Phoenix Suns Look To Be Scorched

Upon seeing Steve Nash in a suit at the beginning of TNT's coverage of last night's Suns-Lakers game, I had immediately lost interest.

Don't get me wrong, I am a die hard fan, but I am also a realistic fan, for all of my teams. The only way the Suns were going to win that game was with their floor general leading them to 130+ points.

Instead, the Suns allowed 132 points and got smoked by the NBA's best team.

The Suns may still have an outside chance of squeaking into the playoffs by scalping the eighth seed from one of the other competitive Western Conference teams.

The closer we get to the end of the season, however, that result looks more and more doubtful.

The Suns are hurting in many ways. It's really unfair how it all happened as well.

After trade rumors were flying around like spit wads in a fifth-grade classroom in the month leading up to the trade deadline. Sarver and his cohorts decided to keep the team as it was.

Terry Porter got canned, Alvin Gentry was installed on an interim basis and the Suns were back to their flying ways.

They put up 282 points in consecutive game against the Clippers and everyone and their mothers were talking about this Suns team not only making the playoffs but becoming as high as the fourth seed.

A detached retina and gimpy ankle later, the Suns look like they will finish ninth or 10th and be out of the playoffs this year.

Worse, the Suns organization will be saddled with monumental executive decisions at the end of the season. This has prompted some to inquire whether or not that second Clippers game was the last time we saw this Suns team together.

With the salary cap and luxury tax problems the Suns face, it is highly unlikely that we will see the starting lineup of Nash, Richardson, Hill, Stoudemire, and O'Neal again.

While he is my favorite player, it's likely that Shaq may be forced out, and Amar'e will stay.

Should the Suns get into the lottery, they may have a chance not to screw up their first round pick like they have in recent years.

With that said, it will just add another key decision to the many that will need to be made in the off season.

Steve Nash has a lot of sentimental value for Suns fans, and I think fans would hurt to see him go. Moving him out of Phoenix might be the appropriate thing to do, despite the hard feelings it may cause some fans.

Stoudemire is currently set to be a part of that ridiculous free agent class of 2010. It's my guess that he will want to put up numbers he is more than capable of but hasn't yet shown us since it's a contract year.

If that is the case, the Suns will want to milk that last year out of him.

Nash is old, Stoudemire is really the franchise player in my mind. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Suns sell off in order to offer Amar'e a huge contract extension, an offer he can't refuse.

All we can do is speculate right now, but with veterans like Nash and O'Neal claiming the Suns business model may make sense, it is not set up to encourage winning.

When your two veterans are saying stuff like that, it is usually a great idea to reevaluate whether or not you want to run the team like a business, or have a team that has a chance to compete for an NBA title.

The best teams find a mix of both and the Suns are a team with a perfect opportunity to do just that this off season.