Gaddabout

Was reading comments made by a Dallas assistant (Larry Riley) who was the first player personnel director for expansion Vancouver. A couple of revelations:

- Vancouver considered trading down from the No. 3 pick to somewhere in the teens to justify taking Steve Nash with their first ever pick. The feeling was Nash would solidify NBA in Canada. Instead, they chickened out and selected Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Sidebar: I was friends with an asst. coach for Vancouver at the time. We both agreed (days before the draft) Adur-Rahim was the best all-around player in the draft. Another reason why I'm not employed in the NBA. I don't believe he's currently employed, either.

- Vancouver later pushed the Suns in an attempt to acquire Steve Nash (who was backing up Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson at the time). The Grizzlies offered Mike Bibby, but the Suns balked. Instead, they sent Nash to Dallas in exchange for Pat Garrity, Bubba Wells, Martin Muursepp and a future first-round pick.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...rts/Basketball

SweetD

Bibby would be a nice fit in Phx. Of course I love the way our team is right now.

Chaplin

Make sure you say that the "future first-round pick" became Shawn Marion.

elindholm

I seem to remember that there was a persistent rumor for a while that had Abdur-Rahim and Bibby coming to Phoenix, but I don't remember who the Suns players involved were. Of course, it probably had no basis in reality, but it did lead to some spirited discussion.

__________________

signature pending

where's elindholm, i need to vomit again! -- Ouchie-Z-Clown

green machine

I think it was Kidd/Robinson for Abdur-Rahim/Bibby, or something like that.

Gaddabout

I did so here: http://gaddabout.blogspot.com/

F-Dog

I don't remember Nash ever having enough "value" to be worth Bibby. I guess his being from B.C. must have been a big deal for the Grizzlies.

Then again, they wound up trading Bibby for Jason Williams.