Peace, Suns!

I realize I'm late on this but I just felt I had to say "later" to the Phoenix Suns.

I don't want to bite an ESPN writer but I saw a headline when the Shaq trade went down that really is the best way to describe it. It might even have been the way I would describe it if I were a headline writer for the Worldwide Leader.

The Suns sold their soul for the chance of an NBA title.

I know I'm in the minority, but I believe Steve Kerr when he said that D'Antoni was a bigger proponent of the Shaq trade than he was. I can just see Mike D sitting there year after year losing out to Duncan and the more traditional halfcourt Spurs big man system and getting frustrated. Not giving a damn anymore about fun. He had that back in 2005 and 2006. He just needed to, finally, win the title before Nash gave out. And fun teams don't win the title these days. Since the Jordan era ended, the title has gone through only Duncan, Shaq and Larry Brown. (Prove me wrong, Kobe! Prove me wrong!)

So, D'Antoni finally succumbed to this and, along with Kerr, he gambled. And they lost. And now he has to leave. Kerr hasn't fired D'Antoni because he understands this. Both are former multiple-time champions in different settings, chasing the ring again. And its not a question, of can D'Antoni do do this job anymore. Of course he can. He's still a great coach. he just can't go back. What he used to have has burned down. He needs a find a new home.

Really, its all been downhill since the Spurs beat the Suns in 2005. Within months, Joe Johnson was gone and Amare Stoudemire was micro-fractured. Yes, Black Jesus has made a spectacular recovery, but do you remember what he did in the 2005 playoffs?

In a simpler time, in a distant land, I wrote this after the 2005 Western Conference Finals:

Amare Stoudemire rules the world. Check these stats for for the recently-concluded 5-game series against the Spurs:

37 ppg . . . 9.8 rpg . . . 1.6 bpg . . . 55% fg . . . 84% ft

And, of course, these numbers were compiled playing out-of-position and going up against Tim Duncan, one of the best defensive big men ever. And look at that free-throw shooting. This dude is ice-cold. It's obvious that he relishes pressure and big games. Even though the Suns lost and even if the Spurs win it all, I think we'll all remember this postseason as the time when we really learned that Amare will dominate the league for years and years and years. We already know how great Duncan is, but Amare showed the world that he has the potential to be even better and have a more iconic and electric career. Either way, I look forward to watching these two duke it out for the next 5-10 years.

Amare was vaulting up to a level we had never imagined. While he is still really really good, great, Hall of Fame-caliber, a monster, you wouldn't say he's the G.O.A.T. In June 2005, I was just about ready to.

Throw in more losses to the Spurs, injuries, more trades, Boris Diaw, etc., etc., and the Suns, as they ended this season, aren't in the same ballpark as the 2004-2005 Suns. They're not even playing the same sport.

D'Antoni fiddled around with the basic formula until it was broke. Grant Hill might've been the last straw, but trading The Matrix for Big Diesel just put a damn blowtorch to the smoked-out ruins, if you'll allow me to mix metaphors.

The Suns go into next year with as old and as slow a team as anyone in the league. Watching them play the Spurs, they seemed like just a normal, grind-it-out team. But the Spurs are the ultimate grind-it-out team. That was never going to work.

Nash, Shaq and Hill are seriously old. Tony Parker going up against Nash wasn't even a contest. I really wouldn't have done much worse checking Tony. The only way to mask that definiency is to run the other team to death. Something you just can't do with the Big Cactus taking up $20 million of your salary cap.

D'Antoni just can't face this anymore. I can't either.

Goodbye, Suns. Keep in touch.