Phoenix Suns News, Suns Scores, Game Recaps & Commentary : seattle supersonics

Friday's NBA Notes - 11-16-07

chowell — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 05:32:00 GMT

The Suns didn't play tonight, but there was a full slate of games on Friday's schedule. Several teams made a statement on this night, while others continued to struggle. I'll try to give a recap of the biggest stories of the night. Boston Celtics Start...(read more)

Suns Defeat Sonics in Opener, 106-99

chowell — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:24:00 GMT

Despite a hot start by rookie Kevin Durant and a hard fight throughout, the Sonics drop to 0-2 and your Phoenix Suns open the season with a victory. The Suns started the season pretty slow and a little out of sync - Phoenix guard Steve Nash committed...(read more)

Phoenix Suns Trade Kurt Thomas for $$$ Reasons

chowell — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:35:00 GMT

On the verge of paying a hefty luxury tax this year, the Phoenix Suns made a move to help trim the payroll even more today. The trade of Kurt Thomas to the Seattle Supersonics will free the Suns of approximately $8 million dollars this coming year. Phoenix was projected to be about $10 million over the salary cap, so by shipping out Thomas, they get into a much more manageable position.

Here's what you need to know:

Sonics get Thomas and the Suns first-round draft picks in 2008 & 2010.
Suns should now only be about $2 million over the salary cap.
Suns get an $8 million dollar trade exception, but it must be used within 1 year.
Kurt Thomas joins Sonics to mentor rookies Jeff Green and Kevin Durant.
Thomas is in the last year of his contract, so the Sonics have no obligation next year.

There are rumors that Phoenix made the trade in order to prepare for another trade, perhaps involving Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudemire. Suns' General Manager Steve Kerr said the move was made for financial reasons and that Phoenix still wants to keep it's core of Marion, Stoudemire and Steve Nash together for another championship run.

"We are doing everything we can to keep our core group together. Sometimes in doing so, you have difficult decisions to make," said Suns President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Steve Kerr in a press release Friday.

"We feel good going forward having our core group of players under contract for several years, including the recent addition of free-agent Grant Hill. The bottom line is there are tough decisions to make, but we have flexibility and our core together. We really like the group of players we've assembled and feel we can make a legitimate run for an NBA championship next season."

It's hard to comprehend why the Suns threw 2 first-round draft picks into the trade, but I guess they'll figure it out later. The loss of the picks hurts their chances over the next 3 years to pickup a quality player directly out of college. None of the stories I've read indicate whether the picks are protected or not, but the assumption is that they're not. I doubt Phoenix will be entering the draft lottery in the next few years anyway, so they probably didn't lose too much.

The trade leaves Phoenix very weak in the paint and on defense, something that was already very evident in this year's playoffs. I'm not sure what their plan is, but there aren't a lot of big men available right now, so they're either going into the season with Amare as their biggest post threat, or they have something else planned.

Seattle Supersonics in disarray

chowell — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 02:59:00 GMT

One day after getting Ray Allen to agree to a new 5 year contract, the Seattle Supersonics lose Nate McMillan as their coach (see story). McMillan chose to sign with the Portland Trailblazers for 5 years, at an estimated $6 million per year. Sonics president Wally Walker commented that they offered McMillan enough to where he'd be one of the Top 5 highest paid coaches in the NBA, but I guess that wasn't enough.

It's really odd that after 17 years and a great 2004-2005 season by anyone's standards, McMillan would want to leave the Sonics organization. It makes you wonder if there's more to him leaving than just the money...

My2Cents