There Is No "Curse"

[sharkman]

There is no Suns curse. The problem is that Jerry Collangelo has been at the Suns helm for so long...and he's a man with class and dignity.

Unfortunately, as we have seen recently, there is no room for class and dignity if you want to win in the NBA. Stern has made that perfectly clear.

The Spurs played the role of dirty cheap shot artists...and were rewarded for it...just as the "Bad Boys" from Detroit were when Bill Lambeer and Dennis Rodman won their titles.

It doesn't end on the court...Jerry did his very best to put a competitive team on the floor at all times...and played to win every game...even knowing that title hopes were slim some years...and winning would cost draft position. Meanwhile...other teams "tanked" in order to obtain a better draft position...and were rewarded for it...so they implemented a lotto system to give the impression that it couldn't happen again. Unfortunately, the NBA is unlike any other sport... a single player represents 20% of the starting lineup (unlike football where one player doesn't have that impact...even Joe Montana needed blocking, receiving, and defense)...and due to the great impact a single dominant player can make...the system lends itself to corruption.

The Suns have a choice...they can continue being "honorable"...and play by the rules...if so, they can hang their heads high and find comfort in the fact that they never lost their integrity...but they can kiss goodbye any hopes of a title.

Or...they can play by the rules the League has set by precident...

...if I'm D'Antoni, I go to Sarver and say, "Luxury tax be damned. Lets make one more title run...we knocked on the door and fell short...we banged on the door and fell short...this time we'll kick the door down (apologies to Bum Phillips)...

...if the Suns win the title, paying the luxury tax would have been worth it...if the Suns fall short again...blow the team up. All of it. Send Nash back to Canada (where Toronto would pay a randsom for the PR alone)...Marion? Gone. Raja? Gone. Use next year's Atlanta pick for the PG of the future...tank the season ala the Rockets when they got Olajuwan...accumulate high lotto picks for a couple of years...

...then make a couple of title runs...if it works...great...if it doesn't...tank again to stockpile those high lotto picks (and maybe even get lucky with the number 1 pick)...

...when you look up the phrase "nice guys finish last" in the dictionary...it shows you a picture of the Suns logo. Unfortunately, the Suns have been nice guys too long.

 

[Beaver]

Hight draft picks don't necessarily mean sucess. I'll still keep believing that the Suns are cursed.

 

[sharkman]

Hight draft picks don't necessarily mean sucess. I'll still keep believing that the Suns are cursed.

High draft picks in the hands of idiots don't guarantee success (like ATL and LAC)...high draft picks in the hands of someone who knows how to use them? Priceless.

Trust me...Portland will be a powerhouse for the next 10 years. Why? Because they got lucky with the ping pong balls. If you get the chance to draft a Ewing...an Olajuwan...a Mourning...a Shaq...a Jordan...an Oden...

...championships will come. No other sport does a single dominant player have so much impact. Kobe is an amazing talent (selfish and a rapist)....but an amazing talent none the less. You can surround him with one decent player and a collection of scrub role players...and he'll make the playoffs...give him a Shaq or Garnett...and they're title contenders.

 

[Gaddabout]

Jerry Colangelo was a marked man until he bought the Suns and changed his image. When Dial guys owned the team, Colangelo built through the draft and everything was very conventional. The Suns were always on the short end of the stick of landing a true center, and Colangelo was blamed for putting together "vanilla" teams as the head of an organization that wouldn't spend the big money. I remember hearing calls for his firing for YEARS.

JC watched the Lakers continue their dynasty even beyond Kareem's dominance and decided that he was going to stop the hoping and wishing for a center when he bought the team. He has been firmly committed to a style of basketball that puts butts in the seats and puts playoff teams on the floor -- in many years ignoring the glaring need for any kind of big man. The Suns have been at this for so long, 20 years of bad luck followed by nearly another 20 years of trying to ignore the hole in the middle, that I don't think there's anyone in management that hasn't been brainwashed.

Now we're saddled with an identity that demands almost super-human qualities in a center that we won't even toy with the idea of a two-skill big man. As long as D'Antoni is running this show, that's not going to change. If anything, D'Antoni's system -- and D'Antoni's interpretation of who can play in his rotation -- pretty much eliminates the search short of stumbling into the next David Robinson.

It's not a curse, although I jest as if it were. It's not about playing dirty, either, or even slowing the pace down. It's real simple: Unless you have Michael Jordan on your team, you cannot play the defense necessary to win a title if you don't have a legitimate shot-blocking presence playing center. I'm not talking about Stoudemire's "swat at anything" presence, but a legitimate long-armed center who can push an opposing big man off the block, quick enough to help on the other side of the lane.

The Mark West/Andrew Lang tandem was a good idea, and the Suns went as far as they could go by not being afraid of their offensive defeciencies. West and Lang actually developed half-decent low-post games late in their careers. It wouldn't be a horrible thing to go back that approach. This whole D'Antoni thing about not fouling has to find a happy medium so the Suns aren't afraid to put their body on someone and stop them from driving the lane at will.

 

[Gee!]

Trust me...Portland will be a powerhouse for the next 10 years. Why? Because they got lucky with the ping pong balls. If you get the chance to draft a Ewing...an Olajuwan...a Mourning...a Shaq...a Jordan...an Oden...

Its funny you say this because Portland had the chance to draft Jordan but decided on Sam Bowie..

 

[sharkman]

Its funny you say this because Portland had the chance to draft Jordan but decided on Sam Bowie..

And it comes full circle...

...except with the Suns...where it stops 359 degrees of justice...and falls 1 degree short.

 

[dodie53]

is amare's knee part of "the curse"?

 

[Hugh D'Man]

Jerry Colangelo was a marked man until he bought the Suns and changed his image. When Dial guys owned the team, Colangelo built through the draft and everything was very conventional. The Suns were always on the short end of the stick of landing a true center, and Colangelo was blamed for putting together "vanilla" teams as the head of an organization that wouldn't spend the big money. I remember hearing calls for his firing for YEARS.

JC watched the Lakers continue their dynasty even beyond Kareem's dominance and decided that he was going to stop the hoping and wishing for a center when he bought the team. He has been firmly committed to a style of basketball that puts butts in the seats and puts playoff teams on the floor -- in many years ignoring the glaring need for any kind of big man. The Suns have been at this for so long, 20 years of bad luck followed by nearly another 20 years of trying to ignore the hole in the middle, that I don't think there's anyone in management that hasn't been brainwashed.

Now we're saddled with an identity that demands almost super-human qualities in a center that we won't even toy with the idea of a two-skill big man. As long as D'Antoni is running this show, that's not going to change. If anything, D'Antoni's system -- and D'Antoni's interpretation of who can play in his rotation -- pretty much eliminates the search short of stumbling into the next David Robinson.

It's not a curse, although I jest as if it were. It's not about playing dirty, either, or even slowing the pace down. It's real simple: Unless you have Michael Jordan on your team, you cannot play the defense necessary to win a title if you don't have a legitimate shot-blocking presence playing center. I'm not talking about Stoudemire's "swat at anything" presence, but a legitimate long-armed center who can push an opposing big man off the block, quick enough to help on the other side of the lane.

The Mark West/Andrew Lang tandem was a good idea, and the Suns went as far as they could go by not being afraid of their offensive defeciencies. West and Lang actually developed half-decent low-post games late in their careers. It wouldn't be a horrible thing to go back that approach. This whole D'Antoni thing about not fouling has to find a happy medium so the Suns aren't afraid to put their body on someone and stop them from driving the lane at will.

BaddaBing

Don't be surprised if RSarver lowers the boom once JC is officially gone. I give D'Ant one more year at trying to ringmaster this circus.

 

[chickenhead]

Maybe I'm foolish, but I've actually felt that the Suns have a been a great team to love and a great franchise for pretty much my entire lifetime. Usually competitive, with a stable identity. I've been disappointed that the Suns haven't ever made it over the hump, but that's about it. Of course, other teams of mine include the Cardinals and the Expos, so maybe my persepctive is off.

 

[Gee!]

Its funny you say this because Portland had the chance to draft Jordan but decided on Sam Bowie..

Sounds like Portland might pass on Oden.. Who knows..

http://sports.ktar.com/?nid=91&sid=490194

 

[dreamcastrocks]

is amare's knee part of "the curse"?

So far, yes.