THE BALLAD OF ROBERT SARVER

[BC867]

THE BALLAD OF ROBERT SARVER


He came from Tucson where he owns a bank

And bought the Suns to watch them tank


He became a spectacle with his foam finger

And the team’s problems started to linger


He relied on novice low paid GM’s

And decided he knew more than any of them


Inexperienced coaches couldn’t pull the lever

Leading the Suns to the playoffs never


And when he decides he’s lost the battle

He’ll make a profit and they’ll move to Seattle


The players are angry, the fans are mad

The new Super Sun-ics will be very glad

 

[Phrazbit]

 

[Chaplin]

Clever but inaccurate.

 

[Ronin]

 

[Superbone]

Clever but inaccurate.

I sure hope the ending is inaccurate.

 

[BC867]

Clever but inaccurate.

OK, let's see your pro-Sarver poem so we can compare opinons.

 

[Hoop Head]

Sarver is in a no win situation with half of the fanbase. I don't think there is anything he could do other than sell to get any sort of respect from a good portion of fans and while I understand being frustrated with him I think a lot of the hate he has lobbed at him is uncalled for. If the Suns are doing poorly, bash Sarver, if they're doing ok then it's in spite of Sarver.

 

[Chaplin]

OK, let's see your pro-Sarver poem so we can compare opinons.

Come on. Inaccurate doesn’t mean I’m a Sarver supporter.

So easy to forget that Sarver bought the team and was the owner during the Suns renaissance of the 2000s. Regardless of how that team was constructed, he didn’t buy the team to watch it tank.

 

[BC867]

Sarver is in a no win situation with half of the fanbase. I don't think there is anything he could do other than sell to get any sort of respect from a good portion of fans and while I understand being frustrated with him I think a lot of the hate he has lobbed at him is uncalled for. If the Suns are doing poorly, bash Sarver, if they're doing ok then it's in spite of Sarver.

That is a very generalized description of the Server era. Which is part of the problem. The team has no chance of coming back unless the performance of the powers-that-be are evaluated.

My take is that the Suns are not, and have not been, a balanced team. Not enough defense. That is a recipe for losing. Best players have been in the backcourt. Too many Point Guards. Too many young players and the few veterans are in the twilight of their careers. Very unbalanced teams year after year.

You take a course in school and you're going to earn an 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' or 'F'. Sarver's grade is an 'F'. He's failed in every aspect. That is not bashing him. That is grading him. If the Press and fans shy away from that, it is not going to improve. Lately, the Press has been addressing it. The question is . . . is the owner listening? Or does he have different priorities? Or even understand that owning an NBA team is different than owning a bank?

 

[Mainstreet]

Sarver is in a no win situation with half of the fanbase. I don't think there is anything he could do other than sell to get any sort of respect from a good portion of fans and while I understand being frustrated with him I think a lot of the hate he has lobbed at him is uncalled for. If the Suns are doing poorly, bash Sarver, if they're doing ok then it's in spite of Sarver.

It's like half of the fan base is out of touch. Sarver has been pretty much hands off after he gave control of the franchise to McDonough. It's just a knee jerk reaction by some fans to blame Sarver. The GM needs to grow the franchise.

 

[Chaplin]

It's like half of the fan base is out of touch. Sarver has been pretty much hands off after he gave control of the franchise to McDonough. It's just a knee jerk reaction by some fans to blame Sarver. The GM needs to grow the franchise.

Normally I would agree with you, but while I have been supportive of McD, the decisions that have been made since he was put in charge haven't been THAT much better than they were when Sarver was hands-on. I would have expected there to be a huge difference, although I will concede that we haven't signed anyone close to Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress with McD.

And while I like the youth, I'd like to see the team move forward quicker than they are.

 

[Trifecta]

It's like half of the fan base is out of touch. Sarver has been pretty much hands off after he gave control of the franchise to McDonough. It's just a knee jerk reaction by some fans to blame Sarver. The GM needs to grow the franchise.

Unfortunately this is not the case. There were a few things McDonough said in his recent interview after Watson's firing that were quite telling:

"Robert's always around, always involved...I talk to him at least once a day, usually multiple times a day"

"Robert owns the team, I make recommendations"

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

The way he explains it Sarver is more like the team president rather than some silent owner.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Sarver is in a no win situation with half of the fanbase. I don't think there is anything he could do other than sell to get any sort of respect from a good portion of fans and while I understand being frustrated with him I think a lot of the hate he has lobbed at him is uncalled for. If the Suns are doing poorly, bash Sarver, if they're doing ok then it's in spite of Sarver.

Considering they've never done ok since Jerry left the team completely and Sarver had full reign of the team, not sure you're point is that strong.

If he ever paid the money needed to bring a widely respected either coach or GM to run the show, he'd get credit. But he's literally NEVER done that and the one time he did get a respected GM with Kerr, he asked him and his staff to take a PAY CUT after getting the team back to the WCF after two also ran seasons.

Dudes dug his own grave, plain and simple. Arguing otherwise is damn near impossible.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Unfortunately this is not the case. There were a few things McDonough said in his recent interview after Watson's firing that were quite telling:

"Robert's always around, always involved...I talk to him at least once a day, usually multiple times a day"

"Robert owns the team, I make recommendations"

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

The way he explains it Sarver is more like the team president rather than some silent owner.

EXACTLY.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It's like half of the fan base is out of touch. Sarver has been pretty much hands off after he gave control of the franchise to McDonough. It's just a knee jerk reaction by some fans to blame Sarver. The GM needs to grow the franchise.

All of this is conjecture. We heard the same thing when Babby's ******* was hired and that interview posted above makes it seem like he's still hands on.

 

[Hoop Head]

That is a very generalized description of the Server era. Which is part of the problem. The team has no chance of coming back unless the performance of the powers-that-be are evaluated.

My take is that the Suns are not, and have not been, a balanced team. Not enough defense. That is a recipe for losing. Best players have been in the backcourt. Too many Point Guards. Too many young players and the few veterans are in the twilight of their careers. Very unbalanced teams year after year.

You take a course in school and you're going to earn an 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' or 'F'. Sarver's grade is an 'F'. He's failed in every aspect. That is not bashing him. That is grading him. If the Press and fans shy away from that, it is not going to improve. Lately, the Press has been addressing it. The question is . . . is the owner listening? Or does he have different priorities? Or even understand that owning an NBA team is different than owning a bank?

So he gets no credit for the first 5-6 years he owned the team when we were contenders? That's odd. Sarver is bashed annually, it's not something that is new. There is an anti-Sarver thread every season. Either he's not committed to the rebuild or he's too committed to bottoming out.

Considering they've never done ok since Jerry left the team completely and Sarver had full reign of the team, not sure you're point is that strong.

If he ever paid the money needed to bring a widely respected either coach or GM to run the show, he'd get credit. But he's literally NEVER done that and the one time he did get a respected GM with Kerr, he asked him and his staff to take a PAY CUT after getting the team back to the WCF after two also ran seasons.

Dudes dug his own grave, plain and simple. Arguing otherwise is damn near impossible.

The Suns signed Nash when Sarver bought the team and were legit contenders for the next 6 years until Amare left to go drain New York's cap and the team tried to retool but wasn't successful in doing so. Colangelo gets all of the credit for Sarver's early time with the team and that doesn't make sense because he was out within a year when Bryan left. They stayed competitive though without Jerry or Bryan around but let's ignore that. Let's also ignore how he spent top dollar on the roster and into the tax zone during his early years here to keep the team together for the most part. Sure he made some foolish signings but he still spent money. As far as paying top flight GM's, look at what happened in New York with them paying Phil Jackson record amounts of money to ruin their team and damn near chase off their best player and future in Porzingis. Being highly paid doesn't mean they're the best at their job, not in the NBA. Sarver isn't without fault but like I said, there is nothing he can do to win some people over. The foam finger killed any chance of that.

 

[GatorAZ]

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[Hoop Head]

Jerry screwed us in his final year as owner also, enough that I think he shouldn't get credit for Sarver's year with him still around. He traded Gugliotta, an expiring contract, 2 first round picks and a 2nd rounder to Utah to get under the luxury tax that season and get committed salaries as low as they could be. In doing so they traded away the picks we got from New York in the Penny & Marbury trades earlier that year. They ended up being the #16 pick in the 2004 draft, #60 in 2005, and the #9 pick in the 2010 draft. The first was the least favorable between the Suns and Knicks picks during 2004 draft, a 2nd lottery protected pick in which the protection expired in 2010, which is when it transferred, and was the #9 pick overall. The 2nd rounder was our own for 2005, and I don't think anyone foresaw the turnaround with Nash, going from the bottom of the standings to the best record in the league. The #16 pick was Kirk Snyder, who had a decent career but the #9 pick was actually Gordon Hayward.

Kerr and Sarver are always bashed for the Kurt Thomas trade and that deal is equal, IMO, giving up key assets to save a few bucks on his way out. The picks in that deal were the #24 overall in 2008 and the #26 pick in 2010, Serge Ibaka and Quincy Pondexter were chosen with those picks but they were the Suns own and late in the round because the Suns were contenders still. That was a bad trade since Thomas was still a servicable player but not as bad as the Gugliotta trade. At least when the KT trade was made it was clear that D'Antoni didn't play rookies and wasn't fond of playing KT either but we gave up an All-Star in Marbury and shed Penny's deal to get picks that helped Colangelo, not Sarver, save a few bucks.

Here's a link to the Gugliotta trade, it's a pro-Utah article and says they gave up Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten but they were both expiring and the difference in salary got the Suns under the luxury tax threshold.

http://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=1739078

 

[Mainstreet]

All of this is conjecture. We heard the same thing when Babby's ******* was hired and that interview posted above makes it seem like he's still hands on.

It may be conjecture but I'm thankful the Suns have moved on from the days of Robert Sarver, Mike D'Antoni, Steve Kerr, Lance Blanks and Lon Babby as GMs.

 

[Mainstreet]

Normally I would agree with you, but while I have been supportive of McD, the decisions that have been made since he was put in charge haven't been THAT much better than they were when Sarver was hands-on. I would have expected there to be a huge difference, although I will concede that we haven't signed anyone close to Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress with McD.

And while I like the youth, I'd like to see the team move forward quicker than they are.

I'd like for the Suns to move on quicker but one can only play the cards dealt.

The biggest mistake McDonough has made is trading for Knight and he is still paying for it. However, GMs make mistakes so I can live with it. I'm more concerned about the Suns making the right choices in the draft. The Suns best players thus far, Booker and Warren, were drafted #13 and #14. The Suns need to hit bigger with the early picks. Hopefully one or two develop.

 

[Bert]

I'd like for the Suns to move on quicker but one can only play the cards dealt.

The biggest mistake McDonough has made is trading for Knight and he is still paying for it. However, GMs make mistakes so I can live with it. I'm more concerned about the Suns making the right choices in the draft. The Suns best players thus far, Booker and Warren, were drafted #13 and #14. The Suns need to hit bigger with the early picks. Hopefully one or two develop.

I agree, although I do worry about his ability to get along with NBA players as well. I mean, each one has their own circumstances and stuff, but it's not a great look that we've had 3 very nasty, very public 'falling-outs' with players recently. Perhaps he needs to work on his people skills? lol

 

[Mainstreet]

I agree, although I do worry about his ability to get along with NBA players as well. I mean, each one has their own circumstances and stuff, but it's not a great look that we've had 3 very nasty, very public 'falling-outs' with players recently. Perhaps he needs to work on his people skills? lol

I keep hoping McDonough is going through a learning process. He unbelievably is only 36, not much older than the players he coaches.

He might benefit from some relationship classes though.

I'm sure working with agent Rich Paul didn't help either.