Some thoughts on the Phoenix Suns.
-They lost games at home this weekend to Miami and New Jersey.
-Dwyane Wade and Devin Harris each went over 40 - Devin Harris for a mind-boggling 47.
(Props, by the way, to Plumber's Nets for jumping out to a 9-7 start, and especially to Harris who is playing at a level with the best players in the league right now. I am guessing Lawrence Frank will get no credit from Plumber, though.)
-I am guessing we can retire Raja Bell's rep as a defensive stopper after Wade and Harris' performances.
-Shaq was a minor factor both nights. Against Miami he didn't even play down the stretch. Not sure about the NJ game. Still, he insists everything will be okay as soon as they get the new offense down. I've heard that type of rationalizing from him before, right before he went out and kept having the same lukewarm performances game after game after game. Look - just watch him. He can't finish plays inside. Who trades for a guy who can't finish plays inside, when his only true skill is finishing plays inside?
-Amare Stoudamire is already complaining about his limited role in the offense as they slow the ball down and try to force feed Shaq.
-Steve Nash's numbers are down.
- The are, to be fair, 11-7, which is very respectable, but lack quality wins on the resume, and the losses at home to .500ish teams are troubling.
-The trade for Shaq, somehow, was made, according to the Suns organization, to improve the defense. That an unfathomable, indefensible notion. So far this season, anchored by Shawn Marion, Miami leads the NBA in forcing turnovers, and is in the top ten in defensive efficiency without a rotation player over 6'8". The Suns are languishing in the low 20s, which actually represents a drop for them. Even watching them play it is obvious it is difficult to defend with Shaq on the court because opponents will put him in space on pick and rolls, etc.
-Last year, before the season started, Dos Minutos went on record as claiming that "this will not end well" (the Shaq situation). Specifically, we asked the question "when it turns out that the team functions more efficiently with Mark Blount on the court, what are you prepared to do? Are you prepared to trade Shaq? Because you can't sit him on the bench behind Mark Blount. And if they aren't winning, and they aren't going to win because Dwyane Wade is still hurt and Shaq can't play anymore, it is going to get ugly faster than anyone imagines."
As it turned out, the team did not function more efficiently with Mark Blount on the court. However, they did not function efficiently with Shaq on the court either, and they didn't win because Dywane Wade was still injured and Shaq can't play anymore. It got ugly even earlier than Dos Minutos expected. As it turns out, they were willing to move Shaq, and somehow found a willing trade partner in Phoenix.
-All of this is a long way of asking the question: what is Phoenix going to do? The run of the past few years is over. Nash and Stoudamire are both free agents after next season (along with LeBron, Wade, et al). Shaq's contract is up after that season as well. Are you going to keep putting Shaq out there, play a slow bump and grind game which doesn't cater to Nash or Stoudmire's strengths, and probably won't be that successful in the standings? The risk is that you continue to alienate Stoudmire - he is already upset, and he is the only youngish building block on the team. Are you going to see if someone else will take Shaq from you? Do you try to move Nash to a contender to get younger, since he will bring more than Shaq? Do you just blow the whole thing up and try to move Stoudamire and rebuild all over? Tough to answer, especially when you factor in that ownership, generally, seems loathe to do anything but cut costs - which made the Shaq trade even odder, because they absorbed an extra year at 20 million per. It will get ugly, and it will get ugly before February. Dos Minutos' prediction is that Nash and Stoudamire don't both survive the trading deadline - one gets moved to a contender for draft picks and expiring contracts. I can't see them finding a place to move Shaq, so they are on their own there...Godspeed, Steve Kerr!
