Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Suns are a hot mess.

The Phoenix Suns don't have any championships banners in their rafters, but they have always been a reputed, classy franchise. A lot of that credit goes to their long-time, now ex-owner Jerry Colangelo, who tried his best to field a winner most of the years. They have had some impressive, albeit futile, playoff runs including a 13-year playoff streak between 1989 and 2001. And who can forget the 7-seconds or less teams with Nash and Mike D'Antoni that kept us wildly entertained until a couple of years back. Of course, the committed fan base and the weather in Phoenix were also definitely instrumental in establishing the Suns as one of the top franchises because the free agents always wanted to play for the Suns.  But their current owner Robert Sarver is single-handedly making the Suns a laughing stock of the NBA. After decades of chasing the Lakers and their championships, Sarver has decided that the Suns are better off chasing the ghost of the other LA team, the Clippers. Now that the Clippers seem to be headed to sustained excellence with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, Sarver is working on making the Suns the new Clippers and is making tremendous progress. 

To be fair to the Clippers, I don't think even they have had a week quite like last week for the Suns. Sarver and the front office decided to part ways with coach Alvin Gentry - like it was his fault this roster is not competing with the LeBrons and Durants of the world. After removing the only thing (in their minds) between Michael Beasley and the MVP honors, namely Alvin Gentry's coaching, they decided to  achieve the impossible and make this Sun's season even worse that it already was. They hired Lindsey Hunter out of nowhere and made him the head coach passing on a couple of viable and practical options on their bench - fan favorite Dan Majerle and old timer Elston Turner. I was surprised Lindsey Hunter was even available to coach. I thought he was still a backup point guard at Cleveland or Toronto or somewhere. But all kidding aside, Hunter might become the next great coach in the NBA, but the way the Suns GM Lance Blanks handled this was horrible. It was so unexpected and offensive that both Majerle and Turner walked away from their jobs. The Turner situation got even worse as he wanted to come back later and now the team is paying him to stay away from the team the rest of the year. 

Forget drafting top talent and attracting great free agents, the Suns can't even hire interim head coaches without messing things up. As if this drama was not enough, there are also reports of Blanks and Jermaine O'Neal getting into a profanity laden argument in the locker room. To borrow from ex-Suns great Charles Barkley, "Cotton Fitzsimmons is rolling in his grave." The good news is, the Suns are just 4.5 games behind the Lakers. But the bad news is, both teams are horrible and the Suns have the worst record in the west. I don't even remember the last time I saw the Suns this far down the NBA standings.  They are 15-30 and Sarver didn't open the wallets even when Nash was winning him 55 games a year. What can we expect him to do in free agency with this team? Their rookie Kendall Marshall doesn't look anything like a high lottery pick and their new head coach doesn't have any coaching credentials, at least not yet.  This situation looks like it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. There are no quick fixes in sight. The Suns will be hosting Steve Nash and the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow. Nash has not added much to the Lakers or their record, but the Suns definitely miss him badly. The most interesting part of the remainder of this Suns season might be seeing the Suns fans respond to Nash when he visits them. This is how far the once proud franchise has fallen.

Sarver, please sell the team and save the franchise. Take your millions and give back our team.

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