Arctic winter officially begins in Phoenix
Here’s a quick recap on how, since taking over the Suns, Robert Sarver managed, through a mix of dumb and cheap decisions, to ruin the beautiful team put together by the Colangelo’s:
1. Draft picks were sold with complete disregard for the franchise’s future. The worst such decision was selling the #7 pick in 2004, which could have brought the Suns one of Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala or Luol Deng (who could have easily replaced Marion when he decided that he wanted out) or a PF/C like Andris Biedrins or Al Jefferson to help Amare in the paint. Either of Josh Smith or Iguodala could have filled the role of athletic defensive wing player very well, while Biedrins, a tall defensive C who can rebound, would have been a great match next to Amare’s offensive prowess.
2. Joe Johnson was lowballed and chose to walk even when the Suns matched Atlanta’s offer. He must have felt disrespected to a terrible degree to leave a contender and give up the opportunity to play with one of the most unselfish players in the league. Some people still feel that had the Suns had JJ at 100% in 2005 they could have went all the way.
3. Colangelo was let go and replaced with Steve Kerr. Chaos ensued. Literally.
4. Suns traded Marion for Shaq, the complete opposite type of player to what D’Antoni’s system required. Needless to say that it did not work out well. The Suns were booted by the Spurs from the playoffs (again) and they dropped from elite team to good team despite Shaq playing better and was more motivated than he ever was during the last 4 seasons.
5. D’Antoni was replaced with Porter in an attempt to change the style of the team.
6. By running their offense through Shaq instead of Amare they alienated their youngest star (and only chance to stay relevant after 2010) in order to appease a guy who ruined their style and will be gone in 2010 anyway.
7. In their attempt to become a more defensively oriented team, the Suns traded their only defensive stopper, Bell, together with Diaw for another scorer (J-Rich).
8. Finally realizing that Porter only made them a bad offensive team while failing to improve their defense, they fired him only half a season into his contract and turned the team over to Alvin Gentry who reinstated the run&gun style. But it was a case of too little too late.
The Suns will be soon eliminated from the playoffs and with an owner like Sarver it wouldn’t surprise me to see them follow in the steps of the Clippers.