A goodbye from Nash to Suns fans

[BC867]

... a lot of them just aren't happy that we helped one of our most beloved players go to our most hated rival.

This really isn't difficult AT ALL to understand.

Our most hated rival is Houston. Calling the Lakers that is trying to hitch a ride on their coat tails.

It is like a "D" student taking finals saying that the "A" student is his most hated rival. First he has to get past the "C" and "B" students.

Yes, I know the Suns have a good winning percentage over the years during the regular season. But 0-2 in finals over forty-four years compared to the Lakers dynasties over 65 years (in both Minneapolis and L.A.) do not put us in their league.

 

[Mainstreet]

Heh!

 

[Phrazbit]

Our most hated rival is Houston. Calling the Lakers that is trying to hitch a ride on their coat tails.

It is like a "D" student taking finals saying that the "A" student is his most hated rival. First he has to get past the "C" and "B" students.

Yes, I know the Suns have a good winning percentage over the years during the regular season. But 0-2 in finals over forty-four years compared to the Lakers dynasties over 65 years (in both Minneapolis and L.A.) do not put us in their league.

So what... it does not make them NOT our most hated rival. By that logic up until 2004 the Yankees and Red Sox did not have a rivalry.

 

[BC867]

So what... it does NOT make them NOT our most hated rival. By that logic up until 2004 the Yankees and Red Sox did not have a rivalry.

"It does NOT make them NOT our most hated rivalry." Hold on, I am trying to untie all the NOT's.

"Most hated rival" and "did not have a rivalry" are not the same thing.

Does the Phraz in Phrazbit mean Phrase? You turn a pretty good one.

I still stay our most hated rivalry is with Houston. And we are not in the Lakers class when it comes to rivalries. That is not to say that we can't start earning it. Oooh, now you have me using double negatives.

Thanks for bringing a smile to my face.

 

[mojorizen7]

I thought the Sacramento Kings were our rival.

 

[SunsTzu]

I thought the Sacramento Kings were our rival.

Funny, I thought the Suns front office was our(the fans) rival.

 

[mojorizen7]

I thought the Sacramento Kings were our rival.

Funny, I thought the Suns front office was our(the fans) rival.

Or is it the playoff officials?

 

[Phrazbit]

Rivalries are not about franchise success but a built up hate between teams playing against eachother. The Suns and Lakers have had plenty of playoff battles and each gotten the best of eachother several times. I know several Laker fans and losing to the Suns annoys them as much as losing to anyone besides the Celtics. Even Kobe has spoken of his hatred of the Suns.

To claim Houston is our rival is a crock. Says who? We had 2 memorable series against Houston nearly 20 years ago, since then there has been no real conflict outside of the old Yao vs Amare debates from olden days.

If the Lakers are not our rival then we dont have a rival.

 

[95pro]

Houston is one of our rivals???

 

[SunsTzu]

To claim Houston is our rival is a crock. Says who? We had 2 memorable series against Houston nearly 20 years ago, since then there has been no real conflict outside of the old Yao vs Amare debates from olden days.

Maybe, but those 2 series loses to Houston stung me more than any other series with exception of maybe the 2007 Spurs series.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Maybe, but those 2 series loses to Houston stung me more than any other series with exception of maybe the 2007 Spurs series.

What was worse was ending up with the players on our team from those Houston teams. I hated that.

 

[Phrazbit]

classic Ainge.

 

[sunsfan88]

I can't believe we have fans burning Nash jerseys!

http://2daysports.com/sun-fans-burning-steve-nash-jersey-1970.html

 

[Chaplin]

Are people seriously forgetting the San Antonio Spurs???

 

[Chaplin]

Pretty detailed play-by-play of how the Nash to Lakers saga played out. Some interesting tidbits in there.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8143205/nba-how-steve-nash-los-angeles-lakers-happened

 

[Mainstreet]

Pretty detailed play-by-play of how the Nash to Lakers saga played out. Some interesting tidbits in there.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8143205/nba-how-steve-nash-los-angeles-lakers-happened

Wow. This is a real gem from the article by Mark Stein at ESPN dated 7-9-12.

Said Duffy: "It really comes down to Steve wanting to be as close to his children as possible. It's an absolute bonus that he can compete for a ring and the money he'll be able to earn (roughly $27 million over the next three seasons) at his age. At the end of the day, if Phoenix would have offered him $10 million over three years, he would have stayed in Phoenix. One hundred percent. But we understand where the Suns are. They have to rebuild. They made it clear that they felt like they couldn't pay Steve a large salary and then go out and get other players to build a team."

 

[Chaplin]

Wow. This is a real gem from the article by Mark Stein at ESPN dated 7-9-12.

We already knew that. But there was no way he was going to get 3/30 from us.

 

[Mainstreet]

We already knew that. But there was no way he was going to get 3/30 from us.

I'm still surprised that Babby was not sincere that he wanted Nash to retire a Sun. He said it over and over again. And then, from the comment by Duffy (I quoted earlier in the ESPN article), the Suns could have kept Nash for a reasonable salary. Maybe it's PR but I don't like a person to speak out of both sides of their mouth.

 

[elindholm]

Maybe it's PR but I don't like a person to speak out of both sides of their mouth.

Well then, yeah, you'll be better off not listening to PR people. That's what they have to do if they're going to be any good at their jobs.

 

[Mainstreet]

Well then, yeah, you'll be better off not listening to PR people. That's what they have to do if they're going to be any good at their jobs.

I guess I got used to Jerry Colangelo.

 

[chickenhead]

The difference between signing Dragic to a contract and Nash to a similar contract is that Nash would be retiring at the end of it, whereas Dragic is hoped to be extendable or at least a tradeable asset in 3 years. I'm not saying that's why Nash is in LA, but it does answer (for me) the question of why sign Dragic when you could sign Nash for same.

I'm also not going to worry too much about who said what when in the front office. A lot of these statements are responses to leading questions from the media: you have to decide what you are going to give them because they will run with it. Being transparent about all the considerations would just lead to (more of) a circus.

But for any Suns fan who thinks trading him to the Lakers is unforgiveable, that seems fair to me. I've always felt the Lakers were the Suns' biggest rivals, even if the Suns aren't the Lakers' (like the Cardinals and Cowboys). That's how I've felt since I started watching the Suns in the early 80s, whereas rivalries with Houston and San Antonio have been more of a particular era. Frankly, I'd be much more likely to pick a rival from our actual division, or even a market like Utah rather than one of the Texas teams.

 

[jagu]

This is kind of like how I was after the trade... must watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iHDIoNjrCE&feature=player_embedded#!

 

[BC867]

The difference between signing Dragic to a contract and Nash to a similar contract is that Nash would be retiring at the end of it, whereas Dragic is hoped to be extendable or at least a tradeable asset in 3 years. I'm not saying that's why Nash is in LA, but it does answer (for me) the question of why sign Dragic when you could sign Nash for same.

There is also the factor that keeping Steve for another three years would have another adverse effect.

No other Point Guard can substitute in Nash's system (as Dragic found out) and that leaves us in a hole as Steve's body wears down by crunch time and into the playoffs as we have already seen happen. A one-trick pony team offense can't prevail in the NBA.

 

[Griffin]

Drafting Marshall and signing Dragic aren't related. Rookies are very rarely ready to step into the starting lineup, and especially not those taken at the end of the lottery, and especially not those who play what is commonly regarded as the hardest position to learn. Marshall and Telfair weren't going to get it done as a PG rotation, in any sense -- the team would not only have been bad, but would have been bad in a way that would have interfered with the development of any other players.

So wouldn't it have made more sense then to sign a temporary, cheaper PG to run the team while Marshall gets ready to take over? Signing Dragic to a relatively large long-term deal means that unless one of them is traded in the next couple of years, then Marshall will not be a starting PG in this league, won't even get an opportunity to, at least not until four years from now.

So if the Suns signed Dragic to be the Suns starting PG until Marshall is ready to take over, then they must not intend on Dragic still being in Phoenix a couple years from now. And if the Suns envision Dragic as their starting PG for the entire four years and perhaps longer, then either they don't plan on keeping Marshall or they don't see him as anything more than a career backup. I am not sure what the long-term plan is, assuming there is one.

 

[SirStefan32]

So wouldn't it have made more sense then to sign a temporary, cheaper PG to run the team while Marshall gets ready to take over? Signing Dragic to a relatively large long-term deal means that unless one of them is traded in the next couple of years, then Marshall will not be a starting PG in this league, won't even get an opportunity to, at least not until four years from now.

So if the Suns signed Dragic to be the Suns starting PG until Marshall is ready to take over, then they must not intend on Dragic still being in Phoenix a couple years from now. And if the Suns envision Dragic as their starting PG for the entire four years and perhaps longer, then either they don't plan on keeping Marshall or they don't see him as anything more than a career backup. I am not sure what the long-term plan is, assuming there is one.

It's a bloody crapshoot! Nobody knows how good or bad Marshall is going to be. You can't plan your future based on speculation about how good of a player a mid-first round draft pick is going to be.

We are going to suck for a few years anyway- you give Dragic a chance to become a star, and you give Marshall a chance to develop. If either one of them sucks, it's not that big of a deal.

I think you are over-analyzing these two things (drafting Marshall and signing Dragic.) Suns probably considered Marshall to be the best player available when they were picking. They weren't drafting the PG of the future. They were drafting what they considered to be the best player available at 13.