Disappointed But Not Upset

[Irish]

I'm disappointed that Amare is leaving. He never lived up to his promise, but he played a lot of great games for the Suns. Buit I'm not upset.

I haven't found anyone who was pushing for the Suns to give Amare a $96 million deal over 5 years. I know that Knicks were willing to risk a health disaster to give him the money. But I was already conerned that $80 million over 4 was awfully risky for a guy who has been injured or recovering from injuries as much as Amare has. I remember some of the conspiracy theories when he sized for $75 million just before being diagnosed with the injury that led to the microfacture surgery.

I am fully aware that the Suns won big when they signed Nash because Cuban thoutt all the abuse Nash gets would lead him to being injured.

However, I also remember the Suns signing Penny Hardaway in spite of a history of injuries. I was one of the people who opposed overpaying for Tracy McGrady when the Magic were shopping him. His history with the Rockets seemed inevidtable.

I haven't a complete list of guys with a history of injuries getting big contracks such as Elton Brand. The problem teams have is that you can insure against injuries but not a decline in productivity. It's a judgement call, but I wouldn't try to second guess the team with the training staff that has worked with the player - who are telling management their findings.

Considering the risk of signing another Hardaway, it is not surprising they let Amare walk. They may regret it, but not as much as a recuurence of Amare's knee injury.

I wish it could have worked out for the Suns. They had a great regular season team and might have been even better this year. But I'm not convinced they were going to win in the conference finals. If I Ihought they had a serious chance of beating the Lakers in seven games, it might be different. But I'm not convinced they match up with the Lakers

 

[pokerface]

Yeah losing Amare gives me mixed feelings. He definately was worth keeping for the right price but that never was going to happen.

Part of me is more relieved he's gone.

 

[Sunburn]

Stat used to be my favorite player, but I've grown tired of the frustratingly weak defensive performances. I'm fine with seeing him go. I'm convinced you can't take it to the next level with the focal point of your team being a guy who only plays one side of the court.

 

[Mainstreet]

I've always worried about Amare getting another injury after the micro-fracture. I have long thought that the Suns would have benefited by doing a sign and trade with him earlier in his career. Many disagreed. Anyway, I've always enjoyed watching him play. What bothers me most is the Suns will be letting him walk for nothing.

 

[chickenhead]

No move is made without context. Even Amare walking for nothing isn't exactly the issue: we know the Suns made a sensible offer and that a bigger one would have been foolish. It's more that a sign-and-trade (or previous trade) was the only way we had confidence that this regime would actually replace value. Or as we secretly hope, exceed it. Because the reality is that given Amare's missed time in the past--and possibility of it in the future--Warrick may actually replace a lot of it. But we're not looking to replace the 65% of Amare that we actually got on the court. (I'm just throwing out a % here).

There's also the anxiety of not adequately replacing Nash. We're all really excited about Goran's step up last year, but some of that is hysteria over the idea that maybe he will replace Nash. We'll have to see. In the Sarver/Colangelo comparisons, though, it seems really likely that Colangelo would be one of the guys contacting the Hornets about Chris Paul, though. Chris Paul and Suns trainers...I like it. Of course I'm worried about losing the Suns training tradition at the hands of the non-roster budget, too.