Chad Ford reports Amare's return to Suns unlikely

[cly2tw]

If Amare walks, breaking it up to rebuild is the most sensible way to go. Given JRich's performance in the playoffs, he coul actually now be a great trading set instead of just an expiring. I'd have no problem if Suns could keep him for 8-9mil a year long term with an extension in the summer. Grant won't be going anywhere unless he wished so. Nash should be traded to give Dragic more playing time.

 

[az1965]

.

P.S. Ouchie, I like your suggestion but I don't trade Barbs. He has a fantastic contract and can still help out your bench.

Barbosa has peaked... he is so inconsistent, its not worth it.

 

[SunsFanVegas]

We got to the WCF this year....do you really think the FO is gonna blow it all up because Amare walks? I would think they would rather try and get someone to replace him and tweak things a bit. I don't think they will blow the team up until Nash and Grant retire. There is no ticket sales in having all roll players and young kids.

 

[Covert Rain]

Barbosa has peaked... he is so inconsistent, its not worth it.

Barbosa is a guy that has the potential to give you 20 off the bench on any given night. Show me another bench guy in the NBA that can do that and has the contract he does.

We got to the WCF this year....do you really think the FO is gonna blow it all up because Amare walks? I would think they would rather try and get someone to replace him and tweak things a bit. I don't think they will blow the team up until Nash and Grant retire. There is no ticket sales in having all roll players and young kids.

How would you suggest they do that. If Amare walks all we have is the exception. You don't get all of Amare's money in terms of cap space. You would have to trade several of our players to get a high impact player in return. Wouldn't that be the same as blowing it up?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Barbosa is a guy that has the potential to give you 20 off the bench on any given night. Show me another bench guy in the NBA that can do that and has the contract he does.

the above is the main argument to trade him. Players of value with good contracts can actually GET value in return, especially for a team who's got to completely rebuild.

 

[Covert Rain]

the above is the main argument to trade him. Players of value with good contracts can actual get value in return, especially for a team who's got to completely rebuild.

If you look at it from a team salary perspective, that is the type of contract you want to keep. Trading someone with his talent level and getting rid of a high value contract is not going to bring you much back in return. If he was overpaid then OK.

 

[az1965]

Barbosa is a guy that has the potential to give you 20 off the bench on any given night. Show me another bench guy in the NBA that can do that and has the contract he does.

That's the key phrase... how many times does he do it? Read my post... I said consistency is lacking.

 

[elindholm]

Show me another bench guy in the NBA that can do that and has the contract he does.

Depends -- are they playing the Suns?

You don't trade players because they are worthless. You trade them because they might be worth more to someone else than to you.

 

[devilalum]

Depends -- are they playing the Suns?

You don't trade players because they are worthless. You trade them because they might be worth more to someone else than to you.

Or you could say you trade players because you think you're getting something better in return.

 

[mojorizen7]

if amare walks it's time to blow it up.

keep:

dudley
lopez
dragic
clark (why not)

trade:

nash
hill
jrich
barbs

let walk:

frye
amundson
collins

try to load up on as many picks or young players as possible while creating maximum salary cap space (though for who . . . i have NO idea).

will be time to start at ground zero.

Won't happen quite like that but i do agree with breaking up the core(Nash/Amare/Hill), yeah shocker i know.
Hell i wanted to plant C4 on this roster a year ago.

Nash stays unless Nash wants to leave, and i believe the organization wants him here regardless of where they feel they need to go in terms of tinkering,rebuilding,retooling , whatever.
I don't agree with it(obviously) but i just don't see Nash anywhere but here next season.

Amare?...thanks for the memories. For a young man who's been thru quite alot of adversity and pressure in his life(rough childhood,lottery pick expectations,early success,major knee surgeries,rehab's,bad press,his mother etc....) he sure seems to continuously display ZERO HEART.

 

[ninous26]

Dont act shocked as to amare saying he's disrespected.. He is.. People have been bashing him since I've joined this forum

 

[elindholm]

Or you could say you trade players because you think you're getting something better in return.

A better fit for your team, yes. Except in extreme cases or when major financial considerations are involved, talent in trades is pretty balanced. The "strategy" of trying to rip a team off by swapping your garbage for their gems is a myth dreamed up by those who play fantasy sports. At least 90% of the time, even the worst GMs in the league get a pretty good-looking deal on paper, and when they don't, it's because there's something weird going on behind the scenes. (As an example, Suns fans love to whine about the trade of Dennis Johnson for Rick Robey, but Johnson virtually forced a deal by making himself impossible.)

 

[AzStevenCal]

Dont act shocked as to amare saying he's disrespected.. He is.. People have been bashing him since I've joined this forum

Who's bashing him? Are we supposed to bow down and yell we're not worthy every time he decides to take a vacation while the game is still being played. Amare acknowledged a few years ago that he doesn't always play hard and said something to the effect that he needs to learn how to play hard for 48 minutes. Well, truth be told, he still hasn't learned how and this playoff run is evidence of that.

We wish him well, but after teasing us once again, many of us just wish him gone. I don't see it as bashing and most of us have been very complimentary of him when his effort warranted it. He pretty much won the board back on the re-sign Amare issue before he decided to coast through these playoffs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him come on strong the next few games but I've changed my opinion on him for the last time. I think it's time for him to move along. Maybe with a change of scenery he'll learn how to play hard on both ends of the court for the entirety of the game.

Steve

 

[WuRaider]

Gambo and Amare's business manager deny the rumors:

http://ktar.com/resources/audio_headlines/segment_player.php?a=4467

 

[Hayduke]

All of Amare's flaws will be much more obvious on another team. Especially if that team makes it to the playoffs and they can't ever defend as a team.

 

[elindholm]

One thing to keep in mind: Of all of the star players in the ballyhooed free agent class of 2010 -- James, Wade, Bosh, Stoudemire, Johnson, Boozer, Lee, potentially Nowitzki -- only one made it as far as the conference finals this year.

 

[AzStevenCal]

One thing to keep in mind: Of all of the star players in the ballyhooed free agent class of 2010 -- James, Wade, Bosh, Stoudemire, Johnson, Boozer, Lee, potentially Nowitzki -- only one made it as far as the conference finals this year.

Good point. Who is it? Track him down and sign him because we can clearly use a proven winner.

Steve

 

[Griffin]

One thing to keep in mind: Of all of the star players in the ballyhooed free agent class of 2010 -- James, Wade, Bosh, Stoudemire, Johnson, Boozer, Lee, potentially Nowitzki -- only one made it as far as the conference finals this year.

Yes, but if any of these players have gotten to the Finals or won the title, they probably would not have been available to other teams right now. Amare, imo, had a better supporting cast than any of the other players above, and his team had much better chemistry, which is probably why we've gotten further. Amare wasn't exactly dominating in the first two series to be able to say that he got us to where we are, though everyone had a part in it.

The question is, if we try to keep him, can we have any reasonable expectations that things will go differently next year? We have tried with him for eight years and this is as far as we've ever gotten. Or, if we try to swap him for someone of comparable talent level, will that be enough of a fix to go further than WCF?

 

[elindholm]

will that be enough of a fix to go further than WCF?

Given the competition, it's hard to see how getting farther than the WCF is realistic in the next several years, barring multiple major injuries to various opponents. I thought the Suns had a chance against the Lakers in this series because the Lakers were in disarray, but that illusion was short-lived. In addition to the Lakers, the Blazers and Thunder will be passing the Suns in short order, no matter what Phoenix does this summer. I think if you look objectively at the rosters, there's no plausible summer activity that would elevate the Suns to the class of the conference. Simply put, now is not the Suns' time, and short of being gifted an All-Star big man, there is no way to make it their time.

The good news is that the Spurs may finally be in retreat, and Denver/Dallas/Utah all seem to be treading water. So the Suns should at least be in the playoff picture for the foreseeable future.

 

[Joe Mama]

5/6 years ago the Phoenix Suns lost Amare Stoudemire to a microfracture, Joe Johnson to free agency (sign and trade), and Quentin Richardson. They were replaced by Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and Kurt Thomas and everybody thought they would take a giant step back. In fact that team was better. I've always thought they were much better because they were very good on defense. hey don't have to replace Amare Stoudemire with Chris bosh in order to be successful. They need to replace him with somebody with legitimate size who is a sound defender and rebounder. I haven't looked at the possibilities yet, but I've got to believe this is what management and probably the coaches would really like to do.

I don't think Amare Stoudemire is going to be back, and I don't think it's because he's going to turn down a maximum contract from the Phoenix Suns. I don't think the Phoenix Suns are going to offer him anything near a maximum contract. Even if they thought he was worth it they should be concerned about his ability to stay healthy while making $20 million per season. If the rest of this series goes anything like the first two games the Phoenix Suns will catch a lot less heat for letting him go also.

This team is not going to get blown up, nor should it. Steve Nash will retire a Phoenix Sun unless the team early struggles at some point in the next two years and it is he that requests a trade. Hopefully Robin Lopez can stay healthy next season and they can replace Amare Stoudemire with somebody decent (again does not need to be a top-tier power forward). I could easily see this team back at the top of the Western Conference next season.

Joe

 

[elindholm]

Hopefully Robin Lopez can stay healthy next season and they can replace Amare Stoudemire with somebody decent (again does not need to be a top-tier power forward). I could easily see this team back at the top of the Western Conference next season.

I agree that the Suns should still be among the better teams in the West, as long as they replace Stoudemire (and presumably Frye) with decent bigs. Perhaps Barbosa could be used in a trade toward that aim. But, at least based on these past two games, it looks like the gap between the Lakers and the Suns is still pretty big. Unless the Suns are going to be much better next year than they were this year, the Lakers look out of reach.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

Dont act shocked as to amare saying he's disrespected.. He is.. People have been bashing him since I've joined this forum

You joined a month ago.

5/6 years ago the Phoenix Suns lost Amare Stoudemire to a microfracture, Joe Johnson to free agency (sign and trade), and Quentin Richardson. They were replaced by Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and Kurt Thomas and everybody thought they would take a giant step back. In fact that team was better. I've always thought they were much better because they were very good on defense. hey don't have to replace Amare Stoudemire with Chris bosh in order to be successful. They need to replace him with somebody with legitimate size who is a sound defender and rebounder. I haven't looked at the possibilities yet, but I've got to believe this is what management and probably the coaches would really like to do.

I don't think Amare Stoudemire is going to be back, and I don't think it's because he's going to turn down a maximum contract from the Phoenix Suns. I don't think the Phoenix Suns are going to offer him anything near a maximum contract. Even if they thought he was worth it they should be concerned about his ability to stay healthy while making $20 million per season. If the rest of this series goes anything like the first two games the Phoenix Suns will catch a lot less heat for letting him go also.

This team is not going to get blown up, nor should it. Steve Nash will retire a Phoenix Sun unless the team early struggles at some point in the next two years and it is he that requests a trade. Hopefully Robin Lopez can stay healthy next season and they can replace Amare Stoudemire with somebody decent (again does not need to be a top-tier power forward). I could easily see this team back at the top of the Western Conference next season.

Joe

What do you think about a Horford? Could Amare net him? I don't think so, so what Horford-types are out there?

 

[elindholm]

What do you think about a Horford? Could Amare net him?

No way. Remember, the Hawks kept killing three-way deals involving Garnett a few years ago because they didn't want Stoudemire.

I don't think so, so what Horford-types are out there?

I keep looking at the list and coming up empty. There's David West, but he's a pretty big step down. Bosh will probably either stay put or go someplace that can afford him outright. David Lee is a notch below Horford, although I think he could be a good fit as a stop-gap for a few years. Possibly Al Jefferson, although Minnesota seems pretty happy with him. I'm sure Rashard Lewis could be had, but the Suns will be wise to steer clear of that option. As we know, the Suns flirted with Biedrins last summer, but it's just as well that nothing came of that.

The best bet might be to fall in love with someone in the draft, then trade Stoudemire for the pick. If the Nets land LeBron James, maybe they'd also want Stoudemire and be willing to give up the #3 pick in exchange for dumping Yi Jianlian (who is cheap). Something like that.

 

[elindholm]

Actually, if the Pacers want to blow things up, they might do Murphy and Granger for Stoudemire and Barbosa. Murphy would fill Frye's role for a year (he expires in 2011), I guess Hill would be demoted to the bench, and Dudley would have to find his minutes at backup SG, which he could probably handle. It's not a great fit positionally, but Granger could also play some PF, as he did for the Pacers last year. In terms of talent, it's not a bad deal.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

That's an interesting trade. NJN gets LeBron/Lopez/Stoudemire and we get, say, Favors at #3 who is compared to Al Horford by NBADraft.net. I'd think NJN would prefer that to LeBron/Lopez/Favors, but who knows? Anyways, that's all contingent on NJN getting LeBron. BTW, I thought it suspicious that Jay-Z was at one of the early CLE-BOS games. Maybe that's where he goes....