How Robert Sarver Set the Suns "In Seven Seconds or Less"

You remember how fun the Phoenix Suns were.

For many sports fans, they were the only reason to tune in to an NBA game in the post-Michael Jordan era. The "seven seconds or less" offense of getting points in a hurry and getting up and down the court was made-for-TV material.

There was two-time MVP Steve Nash, who was almost redefining the way the point guard position is played. There were athletic horses in Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire who got up and down the court, grabbed boards, and finished strong on the other end. There were guys like Joe Johnson, who stretched the floor and got points in a variety of ways.

Remember that team?

That is the same team that was an embarrassment as the league's host for the 58th annual All-Star Game this past weekend. The Suns entered the break a game behind Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West and deeply embedded in a myriad of trade rumors and a coaching change.

The thing about these Suns, however, is that they haven't just reached the end of their "cycle" as an elite team due to age, like many others before them. They haven't lost key players in free agency, been impacted by an unfortunate rule change, or seen their roster get ravaged by injuries.

But the one obstacle the Phoenix Suns—a once-proud franchise that was once the envy of the league—can point to is their miserly and inexperienced owner, Robert Sarver.

Sarver bought the Suns in the summer of 2004 for $401 million. That was the same summer that Phoenix rolled out the dough and red carpet treatment for Nash, an unrestricted free agent from Dallas. It ended up being one of the best moves in franchise history, as Nash went on to win the league's MVP award in each of his first two seasons with Phoenix.

But as far as managing the organization, it has been all downhill since for Sarver.

That same summer that the Suns landed Nash, they had the chance to lock up Joe Johnson, now an All-Star for the rejuvenated Atlanta Hawks, for a bargain deal. Sarver and the team were offering five years and $45 million. Johnson's camp wanted $50 million.

No deal, said Sarver. A year later, Johnson ended up getting the maximum of $72 million over five years, and the Suns were left with a void that they haven't filled to this day.

Oh, they got two first-round picks out of the Johnson deal. But draft picks haven't mattered much to Sarver, who has recklessly just given away picks to the highest bidder.

If you're a hoops fan, then you're certainly familiar with Rajon Rondo's name. But what you may not know is that the pick that the Boston Celtics used to select Rondo in '06 was originally Phoenix's. Sarver continued his miserly ways by just giving a pick away to avoid having to pay salary to a first-round pick.

Although he didn't want to pay first-round picks, Sarver seemed more than willing to direct his earnings at the wrong moves. It's mind-boggling is that during the same summer that he sold away the pick for Rondo, Sarver and the Suns dished out a five-year, $21 million contract to another point guard, Marcus Banks.

Banks was a flop, and after being traded to Miami in the deal that brought Shaquille O'Neal to the desert, Banks was traded again from the Heat to the Raptors last week in the Jermaine O'Neal deal.

Phoenix also locked up Boris Diaw to a five-year deal that summer, but Diaw was coming off of a career year that saw him put up 13.3 points, 6.9 boards, and 6.2 assists per game—numbers that he didn't even come close to replicating since. The Suns ended up dealing him this past summer to Charlotte.

The next year, in 2007, Sarver saw to it that the draft rights for Spaniard Rudy Fernandez were traded away for cash. Today, Fernandez is a key component of Portland's rebirth as a perennial playoff contender.

That same summer, the Suns traded away blue collar power forward Kurt Thomas—and two first-round picks—to Seattle for a second-round pick. Sarver literally just gave away not one but two first-round picks just to dump salary.

While many fans want to point the finger at new Suns GM Steve Kerr, keep in mind that Sarver's tactics have spanned the course of three General Managers in Phoenix.

Bryan Colangelo, who was the league's Executive of the Year in 2005, got out while he could on his way to winning the award again for Toronto in 2007. D'Antoni was made de facto GM in the meantime, a period that saw more of Sarver's penny-pinching habits and maneuvers.

Kerr's era will be marred by the Shawn Marion-for-Shaquille O'Neal trade in February of 2008, but the seed for Phoenix's destruction had been sown far before then. Don't make the mistake of thinking that one move by Kerr sent the Suns into an impromptu downward spiral, because Sarver simply wouldn't be getting the "credit" he deserves.

The final straw came when Sarver let D'Antoni walk away and go to New York, where he has resurrected the once-dormant Knicks. The Suns, meanwhile, are 28-23 and fighting for their playoff lives in a rugged Western Conference.

It's one thing to rebuild. But why should the Suns start with the 26-year old Amare Stoudemire? It may have to do with the fact that of all the players on Phoenix's rosters with mammoth salaries, he may be the easiest to move—and move quickly.

To make matters even worse than they already are, Sarver is going above the heads of Kerr and his staff, who are looking for the best deal that could bring in actual talent for Stoudemire. Sarver, on the other hand, is on the side looking for deals that could save him the most money.

Somebody had to summarize Sarver's reign over the Suns in a nutshell. So who better than Stoudemire himself?

"I think Sarver is more of a business-minded kind of guy, he's all about business, he's all about, I think making money," said the four-time All-Star last week amongst a myriad of trade rumors. "I'm not sure if he's totally familiar with the sport of basketball."

I'll say.

And while Phoenix fans—and fans of basketball in general—enjoyed D'Antoni's "seven seconds or less offense" for how it maximized offensive output, we can be sure that they are not enjoying Sarver's similar efficiency in inexplicably tearing apart this once-proud franchise.