Joe Mama said:
Ah BS. He said he would prefer that the Phoenix Suns let him go to Atlanta. In no way did he force the issue... at least that's not what it seems like from reading that article by Mark Stein. He said if the Phoenix Suns match the offer he'll come back, play hard, and get along great with his teammates.
This is not the fault of JJ.
Joe Mama
I agree completely, Joe. It seems that this is a purely financial decision, because we are not getting back anything (including the trade exception) that will help us win a championship this year. As it stands, we have gone from JJ as our starting 2 guard to Raja Bell. I like what Bell has to offer, but he is not a fair replacement for JJ at all. And what about the future of this franchise? We started last year as the youngest team in the league, but since then we have effectively traded: Zarko (24), Lampe (20) CJ (23-24), Vroman (24), Q (25), Hunter (23), and JJ (24) for Walter (off the team), JJax (34-35), KT (32), Burke (30), Padgett (29) and Bell (29). The only young players that we have left at the moment are Amare, Barbosa, and our newly signed scrubs (Thompson and Tischer). In other words, we have mortgaged our future for "win now" type players, but with this move, we have effectively set ourselves back from win now mode. Which direction are we going? Neither, it would seem right now. I'm shocked!