you may think im just disappointed that the suns unofficially put the last nail in their coffin with regards to the playoffs. maybe i am. but since i cant look forward to the playoffs, i will look back, and try to figure out what the hell happened.

before steve kerr pulled the shaq for marion trade, phoenix was the number one seed in the west. that was a little over a year ago. now, we are the number 9th seed, 5 1/2 games away from the playoffs with 20 games to go. tsk tsk tsk. so what happened? a humble, unprofessional analysis of steve kerr's bone-headed moves:

1. the kurt thomas salary dump

we traded 2 draft picks and kurt thomas to the seattle supersonics (now thunder) for.... a conditional second round draft pick. i understand that we needed to get rid of kurt thomas's contract, but really? we added two 1st round draft picks? lets not forget that kurt thomas's contract was an EXPIRING contract. san antonio later gave the sonics a draft pick for kurt thomas, then resigned him after the season ended, obviously showing that he did have value. why did kerr feel the need to throw in draft picks? lets not forget that our 2010 pick is UNPROTECTED. kerr must have assumed that there was no way in hell we wouldnt make the playoffs in 2010, but he underestimated his ability to fu ck up a team.

2. shaq for marion

i agree that phoenix wasnt going to win a championship with the way it was presently constructed. we needed an inside presence undoubtedly. but shaq?? first of, this trade was pulled when shaq was injured, and marion was in his prime. sure, marion had a bad attitude, but seriously, shaq? we knew it was a longshot that shaq would be healthy (we're very lucky this year he is) but this trade was way too much of a gamble. shaq did not fit our run n gun system (d' antoni was our coach at the time). i know d' antoni convinced kerr to make the trade, but he is the GM, not the puppet. he cant pin this on d' antoni, a coach is a coach, a GM is a GM.

3. driving d' antoni away and hiring terry porter

maybe d' antoni really did leave because of his large ego. fine. i wont blame kerr for that. but hiring terry porter? a small list of candidates who were unemployed at that time: jeff van gundy, rick carlisle, avery johnson, flip saunders, mark jackson. and he hires terry porter? the assistant coach of the detroit pistons, who had a losing record as head coach of the bucks, having been fired as head coach after his team, which was expected to make the playoffs, finished with a 30-52 record? a coach who literally had coached only two seasons, should handle the egos of shaq, nash, amare, hill? brilliant.

4. drafting robin lopez and goran dragic

robin lopez may pan out eventually, and i admit we did need a back-up big man, but some other players he could have drafted include: mareese speights, alexis ajinca, courtney lee, mario chalmers. still, i wont blame kerr for this. he chose the best big man available, thats ok with me. but goran dragic?? did you know that kerr gave san antonio a million dollars to swap draft picks, bought out goran dragic's contract, and payed him the highest salary EVER for a 2nd round draft pick? GORAN DRAGIC. Disgusting. no wonder sarver wants to cut costs, kerr literally spent about 4 million this season on goran dragic (buyout, signing, swapping of picks)!

5. trading raja bell and boris diaw for jason richardson

nothing against richardson, but werent we committed to defense? so we trade our best defensive player and our only back-up big man (lopez was already sucking badly at that time) for another wingman who is a somewhat average (and im being generous) defender? we lose depth at the forward position and saturate ourselves with wings because....?

6. firing terry porter HALFWAY into the season

the only good move of kerr was correcting his past mistake,but HALFWAY into the season? what a douche bag. what does kerr think, that systems are learned in a week (all-star break)? way too dumb. i wanted terry porter fired, i admit that, but not this late!

in retrospect, i firmly believe that kerr is the dumbest GM ever, and yes, i know who isaiah thomas is.

there is no other way to put it: kerr killed our suns.