Quote:
|
Originally Posted by JohnnyBravo5
I'm sorry, I missed the part where Phoenix won a championship. I mean losing sucks, but being the 4th option on a team who will get eliminated in the second round is only a step above. We have JJ for the long term, and when we win, he will get the satisfaction of knowing that he was there from the beginning. Let us not forget that Phoenix was a lottery team until Dallas let them pick up Steve Nash and they began running a open offense. But until you get close to a championship y'all don't have the right to beat on your chest just yet.
|
Steve Nash-led Suns have never lost in the second round.
This current Suns team with JJ instead of Diaw would be the favorite over the Mavericks this year for sure.
Nash
Bell
JJ
Marion
Stoudemire
Sick. There's no way you can tell me that team doesn't matchup amazingly with the Mavericks since Marion covers Dirk anyway. Barbosa, JJones and KT off the bench? Game over. JJ would do a great job on Howard.
So why isn't this the way it is? Well there are a couple of reasons:
1) Joe Johnson wanted a little more money then the Suns originally offered. They offered 61-63 million over 6 years. JJ finished the year with some amazing play so they upped their offer a little bit, but JJ felt insulted at the original offer.
2) Joe Johnson was jealous of Stoudemire. They didn't get a long and JJ thought he should have more of the offense built around him. Amare is a cocky guy, this is no secret, and they were always bickering in practice. JJ knew his numbers could be a lot better if the ball was in his hands, but D'Antoni knew Amare was dominating the league at the time. JJ was amazing, but he was not on Amare's level at that time. This led to a lot of problems on the court (JJ not passing to Amare) and a lot of problems behind the scenes (Amare and JJ's personal fued). All of this leading too. . .
3) Joe Johnson wanted to be the man. He wasn't going to do that with 3 all-stars getting bigger roles in the offense then him. He knew it would cost him some years in the lottery, but he signed (and traded) with the Hawks anyway. He asked the Suns to look for S&T options with the Hawks because that's where he wanted to go to be the man. He wanted the 13-15 million a year and he wanted to be the man. When the Suns decided they'd match any contract he signed, he asked them to S&T him because he didn't want to deal with being the 4th option and watching Amare be #1.
Joe Johnson is now the man . . . on the worst team in the league. He owns a max contract and his putting up All-star numbers. It's not the route I would want to go, but who are we to judge? If I was a potential 25/5/5 guy on my own team I might want to go and lose for a few years too. He now has the chance to take the Hawks from the bottom of the league to respectability. If he can do it, all the power to him. He is a great player and I still want him to do well . . . as long as the Hawks are never better then the Suns.
