Shaq and his $20 million contract is too much for the Suns.

Amare is a powerhouse – both in term of skills and physical prowess. Shaq WAS a powerhouse, and despite his presence in the middle is a known-fact, his prime has long gone – and he is actually slowing down the Suns with his erratic free throw shooting (I’m amused watching Spurs vs. Suns, when Pop decided to do Hack-a-Shaq tactic occasionally – and worked!)

Kerr – I think you should reconsider this, as player as talented as Amare won’t come too often in the L.

My two coins

The problem with Amar’e is that he only cares about scoring. On the old Suns teams, that was good enough. On the new one? Not so much.

Kerr, Sarver, Nash, and Hill all had a sit down after a game a few days ago and the result of that meeting is that Amar’e is not going to help the Suns get it done. He doesn’t defend, he doesn’t rebound, and he’s constantly griping about touches. The Suns have one, maybe two years left to compete for a championship, and it’s CLEAR that Amar’e isn’t the guy, so why wouldn’t they trade him? If he can’t help THIS Suns team win, how can he ever help ANY Suns team win?

I say that Chicago makes a deal with Phoenix – Amar’e and two spares for Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Gooden. It’s a win-win. Chicago gets a top-flight running mate for Rose, and the Suns get a young big with tons of potential, a starting SF they can be proud of, and a PF that can play alongside Shaq. I would go so far as to say that the Suns would be better with Deng and Gooden on the floor (and Hill and TT coming off the bench) than they are with Amar’e pouting, Barnes chucking up shots, and Hill playing way too many minutes.

http://www.nobloodnofoul.com/2009/02/05/chicago-most-likely-trade-amare/

Can I get a hell yeah?

In ways I do agree with you but I don’t believe Shaq takes away from Amare. Amare takes away from Amare. Shaq allowed Amare to do whatever he wanted in the beginning but Shaq had to step up because Amare failed to hustle and win so Shaq had to step up.

As you said you don’t watch enough game film of him except for the playoffs, Amare is not a hustler, he is not a defensive player. He is a defensive liability. The only reason Amare ever did what he did was because of an offense that was about pure firing up a shot and running. There was no defense ever involved there was no way for there to be any defensive liabilities. But they did soon learn that that type of offense will not win a championship, I also believe D’antoni was embarrassed after 5 years that his style doesn’t work for championships and had to leave. But Amare is not a player that hustles or believes in anything but scoring. D’antoni spoiled this team with short no work practices and a free for all attitude. He also spoiled this city into thinking its about excitement and not championships. Amare still believes that. Remember Amare is the one who stated he wants to be a “gorilla” and be like Garnett and Howard. He has no desire to do any of it and it is apparent every night.

Selling draft picks happened because D’Antoni wanted veterans instead of rookies. Actually since Kerr has been GM they have taken draft picks.

I think D’Antoni getting ridden out of town was pretty unfair. He was a players’ coach, giving them lots of freedom and keeping them happy. He had an offensive juggernaut and ran a pretty loose ship. Then Porter comes in and tries to instill some discipline in some guys who had been used to a different philosophy and they complain about it. It’s true that some guys leave Phoenix and go on to be productive – look at Diaw’s resurgence since he went to Charlotte. I think that’s more a factor of team makeup than coach skill. Would you play Diaw over Stoudemire either? I didn’t think so.

I don’t think it’s fair to judge Kerr’s moves yet. He inherited a roster from D’Antoni that had real issues – aging, defense-impaired starters and a bench that didn’t get to play much. He’s had to try to rebuild on the fly while remaining competitive. For the record, D’Antoni is on record as saying he wanted the Shaw trade and had to talk Kerr into it, so saying Kerr broke the franchise isn’t exactly true.

I think they should trade for Chris Bosh. He seems like a total team guy, which is what they need at that position. He also plays away from the basket more than Stoudemire, he’s younger, and seems to have a better handle on defense.