| NBA BASKETBALL |
Sept. 18, 2002 |
Suns' Bryan Colangelo is on the Clock
By Myelz David
Ever since McDyess fled town, Phoenicians have been waiting anxiously for
their next truly athletic low post presence to arrive in time to save the
Sunąs sinking ship. GM Bryan Colangelo clearly needs to bring in a young
athletic low post scorer and defender if they want to bring back that buzz
once again in AWA. Until then, talk of Suns basketball will remain quiet in
Phoenix and the whispers of nepotism will grow ever louder. Will this
finally be the year that the Colangelo resolve this problem?
Since McDyess did the unthinkable, GM Bryan Colangelo has panicked twice to
fill that void at the 4 spot. First in signing Googs to an outrageous
contract a day after McDyess bolted, then taking on Oultawąs long-term
contract this season after struggling to get out of the gate in the
post-Kidd era. With another year gone by in the Valley of the Sun without an
adequate replacement, Bryan is starting to hear the whispers. With each
interview he becomes increasingly terse. Now comes talk of a deal for Brian
Grant.
As nice as it may sound to get Penny off of the books and out of the Suns
locker room, bringing in Grant would mean taking on three huge contracts at
the power forward position (including Googs and Outlaw). And none of these
players are an ideal fit with Marion and Tsakalidas. Sounds like a low
return on investment and, perhaps, management panicking again. But why?
Bryan Colangelo has three options. He can turn the reins over to the young
but gifted Stoudamaire. Or he can make a trade for an up and coming player
like Al Harrington, Jonathan Bender, or Stromile Swift. Thirdly, he could
make a deal for a veteran like Brian Grant, D. Davis, PJ Brown or the likes
of Elden Campbell.
Everyone inside the organization knows that the Suns need to make a big
splash this summer. Knowing the Colangelos, if a big time marquee player
becomes obtainable, I wouldnąt be at all surprised to see them throw in
either Johnson or Outlaw with a package that includes a veteran like Penny
to pull off one of their annual summer block buster trades. So Bryan, with
less than a month away from training camp, you are on the clockS
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