As the Phoenix Suns seemed destined to spend this season in the NBA no-man’s land of “not good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough to contend for the No. 1 pick,” the #FreeSteveNash movement got some national attention this week. Prominent NBA analysts such as ESPN’s John Hollinger and Grantland’s Bill Simmons weighed in with their thoughts on Captain’s Canada’s future with the Suns and some potential trades for Phoenix to pursue. Let’s examine these proposed trades and evaluate them on both feasibility and potential benefit for the Suns.
Editor’s Note: If you as a Suns fan are squeamish or are prone to hysterics at the thought of Steve Nash leaving the desert, the following trades may prove too much for you, so you may want to save yourself the mental pain and anguish and just look away.
On Tuesday, John Hollinger wrote in his PER Diem about a Nash-to-Portland deal. Here’s the link to the deal on ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine. The crux of the trade is Phoenix receiving Ray Felton, two young prospects, and a pick in exchange for Steve Nash. Hollinger puts this trade forth despite the fact that based on the involved players’ current PER numbers, this trade would drop Phoenix’s projected wins by 10 games. This is partly due to the fact that neither Nolan Smith nor Elliot Williams have played enough to have PER data.
There is no reason to think that a deal such as this one wouldn’t happen outside of both Nash and the Suns front office’s vehement denials of the possibility of a trade. For the purposes of the column, we’ll ignore that. As the Suns sink deeper and deeper into irrelevancy and mediocrity, it’s entirely possible both sides might relax their view on a trade.
The deal makes sense for Portland as Felton’s contract is expiring just like Nash’s. So in essence, the Blazers would be renting with the possibility of re-signing Steve Nash for the price of two prospects and a pick. For the Suns, the prospects will inject some youth into an aging roster. The pick, which will likely be in the 18-24 range, will still be a valuable asset in a draft this deep. In the offseason, the Suns could stand pat with their two picks and two prospects to start a serious youth movement or package some combination of them to move up into the top five or trade for a solid veteran.
In his NBA Season Review: 20 Questions, Bill Simmons also mentioned the possibility of a Nash-to-Portland deal. His version, however, had the Suns receiving Nic Batum in place of the guard prospects. Batum, a favorite of VotS overlord Michael Schwartz, was not extended by the Trail Blazers before the deadline, possibly indicating that Portland is willing to part with him for the right price.
PHOENIX — The Suns have lost to the Hornets, Cavs, Nets and Raptors at home, yet a couple minutes into the second half they seemed to be on a collision course with their worst loss to date, trailing the 3-20 Charlotte Bobcats by 10 points.
But the Suns’ starters erased that deficit by quarter’s end and the reserves suffocated the Bobcats by holding them to three points in the final period’s first 10 minutes as Phoenix pulled away for a 95-89 victory.
“Hard-fought win,” said head coach Alvin Gentry. “I thought we had to dig down deep and our guys did it. I thought the energy level was where it should be. We did a really good job of picking up the tempo of the game offensively and I thought we really picked it up defensively and did a really good job.
“Good win, haven’t had a bad win in 23 years in the NBA. Really good win for us, a much-needed win.”
Indeed it was a much-needed win since the latter choice was inconceivable against a Charlotte squad that has now lost 17 of 18 overall and 13 of 14 on the road and was missing its three leading scorers (Gerald Henderson, D.J. Augustin and Corey Maggette).
Because of that Gentry wrote on his whiteboard “don’t underestimate,” and if the Suns did early on then they certainly learned their lesson as Charlotte rolled up a double-digit lead. From there it was all Suns.
The fourth-quarter reserve unit of Robin Lopez, Markieff Morris, Josh Childress, Shannon Brown and Sebastian Telfair completely shut down the Bobcats, playing with the kind of energy they lacked last night in Houston as Phoenix’s legs once against looked more live on the second night of a back-to-back. They played so well that this unit finished the game, aside from Nash coming back later than usual with four minutes remaining.
“I just thought we had good energy and we did a good job on the screen and rolls of moving up and not allowing them to shoot threes,” Gentry said of the second unit’s defense. “I just thought they ran them off threes and did a good job of basket protection really.”
Lopez played the quarter of his life, exploding for 11 points and four boards while anchoring Phoenix’s stifling defense in the fourth. He was a ball of energy, scoring nine consecutive Suns points during one three-minute stretch in which the Bobcats went scoreless, more points than he had scored in all but one game since his monster opener.
That led Charlotte head coach Paul Silas to utter words that may have never before been spoken.
“The major problem was when Lopez came in,” he said. “We didn’t box him out and it really just changed the whole game around.” [Read more →]
Typically, this preview would focus on the statistical differentials between the teams in various advanced metrics — offensive rebound rate, effective field goal percentage and the other Four Factors — but this isn’t a typical game. This is a clash between a Suns team that can’t seem to find any traction in a desperate attempt to avoid being sucked to the bottom of the Western Conference by a maelstrom powered by a lack of depth, chemistry issues and overall ineffectiveness in rebounding and a Bobcats team that already lies at the bottom of the ocean floor, already victim to basketball’s Charybdis.
For the “too long; didn’t read” crowd, these teams are really bad. Charlotte is worse; they’re the worst team in the league, really, both by winning percentage and ability to lose to the Wizards multiple times. The Suns aren’t a whole lot better, though, and that’s a depressing statement. How do you make a game between these two teams interesting, other than Steve Nash to Marcin Gortat pick and rolls for 30-plus minutes?
Put Bismack Biyombo into the starting lineup for the Bobcats, that’s how!
Due to what scientists refer to as a “truckload” of injuries recently, Charlotte will start Kemba Walker, Reggie Williams, Tyrus Thomas, former Sun Boris Diaw and Biyombo. That’s two lottery picks, a player who’s gifted at appreciating French cuisine, an ex-Sun who’s really good at making passes from in and around the post* and Tyrus Thomas, whom I’m legitimately afraid might try to block a shot that Biyombo already blocked.
*You assumed I meant Boris when I mentioned an appreciation for French cuisine, didn’t you? I know, it was a trick statement (yes, that’s a thing). Reggie Williams played basketball in France.
One of two things is bound to happen with that starting lineup. Either all 18 tires on the truck will blow out, the vehicle will flip over and Paul Silas will be forced to switch to a backup truck driven by Byron Mullens and Cory Higgins, or all of that will happen in spectacular fashion — with flames everywhere, Biyombo rejecting the Gorilla’s dunks during timeouts as well as every shot attempted by Channing Frye and DaSagana Diop sneaking into the freezer at the Cold Stone Creamery inside US Airways Center.
After all, while Biyombo is foul-prone (to put it lightly), he’s also shown glimpses of being a defensive force simply due to his length. His knowledge on the defensive end is growing with every game; if he can avoid picking up early fouls, he’ll be a disruptive force against a Suns offense that needs all the help from the opposition it can get. Little went well for Phoenix on offense against the Rockets once the starters sat for the first time last night. The only positive, really, was the rest that the starters received.
Charlotte is an awful team, and things tonight will likely go very poorly for them, but the Suns are having struggles of their own. They have two losses on their record that, with a little hindsight, are pretty awful — at home to both the Hornets (now 4-19) and Nets (8-16). Phoenix is perfectly capable of laying an egg against a team like Charlotte, sadly. Starting the rookies might increase those odds for the Bobcats, especially if they come out with energy and catch the Suns off guard. In that unlikely event, something as small as forcing Biyombo (and the other starters) to the bench might have a significant impact on the game. [Read more →]
Scola and the Rockets shut down Nash and the Suns. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
The Houston Rockets closed out the first quarter with a 17-6 run and never looked back in a sloppy, turnover-laden 99-81 victory over the Phoenix Suns at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Phoenix had its second-worst scoring output of the season Friday night, mustering only 81 points on 41 percent shooting. This was only slightly better than the 79 points they managed in a victory over Boston 14 days ago. After scoring a season-high 120 points against New Orleans on Wednesday, the Suns couldn’t hit the broad side of the barn against a Rockets team that gave up 120 to Minnesota on Monday night.
The Rockets had three starters and four bench players score in double figures. Houston is a roster full of guys playing hard to earn minutes, and it showed. Their bench outscored the Suns’ starters 50-47.
Former Arizona Wildcat Chase Budinger had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Courtney Lee and Patrick Patterson both scored 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field. Patterson was able to score down low in the post and also step out to hit the jump shot. He pulled down three of the Rockets’ 14 offensive boards. Former Sun Goran Dragic also had 10 points while spelling Kyle Lowry.
The lone bright spot on Phoenix’s bench was Shannon Brown. Brown was able to penetrate and get to the hoop easily for most of the game en route to 12 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Markieff Morris played aggressively in the garbage time fourth quarter taking 10 shots and scoring seven points.
Markieff missed out on the opportunity to play against his twin brother Marcus for the first time as Marcus was sent down to the D-League’s Rio Grande Vipers. The only other performance of note off the bench was that of Sebastian Telfair, who got the majority of the minutes at backup point guard. Telfair, like everyone else on the floor for Phoenix, was unable to jumpstart a very stagnant offense.
Like the Phoenix Suns, the Houston Rockets don’t get much notoriety. They lack a great deal of star power and aren’t on a hot streak. Even when they are, it’s not by way of Lob City-esque passing or anything that can be called spectacular.
But Kevin Martin’s awkward jump shot and Luis Scola’s rugged inside game are dangerous, and to follow up a seven-game winning streak, the Rockets are 2-3 in their past five games. Approaching a six-game road trip, they’d love to get a home victory as a momentum-swinging send-off against the Suns tonight.
The latest struggles for Houston have been due to defensive lapses. Against San Antonio on Wednesday, the Rockets made strides in making the right fixes, but it’ll still be a work in progess against Phoenix.
“You’re not going to shore up everything,” point guard Kyle Lowry told The Associated Press. “You can fix a few things, tweak a few things, get everything back to where you want it to be. But you’re not going to shore them all up, because every team is different offensively, so you may have to make adjustments all the time.”
It’s the same story for the Suns, who happened to find their way to enough defensive stops to hold the New Orleans Hornets to 16 fourth-quarter points in the last game. The Suns also scored 30 or more point in three quarters against the Hornets, and while the opponent may have something to do with the best offensive game of the season for Phoenix, it was a positive sign that Steve Nash and company aren’t about to roll over. [Read more →]
PHOENIX — Records mean little in terms of success or failure. Moreso do they validate long-term presence. In the Phoenix Suns’ history books, Steve Nash’s franchise assist record that he broke on Wednesday night acts as another punch in his Hall of Fame ticket, but it also offers a perspective.
A dinosaur by age but not by the way he evolved to stand the test of time, Nash’s game should be appreciated for how it all went down.
“His body of work speaks for itself,” said former teammate Vince Carter. “I don’t care for how long you’ve been in the league, I think you have that respect for my man because of not only the things that he’s accomplished and is accomplishing at his age, but the respect that you have to give him for doing that.”
Early in his career, this was a third-string point guard starting behind Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson. Even when he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, Nash took a few years to develop into a leader and one of the league’s better point guards.
Perhaps Nash’s metaphorical asteroid that could have destroyed his career was a series of injuries that left Mark Cuban thinking his point guard was about to break down. Of course, you know what happened next. Nash returned to Phoenix, won two MVPs and multiple times put the Suns on the doorstep of the NBA Finals. And he’s still going.
At 6,522 assists as a Sun and 9,441 in his career, Nash has the sixth-most assists for an NBA player behind only John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson. In the franchise record-breaking game last night, he scored 30 points with his 10 assists, becoming the oldest player — he’ll be 38 years old on Tuesday — in NBA history to have a 30-10 game with points and assists. Only Nash (five times), Sam Cassell (two times), and Larry Bird (once) have done it at 35 or older since 1985-86. [Read more →]
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