For you out of towners, Bob Young used to cover the suns. Coro does that now, but Young has a column called The Heat Index. He talks about sports in general. Here is his column for today.
I "somewhat" agree with some of this with the suns making three mistakes and now having to undo them.
1) Trading the #7 pick before they should have.
2) Not signing JJ when they should have.
3) Signing Q when they should not have.
I do think that getting Thomas is an excellent trade, but we do have to give away another pick it seems.
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New plan in a New York minute
Bob Young
The Heat Index
Jun. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
So long, Q. We hardly knew you.
We never really got to see that post-up game you're supposed to have in your arsenal.
We never really found out why you do that two-fisted head bump thing, although we're starting to believe the alien-antennae story, what with the way you disappeared during the playoffs like My Favorite Martian. advertisement
We never even got to hear your fiancée Brandy belt out the Star-Spangled Banner.
But, hey, don't feel bad. That's how it works with the Suns.
They tell us they've got a "core" they're going to build around.
They tell us that they've got a plan.
And then they tear it up every couple of years, whether it's working for 62 victories, as it did this season, or failing miserably, as it did the previous season when Stephon Marbury preceded you to the Knickerbockers and the Suns won 29 games.
If this deal goes through, sending you to New York for Kurt Thomas, it's not a bad basketball trade, really.
Thomas can board it, and the Suns need that. He's tough as nails, and they surely need that. He's also a little crazy. We like that.
And, frankly, you won't be that hard to replace. The Suns can still can play their small-ball style with Jim Jackson and Joe Johnson, or go with a more conventional lineup with Thomas.
But you say the Suns told you this was a business decision, not a basketball decision.
If that's true, the Suns have only themselves to blame for their predicament - although it must be nice to know they can always call on Isiah Thomas to clean up their books.
For all the credit the Phoenix brain trust got for last year's remarkable turnaround - including the Sporting News NBA Executive of the Year award for team President Bryan Colangelo - there were some miscalculations.
• You may recall, Q, that the Suns traded the seventh pick in the draft last summer. It was the first mistake.
One reason for that deal was that the club didn't expect the guy they liked, Arizona's Andre Iguodala, to be available.
Well, it turned out they could have had Iguodala, a talented and athletic guard, who went ninth to Philadelphia. He's a terrific defender and could have fit nicely into the Suns' wide-open style.
He wouldn't have spread the floor with the three-ball like you did, but he also was a lot cheaper.
The other reason for trading the pick was supposed to be saving cap space to steal you from the Clippers.
So the Suns signed you to a six-year contract and Colangelo said: "We've dramatically improved our team. More importantly, we've put our franchise in a better situation."
Sounded like a plan to us.
• However, this Thomas trade, less than one year later, signals that the Suns have decided that was mistake No. 2.
You say that Colangelo told you he needs the money to sign Johnson and Amaré Stoudemire to contract extensions.
Of course, when you signed last summer, the Suns already knew Stoudemire's deal was going to have to be extended and that it would cost them the maximum.
• And they had the opportunity then to get Johnson's signature on a contract extension for $50 million for six years.
Remarkably, rookie owner Robert Sarver wouldn't sign off on the Johnson deal, refusing to budge off of a $45 million offer.
That was mistake No. 3, a real doozy and the kind of cheapskate move one would expect from your previous employer, Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers.
That decision is going to cost the Suns if they want to retain Johnson. He can field offers this summer from other teams, which will be for a lot more money. The Suns have to match an offer or they'll lose Johnson for nothing in return.
But they knew that was a possibility last summer.
So why are you moving to New York now? Hey, plans change.
We know it wasn't your playoff performance because we were hearing long before the playoffs that you might have to go in the off-season.
It was stuff like, "sometimes Q is about Q" more than the team.
There also were rumors floating around within the organization that some members of the ownership group were put off by your celebrity fiancée, because she didn't sit with the rest of the team wives during games, and wouldn't socialize with some of the muckety-mucks and their spouses.
Whatever the reasons, it looks as if the "core" is changing again.
Maybe the Suns will be better defensively and on the boards with Thomas.
Maybe we'll learn to appreciate his toughness and physical style as much as we appreciated your conscience-of-a-rattlesnake approach to letting the three-point shots fly.
We'll just make sure we don't fall in love with the guy. Chances are, this plan will change, too.
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I "somewhat" agree with some of this with the suns making three mistakes and now having to undo them.
1) Trading the #7 pick before they should have.
2) Not signing JJ when they should have.
3) Signing Q when they should not have.
I do think that getting Thomas is an excellent trade, but we do have to give away another pick it seems.
-------------------------------------------------
New plan in a New York minute
Bob Young
The Heat Index
Jun. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
So long, Q. We hardly knew you.
We never really got to see that post-up game you're supposed to have in your arsenal.
We never really found out why you do that two-fisted head bump thing, although we're starting to believe the alien-antennae story, what with the way you disappeared during the playoffs like My Favorite Martian. advertisement
We never even got to hear your fiancée Brandy belt out the Star-Spangled Banner.
But, hey, don't feel bad. That's how it works with the Suns.
They tell us they've got a "core" they're going to build around.
They tell us that they've got a plan.
And then they tear it up every couple of years, whether it's working for 62 victories, as it did this season, or failing miserably, as it did the previous season when Stephon Marbury preceded you to the Knickerbockers and the Suns won 29 games.
If this deal goes through, sending you to New York for Kurt Thomas, it's not a bad basketball trade, really.
Thomas can board it, and the Suns need that. He's tough as nails, and they surely need that. He's also a little crazy. We like that.
And, frankly, you won't be that hard to replace. The Suns can still can play their small-ball style with Jim Jackson and Joe Johnson, or go with a more conventional lineup with Thomas.
But you say the Suns told you this was a business decision, not a basketball decision.
If that's true, the Suns have only themselves to blame for their predicament - although it must be nice to know they can always call on Isiah Thomas to clean up their books.
For all the credit the Phoenix brain trust got for last year's remarkable turnaround - including the Sporting News NBA Executive of the Year award for team President Bryan Colangelo - there were some miscalculations.
• You may recall, Q, that the Suns traded the seventh pick in the draft last summer. It was the first mistake.
One reason for that deal was that the club didn't expect the guy they liked, Arizona's Andre Iguodala, to be available.
Well, it turned out they could have had Iguodala, a talented and athletic guard, who went ninth to Philadelphia. He's a terrific defender and could have fit nicely into the Suns' wide-open style.
He wouldn't have spread the floor with the three-ball like you did, but he also was a lot cheaper.
The other reason for trading the pick was supposed to be saving cap space to steal you from the Clippers.
So the Suns signed you to a six-year contract and Colangelo said: "We've dramatically improved our team. More importantly, we've put our franchise in a better situation."
Sounded like a plan to us.
• However, this Thomas trade, less than one year later, signals that the Suns have decided that was mistake No. 2.
You say that Colangelo told you he needs the money to sign Johnson and Amaré Stoudemire to contract extensions.
Of course, when you signed last summer, the Suns already knew Stoudemire's deal was going to have to be extended and that it would cost them the maximum.
• And they had the opportunity then to get Johnson's signature on a contract extension for $50 million for six years.
Remarkably, rookie owner Robert Sarver wouldn't sign off on the Johnson deal, refusing to budge off of a $45 million offer.
That was mistake No. 3, a real doozy and the kind of cheapskate move one would expect from your previous employer, Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers.
That decision is going to cost the Suns if they want to retain Johnson. He can field offers this summer from other teams, which will be for a lot more money. The Suns have to match an offer or they'll lose Johnson for nothing in return.
But they knew that was a possibility last summer.
So why are you moving to New York now? Hey, plans change.
We know it wasn't your playoff performance because we were hearing long before the playoffs that you might have to go in the off-season.
It was stuff like, "sometimes Q is about Q" more than the team.
There also were rumors floating around within the organization that some members of the ownership group were put off by your celebrity fiancée, because she didn't sit with the rest of the team wives during games, and wouldn't socialize with some of the muckety-mucks and their spouses.
Whatever the reasons, it looks as if the "core" is changing again.
Maybe the Suns will be better defensively and on the boards with Thomas.
Maybe we'll learn to appreciate his toughness and physical style as much as we appreciated your conscience-of-a-rattlesnake approach to letting the three-point shots fly.
We'll just make sure we don't fall in love with the guy. Chances are, this plan will change, too.
-