The Suns’ Rare Moment at the Crossroads

Photo credit: Arizona Republic

It’s a credit to the Phoenix Suns organization that most basketball fans in the Valley are shaking their heads in confusion today.

For what they’re experiencing is something most other cities have to endure far more often - an NBA team at the crossroads, its successful past receding in the rear view mirror and the future more than a little uncertain.

Granted it’s only been five years since the Suns last missed the playoffs and faced a rebuilding project. Overall, though, Phoenix has been in the playoffs in 18 of the last 21 seasons and the Suns are light-years ahead of the 29-53 disaster that was 2003-04.

Still, this was not a team that was aging gracefully. Near misses the past few years, reaching the Western Conference finals twice and the semis once, led the Suns to look past the reality that all teams face - stars age, their abilities diminish and at some point they need to be replaced.

Blame Steve Kerr for trading Shawn Marion for Shaq if you choose, but Marion’s continued travels leads one to believe there was a need for him to find another place to play. And Shaq, while clearly on the downside of a spectacular career, still showed flashes of his old self.

Except that old self never really fit the Suns’ mold. This was a team whose greatest success was running opponents off the court and bombing away from behind the 3-point arc. And the offense succeeded almost exclusively because of the talents of Steve Nash, whose ability to drive and find the open man more than made up for his defensive woes.

Trading Shaq to Cleveland (several months too late, from the Cavaliers’ fans perspective) doesn’t mean the trade was a mistake. It’s an acknowledgment that the Suns as currently constituted are at best a one-and-done team in the postseason, assuming they qualify.

The bigger question is the looming trade of Amare Stoudemire. Gaining the rights to Stephen Curry answers in part the question of what happens once Nash stops lacing up his sneakers. But it leaves the Suns in a quandry as far as identity. Around whom is this franchise being built? What is going to be the Suns’ style? What should fans expect when they go the Purple Palace?

(And will the trade even happen? Nothing can be completed for another couple of weeks and the talk out of the Bay Area is the Warriors may want to hold on to their rookie after all.)

Those answers aren’t apparent right now. Nash’s age precludes the Suns from making him the centerpiece, even if he’s the key to the offense. Barbosa? Curry? Louis Amundson? Anyone?

For those willing to take an honest look at where the franchise stands, it’s clear that a lot of work needs to be done. The reconstruction of the Suns isn’t going to happen overnight. For most franchises, a year or two of rebuilding every now and then is almost a given.

Few have been the times that the Suns have had to start over. That in itself should give Suns fans pause as they sharpen their pitchforks and light the torches in search of Mr. Kerr.