I feel a little more sorry for Terry. He stepped into an impossible situation with players who could care less about defense, and then he loses his best defensive player. His players have already started tuning him out, and it's not fair for him. Phoenix is a mess right now, and they're going to be the odd team out on missing the playoffs I think.
That team is a mess. They have no young prospects. They have a cheap owner. Their core is OLD. The future is definitely bleak in the Vally of the Sun.
To be fair, Terry should have realized that the team was built on the premise of the X-seconds or less offense. After being convinced for years that the D'Antoni's system was correct, the players weren't about to consider defense as a possibility. Faced with that, Terry should have simply kept the system status quo until Nash et al were moved and/or retired, and he had some pieces that would perk an ear to the notion of defense. Plus, I mean... he's dealing with some serious personalities on that team. Between Shaq, Nash and Stoudemire, the three of them have more NBA-credibility than Terry ever did. Not that Terry needed to have as much success in the league per se, but these guys have played under three of the most influential coaches in NBA history; they weren't about to listen.
Sarver needs Billy Beane to run the show down there. He'd have cashed in their talent for picks, prospects and cash flexibility years ago, a la Presti.
I don't think Terry could've kept the D'Antoni system going with Shaq there. Kerr wanted to emphasize defense more, and it was his philosophy that budded heads with D'Antoni. They didn't want to run and gun anymore, rather they wanted to go through Shaq and Amare. Sure, Kerr seems like a cool dude when he was analyzing games for TNT, but he's the most to blame for dismantling one of the more exciting franchises in the league.
denver still has their large trade exception from the camby deal, they could most likely satisfy phoenix with that and a player or two.
Perhaps, but further compounding the problem is that doing so would push the Nuggets over the luxury tax themselves, which, of course, would cost them $10M or so just like it would save the Blazers. So they probably wouldn't do that. So the options are pretty limited. You probably need a third team that's under the cap (Memphis?) or at least has an exception and plenty of room before they hit the cap threshold.
well. i for one am not all that excited about amare, i would rather stand pat than bring him in for lma. i would love for memphis to get him, they would be horrible still, and he would bolt in FA.
Could just be that Memphis takes on a peripheral player to make salaries work. If Portland were willing to had another $5M to their Luxury tax bill, how would you feel about this? Blazers trade: Raef, Sergio, Outlaw, Diogu Blazers get: Hinrich, Gooden, Nocioni Bulls trade: Hinrich, Gooden, Nocioni, Thomas Bulls get: Amare, JRich, Sergio, Amundson Suns trade: Amare, JRich, Amundson Suns get: Thomas, Outlaw, Diogu, LaFrentz Financially this trade gets the Suns under the tax, resulting in the big savings I talk about above, while not putting the Bulls over the tax. The Blazers are already over the tax, so the escrow and tax disbursements are lost to them anyway. They do have to pay extra cash in the form of more tax and more salary however. I've heard Paul Allen is good for that, but everyone has their limits. I dunno. And it satisfies the Blazers desire for a PG. I don't know if you're going to do better than Kirk.
For that price, we need to get Deng. And that's been the sticking point. We view Kirk's salary as doing a favor to the Bulls whereas the Bulls view Hinrich as having real value. We were hot and heavy last week, but the ardor has cooled because Pax right now won't give up Deng to dump Kirk's contract. It remains to be seen if Reinsdorf steps in and tells Paxson to pull the trigger for the same financial reasons Sarver wants to dump Amare.
I might be wrong but I don't think KP would give up LaFrenz and Outlaw plus throw in Sergio for Hinrich.
Can do! Not gonna happen. The Bulls don't need any "favors" done for them, and they sure aren't going to give up Deng just to dump Kirk. I've pretty consistently read that Kirk can fetch an expiring contract in a NY minute, so there's really no reason we'd throw in Deng. I've also read (from non-Bulls sources) that KP likes Kirk as a player. If he's determined to get a better, more veteran point in there, I don't see many other options. Hard to say, but at the end of the day, the Blazers are going to have to bite the bullet and consolidate several of these guys or they're just going to walk for nothing. I don't see any role on your team for Sergio whatsoever. Outlaw is clearly a polarizing figure and you've got so many other options at the 3 and 4 that I don't see how he stays. And truthfully, I don't see any more obvious fits out there than Kirk. I wouldn't be wild about Noc being thrown in, but he has his uses. They get Tyrus, Outlaw, probably a pick thrown on top, and something like $15M in positive cash flow. I seriously doubt any other team coughs up more.
