Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
by Mike Lisboa on May 7, 2008 7:22 AM MDT
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OK, first off, I am beat. 15-hour workdays do not do wonders for one's blogging abilities, nor do they do aid in the formation of coherent arguments or lines of reasoning. Due to the shittiest work/pay schedule this side of the Green Zone, I've already missed one deadline (Sorry CP3! I heart you! You wuz robbed by that mean ol' Kobe Bryant except he's the best player in the NBA west of Bourbon Street and it was just his year, even though he was whining like a baby mere months ago.) and have been near silent on the D'Antoni-Kerr soap opera. However, I only worked 11 hours today, so here goes...
This is all just so disappointing to me. It's like my parents are getting divorced and I have to choose sides. And here's the side I choose: this is one ginormous learning experience for all parties involved at the expense of Suns fans. Everybody wins! And consequently, everybody loses too! Hooray!
It's like Kerr-Sarver have decided that D'Antoni is a spouse they'd rather not have around any longer, but they don't want to be the bad person in the relationship. So rather than step up and cut the ties that bind, they're just sort of going to neglect him. They're not going to be out and out douches, but...
"What's that, baby? I can't hear you. The Hornets game is on. I sure wish I had a husband who could beat the Spurs."
They're not kicking him the curb. They're putting him in a position where he has no choice but to kick himself to the curb. That's what they call a dysfunctional relationship. And as anyone who knows anything about co-dependent relationships will tell you, it's a two-way street.
Mike D is more than happy to play the martyr here. He'll go to a team with a developed bench, claiming it's deeper than the Suns. He'll say they forced him out, citing irreconcilable differences. He'll know he's going to end up with an Eastern Conference sweetheart that's probably good for a 3-seed next season. He'll claim he had no choice but to be lured away by that green, green grass on the other side of the fence.
And this was all so, so avoidable. If only the bitter lovers had paid a little more attention to one another, they'd still be in together. If only Kerr-Sarver had been a little prouder to be seen with Coach D in public even after he failed. If only Mike had come back after his fight with Steve Kerr and said "I'm sorry, honey, you're right. Maybe I should practice defense and ground Amare and Leandro when their mistakes hurt the rest of the kids." If, if, if. If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, it would be Christmas every day, right?
And so it's over. Barring a Californication season finale miracle (hope you weren't waiting for the DVD!), Mom and Dad aren't getting back together. Dad's leaving for another man and mom's going to start dating with a vengeance. Mom's new guy won't compare to Dad. It may be because mom is damaged goods now, but no one will care because he's not our dad anyway. And despite everyone's best attempts to save face, it's going to end ugly.
And who knows? Maybe 5 years from now, they'll run into each other at an All-Star Game in New Orleans. Dad, content with his new digs, but not quite thrilled as he once was, will spot mom across the bar at some quiet jazz club on Canal Street. Mom will see him and look away. But then she'll look back, unable to repress a smile. She's OK with the new guy, but he doesn't do it for her the way her Italian Stallion once did. They talk, maybe share a couple of drinks. Maybe share a couple too many. They play "If Only." "I was too distant." "I was too stubborn." They're older now, a little wiser. They realize what they had, what they could have had. "The next time you're in town, you should stop by." "I'll do that."
Sadly, it's a fantasy. What divorced child hasn't had that one? It's a tacked on happy ending to a tragic love story. Get used to it, Suns fans. Mom and Dad are splitting up and there's nothing we can do about it. But there is a bright side (and here's where Chris Paul fans can take heart). As a result of the divorce, that 4th pick in the draft could be ours sooner than we think.
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If you or anyone else
needs a link to a dating site for tall people just holler and I will hook you up…
Blogging Suns Basketball
Nope
That one hit the entire SBN network at the same time. With the new system you can sign up at one site and fairly simply have your account also be active at other SBN blogs.
We can set up a waiting period for new members to combat this but I would rather not unless the Spam gets bad.
Blogging Suns Basketball
Gotta love the internet
I guess this paradise couldn’t last forever.
Decision '08: Batum or Alexander
Great post Mike but...
I think you are a lazy ass if you are only working 11 hours and complaining. I expect more from someone with your talent kid! Step up. Your team needs you….
Accountability…a beautiful thing
Blogging Suns Basketball
I see Kerr
as the new stepdad. Sarver as the mother. B Colangelo as our real father (who doesn’t have room to take us back). And D’Antoni as the angsty teen.
Maybe in few years, we’ll have a late twenties reconciliation.
Decision '08: Batum or Alexander
Diaw - the unwanted child
Keeping on with the divorce metaphor....
It sure looks as if the Suns front office and coach Mike D’Antoni have irreconcilable differences.And you know what that means: an ugly divorce.
In fact, we hear they’re already arguing over who gets custody of Boris Diaw.
Blogging Suns Basketball
Divorce and the unwanted child
Hi everybody…
I was silencious for three days, since the end of holidays, because I didn’t know what to say or how to react to the poor performance of the team, and to the hundreds of posts.
I managed to follow the results during the last week, and it was painful.
But now, as it seems an era is closing with the Head coach change (and even the very existence of a poll concerning the possibility of trading Nash!!), and with the various thoughts expressed in this post and elsewhere, I’m wondering what to do with this “unwanted child”.
The only thing I heard during holiday, is that Diaw managed to come close to a triple double and was the best scorer during the last two games (ok, it was a french newspaper, therefore insisting on the french dimension of the series, encensing Parker for game 3 and Diaw for game 4). As I know a lot of fans can’t even hear about Doris for all of his inconsistency, I’m wondering if those two games, even if they came much too late, are not a positive sign. I mean, if nobody want to buy Doris because of his inconsistency, and that he stays with the suns and plays like those couple of games, it could be good? I read that he could start at the 3. Why not? It would allow Hill to come from the bench and have some juice for the post season…
Anyway, I would be interested to have your opinion about Diaw’s play during the last two games… and Diaw future here (or elsewhere!)
where full french Diaw came way too late...
Diaw
Its really a great question. Diaw is the guy that we love to hate. In all honesty, I think he does have a future with the Suns as the starting small forward.
If he was traded, it would have to be for some serious value. The guy is as versitile as any player in the league and I think with the right coaching and a clearly defined position he can be huge (and no – I don’t mean his side fat rolls Mr. JSun).
For example – pretend for a minute that he knew his role on this team was to start at the 3 and that to be successful he needs to work on his 3 point shooting this summer. He’s certainly got the mechanics to be a solid outside shooter and if it was clear that this was his job then I suspect and hope he could improve that one aspect of his game that’s missing.
Blogging Suns Basketball
And value in a trade for Diaw
is precisely what we cannot get for him. His salary/years left prevents that.
I just don’t understand why we’re pushing him to the 3 though. He’s a post and prefers it that way and plays better there. Can’t we just keep him in a Pistons 04-05 McDyess role? I really think he’s money as essentially a second sixth man, especially when you consider that over the course of a season Shaq will need sit out minutes/miss games. If he needs to give some minutes at the 3, that’s fine. But as a full-time role, it just seems that we’re doing exactly what the Hawks did: misunderstanding Diaw.
If he does move to the three though, we’ll have to find post help in the free agent market, since any drafted inside player will likely be unready to contribute (i.e. McGee, Arthur, Lopez, Koufos).
Decision '08: Batum or Alexander
Diaw at the 4/5
The problem I have with Boris at the 4/5 is on defense. He’s just too small to battle in the paint with centers in this league.
I certainly think one of the Suns big roster needs is a back up center that is athletic and can play defense and rebound.
Back up Center and back up PG are the biggest holes. I think we can move Barbosa and address both of those along w/ the 15th pick.
Blogging Suns Basketball
by Seth Pollack on May 7, 2008 10:21 AM MDT up reply actions
Barbosa and the 15th?
Do you mean trade both Barbosa and the 15th to address those or address those by trading Barbosa and drafting a player at the 15th?
i’m thinking the latter but making sure.
Decision '08: Batum or Alexander
Yes - the latter
I haven’t put a ton of thought into the details yet but I am thinking of trading LB and getting either back up PG OR a backup Center and using the pick to address the other need.
I don’t really think we can get BOTH a backup PG and backup Center for LB. Maybe we can if we can nab Frye and Sergio or Rudy from Portland or Redinour and Petro from Seattle. Again – just off the top of my head without looking at salaries, contracts, team needs, etc…
Blogging Suns Basketball
by Seth Pollack on May 7, 2008 11:09 AM MDT up reply actions
A PG
I’ve always wanted to see in a Suns uniform is Carlos Arroyo, who’s a free agent this year. I doubt we’d spend anything for him though.
Also: if we make a trade before June, salaries matter a lot less since we still have our trade exception from KT. That said, it seems a little out of character to assume that Sarver would take on more salary beyond the luxury tax. So we’d probably have to stick to the typical numbers.
Decision '08: Batum or Alexander
Sergio
If D’Antoni had stayed, I’d definitely be in favor of getting Sergio. Of all the draft picks we sold over the last few years, that one may have been the one that made me maddest intially, because that guy just seemed to have "Steve Nash backup" written all over him. I guess since he has struggled getting time in Portland, maybe I should re-think that belief, but I just always thought he would have been the closest we’d come to getting a guy (at the right price at least) to keep the offense moving when Nash goes to the bench. Of course, with D’Antoni gone and the next style all but certain to be of the deliberate, half-court variety, I’m not sure it makes sense to get Sergio now. But I would loved to have seen what this kid could have become with a few years of Nash’s tutoring under his belt.
French Tease
He’s worse the hairy-armpitted women in that way.
I think I love to hate him so much because it’s the only way I can keep my sanity. So much potential and so much laziness have not coalesced in millenia. I have to hate on him because if I just sat around waiting to see a fire lit under his butt … I have no metaphor. Waiting for him to come around is like leaving the light on for Jimmy Hoffa.
I think there’s some rip-off of Waiting for Godot in there, though. Talk about French Theatre of the Absurd.
Mmmmm ... Guinness
I liked Diaw at the 3
Boris looked involved and effective in games 4 & 5 when playing at the 3, and that’s really what the main complaint on him is right? It would allow for G Hill to move to the bench and play reduced minutes and help direct the offense there as well. With a training camp and overall plan for that in place I think Nash and Amare can find their comfort zones as well, and with what is clearly going to be a new coach and new approach it may not be so critical that Boris hit the 3-ball.
He did
It’s a small sample though (like 50 minutes of on court time). A similar sample from the regular season showed a lot, lot less success in +/- terms.
The truth is neither really say much, since we haven’t seen much. Maybe he can play the three with Shaq and Amare. I do think it would be good for Hill to come off the bench.
What really stood out in those games though is Boris’s minutes (over 40). I think we can all agree that when he’s playing starter’s minutes his play disproportionately increases. So maybe that’s all that matters not his position.
But if we’re going to move him to the 3, this isn’t the worst time. There’s a lot of good free agent big men out there that might be available for a manageable price, if we can expend a little dough. Guys like: McDyess, Ratliff, Lorenzen Wright, Mikki Moore, Magloire, Diop, Joe Smith even Mutombo. We have all of our midlevel exception for players like these, most of whom would require much less than the full.
Maybe it’ll work out.
Decision '08: Batum or Alexander
Have you ever told your wife/girlfriend, "Here's what YOU need to change?"
That’s basically what Sarver/Kerr did. Paul Coro wrote that they told D’Antoni he needed to work on: ”...more practice emphasis on defense, reducing Steve Nash’s workload, using a deeper rotation, a coaching-staff addition for defense and holding Amaré Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa more accountable.”
Oh, is that all?
Problem is, they’re right.
But that’s just not D’Antoni’s style. That’s like saying to your girlfriend, “Honey, could you be less argumentative with my friends, less indulgent with the kids, more outgoing when we go to parties together, and friendlier to my mother?” You could forgive your girlfriend for saying back, “So, you want me to be a different person then?”
I think there’s no longer a fit between the way D’Antoni wants to coach and the way Kerr and Sarver want to run the team. Irreconcilable differences. Best to try to settle this amicably, with the first priority being the well-being of the kids (i.e., the fans, damn it).
by beatcal on May 7, 2008 12:12 PM MDT reply actions 2 recs
We've now reached the point where the marriage analogy breaks down
The thing is, this isn’t a marriage or dating scenario, this is an employer/employee relationship, where the bosses have every right to say, “you’re doing good work, but we’re still not meeting our goals, and here’s what we’d like to see happen.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pleased at the direction this thing has taken. I’ve really liked both the results of the D’Antoni era, and I’ve really been impressed with his public persona. I think his general approach of instilling confidence in his players and letting them use their skills has been a nice change from the general league wide approach of rigid control. That said, this thing is has gone south and if we’re going to point fingers its looking increasingly like the last great NBA divorce-Shaq & Kobe, and what it looks like with hindsight is that both parties engaged in a giant F-You War of the Roses style battle-the common denominator here being too much pride on all parties account.
by SoCalSun on May 7, 2008 2:06 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
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