Sarver's Carvering of the Suns: A Retrospective

by eagleheart on Jul 7, 2009 5:30 AM MDT Comment 13 comments

Sarver's Carvering of the Suns: A Retrospective

The Banker's Influence on our Beloved Suns

It's easy to second guess decisions after their results have played out. At the time you believe people make decisions for reasons that seem reasonable at the time. This post is mostly a recap of comments made on AZcentral by brmarin.

Decisions by Sarver have become all too easy to second guess with the benefit of hindsight. The truth be told, even as Steve Kerr or Brian Colangelo were forced to make these decisions they didn't exactly seem that great at the time. Of course neither you or I were actually there while these decisions were being made but it seems that Sarver's fingerprints are all over this mess.

The list of missteps includes draft issues, bogus trades, GM issues, and coaching changes.

1. Suns draft Lou Deng, then trade his rights away for Jackson Vroman and future first round pick. Lou Deng (or Andre Igoudala) would have been a nice player to have during some of our playoff runs from 05 - 07.

2. Joe Johnson wants extension in the summer of 2004 for a reasonable price. Sarver refuses even when advised by his GM.

3. Joe goes onto to have a fabulous 04-05 season and his contract value rises from his original extension request. Joe leaves because of soured relations with Sarver.

4. 2005 draft suns select Gortat and Nate Robinson. Nate is traded with Q. Richardson to obtain Kurt Thomas because Amare is hurt. Nate would have been a nice scoring punch from the PG position. Gortat is traded for cash to the Magic.

5. Colangelo resigns as GM because Saver lets him know he will not pay him more money and apparently didn't value his work very much. Kerr comes aboard. Colangelo was probably also mad about interference such as Sarver trading picks for money and not signing Joe Johnson like he advised him to do.

6. Suns draft Rondo in 2006 draft and trade him away for a 2007 draft pick of Cleveland. The Suns could have had Nash, Nate Robinson, Rondo. Suns also draft PG Serigo Rogriguez and trade for cash considerations.

7. 2007 draft Suns take Rudy Fernandez and trade him and James Jones for some more cash again. Fernandez is just beginning his NBA career but looked impressive against the US "Redeem Team" in the Gold Medal Game. The Suns take Alando tucker with the 27th pick. Aaron Brooks, Arron Aflfalo, Carl landry, Marc Gasol, Ramon Sessions are still on the draft board when the Suns take Tucker and Fernandez. Suns could of used the services Afflalo because he is a wing defender/ 3point shooter. Gasol or Landry would give the Suns a big man they need.

7. Feb. 2007 Suns trade Marion for Shaq. Marion was worth much more than an injured Shaq in 2007. He was a dream teamer that had many amazing seasons. During the 2006-07 season, Marion was one of two players (the other Kevin Garnett) to rank in the top 40 in points per game, rebounds per game, field goal percentage, blocks per game, steals per game, and minutes per game and he was named to his fourth NBA All-Star Team. We get Shaq and of course this leads to chemistry problems because the Suns were a running team forced to play half court. Shaq was a also a ball hog and paint clogger. Big mistake!!! I can remember when Minnesota was willing to trade Garnett for Marion and Barbs. Can you say champs with Garnett.

8. Sarver/Kerr alienate D'antoni who signs with the Knicks and get Porter. Porter tries and fails to change a team built to run into a defensive half court team ala San Antonio Spurs and is fired a little over midseason.

9. 2008 Draft we take Lopez and trade & pay dearly for Dragic. I don't know why. Marreese Speights, Courtney Lee, Kosta Koufas, Nicolas Batum, PG's George Hill, and Mario Chalmers were all available but Sarver/Kerr wanted Lopez and Dragic. All the alternative picks would have been better. Suns also trade 2nd round pick for Dragic and Spurs draft Duejuan Blair with the pick this year.   We can remember that as we see him beating up our bigs in the future.

10. 2009 Shaq is traded away for almost nothing (financial considerations again).   The Suns do not get anyone back who is likely to play at all for the team.     Kerr can not even get a first round pick for the aging center coming off of an all star year.

11. What's coming next??? Suns lose Grant Hill, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Steve Nash?   There are signs that some of these are coming.

Add more if you want and enjoy.

2 recs | Comment 13 comments

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A Simple (Minded) response to Sarver's Carvering of the Suns....

Thank you for so eloquently breaking down each misstep and miscalculation. Seeing it in print is gut wrenching. This franchise was so close to true elite status and has been dismembered with no sign of relief.

Aaargh!!!

by cith51 on Jul 7, 2009 8:38 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

RE

Very nice piece I could have not said it any better. Now one must wonder if Sarver will be moving the team once all of the original SUNS are all traded or have moved on from the D’antoni days. Basically cleaning out the (house) team and preparing it for the move.
The media needs to continue to expose the lack of experience of the owner and front office. Could it be conservable that the original owners would buy the team back at a discount price, something similar to the Phoenix Coyotes?
What I see now in the beginning stages is that the season tickets sales have slowed, the merchandise sales are the next slip in Phoenix and surrounding areas. And finally this SUNS team it starting to resemble the LA Clippers. And we should all know by now how the LA Clippers run and manage their team. They do sign and trade talented players on a regular bases which is why after reading I read your piece it reminds me of the ineptness of the Clippers organization and how close the SUNS resemble this team in terms of management style.
How can Phoenix fans get behind a team that now resembles the LA clippers mentality and finally remember Sarver and Kerr both live in SD so moving the team into an area where the lack of professional sporting knowledge will have them both pillars of excitement and revenue bearing role models if you will.

by RogerM on Jul 7, 2009 8:43 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Is carvering a real word? If not, it should be.

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."-George W. Bush

by Diosnomeama on Jul 7, 2009 12:30 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Regarding Sarver's "banker" mentality, you had a typo (see bolded word below), but it's actually an appropriate name for da Suns owner

5. Colangelo resigns as GM because Saver lets him know he will not pay him more money and apparently didn’t value his work very much. Kerr comes aboard. Colangelo was probably also mad about interference such as Sarver trading picks for money and not signing Joe Johnson like he advised him to do.

i’m so pissed at the way Saver and Spur have pointed this franchise southbound to hell in a matter of a few years.

I am a longtime diehard Suns fan, and I’m going with the conspiracy theory on this one that Steve Spur is doing his best to make us worse off than his ex-team San Antonio.

Just a thought.

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by silverblue5 on Jul 7, 2009 12:58 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Let's not get too carried away in putting it all on Sarver...

First, a couple of corrections

1. Kurt Thomas was not brought in because Amare was hurt; he was brought in to give Amare the center he wanted and that the team needed: one that could play defense. It almost worked too. We had the Spurs where we wanted them until the infamous suspensions.

2. The Timberwolves were never willing to give up Garnett for Marion and Barbosa. In fact the Suns tried everything they could to get KG, even offering up Stat. They almost had a 3-way deal in place to get KG but MARION RUINED IT by saying he didn’t want to go to Boston. Sarver was even willing to pay through the nose to make that happen too.

Now the trading away of very valuable draft picks for cash, I agree – those are huge mistakes. But Mike D bears as much of the blame for that as anyone. His lack of support for bringing in rookies and disdain for developing them is what lead to many of those deals. Rookies not only provide excitement for us fans but they supply valuable services at reasonable contracts and keep an organization’s salary cap situation in a good spot.

Even Colangelo is partially to blame. He traded the Deng/Iguadala pick away in order for Sarver to sign off on signing Q Richardson. Imagine if we didn’t sign Q (5 yr $40 mil. contract) but had Iggy (4 yr $15 mil contract). That would have kept us out of this vicious cycle of salary dumping and giving away draft picks to do so, as well as giving away picks fo cash. The Marcus Banks disaster was a similar mistake, with Mike D to blame.

So let’s not put it all on Sarver. And even though the Joe J. non-extension was a huge mistake, it’s much easier to fault him in hind sight. At that time JJ had proven very little on the court and his value was still up hard to gauge.

by DaTroof on Jul 7, 2009 1:09 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

JJ

The players wanted JJ to stay, Nash was a huge supporter. JJ was gone because of one thing $$$$

"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"

by Grockcubs on Jul 8, 2009 10:03 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well in addition, who wants to pay dollar for dollar a luxury tax on a team that is not of championship caliber? I think this explains why Shaq was traded. Sarver demonstrated that he was willing to pay the luxury tax. As far as Sarver moving the team from Phoenix; Sarver is an Arizona guy he went to school at UofA in Tucson. I think his Arizona roots would prevent him from doing such a thing, as he is not Clay Bennett.

by Rishmo on Jul 7, 2009 1:13 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

No one has to worry about the Suns moving because the NBA would not allow it. Good point on Shaq too. That trade wasn’t that bad. Of course it didn’t work out the way everyone hoped, but it was obvious that the team, as built at the time, was not going to win a championship. Sure, they had a great record, but everyone knew they were destined to flame out in the WCF or the second round again against a team like LA or SA. Since the window was closing fast, it made sense to take a gamble to see if they could jot it back open. It didn’t work out but at least Sarver, Kerr, and Mike D were trying. In the end we weren’t getting a championship either way.

by DaTroof on Jul 8, 2009 7:28 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

What a laundry list

It is a shame this use to be a model franchise where players wanted to come play. The Suns are on the downturn which will last a while.
I am here for the long haul, but boy this will be ugly before it gets pretty again.

"Have You heard of the Boom on Mizar 5?"

by Grockcubs on Jul 8, 2009 10:04 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep

+1. I’m prepared for the long haul of crappy records and high draft picks. It can get to be a vicious cycle with teams like GSW not making the playoffs for 15 years. It will be at least 2 years before we’re free of the contracts we have now.

by eagleheart on Jul 8, 2009 11:16 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs