Steve Nash never got over that the Dallas Mavericks immediately broke up his 2003 Western Conference finals team by trading Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel, two of that team's top five scorers.
Nash practiced Sunday with a Suns team that has two other carryovers from two years ago. It was a day after many Suns attended the opening of Raja Bell's Scottsdale Moody Blues store as Bell played in Charlotte. It was the day Mike D'Antoni was in town coaching a New York Knicks team in preparation for his return to US Airways Center Monday night.
"I feel like I've been traded," Nash said, chuckling. "I feel like I'm on a different team because everything's changed so much around here. We have a lot of differences now after quite a bit of stability but change can really be positive. Amidst that recent chaos could come strong order. We're all optimistic but it's a strange point with Mike coming and all the changes."
The Suns worked on reintegrating offense of the four years with D'Antoni. Uptown at Phoenix Brophy Prep, the improving Knicks were learning his ways.
"I knew they were going to do great just because they'd be happy playing for him, enjoy going to work every day," Nash said. "Just his attitude was worth a bunch of wins."
The debate over D'Antoni's departure wafts. He spoke out last week about how he felt undermined by Suns executives and defended his decisions.
Asked when the hard feelings would go away, D'Antoni said, "When you die," with a laugh Sunday.
"Nah, you go on with life," he said. "In sports, it's just played out on the sports page. People go through this every day with their jobs and different things. I'm going forward and I'm happy."
In regard to his recent criticism, D'Antoni said he should have stayed quiet.
"I didn't say I lied," he added. "I just messed up."
Each side bites a tongue on the split, stewing about more than what is said. Coaches and general managers entering under different regimes seldom last. D'Antoni can be admittedly stubborn and sensitive. Suns GM Steve Kerr was admittedly green in leadership and naive to how a young GM would fly with a coach who had been his own boss.
"As I conveyed during Mike's time here, I valued him as a coach and I thought he did a great job," Kerr said. "My sole intent coming in as GM was to take my experience as a player and, having been a part of championship teams, provide that insight to help the Suns get over the hump. We wish Mike well with the Knicks. Our focus is in our organization maintaining success and building a championship-caliber team."
D'Antoni said "everybody has to be on the same page all the time." He felt he did not have full support. He knew players would not all back him after a first-round exit.
He said, "The next day, if someone puts a question to you, (you say), 'Oh, yeah, we gotta defend better. We gotta do this. That guy shouldn't have been late.' After a month, you think, 'You know what? It was pretty good. We just needed to get better internally on what we do.' "
Half of the playoff rotation is gone. A new starting lineup with Jason Richardson is about to debut.
"There is tons of turnover on every team, every year," Nash said. "We are no different than that but our core was always together. Now that we've traded, in the last 10 months, three of our top seven players, it's a change."
Nash, Leandro Barbosa and Amaré Stoudemire are the only Suns who played more than one year for D'Antoni.
"I thought he was going to come back," Barbosa said. "For some reason, he was different (in the playoffs). The bad thing is we did a bad job in the playoffs and we lost."
As much as Suns coach Terry Porter has loosened reins, he faces the one team that wants to run more. Shaquille O'Neal may not last long Monday night.
"Mike, he'll let Shaq score," Porter said. "He won't foul him. He'll let him lay it in so he can get it out of the net and go the other way."
