Carousel of the Sun
The Suns have had a long history of being a team that will “make the deal”. This theoretical deal, of course, is the deal where they will make a big trade in order to get better, or to fix the team. From the deal sending Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang to Philly for the off beat yet supremely talented Charles Barkley, to not so heralded deals like Danny Manning, Pat Garrity and two first round draft picks being thrown at Orlando for the not-quite-the-same-any-more version of Penny Hardaway. Anybody else remember Steve Nash to the Dallas Mavericks for Martin Muursepp and Bubba Wells, the draft rights to forward Pat Garrity and a 1999 first-round draft pick. (The pick eventually becoming the player who seems to be giving people in Phoenix headaches of late.)
But for much different reasons, the Suns were also more than willing to trade off Jason Kidd as soon as Jason “The” Kidd started having some legal issues, Brian Colangelo didn’t hesitate to trade him off for Stephon Marbury. And as soon as the Suns felt that they had gone as far as they could with Stephon Marbury, Brian sent him right out to clear up cap space for another series of aggressive moves to get back in contention.
And after the 04-05 season, with the Suns recording a monstrous 62-20 season, taking the league by storm. After redefining the fast break game once again and injecting some energy into the league, Brian went right about dismantling it once more. Joe Johnson, gone. Quentin Richardson’s tenure ended up being a one year tenure, new starters Boris Diaw and Raja Bell are brought in… and not only that, but even through the Suns losing Amare Stoudemire, they managed an impressive 54-28 record.
But now? Where have all the Colangelo’s gone? (Not into new “Oreo’s Colangelo’s ‘N Cream”, to my most immediate knowledge.) They are no where to be found. Interim GM Mike D’Antoni made some minor moves, picking up bench players who he didn’t seem to want to play. And now, we’ve got our apparent heir to Brian Colangelo, Steve Kerr…
As much of a fan of Steve Kerr’s game as I am, and as much as I love his commentating style, is this really the move a team who is contending for a title *RIGHT NOW* wants to do? It’s very clear that Steve knows what he’s talking and has a ton of NBA experience, but he’s never served in this capacity before and, thus far, has been used for primarily for cap clearing maneuvers. (Which I didn’t like… which is a bit of an understatement, but no use crying over spilled milk.) At this point, I would have been begging Jerry Colangelo to step in as interim GM for however long they could manage to keep him here, not bring in a brand new GM into a very delicate situation where he will take heat for basically anything he does, with an owner who doesn’t have the money to actually splurge on the team he’s investing in.
Which begs the point… will this off season be yet another carousel? With Brian Colangelo gone, will the Suns still be willing to make the big move to make the team better … or the big move that has to be done simply because the team won’t function properly without a move being made? Or will a brand new GM find himself under the gun and hoping that all of his players are on their best behavior, for fear of actually making a move to fix the problem.
The Suns have always been willing to make the big move, sign the big player, or move a key piece if it would help them to maintain their quest for a title. But with a new look in the Suns front office… will the Suns make the big move, the right move for the right now… or will they hope that the gash in the team’s chemistry will heal up without a scar.
What if the cut gets infected? Remember the 04-05 Timberwolves? Sometimes, you have to make the decision on whether to amputate the foot or risk losing the entire leg.
Original post by Zei_Zao_LS
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