Quest Club of Arizona

Of the various missteps and bad decisions that characterize the Robert Sarver era of Phoenix Suns ownership, the one that fans believe started it all was the Joe Johnson sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks. Essentially, the Suns (Sarver) refused to meet Johnson’s salary demands, negotiations got personal, and the Suns managed to salvage value for getting rid of Johnson by acquiring Boris Diaw and the first round pick that eventually became Robin Lopez.

In his final season with the Suns, Johnson was a key player for the youngest and most promising team in the NBA. How events unraveled over the past five seasons suggest that it was the Suns who cared more about money and less about winning. All the selling of player contracts, buyouts, and salary dumps have put the Suns on the verge of collapse.

The Hawks are currently second in the East and fourth overall in the NBA, based on won-loss records. Johnson has been a major contributor to the success of a team that was among the worst in the league at the time Johnson joined the franchise. The Hawks won 26 games in his first season with the team and now are on pace to win 55. In their most recent game, Johnson’s Hawks completed their first season sweep of the Boston Celtics in 11 years.

But the epilogue of the Suns/Johnson saga may see the Suns exonerated in this particular case. And it all comes down to how much Johnson cares about winning.

Bear in mind that the recession-era NBA economy is much different from the booming days of when Johnson was last a free agent. Last offseason, Carlos Boozer opted-in to the final year of his contract at $12.6 million with the Utah Jazz despite rumors suggesting he was seeking a long-term deal in the range of $15 million per year. True, Boozer is an injury-risk player, but he also recently  averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds for two seasons and was the biggest name free agent last offseason. His decision to opt-in speaks volumes about the state of the NBA economy.

With Johnson’s current contract nearing its end, he was offered a four-year, $60 million extension by the Hawks. This season, Johnson will make a tick under $15 million. So the proposed extension provides a small increase. Johnson flatly refused the offer. And unlike the Suns’ Amare Stoudemire, he has not unequivocally stated that his priority is to stay with his current team. The prevailing thought is that Johnson will leave the Hawks in the offseason. Yahoo Sports goes as far to suggest that Johnson will sign with the Chicago Bulls.

The NBA salary cap is expected to be reduced as league revenues continue to decline. Many franchises are expected to cut payroll as a result. Yet, with the Hawks gaining stature as a true contender in the East, it is Johnson who is looking for a big payday as opposed to a championship ring.

When Johnson was with the Suns, they were the rising young team on the verge of joining the NBA elite. The Hawks are now in a similar situation. And like five years ago, Johnson is apparently unhappy and seeking a big pay raise. I wonder who the Hawks fans see as the “bad guy” in this player drama?

As if on queue, with the All-Star break approaching the Suns are once again near the top of the rumor mill looking to trade away a valuable asset for questionable return. Two years ago it was Shawn Marion for Shaq. Last year, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley. This year Amare Stoudemire for … well, if it happens it will certainly be for something less valuable than Amare.

The Shaq trade resulted in a year-and-a-half of controversy, disappointment, and finally a fire sale. At least the Cleveland Cavaliers seem to be benefitting from Shaq’s presence. The Richardson and Dudley trade resulted in a few clutch games but mostly missed shots followed by turnovers in crunch time. Add in the fire sale expulsion of Kurt Thomas three years ago, and the trend suggests that there is little hope that an actual Amare trade will do anything to help the Suns. The best result would be merely minimizing losses in the form of how many players could be bought out and/or how many “expiring contracts” can be assumed.

The irony is that in the Suns most recent game, a victory against Golden State, the five players who made a difference were Goran Dragic, Robin Lopez, Earl Clark, Channing Frye, and Louis Amundson. Three were players drafted by the Suns (Dragic, Lopez, Clark) and the other two were free agent signees (Frye, Amundson). Players who the Suns recently traded for were either on the bench or long since departed to other franchises. What does that say about Suns GM Steve Kerr’s and Suns majority owner Robert Sarver’s collective ability to negotiate trades? Not a whole lot.

The ghost of 2008-09 is still chasing this 2009-10 team. Forty-five games into this season and the Suns are only one game ahead of last year’s pace (26-19 versus 25-10). If the Suns trade away Stoudemire, it’s possible the team may win only 8 to 10 more games the rest of the way and finish well below .500. Fans may not be happy with the current Suns, but an Amare-less lineup would turn the Suns into a team barely better than the New Jersey Nets.

Like any blogger, I do my share of armchair coaching. But this time. I’ll be more direct. Instead of trading Amare, the Suns should focus on what they intended to do in the offseason: play better defense, get younger, and compete with more energy. Stick with the core three veterans: Stoudemire, Steve Nash, and Grant Hill, and add players who fit the mold, i.e., some of the ones mentioned above.

Dragic is clearly the best defensive guard on the roster and he is a high-energy, sticky defense, never-give-up type of player who should be paired with Nash in the backcourt. Jason Richardson can continue starting. He does best when it doesn’t matter: at the beginning of games and the end of blowouts. However, the majority of minutes should go to Dragic, who can either relieve Nash at point guard or pair up with him at shooting guard.

The Robin Lopez Experiment as a starter has worked out better than expected and could very well be a long-term solution to pairing a legitimate big-man center with Stoudemire at power forward. Lopez surprisingly has great hands, which serves him well in a pick-and-roll offense. He also has a soft shooting touch as evidenced by his improving short-range shot and free-throw shooting (8-8 against Golden State).

Clark is a fumbling, bumbling rookie, but he’s still the best defensive wing player on the bench and he has length, something the Suns have been lacking all season. He has a nice shooting stroke that will become more accurate with more playing time.

In order for the Suns to break out, it requires a major change. And this change needs to start with the front office realizing that a trade will not help the team in the short or long term. The roster can be reworked with players already under contract. Expensive contracts, like Jason Richardson, and likable intelligent players, like Jared Dudley, may suffer in the makeover. However, the season is at a very critical juncture. For the team to turnaround their fortunes, it’s time to rely on players that were hand-picked by coaches and management: Dragic, Lopez and Clark. After all, it was Kerr, Sarver and Gentry who selected these players in the draft for a reason. It is now time for them to trust their judgment and try to wins games with their draft picks making major contributions.

Here’s a depressing fact. After 39 games, this year’s Phoenix Suns are only one game better than last year’s team: 24-15 versus 23-16. Those 2008-09 Suns were roundly criticized and their failure to meet expectations cost Terry Porter his job as head coach.

With a much different team from last year, the Suns began this season with lowered expectations. Yet, a 14-3 start captured the imagination of the fans and the attention around the NBA. What has followed is a classic meltdown, the type of which we have not seen in a decade.

After last night’s loss against the Indiana Pacers, it appears that things won’t improve any time soon. In typical fashion, another big Suns lead evaporated quickly in the 3rd quarter. It is clear that teams know that no Suns lead is safe. Even the worst teams in the league are emboldened by the fact that if they keep playing hard, they are likely to prevail against the Suns.

I am usually an optimist. Even going into this season, I believed that if the players performed up to their potential, this year’s team had a chance to do better than last year. However, now that the Suns have gone through a 10-12 stretch and their playoff position looks to be in serious jeopardy, there is no doubt that something needs to change.

The Suns have only two big, physical players on their bench: Robin Lopez and Jarron Collins. Yet, it is common that neither ever sees any playing time. Lopez has only appeared in two of the last five games, including a DNP last night. The last time Collins played was in 2009, and it makes one wonder if Alando Tucker was somehow secretly placed back on the Suns bench.

The Suns continue to show a complete lack of interior defense (to go along with their time-proven lack of perimeter defense) as well as an inability to keep opposing teams from getting offensive rebounds. It is very difficult to understand why they have not turned to one or both of these players for stretches of time during games to knock some heads around and create havoc.

By the way, interior defense is what fans and commentators completely took for granted last year with Shaquille O’Neal.

It’s one thing to lose after blowing a big lead. It’s quite another to lose this way while playing as soft as a wet pancake. The current 9-man (or 9 1/2-man) rotation is seriously lacking in toughness. And when the offense sputters, the Suns lack of size and physical play means that they simply can’t compete going down the stretch in close games. True, neither Lopez or Collins is an offensive threat. Neither is going to chuck up three-pointers and other long outside shots that the Suns have come to depend on. However, their physical play and size can more than compensate when defense and rebounding determines which team wins.