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From the Cheap Seats, with Dale Shepard

The Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns faced off against the Utah Jazz with one goal in mind, win they make the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Jazz faced the same goal and it came down to a battle of wills, who wanted the playoffs most. It was a tough battle inUtah, but it was one that saw the sun’s playoffs hope die before their eyes. If the Suns had been playing at home things might’ve been different but this road game proved to be too much for them.

The Suns were missing two vital pieces to their team, Grant Hill who is still recovering from knee surgery and Channing Frye who had suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. The bench players stepped up and played well but not good enough. So for the second year in a row the Phoenix Suns have missed the playoffs.

The Suns had one more game to play the following night against the San Antonio Spurs. After seeing the results of the Utahgame, San Antoniocoach Paul Popovich decided to keep his three stars at home and decided to play his bench players. Popovich himself chose not to come to the game and stayed in Texas. So one would think that the Suns would’ve put up a gallant fight, but they really didn’t. The question buzzing around the arena in Phoenix was whether Steve Nash would return next season. That is a question that we don’t have answers for right now, but we will find out soon enough. It is this writer’s opinion that Steve Nash will play somewhere else next season.

Thousands of Suns fans absolutely love Steve Nash. Nothing was more evident than to hear thousands of fans chanting “we want Steve” with five minutes to go in what could be Nash’s last game in a Phoenix Suns uniform. Coach gentry inserted Nash back into the lineup, only to come out within a minute. Personally, I thought it was very anti-climactic. The Suns TV announcer had mentioned how hearing the Suns fans chanting “we want Steve” gave him goose bumps. The moment was very cool and brought a smile to Steve’s face. The thunderous applause when he stepped back onto the floor was short-lived with one trip up the floor and on the next dead ball gentry pulled Nash out of the lineup for possibly the last time. I can tell that caught the fans by surprise, I think the fans were expecting Steve to play longer and give the crowd one last thrill. But much like this entire season, the excitement ended early. Nash exited the game with a hug from Coach Gentry and was greeted by the rest of the team.

One would also think that the Suns would send Steve Nash out with a win, but that didn’t happen either. The Spurs went on to blow the game apart and once again celebrated on our home floor. So now the question is, will Steve Nash return as aPhoenixSun? Personally I think no. Steve Nash is in his twilight years of his career at best, Steve has two or three years left. It is clear that the rest of the Suns team is for real question. The Suns clearly lack firepower and the ability to play solid defense for four quarters. This is nothing new for the Suns and I seriously doubt that the Phoenix Suns ownership know what it takes to put a winner on the floor.

The Phoenix fan base is genuinely split on the subject. Many fans want Steve Nash to return and surround him with better players. This might be enough to get the Suns in the playoffs but in my opinion, not enough to make a run at a championship. Where I’ve never played pro sports, I have played competitively and I don’t see this Suns squad being a player or two away. We do have some good young players to keep in the mix but having our core players well into their 30s is not a recipe for success.

So now what? I say dump as much of the bench as we can, keeping a few of the good young players like Shannon Brown, Jared Dudley and one or two to veterans. Otherwise start unloading players for draft picks for this upcoming draft. This will be a very deep draft and we can save two years in the rebuilding process with some good selections. All of this will heap onto the desk of Robert Sarver the Suns owner. Whether he can get the job done or not will remain to be seen. But being a Suns fan all I can do is wait and hope that the Suns rebuild and get back into the playoff mix.

I am of the belief that it’s just not enough to make the playoffs. We need a team that is built to go deep into the playoffs and challenge for the Western Conference championship again. In my opinion, we are a far cry from that place right now. But it’s not enough to make the playoffs one year or even two and then fall away again. One of the benefits of having Jerry Colangelo as an owner like the Suns did, he was always committed to challenging for a championship. He was committed year in year out to putting the best team he could on the floor. For some reason this current ownership either is unwilling or doesn’t know how exactly to do that. I am not out to bash our owner because I love the Phoenix Suns but I hate seeing this team fall short year after year.

The Suns have made serious mistakes in the past regarding players. The Suns were somehow convinced that Amare Stoudemire was going to stay the Phoenix Suns. Everyone else seemed to know that he was going to get a huge contract offer fromNew York, a contract thatPhoenixcould never meet. We should have traded him at the trade deadline for some good players and build the future around them. Because for all intents and purposes, Amare was gone. So now the following season Amare signed with New Yorkand the Phoenix Suns got caught holding the bag and got nothing for him. So here we are again, same situation with a different player. Chances are good we’ll have the same outcome and we will lose Steve Nash.

Let’s reverse these trends of getting caught holding the bag and have nothing to build around. Let’s build for the future, let’s get some draft picks and pick up some players that could be here for years to come. And most of all, once again see the Phoenix Suns be a team to contend with in the Western Conference.