MichaelOFAZ

I will admit upfront that I have not read a lot of posts on this board regarding the recent Suns-Knicks trade, so if what I am about to say is old hat, I apologize in advance.

Also let me say that I am neither a Suns fan nor a Knicks fan. In fact, I am a diehard Bulls fan. So I thought you might be interested in my opinion.

Up until the trade, I actually thought that Brian Colangelo could possibly be the dumbest VP of Ops in the NBA. His signing of Googs and Penny to huge contracts was mind-boggling. Then he trades his franchise player and best PG in the league to NJ for a street-thug playground park baller who is a proven loser on the court and off. Stats don't mean anything if you don't win and you don't make the players around you better. Kidd goes on to take the Nets to two consecutive championships and with Marbury, the Suns are one and done. Then to add insult to injury, he signs Marbury to a ridiculously large contract extension. All I could think about is how the Suns would mire in mediocrity for years and years. And then came a miracle! Isiah Thomas was hired to replace the Knick Scott Leyden. Soon thereafter, Colangelo had an epiphany, "Want to make yourself look less dumb? Take advantage of someone dumber" ... TARGET: Zeke Thomas.

In one fail swoop, Colangelo was able to right two very big wrongs by trading away two over-priced deadbeats. If he had been able to work Googs into the deal, they might have renamed the city after him. Not only did he trade away two pieces of trash (to quote Sir Charles) he freed up a butt-load of cap space and acquired a talented young prospect (Lampe) and a couple of valuable future draft picks. Along with the two 1st rounders, lottery pick the Suns will have after this season, the lottery pick after next season, and the cap space to make a play for a serious marque veteran to complement Marion and Amare, the Suns will be a legitimate contender in less than 3 years.

I think the trade was great for the Suns and will only create more problems for the hapless and hopeless knicks.

MightyReds2020

Though I agreed with you that this trade might paid out big-time in the future, I do not think the Colangelos were as bad as you made out to be, nor the trades/signings they've made.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I thought Googs and Penny were in their primes when they signed those big extensions (I'm not even sure they signed it when with Suns). Both went down with injuries not long after they signed their deals. It was more unfortunate than bad signings. Googs was a 20-9 guy and Penny was the second coming of Michael Jordan, or so they said.

I didn't like the trade of Kidd and Marbury but I understood the reasons behind. The Suns were at a point where some changes were needed. The Colangelos opted for rebuild and Kidd became the first one to go. Marbury has changed a lot, on and off the court, since he came to the desert. He had his best year last season and he already established himself as one of the premier PGs in the league.

I thought the Colangelos gave up the core of Starbury-Matrix-Amare a little bit too soon, though I've no complaint on what they were able to get back. I thought the Suns were a starting C (and maybe one more bench fire power) away from contending the title, provided Amare grows as expected. They don't need to add anything great- an Adonald Folye and/or a Tony Delk will do it-because the core has the making of a dynasty, really.

However, from all I heard, money was the premier motive behind this trade, as the organization is struggling mightily financial-wise. Along the way, the Colangelos gamble on this dirty thing - potentials, which is a very good selling point to most fans. You only have to look at the Clippers to understand the business behind acquiring young, talented kids.

In summary, I do not like this trade but do not hate it, either. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the future.

Amareca

Wow did Chuck really call Marbury and Penny 2 pieces of trash?

I agree about Penny and I am getting doubts about Marbury watching the team play after the trade.

Chuck always dissed Marbury.

Arclite

That is also the reason why Googs is being rumored to Utah, they just don't want to deal with the financial burden this year.. Utah could absorb him..

No one could have foreseen Googs problems, and he gave us a couple real nice years. The guy almost died, hard to fault him for having that kind of experience coupled with the injuries.

Penny, IMHO, was just a bad signing.. he was already having injury problems and I just don't think you can give that kind of money to a guy who has such an injury history.. He signed with us in 99, after he had 3 mediocre, injury plagued seasons in Orlando following his all-nba team stints (I think).. It was a gamble, but what has happened to Penny over the last couple years could have easily been foreseen, imo.. He gave us a couple good years as well, but those long term deals just killed the Suns for the past two years or so..

MightyReds2020

This is quite ironic consider that the Suns reacquired Antonio McDyess, but I thought if Dice would have never left, the Suns may have gotten to the finals, and possibly win it, in the past few years.

Arclite

McDouche isn't exactly in friendly territory.. when he left us for Denver, we were offering more money for him to play on a BETTER team, JKidd and some others even flew out to Denver when he was talking with them to get him to change his mind, but he just up and left.

Wouldn't be surprised to hear the boos hail down on McDyess at home tonight.