Treesquid PhD
Pardon my Engrish
The only move Kerr has made to show me he isn't an idiot is hiring Terry Porter. However, that was a pretty obvious choice given the available candidates, so lets not give him too much credit.
Why is Ford a ticking time bomb with his injuries? Yes, he's had injuries, one was to his head, in an extremely freak accident that most likely won't happen again.
Sure, Ford doesn't want to back up Calderon, thats understandable since he was brought in thinking he'd be a starter. But to just automatically say he'd be a cancer because he's backing up a 2 time MVP and future Hall of Famer is beyond absurd. He's got a few years left on his deal, and is extremely young, he'll probably improve his game (and specifically his outside shooting, I hope). He could be the Suns PG of the future when Nash hangs it up.
Lets compare Diaw and Ford head to head in 07-08:
Ford...............Diaw
12.1 PPG.........8.8ppg
6.1APG...........3.9APG
2.0RPG...........4.6rpg
1.1spg............7spg
46%FG...........47%FG
88%FT............74%FT
29%3PT..........31%3PT
23.5MPG.........28MPG
So Ford scores and assists more in less minutes than Diaw. Unsurprisingly (since Diaw is 8 inches taller), Diaw has more rebounds. Diaws FG% one would assume would be much higher than Fords because he's a big that plays inside mostly, but that area is mostly a wash. Ford is a very good Free throw shooter, which would lead one to believe in the future he may be able to develop a 3 point shot.
I'd strongly consider trading Diaw for Ford straight up, and the Raptors want to throw in a pick! Sure the #17 pick isn't a great pick, but with as old as this team is, it gives the team the chance to roll the dice, and perhaps pick up a rotation player for the future (something they're currently very short on).
#17 isn't a pick where you're going to get a sure fire great player at all, but it is a place where you can usually get a rotation player. Heck, Jermaine O'Neal was a #17, David West was a #18, Josh Smith was a #17 and so was Danny Granger. So recent history shows there can be nice players in that range, I think this is definitely a move worth making for Phoenix. Call me crazy, but I'll gladly take a 24 year old PG, with experience running an up tempo offense that has 222 career starts.
EDIT: I think this trade is terribly unbalanced (in the Suns favor) thats why I love it, but lets ask some Raptors fans what they think.
Not that the fans know everything (or anything most of the time), but its pretty clear to me that this trade would favor the Suns.
Yeah, fan opinion would be the last thing I would look at to evaluate trades. Just as an example, half this board is full of Laker trolls that want to ship out Amare for next to nothing for the "good of the franchise."