Life After Steve Nash For The Suns

Finally Moving on

Everyone has foreseen this split for about two years now when it was apparent that the Suns were falling into NBA purgatory. Furthermore, I define NBA purgatory as not being good enough to contend for a NBA Championship, but not being bad enough to consistently get high lottery picks in the draft in order to strengthen your team. Trust me NBA purgatory is a place you don’t want to be stuck in; if you don’t believe me just ask Atlanta Hawks fans. Getting back on topic, the Phoenix Suns have agreed to a sign and trade deal that will send their franchise PG Steve Nash to the L.A. Lakers and in return the Suns will receive the Lakers 1st and 2nd round picks in 2013, a 2nd round pick in 2014, and a 1st round pick in 2015. In his eight seasons with the Suns, Steve Nash averaged 16.2 points and 10.9 assists, while winning the MVP trophy in the 2004-05 and the 2005-06 seasons. Even though, Steve accomplished so much with the Suns this trade marks the end of the Steve Nash Era for the Phoenix Suns.

Rebuilding Jump Start

Even though, the Phoenix Suns are entering a stage of rebuilding I doubt that they will stay there for long due to their aggressive moves in this year’s free agency period. The Phoenix Suns have been quite busy this Off-Season. They have the possibility to add three new players to their roster via free agency; Goran Dragic PG, a former Phoenix Sun who played behind Steve Nash and now has a chance to start for the franchise, Michael Beasley PF, the troublesome No.2 overall pick in the 2008 draft with untapped potential, and Eric Gordon SG, a young potential NBA All Star in the making who dealt to the New Orleans Hornet last season via Chris Paul trade. The only issue that may occur in the Phoenix Suns free agent frenzy revolves around Eric Gordon because he is a restricted free agent, which means that the New Orleans can match any offer made to him in order to retain his services. So, even if Eric Gordon said, “Phoenix is where my heart is now” that might be the only thing he can leave with Phoenix if the Hornets match the deal Phoenix put together. He is hoping that the New Orleans Hornets do not exercise that option, but the NBA is a business and it would significantly hurt their franchise to just let a player of his caliber just walk in free agency.

Prepared for the Future

The Phoenix Suns are on the verge of accomplishing two goals that will allow their franchise to continue to trend upwards. First, is to keep the Phoenix Suns relevant and competitive in the West in order to keep the fan base happy. Second, is to develop a strong core to build talent around, so that you may compete for a NBA Championship in the future. On paper it seems like the Phoenix Suns are going to definitely accomplish the first goal if they can acquire the player they sought for. The second goal has already begun through this most recent NBA draft, in which the Phoenix Suns selected Kendall Marshall with the 13th pick. Kendall Marshall was the North Carolina floor general at PG and he averaged 8.1 points and 9.8 assists in his sophomore season with the Tar Heels and was selected to be the PG of the future and the successor to the great Steve Nash. In addition to that, the Phoenix have also armed themselves with extra draft picks via the Steve Nash trade that can be used to improve their roster in future drafts or that can use them as trade bait to acquire more talented players.