How Steve Kerr ruined the Phoenix Suns

Matt on 07 21, 2009

Remember the days when the Phoenix Suns were the most exciting team in the league and perennial contenders? I don’t either. There’s a laundry list of bad Steve Kerr decisions: traded away Kurt Thomas to save money, made an awful trade of Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal that didn’t make any basketball sense, traded valuable assets Boris Diaw and Raja Bell for Jason Richardson, didn’t try to convince Mike D’Antoni to come back, and traded away good draft picks like Rudy Fernandez, Rajon Rondo, and Marcin Gortat.

Where to start. Kurt Thomas was their best low post defender and the only guy on the roster who could do a reasonable job guarding archrival Tim Duncan. Ironically enough, he ended up landing in San Antonio, adding insult to injury. He acquired Shaquille O’Neal, who didn’t fit in Phoenix’s up-tempo style at all. 7 seconds or Shaq? Completely ineffective. They lost their identity. How could Kerr not know this? It was such an unnecessary risk. Marion was the perfect wingman for Nash to get the ball to. Super athletic, a great slasher, alley-oop extraordinaire, and solid shooter. Marion will never be as good now as he was with Nash. The Nash-Marion combination was a match made in basketball heaven. They brought out the best in each other. Now, Marion was essentially turned into expiring contracts. That trio of Nash, Marion and Stoudemire was one of the best in the league. Kerr flushed it down the toilet.

For some reason, he didn’t want Diaw and Bell anymore, even though Diaw could play 4 positions and fit into that system perfectly. Bell? The only guy they had who could bother Manu Ginobili. Kerr then decides to bring in Terry Porter, who didn’t know what style he wanted them to play, and failed miserably at getting them to play defense. The guys clearly quit on Porter. Great choice, Steve! The players only loved D’Atoni, is all. Now Kerr’s pissed off Amare Stoudemire, not even trying to hide the fact that he’s shopping him. Great idea, put of one of the best players in the NBA when motivated in his prime on the trading block who you won’t get equal value for. Where would that leave you? Now the Suns are pretenders, and probably in danger of not making the playoffs again, as Nash’s age and injuries are quickly catching up to him. If it aint broke, don’t fix it. If I worked for the Suns’ organization, I’d make sure he got this message: “Steve, you now have a string of about 8 consecutive bad decsions. Cut your losses, and please resign immediately.”

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