Amare Stoudemire for Tim Duncan?

Posted by HoopsAvenue on August 4, 2008 under General NBA, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs | 2 Comments to Read

Ok, calm down, this trade has not happened and probably won’t, but I was thinking the other day about what the Spurs should do to get back to the Finals and I came up with this biggie. While it doesn’t seem to make sense that the Spurs should trade away their franchise player, I’m not sure that Tim Duncan is the best fit in San Antonio anymore (Spurs fans gasp here). He’s been slowing down the last few seasons and plays mostly in the half court making his own shots and kicking it out to perimeter shooters. But, the thing is, neither Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker is a spot up shooter. Brent Barry is gone as well. Bruce Bowen can still knock down shots as can Michael Finley, but they aren’t exactly young either. Maybe it’s time the Spurs make a move for the current and the future, and go all-in with a new, up-tempo style? If Gregg Popovich could accept the trade without having a heart attack, it makes a lot of sense.

The Suns, on the other hand, gave up some young, athletic talent in Shawn Marion to get the lumbering Shaquille O’Neal. Time is not exactly on Shaq’s side and how nice would it be to see him paired with his former nemesis? The Suns didn’t win a title with their up-tempo style and now that Shaq is there and D’antoni is gone, why not give up Amare and transform into a veteran, half-court team? Nash likes to run, but I’m sure he won’t exactly have a problem getting easy buckets for the big men in the halfcourt either. And, Shaq and Duncan still both command double teams so it’s be a shooter’s paradise in Phoenix. Not to mention, Phoenix would have the best interior defense in the league.

I went over to RealGM’s trade checker to see if the deal works and it doesn’t when you make the trade straight-up because of Timmy’s salary, but the Suns would just have to add one more player, perhaps their draft pick Robin Lopez.

So, what do you think? Do you want to see the run-and-gun Spurs vs. the boring Suns next season?

The Truth about Kneegate

Posted by HoopsAvenue on June 7, 2008 under NBA Playoffs | Be the First to Comment

So all anybody is talking about after Game 1 of The Finals is whether or not Paul Pierce aka The Truth really hurt his knee as badly as his theatrics would lead you to believe. Ok, let’s see, guy goes down, needs about half the team to carry him off the court, rolls to the tunnel in a wheelchair, and he’s back in about a minute of gametime (knocking down 2 big 3s shortly later no less)? Any Laker fan would tell you he was faking it, but I’m going to have to disagree. He was merely exaggerating. First of all, watching the replay, it’s clear his leg moved a bit awkwardly after Kendrick Perkins landed on him. There’s no way to fake that in the heat of the moment. So the next question is whether he was really hurt by the play. I think he was, but not to the extent he led us to believe. Pierce might be a relatively smart player, but he’s no evil genius ready to concoct a fake injury plot in the split second he had to react to that play. He is, however, very capable of exaggerating the extent of his pain as all players are (just watch any player be in excruciating pain on defense only to look perfectly healthy when his team gets the ball back).

The thing is you can’t blame Pierce for exaggerating the extent of his injury. I would argue he wasn’t even conscious that he was exaggerating. It’s just what NBA players do. It’s almost like an extension of flopping. You don’t even realize you are doing it, but you become so accustomed to it that when you get hurt, you lie down, have everyone feel bad for you, and then sometimes it isn’t really that bad and you return as the hero. Saying Paul Pierce was exaggerating would be like saying Allen Iverson carries the ball on his crossover or Manu Ginobili flops. Duh.