Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver and coach Alvin Gentry are planning to meet with Amar’e Stoudemire next week and offer him a contract extension, but a source called it “pretty bleak” that the Suns will be able to convince the All-Star forward to agree to a deal.
The Suns are expected to visit Stoudemire in Chicago at his summer basketball camp, if not wait for him to return to his home in Phoenix, Yahoo! Sports has learned. After rejecting what’s expected to be another counteroffer below the maximum, Stoudemire will opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent July 1.
This isn’t a big shock; the writing was on the wall when Steve Kerr left the organization. Stoudemire isn’t really a ‘max’ player, but he sure thinks he is, and that’s a bad combination. No offense to Amare, he’s a great player, but his injury history and inability (or unwillingness) to control the defensive glass keeps him out of ‘max’ territory, at least in my mind.
But that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to get a maximum contract this summer. Like any market, free agency is about supply and demand, and with all the cap space floating around, there will be a big demand for his services.
It’s funny — the ‘Bird rights’ are supposed to favor a player’s home team, but for near-max players it can work against the home team. The Suns are trying to be pragmatic and don’t want to overpay, but Amare takes any less-than-max offer as an insult even though he’ll eventually sign for less than the true maximum when he goes on to another team. (Other teams can only offer five-year deals with a lower annual raise.) But Stoudemire will see the other team offering as much as they can and he’ll take that as a compliment, even though the total contract may be less than what the Suns originally offered. (I hope this makes sense.)
I have a feeling he’ll end up in Miami with Dwyane Wade or possibly Chicago, where he’d be a nice fit alongside Derrick Rose.
Kerr’s contract expires June 30 but he had been expecting and hoping to return until negotiations for his contract and an opportunity to return to television as a NBA commentator prompted him to leave the organization after three years as its GM, Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver said.
Kerr, who could not be reached for comment, reportedly was asked to take a cut in salary during negotiations.
Owner Robert Sarver said that finances barely played a role:
“I wouldn’t say it’s a big surprise,” Sarver said. “Television is what he did before he came on board. It’s a change of plans from during the season. It boiled down to a number of things, including lifestyle and the opportunity. I was hoping to have him back.”
Sarver said the differences in financial negotiations played a “small part,” if any at all.
It’s funny — I thought Kerr might be fired after the Marion-for-Shaq debacle, but he hung in there, unloaded Shaq and his monstrous contract, and put together a nice team that was playing Top 4 basketball at the end of the season. The Suns had great chemistry, and I’m not sure if that was on purpose or by accident, but Kerr was ultimately responsible.
Being an NBA general manager is something of a dream job for me, but I can see how doing color commentary for the NBA would be a far less stressful occupation. Kerr won’t have fans dissecting his every move and there won’t be any “Fire Steve Kerr” websites out there clamoring for his dismissal.
That said, whomever takes over for Kerr will have to hit the ground running. The Suns have a big decision to make with regard to Amare Stoudemire, who is looking for a max contract (and probably isn’t worth it).
Starting at the 3:00 mark in the video, you can see the three shots Kobe hit down the stretch that sealed the game (and the series) for the Lakers. Love him or hate him, he is incredible.
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On the heels of their Game 6 loss to the Lakers, the Phoenix Suns once again start an offseason after coming up short in the postseason.
In reality, despite the sour finish, making the Western Conference Finals represents a resounding success for the Suns, who weren’t expected to be a legitimate title contender heading into the season. But after the trade deadline, Amare Stoudemire played like an All-NBAer (27-10 after the All-Star break), and the Suns’ bench — specifically Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye — provided a much-needed punch when the starters weren’t getting it done.
This team already has great chemistry and is playing championship-caliber ball, why mess with it? Well, the Suns have a huge decision this offseason — whether or not to offer Stoudemire a max contract.
Is he worth a max deal? He doesn’t rebound as well as he should — and grabbed just nine rebounds in the first two games of the WCF — and he’s not known as a very good defender. Shouldn’t a max player excel at scoring, rebounding and defense?
Stoudemire is open to staying in Phoenix, but it seems like he wants a max deal. Without it, he’ll probably go elsewhere, providing they’ll offer him the non-Bird max.
If he leaves, the Suns will have about $13 million of cap space assuming Grant Hill opts in and Channing Frye opts out (which they are rumored to do). What that means is that if Stoudemire bolts, the Suns will be a player in this summer’s free agency frenzy. They may not have a shot at LeBron James or Chris Bosh, but they could potentially afford someone like Carlos Boozer or David Lee, who would both fit in well with the Suns’ up-tempo system. However, neither player is known for his defense, so the Suns will probably continue to struggle on that end of the court. Also, such a move would only serve to further highlight the length issues that the Suns have when they face the Lakers.
Steve Nash is already 36 and his game has to fall off at some point. However, he’s in tremendous shape and the emergence of Goran Dragic should continue to offset the decline in Nash’s game. The Suns have a nice core, so if they re-sign Stoudemire or end up with someone like Boozer or Lee to pay power forward, they should stay near the top of the Western Conference. It doesn’t appear that they’re built to get by the Lakers, but if there’s a playoff-threatening injury to Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol, the Suns would be in position to pick up the ball and run to the Finals. That’s better than blowing the whole thing up and starting over, right?
The Suns were on life support, down 17 in the fourth quarter, when Dragic came into the game, hit a jumper and started to talk some sh*t to Vujacic, who has some problems with Dragic over the fact that he (Vujacic) was dismissed from the Slovenian national team. Vujacic lost his cool and elbowed Dragic in the face, and it turned into a six-point play. Suns down 11 with 11:11 to play.
Kobe on the squabble:
Still, Bryant, who led the Lakers with 37 points, did not take kindly to Vujacic’s flagrant foul playing a role in Phoenix’s rally. In an interview with TNT immediately after the game, Bryant said he wanted to “kill” Vujacic after what he did and still wanted to “kill him” even though the Lakers won.
So what did Dragic say? Vujacic, who we all know is not to be trusted, said the following:
