Changes Spell End for Jazz and Suns

Two franchises that have seen consistent success since the 2004-2005 season have turned the corner, but the turn has lead them out of the playoffs. Although their playoff-less seasons have come in very different ways, there is a stark contrast in how these franchises have positioned themselves for the next 5 years.

PHOENIX SUNS

The Phoenix Suns had a very tough decision to make after last season. Amare Stoudemire was a free agent and they had to pony up another grundle of cash for the superstar with a microfacture surgery and other surgeries for his knee and eye attached to his resume. It’s understandable for the Suns to be reluctant about investing $100M or more into a player with his injury history. Rumor has it that they offered him a partially guaranteed extension. They lost him and lost their chance at staying in the top of the Western Conference. Let’s take a closer look at what the Suns did do.

They got rid of the Steve Kerr, the GM who brought in Shaq, shipped out Marion, and helped get rid of the wildly successful Mike D’Antoni. I’m sure he’s glad he got out before having Amare jetting out of town added to his bad moves during his stay in Phoenix. To the surprise of anyone who follows the NBA closely, the Phoenix Suns battled their way to the Western Conference finals and lost to the eventual champion Lakers last season. What a great season and great ending to the Steve Kerr era with the Suns.

Instead of extending the All-Star Amare Stoudemire and keeping him in Phoenix, the new Suns brass decided to burn million dollar bills in a bonfire that didn’t have any wood, so they just had to keep burning the bills. They gave Josh Childress a whopping $34 million dollars to come back across the pond and play in America again. Did they realize that he is the only player who has worse shooting form than Shawn Marion? Is that why they brought him in? I’m not sure how this played out. You sit around a table with your basketball executives as a team owner and they bring you Josh Childress. I would say this “let’s offer him a 2 year, $5M deal”, they said something like this “Let’s pay him double what anyone else would even think of paying so we can make sure no one else gets him”. These are the types of moves that make many NBA fans (including me) think that they could run an NBA franchise. How could you ever talk yourself into this deal? Please, readers, tell me.

Following suit with the Childress deal, Phoenix got drunk with their richness of not having to pay Amare max money by giving Channing Frye $29 million, Jared Dudley and Hakim Warrick $17 million each. Did you just read that. Instead of giving Amare $100 million, they decided to give Childress, Frye, Dudley, and Warrick right in the ball park of that same figure. I just barfed all over the floor. The funny thing is that Amare wanted to stay and his agent got MRIs on his knees to ensure the team had all medical information they desired. (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/16/1682119/pending-free-agent-amare-stoudemire.html). I mention that because it is so much better than the other free agents who wanted nothing to do with their old clubs (LeBron, Bosh, Boozer).

Look, Steve Nash is awesome. I hated that he won two MVPs because it made no sense relative to historical precedent. But he is a Hall of Fame point guard who is the best shooter of this generation (sorry Ray-Ray). I like how Channing Frye can bust threes. I love the story-book ending to the career of Grant Hill. He’s so healthy and a great player at his old age. (Probably because he had all those years off when Orlando was paying him max money, wink) But not only is it game over in the land of the Suns, the crappy contracts discussed will prohibit them from being good for a while. You should write the owner of your franchise and have him explain how he justified nearly $100 million on the players mentioned. It is lights out for a while for the Phoenix Suns


UTAH JAZZ

Could the Utah Jazz have screwed up more than they did this year? I don’t think they could have but it has nothing to do with the Deron Williams trade. The loss of Jerry Sloan will cost the Jazz more than any win-loss column could measure. Fans feel sick and miss him even if they didn’t like his swearing. I personally have no doubt that he could have helped navigate this team to the playoffs sans Williams. Coach Ty Corbin has been put in a no win situation and doesn’t deserve any blame for this. The Jazz brass acting fantastically in capturing value for their whiny star Deron Williams. They should have done it before he helped push Jerry into retirement. Williams has been blaming teammates for his bad play all year. How do I know? I’ve watched it. I don’t know that many Jazz fans that are really torn up about him being gone. The night he allegedly battled Sloan at halftime was a shining example of him failing as a #1 dog. He was dominated by Derrick Rose and gave away the game in what would be Jerry Sloan’s last game.

Here’s where the sun shines through. The Jazz have Devin Harris, a serviceable point guard, locked up for the next two years with the right price. Same goes for Millsap and Jefferson. We have the golden nugget in Derrick Favors, the youngest player in the league. I have loved watching him play 20 minutes a game. He could be special. The Jazz system will make him infinitely better and he has some pretty good mentors in Millsap and Jefferson. It’s worth noting that I could see the Jazz moving Millsap this summer to let Favors blossom further. We also received the Nets lottery pick this year and the Warriors pick next year.

The Phoenix Suns fans are asking why I’m not blasting the bad contracts on the Jazz roster. I can’t muster up the energy because I’ve been spraying Diet Coke with Lime all over my office because of how excited I am that Kirilenko’s max deal gets off our books this summer. OK, let’s be fair. The Okur contract is barfarific at a cool $11 million next year. And Raja Bell (huge disappointment this year) has 2 years and almost $7 million on the books.
Look, the Jazz aren’t making the playoffs this year and maybe not next. But we can look forward to Jefferson, Harris, Gordon Heyward (give him another year before you punch your face off), Favors, and our two lottery picks this year and one next year. While the Jazz and Suns end an era, the Jazz have light at the end of the tunnel.