Deadline Deal Decisions by Thomas Johnson

Originally published with Playerspress Sportscaster Network: http://playerpress.com/articles/the-amare-fiasco



Now that the All Star Game festivities have come to a close, with the West giving the East a Chris Brown-like beating, I thought this would be a good time to ramble on for a few hundred words about the recent trade activity (or lack thereof) in the NBA. Right, where to start? How about with the biggest story coming from the land of the Suns: the Amare Stoudemire situation.

Being the Miami fan that I am, I have to say that upon hearing the news that the O’Neal-Marion swap had finally been made after weeks of conjuncture, my reaction fell somewhere between relieved and what T.I. felt when he found out he could do an MTV show to avoid 30 years in the pen. Since Miami had been rumored to be in the front-running to make a deal involving Beasley and Marion for Amare, I had been terrified that Riley, Mr. Short-Term-Gratification himself, would not be able to resist the possibility of making the team relevant again (in his eyes) with a big-name acquisition.

I have argued this point with a few heat fans recently and my basic premise is this: If the Heat would have made the trade, they would have basically been losing Beasley for a year and a half of Amare, with no guarantee that he would re-sign here anyway.

Would the move sell tickets? Yes.
Would it be completely mortgaging the future for a shaky present? Definitely.

While I am content with the deal Miami made with Toronto I don’t know if I can give Riley too much credit for not pulling the trigger on the Amare deal since many sources close to the situation have said that it ultimately came down to Suns GM Steve Kerr not wanting a reunion with Marion while also wanting the Bull’s Tyrus Thomas more than Michael Beasley. Tyrus Thomas? Really?!

I like Steve Kerr, I really do. I’ve heard him in various interviews and by all accounts he seems to be a fairly levelheaded guy, but that last comment might be a fair reflection of his ability to assess talent.

His assessment of Beasley’s value in relation to Tyrus Thomas’ tells me one thing for certain; some of these GM’s do not watch as much basketball as we think they do. While Beasley’s numbers are far from gaudy (a fairly average 13 and 5), this is more of a reflection of his inconsistent minutes than basketball ability. If you go through his game log, the kid has played his best in the games that matter the most on a personal and team level.

For starters he has outplayed Derrick Rose in both meetings (including his ‘don’t trade me game’ right before the O’neal deal when he put up 21 points and 7 rebounds on 9 for 10 shooting). Then there was the 23 point (10-16 shooting), 5 rebound game in Los Angeles against the Lakers, a game in which he led the team in fourth quarter scoring and almost single-handedly brought the team within striking distance. He also has games of 20 and 8 against the Spurs, 17 and 11 against the Celtics, to name a couple more.

I’m not going to go over every good game he’s had. The point is that when the lights are the brightest, Beasley has the ability to step up and deliver on the biggest stage and in the most important moments.

This mentality is not something you can teach. Combine this with his ambidextrous scoring ability around the basket and his 37 percent shooting from three and you have all the ingredients for a future All Star in this league. Oh, and he just turned 20.

To put it plainly I don’t know how someone like Kerr does not see this, or how a significant portion of the national media mumbles about Beasley being a potential bust. It blows my mind.

While there are definitely weaknesses in his game (I would love to see him finish stronger at the rim and set better screens), I will be shocked if he does not take the next step, if not with Miami then somewhere else. And that was my worst fear in this situation. That Beasley, under-appreciated even by a solid number of Heat fans, would get traded and put up monster numbers elsewhere for the next ten to fifteen years. That’s why I would be fuming if the Stoudemire deal went through.

There is a good chance that in six years when Beasley is Amare’s age, he will be an even better player. Besides, Amare plays less defense than even Beasley does now. Now if we were talking about a Beasley-Bosh deal… Well, let’s just say that would require more consideration. Anyway, at least the Heat and I have made it through year one of the Beasley era. I’ll try not to bring up this whole Beasley issue again. No promises though.


All right, on to other things. Now where were we? The Beasley-snub aside I’m going to put my GM hat on for a second and look at what else the Suns could do with its current unit. Assuming they’re going into full blown demolition mode and are determined to move Amare I don’t see how making a deal with Chicago isn’t the best move for both sides. The Bulls have a plethora of young moveable pieces: Hinrich (expendable now that Rose has bloomed), Luol Deng (proven he is far more Robin than Batman), Tyrus Thomas (Steve Kerr’s apparent love interest), as well as the lesser names (Nocioni, Noah, etc).

Is it just me, or does Stoudemire and Barbosa for Hinrich, Thomas, and Deng make too much sense not to happen?

The Suns get a solid point guard to eventually take the reigns from an aging Nash; an athletic power forward in Thomas to replace Stoudemire; and Deng, a big upgrade over their current small forwards. Chicago would finally get the explosive inside scoring and post presence they’ve always needed as well as be able to team Barbosa and Rose together at the guard positions, giving them by far the fastest backcourt in the league.

Maybe that’s the problem. It is after all a deal between Steve Kerr and John ‘I’m glad I helped this team win championships with my threes, because this GM thing isn’t working out so well’ Paxson.

I’m going to try to be brief here because Paxson’s missteps are worthy of a separate column.

Basically his hesitance towards big trades involving trading away young players (remember the potential Kobe deal that never happened?) as well as general missteps (Ben Wallace, Tyson Chandler, Lamarcus Aldridge anyone?) has led to an under performing, mediocre team. This is without even mentioning that he gave the head-coaching job to an unproven Vinny Del Negro while someone who would have made a lot more sense like Celtics assistant coach and defensive mastermind Tom Thibodeau was left constantly checking his empty voicemail box this past summer. Whoops, guess I mentioned it.

In a way Pax is somewhat bizarro Riley, a GM so concerned about not moving young players with potential that he is willing to bypass Hall of Fame talent. That being said, for someone that has made so many mistakes yet still retains his job, you would hope that at the very least there is the chance he will learn from past misjudgments. I mean there is enough material.

So why not make this deal? Considering how determined Phoenix seems to be to make some sort of move, Paxson could probably even make the deal without losing Deng. If I were in Paxson’s position right now, I’d give up almost anything short of Rose to make this deal happen. How does an offense based around a Rose-Stoudemire pick and roll game not make the playoffs every year?

Anyone who even casually watches the NBA knows how essential the pick and roll is to an offense, and it’s hard to imagine Rose and Stoudemire not being the next unguardable duo.

The barometer for the impact of any deal is how other teams in the same conference perceive the moves, and you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think that every coach in the East would cringe at the thought of this deal happening for Chicago.

As a basketball fan I would love to see it happen. As a Heat fan, I hope Chicago stays put. That should tell you everything you need to know.