I had just ordered a Raja Bell no. 19 home jersey for Christmas

I will miss Raja Bell. He was one of my favourite players. The way he played the game, his great playoffs performance, his great heart will be missed.

I had just decided to buy a no. 19 Suns jersey to use at my local “Palestra”. 

As much as I’ll miss Raja I think it was a very good trade and Steve Kerr probably made the right decision in the end. Of all the positive reviews I think Hollinger’s on ESPN.com summed it up the best.

The Suns acquired a very good (younger) player, a great athlete and a solid defender as well. Jason Richardson will be an upgrade to the starting five. Not to mention the fact that J-Rich and Stoudemire could put on an All Star Slam Dunk contest every night. Just check a couple of those on YouTube.

Now everyone is talking about the fact Raja was not playing at his usual level, that he wasn’t a good defender anymore, that he quit on his teammates and was wearing out everyone around the locker room.

First of all let’s make it clear, Raja was playing at his career level. Only his playing minutes were down. Bell was scoring 9.6 points a game (every outside player on the Suns roster will have his numbers down this season) while shooting a career-high .468 from 3-point range.

Raja, made a few negative comments and the front office decided it was time to make a statement. As usual it’s the small fish that pays the price as Stoudemire and Nash had made even more relevant remarks about the Suns new system.

Steve Kerr made it clear on

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 that the team was going in a different direction and he had to go. In case you missed it, it means all the D’Antoni guys are gone or will be soon.

It’ll be interesting to see what will happen with Steve “emotionally drained” Nash (Photo: David Wallace/Arizona Republic). I feel for him right now. Who knows, maybe dishing Alley-oop passes to J-Rich will ease the pain.

We all knew Diaw’s days in the Valley were numbered as Boris was also a protegé of former assistant coach Dan D’Antoni and he had been struggling over the last few months. As soon as the Suns traded for Shaq and moved Stoudemire to the PF position Diaw had a tough time finding minutes and helping the team. Nobody will miss him much anyway, except maybe a few of his girlfriends somewhere in the Valley.  

So, Good Luck Raja and Thank You for everything !

I am sure Coach Brown will love the way you play the game and the basketball-educated fans in North Carolina will love you. By the way, the Bobcats will be in Phoenix on February 24th.

Since timing is everything I guess, I’ll write the NBA.com shop and check if I might get a little discount.

Yours truly, Steve Fan

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