The Trade



Trades are always exciting in the NBA and it is even that much more exciting when it involves your own team. If you have ever read this blog before, you would know that I was born and raised in Phoenix and I grew up on the purple and orange. Last season was fantastic to watch and that was one of my favorite teams we ever put on the floor. That being said, I knew we weren't getting by the elite teams. Even with all of the hype about a suddenly "improved" defense, we were still small and some of our best players, Amare and Nash, are not good defenders. I sincerely hoped for the best after Amare walked and was somewhat perplexed by our moves like many of you.

We ended up with a team full of swings. There was so much redundancy and I applaud Alvin Gentry for just trying to figure out a way to make it work. We were still lacking in defense and we actually got smaller in the front court and worse on the boards. As we were hovering around .500, I knew something had to give. The rumor about Hedo being shopped was being circulated hard and I knew somebody would have to be tossed in to take on that contract. I hate to see J Rich go but with what we obtained, I'm actually pleasantly pleased.

I've seen many people out there, journalists I respect greatly, hammering this trade due to it not bringing in the pieces Nash needs to win now. My question to them is this, do you see an Amare or Pau sitting out there right now? Jason Thompson or Anderson Verejao would not take us to promise land. I knew we had to fix a gaping hole in our front court and continue to improve our perimeter defense. This trade actually does that two fold.

Mickael Pietrus gives us a very solid perimeter defender and a player that is great spotting up. He will be spoon fed by Nash as long as he is a Sun and he should flourish. There will not be pressure to do more than that and he has proven he can play that role. He is also pushing Josh Childress to improve and you can tell Josh is hearing footsteps after he great game against the Thunder last night. Now we only have one too many wings and it should be a dog fight to see who comes out on top. If Josh plays like he did last night, the only thing that Mickael does better on the floor is hit the three. It really depends on spacing and what Alvin feels we need. The 3 ball could be imperative with J Rich not being there now though.

The Polish Hammer is a Godsend. That isn't hyperbole either if you had been watching. If I had to watch one more team walk in for a layup or volleyball the offense boards around, I was going to jump off the Columbia Tower here in Seattle. Gortat can rebound and block shots and his fluidity will be great in transition and in the pick and roll. He has been one of the better back up centers in the league for some time and with Robin struggling on the court and with injuries, he is great insurance to have. Much like how Pietrus will push Chilly, Gortat will push Robin. It is amazing to actually have a gross of centers on the Suns.

Vinsanity is still the unknown quantity. He is not J Rich and I would not profess that he can completely fill those shoes. I will miss Richardson on our squad and he was a huge reason we had the run we did in the playoffs last season. Vince just needs to hit open looks and attack the rim from time to time. His contract is expiring and unless our staff and Steve transform him, I don't see him staying beyond this season. I am hopeful for the best but this deal was meant more for size and defense, not for Vince.

The other nice X factor with this trade is Orlando's first rounder. It might not be a high pick but we could package picks and move up or potentially use it in another trade, especially if it could help us get a pretty good PF. There are a lot of possibilities but I do feel we are better off now than we were. We were not going to win it all last year with our deficiencies in the front court and we were especially not going to with even less size this year. This pushes us in the right direction and I only hope more young assets are on the horizon. This is not a slap in the face to Steve. He is a professional and will do everything he can to help us win. He will always most likely be a Sun and he can push any squad to great limits. Before we all lash out, let's see how this works. I've seen Steve do more with less before.