759 replies to this topic

[thekillingtree]

eff this...im so mad...

[TransINSANO]

Sorry Suns fans (the real ones, not the casual hoops fans/bandwagon phonys). Great team, great games, and as long as Nash is healthy, you'll be right back in the mix next year with maybe even a better team around him if the off-season chips fall right. I know, lousy consolation now, but it's better than rooting for some team like the Timberwolves (better to have loved and lost).

[ScarS1k]

the suns are just like the cardinals

[jesse]

it will be interesting to see how the off-season plays out for the suns.
do they have any major free agents?

the suns have a 3 or 4 year window to stay contenders. nash runs that ship, and he isn't getting younger.
i wonder if they would be willing to part with a guy like marion.

[Danosaur]

it will be interesting to see how the off-season plays out for the suns.
do they have any major free agents?

the suns have a 3 or 4 year window to stay contenders. nash runs that ship, and he isn't getting younger.
i wonder if they would be willing to part with a guy like marion.

marion maybe...but rumors in ESPN magazine have stated Amare....I know it would sound like they would be kicking themselves by trading amare....but the rumor stated it would a trade that would involve amare for Kevin Garnett and a bunch of others across many teams...this is all speculation. Will the suns trade out Amare? maybe...his contract next yer is gonna skyrocket because this is his third year with the suns and they will somehow have to fit him under the salary cap. the suns need a presence in the middle...not necessarily a giant oaf to slow them down, but someone that can run the floor and who has had good success defending large centers a like duncan or shaq.

It was a disappointing loss......game five was more important of a loss though than this one. It was the game that set the momentum for the spurs. Oh and one more thing...the spurs weren't hitting shit for three balls all series and then they started lighting it up there in the third..wtf?

rant over.

[king crust]

it's true that amare's contract will skyrocket, but garnett is the highest paid player in the league.
i am not sure of the specifics, but wouldn't they have to pay his existing salary?

unless he was willing to restructure, i don't know.

[Coward Crutch]

I have no clue why they kept Nash on the bench for the first part of the 4th quarter. Suns were down by 9 at the start of the 4th but as soon as Nash came in he scored 10 pts straight. Don't understand why D'Antoni didn't just have him play all of the 4th, lot of other strange managerial stuff went down that i can't say I agree with either. What a sad ending to an awesome season. Get some rest guys cause next year will be PERSONAL....

[king crust]

The Suns better win this series. Watching the Pistons beat the Suns in the finals would be a lot more exciting than watching the Pistons beat the Spurs.

Edit: Also, if you make this putt, I'll put you in my five.

Pistons won't beat the Spurs.

[eraser]

There's no way that the Suns will ship Amare out. They just have too much invested in him, I think. They initially caught a little bit of heat for drafting him right out of high school - they've, obviously, been vindicated, but I know that the front office would love to have him as a cornerstone of a championship team (which he mostly is right now, it's just a pesky matter of actually winning that championship).

More importantly, they saw Amare through his knee problems, which was a pretty scary time, and got him back up to speed. Remember at the beginning of the season how people were pretty convinced that Amare was completely over with or would no longer be even close to his old self (which would've been almost as bad as if he were completely over with). The amount of energy expended in getting Amare confident again and back in the flow of the team was pretty incalculable.

Also, ESPN's Bill Simmons was the guy who initially floated the Amare for KG trade idea. It's ludicrous and doesn't make sense.

(Here's some backup:

http://www.aolsports...ire-for-kg-huh/

http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/05/16/lo...amare-matters/)

While KG's an amazingly great player, he's also at the tail end of his best years. To trade someone like Amare who has 3-5 years left in his absolute prime (and really, he's primed to become a better player in those years rather than just maintain the level that he's at) for KG isn't the move.

The Suns would also be breaking up one of the best one-two punches in the league (Nash & Stat).

It would be amazing, though, to somehow get Garnett. He'd be enough of a defensive stopper and he'd be able to keep pace with the Suns. There's no way that's gonna happen, though ...

Marion is definitely an option to be dealt. That would be too bad for all sides, though, if it happened. The Suns would lose one of their most talented and versatile players. He's instrumental to the kind of ball that the Suns have been and want to continue playing.

The dilemma (outside of any team financial considerations) really is in Marion's hands. He knows that almost anywhere else he goes he'd probably be their star player. The downside is that almost anywhere he'd be shipped off to doesn't have nearly as good a shot at bringing home a trophy as the Suns. So, Marion's got to get it clear in his head what is more important to him.

The off-season priorities seem to be A) getting someone who'll be more of a defensive presence in the middle and still be able to keep up on offense and finding equilibrium with the bench - even D'Antoni realizes that he's being stingy with floor time when it comes to the reserves. So that means beefing up the bench and getting them in the game more. That, in itself, might mean having to take on a few more regular season losses to get bench players to man up, but in the long run (aka the playoffs) it'll do them good to have more battle-tested reserves.

[eraser]

It would be amazing, though, to somehow get Garnett. He'd be enough of a defensive stopper and he'd be able to keep pace with the Suns. There's no way that's gonna happen, though ...

http://www.aolsports...io-for-the-wol/

I actually thought about that idea, but there's no way that that can happen.

[guitarduane]

the suns are just like the cardinals

except since the cardinals have been in arizona, they have made the playoffs once and in that same time, the suns have missed the playoffs once. not to mention they have advanced to the finals once (93) and the conference finals 5 times (89, 90, 93, 05, 06).

it will be interesting to see how the off-season plays out for the suns.
do they have any major free agents?

the suns have a 3 or 4 year window to stay contenders. nash runs that ship, and he isn't getting younger.
i wonder if they would be willing to part with a guy like marion.

unfortunately, no major free agents. all they can do is try to trade someone with a big contract (like marion) to keep under the luxury tax. it would be nice if they could trade banks contract away also. they do have 3 first round picks this year. so i have heard rumors of trading marion away with a draft pick for someone like kg. trading kurt instead of marion doesn't really help the salary cap issues though. nash, marion and stat make too much money for this team to keep without having to pay double in the luxury tax. well, starting next year that is. because of the money issues, i would say that window is shutting a lot faster than 3-4 years. sure, that's what they probably have left in nash, but financially, they are fucked right now. this past year might have been their best shot.

but with all the draft picks, who knows...

[jesse]

this is supposed to be the deepest draft in awhile.
well, since 2003, anyways.

wow, i knew they had the hawks pick.
but i didn't realize they have 3 first round picks.

[king crust]

Big Yi!

[Tony]

ugh. F the draft lottery. we would have had 3 picks in the first round, except the high pick (from atlanta) was protected if it was in the top 3. and what do you know - it was #3. so we don't get it. we still have 2 picks, but not until the 20's. this throws the whole KG scenario out the window.

of course, since the pick was protected this year, we automatically get it next year, even if it's the #1 overall. maybe we can leverage that somehow. if the hawks are any good the pick won't be worth much. odds are they're in the lottery again, though.

it seems like there's some big conspiracy by the NBA against the suns, since we keep getting crapped on, i just can't figure out why. does the league really want a detroit - san antonio finals???? who's going to watch that?

[king crust]

I'll watch it, but only to root against the Pistons. I would say that the Grizzlies and Celtics made out a lot worse than the Suns did in terms of bad luck.