ESPN John Hollinger on the Suns rebuilding process. A mess, one could add

(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images) Amid all the talks about possible trades, players leaving, the coach being fired and so on it’s easy to forget we’re about to witness (probably) the end of an era. The Suns are looking like a franchise in search of an identity, short and long term.

in his ESPN.com PER Diem on Feb. 10th, John Hollinger perfectly summed up the Suns mess and the domino effect the Shaq trade caused to the organization.

It could go down as one of the worst move ever, not because of the player acquired (Shaq is playing above expectations I think), but because of the long term effect it’ll have on the Suns. Because of the trade, Suns will lose Amaré Stoudemire and lost cap flexibility the could have with Marion’s expiring contract.

Here’s some very interesting quotes from that column on the Suns rebuilding process

But why is it that the guy the Suns are pushing to move is 26-year-old Stoudemire? Wouldn’t that be the one guy they’d be trying to keep? (…)

And once the Suns move Stoudemire, they’ll still have Steve Nash, 35, and Grant Hill and Shaquille O’Neal, both 36; obviously, the rebuilding would still have a ways to go. (…)

About the only thing propping up the Suns at the moment is that Bryan Colangelo left them with Nash, Marion, Stoudemire and Barbosa before he headed out the door. But as Phoenix prepares to rebuild around its 35-year-old point guard — doesn’t that sentence sound strange? — one has to get a sinking feeling that this era of Suns basketball will be very different from the one that preceded it.

Throw in some awful draft picks over the last few years, or better, the trading of all the good picks (Fernandez, Rondo, Robinson) for nothing or cash and you get the idea of a franchise looking at a very bleak future.

Where have you gone Colangelo?

Yours truly, Steve Fan

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