In his latest column at NBA.com, TNT's David Aldridge takes an extensive look at the Suns' offseason, talking to members of the front office about parting ways with Steve Nash and adding a handful of players in hopes of replacing his production. The piece is a must-read for any Suns fans, with team president Lon Babby and owner Robert Sarver both providing a number of interesting quotes. Here are the highlights from Sarver:
On roster-building and the team's new direction:
"You can't kind of be in no man's land [in the NBA]. You have to be getting better or you have to be getting worse. A number of the fans obviously wanted to keep Steve, but a number of the fans thought we should have moved on last year. In general, I think our fan base was ready for us to move on. The backlash from that wasn't as strong as I thought it could have been. Our fan base was ready for us to get younger. I think we're prepared for it. The reality is that the last two seasons, we were mediocre. I was ready for us to move on."
On wanting to avoid bottoming out, or "tanking":
"We went back and looked at all teams over the last 30 years and how they rebuilt. The reality is that if you go bad for a few years to get good, there's no assurances you're ever going to get good. There are a few exceptions like Oklahoma City, but the majority of the teams have taken six to 10 years to rebuild."
On his willingness to sign-and-trade Nash to the rival Lakers:
"At the end of the day, this just gave us the best option for assets, too, and from a basketball standpoint, if you kind of take the emotion out, it was the best thing for the Suns, for the franchise. I think we've shown in the last couple of years that drafting is one of our strengths, so it kind of played into our strengths. It's one of the things we definitely have to use to move our franchise forward, especially with the new rules with the new CBA."
On amnestying Josh Childress:
"Actually, the Josh thing was my idea. I just felt it made sense. We still felt Josh was a good player. I think the system in which we play, especially with Steve where we need to spread the floor, maybe wasn't the best for him. I think he's good and will still be a good player, but freeing up that cap space allowed us to have more opportunities down the road, to have that space for free agents or to be able to make trades. It was part of being able to make a move for [Luis] Scola and still being able to have the cap space to make other moves next summer."
This suns team could fight for the lower positions for the playoffs.
good offseason