AZCentral/Fanboy Article on JJ

[lancelet's cousin]

For Suns, losing J.J. just isn't an option

FanBoy email me
Jul. 26, 2005 02:26 PM

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] In case you have been living under a rock the past couple of days or have missed columns by Paola Boivin and John Gambadoro, then you may have missed the collective freak-out that is taking place over the possibility of losing Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks.

It seems pretty clear from all the published reports that J.J. will sign a $70 million contract with the Hawks once the NBA decides to set a date for the free-agency signing period to officially begin. It will be Sarver's decision to match the offer and keep the most versatile of the Suns in the fold for years to come.

This is clearly Sarver's first tough decision and one that may define his era as owner. It seems to me that Sarver has very little choice in the matter: He has to sign J.J. The alternatives are just too tough to take. All he can do is take the financial hit and accept the fact that he gambled and lost when he didn't sign him last year at this time.

The effect of losing J.J. would be felt not only on the court but off of it as well. Even though the Suns made the Western Conference Finals last season and won over fans all across the country with their style, all that goodwill will quickly evaporate if they don't sign J.J.

The cracks in the Suns' armor started to show about a month ago with the Quentin Richardson deal. While most fans agreed that the Suns needed to get tougher on the inside, the deal that was worked out with the Knicks seemed very one-sided, especially giving up a player like Nate Robinson who could have helped back up Steve Nash.

If the Suns couple the trade with not doing whatever it takes to re-sign J.J, then all the excitement generated from last year's playoff run would quickly become a distant memory. It will be a slap in the face for all those fans that defended the Suns' style and felt slighted when the national media made snide comments about what was going on at AWA.

And going out and signing Michael Finley isn't the answer. Replacing Quentin Richardson, J.J. and Robinson with Finley, Raja Bell and Kurt Thomas doesn't make the Suns any better or get them any closer to beating the San Antonio Spurs. It just makes them slower and much less fun to watch.

The fear is that the Suns are basing all the personnel moves on fielding a team that can beat the Spurs. It's a failed philosophy that has caused teams around the NBA to take two steps back while thinking they are taking a big step forward.

The Mavericks tried this same philosophy a couple of years ago when they based their whole strategy on how to get past the Kobe and Shaq-led Lakers. The idea was to make Shaq work on the offensive end and they went out and traded for Raef Lafrentz, who they later extended for a ridiculous sum. The idea was that Lafrentz would pull Shaq away from the basket on the defensive end, thus tiring him out on offensive.

What came out of that brilliant plan: a roster that was hamstrung by Lafrent's huge salary and playoff losses with reaching the goal of beating the Lakers. It didn't come close to working.

It looks like the Suns are doing the same thing in targeting the Spurs this off-season. They gave up way too much in acquiring Thomas and overpaid to sign Bell. These decisions may make them a bit more competitive against the Spurs, but it takes away the advantages they had against teams like the Mavericks, Kings and Rockets.

Losing J.J. is something Sarver cannot afford. It may cost him several million dollars more than he initially wanted to spend, but the effects and losing him would be felt far deeper than in his pocketbook.

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[CardNots]

I must have missed something. Seems to me Houston kicked our butts twice at the end of the season.

I do think you are correct. I thought we dismantled our team too quickly. Another year of playing together would have helped more than trying to retool to beat SA. You can't play SA if you don't get by the rest of them.

 

[JPlay]

I must have missed something. Seems to me Houston kicked our butts twice at the end of the season.

I do think you are correct. I thought we dismantled our team too quickly. Another year of playing together would have helped more than trying to retool to beat SA. You can't play SA is you don't get by the rest of them.

Oh yeah we lost on a last second shot to Houston. The really kicked our butts.

I knew trading Q was come back to Haunt us. We only should have traded him after JJ was re-signed. That team has special chemistry. Kurt Thomas sucks, he's not an all-star and is an average player. If JJ is lost we'll need another shooter badly. I totally disagree that Finley is not the answer. He's a very good replacement who can still light it up. He lost a lot of playing time to Josh Howard, but he's a veteran that can run and hit the 3.

 

[SweetD]

Oh yeah we lost on a last second shot to Houston. The really kicked our butts.

I knew trading Q was come back to Haunt us. We only should have traded him after JJ was re-signed. That team has special chemistry. Kurt Thomas sucks, he's not an all-star and is an average player. If JJ is lost we'll need another shooter badly. I totally disagree that Finley is not the answer. He's a very good replacement who can still light it up. He lost a lot of playing time to Josh Howard, but he's a veteran that can run and hit the 3.

Q was not an allstar and is an average player.

 

[AsUdUdE]

ok for the record... if Sarver doesn't resign JJ Im just going to Freak out...... Seriously though, This is starting to become less and less funny... I freakin hope this is all a smoke screen because Sarver is treading dangerous water....


If he doesn't sign JJ where does that leave the suns fans....JJ was thought to be a cornerstone to the Franchise along with Amare... They could reign for years to come.....If JJ doesn't sign whose to say AMare will really want to stick around next.... Because nothing management has promised means anything if they let JJ walk... NOTHING....

Sarver better pay JJ, or let the hailstorms begin.....

 

[SweetD]

Ok this so reminds me of last year and how the Suns were going to get TMac and Kobe, this hysteria is all media driven and nothing more. The reason JJ is not signed is because HE CAN"T UNTIL "NEXT WEEK" no if next week comes and they actual let players sign then I will worry but right now JJ has been at every Suns event this summer and looks to be a big part of the team!

 

[cly2tw]

This is a stupid article.

JJ never could stop Manu, not to mention Marion. Bell is supposed to be much better at this task. And with KT we deal with the bigs like Dunkan and Yao a lot better now. So, KT, Finley, Bell, though much cheaper are indeed upgrade over JJ, Q, Robinson as to beating the Spurs. And if we sign and trade JJ just for the trade exception and one 1st rounder, we could get another big like Cato or Batie with only one year left on contract for our title run who are better than Hunter. So, I see a great offseason anyway it goes.

 

[George O'Brien]

This is a stupid article.

JJ never could stop Manu, not to mention Marion. Bell is supposed to be much better at this task.

Any Manu couldn't stop JJ. I'm glad the Suns picked up Bell, but he's not a replacement.

And with KT we deal with the bigs like Dunkan and Yao a lot better now. So, KT, Finley, Bell, though much cheaper are indeed upgrade over JJ, Q, Robinson as to beating the Spurs.

I'm not sure what your point is. Since the addition of KT and Bell and subtraction of Q and the pick that went for Robinsons are already done: the inference is that Finley is an upgrade over JJ. Not.

And if we sign and trade JJ just for the trade exception and one 1st rounder, we could get another big like Cato or Batie with only one year left on contract for our title run who are better than Hunter. So, I see a great offseason anyway it goes.

Battie is no longer effective due to injuries and Cato is not very good. Is that the best you can suggest?

 

[cly2tw]

Any Manu couldn't stop JJ. I'm glad the Suns picked up Bell, but he's not a replacement.


I'm not sure what your point is. Since the addition of KT and Bell and subtraction of Q and the pick that went for Robinsons are already done: the inference is that Finley is an upgrade over JJ. Not.

George,

this is where I have problems with your and many other posters' argument: you always make it like comparing one single player with another and say we were better of or worse off. But this is a team sport. It's about the TEAM is better or not. My argument was the TEAM with KT, Bell, Finley would have a better chance to beat the Spurs than the one with Q, Joe, Robinson instead. You didn't really refute my reasoning.

BTW, Joe could NOT score on Manu one-on-one. In our game 4 win in the series, I didn't recall any strong one-on-one moves from Joe against Manu. In the regular season home loss, my memory is still vivid that Joe tried but failed to establish a good offensive position against Manu while getting cruelly abused by him on the other end.

 

[George O'Brien]

Were we watching the same Conference finals? JJ averaged 18.3 ppg on 47.8% from the field and 53.8% for three. In the fourth game, JJ scored 26 points on 10 of 15 including 3 of 6 for three.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Manu guarded Joe no more than half of the time. He ran a lot of pick and rolls where the Spurs switched defenders and Joe wound up with Horry or Duncan on him.

Also, anytime Barry was in the game he guarded Joe. Parker even guarded him a decent amount while Manu guarded Nash.

I just looked at a lot of the video, and couldn't find clips where Joe shook Manu because there just wasn't a lot of opportunity on it. I have a bunch of him shaking Barry, Horry, Duncan though

Hell, he even had a nice move on Bowen.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

this is where I have problems with your and many other posters' argument: you always make it like comparing one single player with another and say we were better of or worse off. But this is a team sport. It's about the TEAM is better or not.

This has nothing to do with the current conversation, I just thought it was funny that you were talking about the better of the team and not individual players. Shawn Marion is the best team player you can have (does the little things, doesnt need plays ect.), yet you want him outta here

 

[cly2tw]

This has nothing to do with the current conversation, I just thought it was funny that you were talking about the better of the team and not individual players. Shawn Marion is the best team player you can have (does the little things, doesnt need plays ect.), yet you want him outta here

But, you are still talking about the team PLAYER, ain't you?

My proposals that involved trading a team PLAYER in Marion have been meant to build a TEAM around the Amare-Nash core that would win us a championship.

BTW, thanks for bringing up the evidence about Manu (not) defending Joe in the playoffs. That was my recollection exactly without the benefit of having the tapes to back me up. If you have the regular season home loss to Spurs on tape, you should also see how Joe repeatedly tried to get a good position on Manu but failed miserably.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

George is right on the only thing he left out was JJ was comming off of a BROKEN FACE.

 

[PhxGametime]

IMO keeping JJ, Q and Draft Pick; and they obviously were planning on using Mid-Level going after Bell... so a player like Swift, Abdur-Rahim, etc.


All 4 of those players are much better than anything the team did this offseason...

I'd rather have JJ over Finley
Q over Bell
Nate Robinson over Thompson
Swift, Abdur-Rahim, etc. over Thomas


I'm not sure, how the Suns got better If they want to be cheapskates, there just won't be many fans around...


Thomas makes more than the Mid-Level, so the 3 balance themselves out and if you think it's a better idea to let go JJ for Finley, then I really don't know what to tell you