Dear Steve Kerr… You Screwed Up the Suns

Dear Steve Kerr… 

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Well, so is the road to the unemployment office. 

From all reports, your job as team president of the Phoenix Suns is secure for now, but after less than one full year on the job you’re skating on ice that’s thinner than Donald Trump’s comb-over.

In a desperate attempt to shake things up and bring championship glory to the Valley of the Sun, you traded away Shawn Marion, your disgruntled young all-star and most versatile defender for the legendary Shaquille O’Neal, an aging, behemoth with a big contract and an even bigger waistline. 

The move was certainly controversial and I, for one, thought it was doomed to fail.  Think about it…

Why would you bring a stationary giant to a team whose offense is predicated on movement and spacing?       

Why would you risk upsetting the chemistry of your then first place team?

Why would you put an unnecessary burden on the Phoenix area Krispy Kremes who could never possibly keep up with Shaq’s demand for their delightful donuts? 

Well, Mr. Kerr, you reasoned that the Diesel’s physical presence in the paint was going to solidify Phoenix’s defense and make it more difficult for Western Conference big men to have their way with the Suns under the basket.  This in turn would make you guys true championship contenders.  

Of course, it didn’t quite work out like you had hoped.  Not even close. 

Phoenix was just eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in a mere five games by your archrivals the San Antonio Spurs.  And Tim Duncan, their all-everything big man, did just about anything he wanted to against the Big Mistake to the tune of 25 points and 14 rebounds a game during the series. 

Additionally, the absence of Marion’s defensive flexibility exposed Steve Nash’s absolute inability to stop young, quick point guards as Tony Parker-Longoria ran circles around him and scored at will.  This could certainly prove problematic in the future considering the abundance of young, quick point guards in the Western Conference. 

The sad truth was you weren’t nearly as far away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy over your heads as you thought.  If not for Robert Horry forearm shivering Nash and the subsequent suspensions of Stoudemire and Diaw (that Stern should’ve overruled in the interest of fairness, but that’s another story) the Suns and their up-tempo style could’ve easily won last season’s NBA title.  And they could’ve contended this season, too.

But instead, you took the team with the best record in the west (at the time of the trade) and made them sixth best.  You took a run-and-gun team that fans loved to watch and you made them slow down.  You took a team with a relatively small window with which to win an NBA Championship and you made that window disappear faster than Amy Winehouse’s career.

Let’s face it.  You screwed up.  Big time. 

And because of the Suns’ age and salary cap situation there is little you can do to salvage this franchise’s championship aspirations for the near future.  That is, unless you can find someone naïve enough to trade an all-star for Shaq and the $40 million left on his contract.  Someone like…

Oh.  Sorry.

Best Wishes,