bashing?

the article shows that the suns are NOT his priority. thats fine. but sell to someone who will COMMIT to building a great team

Blame him for not hiring better front office personnel...But it's not like he's the only person in the organization who wanted to ditch Amar'e and sign Hakim Warrick/Turkoglu/Childress etc... Assistant coaches, doctors, GM's, Presidents, etc all played a part. What a short-sighted view..I can see it now.

Lon Babby: "No Robert, Hakim Warrick is terrible...We need to sign Amar'e and keep the team together!"

Sarver: "I CAN'T HEAR YOU I CAN'T HEAR YOU LOL"

Babby wasn't hired yet when Warrick was signed.........

[YFZblu]

Bashing?

the article shows that the suns are NOT his priority. thats fine. but sell to someone who will COMMIT to building a great team

Blame him for not hiring better front office personnel...But it's not like he's the only person in the organization who wanted to ditch Amar'e and sign Hakim Warrick/Turkoglu/Childress etc... Assistant coaches, doctors, GM's, Presidents, etc all played a part. What a short-sighted view..I can see it now.

Lon Babby: "No Robert, Hakim Warrick is terrible...We need to sign Amar'e and keep the team together!"

Sarver: "I CAN'T HEAR YOU I CAN'T HEAR YOU LOL"

Babby wasn't hired yet when Warrick was signed.........

I know---I was simply illustrating a convenient example. There are a number of moves that can be picked out over the years and easily blamed on Robert Sarver, who probably had less to do with them than some here would think.

[YFZblu]

The problem I have with Sarver is that he seemingly surrounds himself with yes men (or people he assumes will be yes men), even though he himself is still learning the game. In turn the culture of the Suns organization has drastically changed over the years.

I would argue that the culture of the Suns directly led to Joe Johnson, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Mike D'antoni no longer being associated with the team...THAT we can blame on Sarver.

I also think that many of the Suns missteps over the years have been patched up by Steve Nash's brilliance--Which IMO is why the Suns are so hesitant to give Nash up in a trade even now...I don't think people appreciate how awful this team would be without Steve Nash. Take 2006---The Suns lose Amar'e for the year and replace him with Atlanta's 3rd string point guard (Diaw) and replace Joe Johnson with Raja Bell---yet find themselves 6 deep in the WCF.

I'm not sure if I should be disappointed in our ever-changing front office, or thanking god that we have Steve Nash.

[DBrimstone]

He can spend 0% of his time for all I care as long as he gives the front office freedom to do their job, which he doesn't. I understand the business side of it, that you need to make some sort of profit off your team to justify even owning it, but he doesn't let them do what's best for the team. Which is in my opinion why he needs to sell. He's run his own business into the ground. The front office hasn't

[KLEON]

Damn man when I saw the headline I thought he was finally selling the team. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BurningHeart]

Save us.

[King Of Wang]

Damn man when I saw the headline I thought he was finally selling the team. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that is all i want from santa this year. no cars, no money, no boats, no 3-d tv's, just robert sarver GONE!!! then i can have hope in this team again

[garrick]

The Suns need a SMARTER owner not necessarily a more devoted one.

[aIvin adams]

I'm no Sarver apologist, but really...The Sarver bashing is getting pathetic.

this. altho my experience as a suns season ticket holder reinforced the idea that there's a lot of 'frugality' going on down there. the phoenix suns promised things that they then refused to deliver. it was like pulling teeth and they still never gave me all that they promised. very disappointing

[lilfishi22]

I don't mind he devotes only 20%, 10%, 5% or even 1%. He's an owner, not a GM, all he has to do is show up for the cheque signing.

What I have a problem with is in that little time he has "devoted" to the Suns, he expects so many things to be done that is mostly in direct conflict what is a good basketball decision. I'm not blaming him for wanting his Suns to be a profitable business, any owner would want that, but I am blaming him for getting into the franchise ownership game purely for profit.

[lilfishi22]

I'm not sure if I should be disappointed in our ever-changing front office, or thanking god that we have Steve Nash.

You should be thanking the higher powers we *STILL* have Steve Nash. If Nash wasn't as saintly as he is, he would've demanded a trade already.

[TheJohnWallShow]

Cut it anyway you want, Sarver is the reason Amare isnt in a Suns uni this year. He signs the checks and didnt feel he was worth max money. Bottom line. Nothing "convienient" about it, it is what it is. To try and take that blame off of him, you'd be fooling yourselves.

[TheJohnWallShow]

Try and trade Warrick, Childress, Turkoglu and Frye for Amare. No way in hell any owner would do that. Those are terrible business moves by Sarver, so I think he deserves every bit of criticism he gets. You dont break up the nucleus of a team after coming so close to winning it all the previous year, even if that means spending a little more than you wanted.

[rsavaj]

Giving Amare a fully guaranteed max contract would have been a mistake, IMO. Sarver made the right offer. When the best medical staff in the league(the one who got him through one microfracture already) is saying, "This guy will have problems in year 4, year 5", you do the smart thing and you don't fully guarantee year 4, year 5.

I don't blame Sarver for his offer.
I don't blame Amare for not taking it.

[TheJohnWallShow]

Amare with problems is still much better than most fully healthy guys. Just because the medical staff says that doesnt mean they can predict the future. Im gonna laugh when Amare is still ballin hard 5 years from now. You dont give that up, team chemistry goes a long way and speaks volumes. Best PnR in basketball....no excuses. Pay the man what he deserves, look at how we went from legit championship contender to not even making the playoffs. I can not agree with that at all. Thats too much to give up based off of speculation he might have injuries in the future. You could say that about ANYONE in the league.