Trades that never happened

[Dan H]

I may be completely mis-remembering, but didn't the Suns at one time have a Barkley for Mutombo swap that was turned down by the league?

The year of our championship season, didn't we have a deal to swap Dumas for Rodman? Man, can you imagine? It would have been tough with CC out for the Finals, but I think Rodman would have given Jordan fits and been enough to get us over the edge.

Are there any close or rumored deals over the years that you recall?

Edit - my bad, the Dumas/Rodman swap was the summer after the Finals, before the 93-94 season started. Still think we'd have had an edge against the Rockets with the Worm.

 

[Phrazbit]

Amare and Shawn Marion for Kevin Garnett in 2007, supposedly only fell through because Marion indicated he would not resign. Hard to say if how that would have played out for Phoenix, one thing is certain, the Celtics would not have had their title and four year run of contention.

Amare for Steph Curry was basically a done deal during the 2009 draft, Warriors took Curry for the Suns then back stabbed Phoenix after their fans got so excited over the pick. It would have cost us our 2010 playoff run but it also would have jump started the rebuild by 3 or 4 years. You gotta imagine that Nash would have been traded during that 2010 season. We'd almost certainly have an entirely different roster right now.

 

[elindholm]

I know that Kevin Johnson for Mutombo was rumored during at least two seasons, but I don't know how close it came to happening.

Then of course there was either Marion or Stoudemire for Garnett, depending on who you ask. That was the most recent "headliner" for the Suns that I remember. The Marion-for-O'Neal trade pretty much came out of nowhere.

 

[95pro]

was marion for garnett

 

[Joe Mama]

was marion for garnett

wasn't that the same summer we were going to get Atlantis pick but they moved up into the lottery? If I remember correctly in the original trade rumors that draft pick would have been one of the key pieces. Then there was supposedly Shawn Marion's unwillingness to commit to re-signing with Boston. After that the rumors about Amare Stoudemire started, but supposedly Minnesota didn't want him. I think there was something about him actually going to Atlanta but that clearly didn't happen.

The Curry debacle was especially painful because if you believe Steve Kerr's account, we would have taken Jrue Holiday with our later pick but took Earl Clark instead since it looked like we had just taken a point guard and traded our power forward.

Joe

 

[JCSunsfan]

Steve Kerr said that an Amare and Nash for LaMarcus Alderidge was offered but the Blazers backed out at the last minute.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Btw. I think we should be trying to do any deal we can with Kerr. Whoever trades with him does pretty well.

 

[SirStefan32]

Btw. I think we should be trying to do any deal we can with Kerr. Whoever trades with him does pretty well.

The problem is that he doesn't have an owner telling him to get rid of contracts at any cost. I suppose beyond that, the problem is that Kerr will not be the one making trades, as he is a coach, not a GM now.

 

[JCSunsfan]

The problem is that he doesn't have an owner telling him to get rid of contracts at any cost. I suppose beyond that, the problem is that Kerr will not be the one making trades, as he is a coach, not a GM now.

Sorry, I didn't expect my little attempt at humor to be taken so seriously.

I do believe that Kerr is the worlds worst negotiator. Yes, Sarver pushed him to get rid of contracts, but he still was the one who negotiated the deals.

 

[gimpy]

Is it because he's Kerr or because we are the Suns? That teams do pretty well.....

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[DevonCardsFan]

There was aldridge for nash talk suns were not interested

 

[SunsTzu]

Amare and Shawn Marion for Kevin Garnett in 2007, supposedly only fell through because Marion indicated he would not resign. Hard to say if how that would have played out for Phoenix, one thing is certain, the Celtics would not have had their title and four year run of contention.

It was Marion and KT not Amare. Then once that deal fell through the Suns had to pay to unload KT.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It was Marion and KT not Amare. Then once that deal fell through the Suns had to pay to unload KT.

plus the Atlanta pick. It was actually a 3 way deal involving the Celtics and Marion was supposed to go there, but word was it all came crashing down when Marion nixed the deal because he wouldn't go to Boston or sign an extension.

*******...that team would have DESTROYED everyone.

Nash
Bell
Whoever the hell you wanted
Amare
KG

They would have been unstoppable offensively and with KG and Bell good enough defensively to kick some serious ass.

of course, DA probably would have tried to make KG a purely 3 point shooter and KG would have probably ripped DA's head off because he didn't care about D, but man...the potential there would have been outrageous.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I may be completely mis-remembering, but didn't the Suns at one time have a Barkley for Mutombo swap that was turned down by the league?

The year of our championship season, didn't we have a deal to swap Dumas for Rodman? Man, can you imagine? It would have been tough with CC out for the Finals, but I think Rodman would have given Jordan fits and been enough to get us over the edge.

Are there any close or rumored deals over the years that you recall?

Edit - my bad, the Dumas/Rodman swap was the summer after the Finals, before the 93-94 season started. Still think we'd have had an edge against the Rockets with the Worm.

Nope...not misremembering at all. Barkley for Mutombo was apparently a done deal and the league nixed it.

And the Worm plus Barkley was definitely in the mix for Dumas after year one.

I also remember huge trade winds swirling around a Majerle/Picks for Pippen swap in 1995 after Manning went down and before Jordan made his late season comeback.

 

[BC867]

The year of our championship season...

Ah yes, I remember our Championship season well.

Wait, that was the Mercury (twice) and the Diamondbacks.

 

[Folster]

I remember a KJ for Ewing trade that was rumored briefly before the Suns acquired Barkley.

Stoudemire for Pau Gasol (Memphis). This was after we made the playoff run while Amare was recovering from micro-fracture. Adding a prime Gasol to that team could have put us over the top and prevented a couple Laker championships.

Stoudemire for Noah and Gibson. I believe this was rumored during the trade-deadline the season prior to Stoudemire's last. After that season he lost significant value with further injuries and the fact that he was a rental with the term of his contract. The following year the best offer we got was JJ Hickson and a crappy late first-rounder.

Let's not forget about Stoudemire for Steph Curry and filler.

Looking back, the Kerr regime really screwed up a lot.

 

[elindholm]

Let's not forget about Stoudemire for Steph Curry and filler.

Looking back, the Kerr regime really screwed up a lot.

I'm not sure how much of it is Kerr's fault. There are lots of reasons a rumored trade might fall through, not the least of which is that it may never have been a real discussion in the first place. As for the Curry deal, as I understand it, it was pretty much a done deal until the Warriors backed out at the last second. Hard to blame that on Kerr.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm not sure how much of it is Kerr's fault. There are lots of reasons a rumored trade might fall through, not the least of which is that it may never have been a real discussion in the first place. As for the Curry deal, as I understand it, it was pretty much a done deal until the Warriors backed out at the last second. Hard to blame that on Kerr.

Agreed. For the most part all we get are rumors and conjecture. I'm sure some of them have legs but even then, we have no idea how close they came nor why they didn't happen.

Steve

 

[slinslin]

Marion to me should not be in the ring of honor for blocking that deal.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Marion to me should not be in the ring of honor for blocking that deal.

We should ban him from all public buildings because he likes cartoons too. He should also be forced to go barefoot until he agrees to drink three smoothies a day. And he definitely shouldn't be allowed to eat pasta until he agrees to adopt a wolfhound.

Steve

 

[BC867]

We should ban him from all public buildings because he likes cartoons too. He should also be forced to go barefoot until he agrees to drink three smoothies a day. And he definitely shouldn't be allowed to eat pasta until he agrees to adopt a wolfhound.

Steve

'Sounds good to me!

I'm still pissed from when I used to run into him at Yoshi's Asian Grill during lunch, tried to start a conversation and all he could do was grunt a word or two and turn away.

And for blocking the deal!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Marion to me should not be in the ring of honor for blocking that deal.

i'm more in favor of this because he was a 20 million dollar player who consistently folded like a tortilla in the playoffs. him blocking the Garnett trade is just the final nail in the coffin for me.

 

[slinslin]

that also, I don't really understand Majerle being up there either.

Think Jason Kidd has a better case than Majerle.

 

[AzStevenCal]

i'm more in favor of this because he was a 20 million dollar player who consistently folded like a tortilla in the playoffs. him blocking the Garnett trade is just the final nail in the coffin for me.

Why? He didn't actually block the trade. Didn't he just decline to sign an extension with his new team? I can see berating him for that reason or any reason if that's what someone wants to do but to connect that to whether he deserves to be in the ROH is way overboard IMO. It's a line that simply shouldn't be connected. It's not his responsibility to the Suns to forfeit his contract rights to another team. We could have traded him, we chose not to. We chose not to because he wouldn't bring enough in return unless he sacrificed his right to determine who he signed his next contract with. That's on us not him.

Although this is a different argument, IMO, we'd have been no better off with Garnett at that stage of his career. Without someone like Thibs to teach him how to play physical defense he would have been the same soft postseason player he'd been for the first decade of his career. Remember, he held that reputation more so than any other player of that period. And he wouldn't have had Pierce, Allen and Rondo there to take that pressure off him either.

Steve

 

[Cheesebeef]

Why? He didn't actually block the trade. Didn't he just decline to sign an extension with his new team? I can see berating him for that reason or any reason if that's what someone wants to do but to connect that to whether he deserves to be in the ROH is way overboard IMO. It's a line that simply shouldn't be connected. It's not his responsibility to the Suns to forfeit his contract rights to another team. We could have traded him, we chose not to. We chose not to because he wouldn't bring enough in return unless he sacrificed his right to determine who he signed his next contract with. That's on us not him.

Although this is a different argument, IMO, we'd have been no better off with Garnett at that stage of his career. Without someone like Thibs to teach him how to play physical defense he would have been the same soft postseason player he'd been for the first decade of his career. Remember, he held that reputation more so than any other player of that period. And he wouldn't have had Pierce, Allen and Rondo there to take that pressure off him either.

Steve

steve...I can't honestly believe you wrote the second part. KG was ALWAYS a dominant defensive presence, making 1st Defensive Team from 2000-8. Thibs didn't teach him that. He helped bring that to the Celtics. His softness was always on the offensive side of the ball where he couldn't elevate his game come playoff time (and those problems continued in Boston). But as the third offensive option with us he would have fit like a glove and given us a RIDICULOUSLY better option against Dirk, Duncan and Gasol then Marion could even dream of.

And as far as having people to take the pressure off, Nash, Raja and prime Amare were on this team. Each one of them who always raised their game come
Playoff time.

We wouldn't have been better off with KG then Marion? Another guy who could create for others and defended big men at an All-NBA level? Come on.