Oh, Those Cursed Suns

So the Hawks struck gold. So what? It's not the end of the world. It just makes the Suns' offseason a little more trying. The front office is going to have to make some tough decisions without a superstar draft pick to work into the mix. That's OK. Maybe we'll get lucky, and Griffin and D'Antoni will be able to swing Diaw plus two first rounders for Andre Iguodala. Maybe I'll wake up one morning with the sad realization that I am, indeed, awake, and that deal will never happen.

C'est la vie.

Whether we've wanted to admit it or not the last two years, I think that we have all had the sense that Atlanta got the better part of the Joe Johnson deal all along. We tried to put on our brave faces, and we were justified for a time as Boris Diaw made a name for himself in the league while garnering the Most Improved Player award last season. But the truth is that he is no Joe Johnson. For some reason, all that basketball skill and basketball IQ just don't seem to add up to a basketball player.

Who cares? What's done is done, and we knew that losing this year's pick was a major possibility. They had a 1 in 4 chance, after all, which is pretty good poker odds.

The Suns still have Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Leandro Barbosa, and Raja Bell. This is still a 60 win team, remember? So why are we so down? We're not cursed. The Suns are NOT the Chicago Cubs of the NBA. Yes, we've had a run of "bad luck", but Phoenix is still a title contender. If you want bad luck, just pop on over to Boston with Bill Simmons, and you'll know the misery of terminal misfortune. This whole draft thing is a minor set back. The draft offered the possibility of flexibility in the offseason. The Suns still have assets, but they will probably have to bite the bullet on the luxury tax next season. May as well.

Robert Sarver wants a title as badly as the rest of us to justify his investment in the Suns. He came into this league in the same vein as Mark Cuban, but quickly learned that the Maverick owner path would lead to self destruction. So to distance himself, he has remained behind the scenes letting nature take its course with these Suns. A championship will go a long way into securing his legacy with the team, simultaneously overpowering the long Colangelo shadow and removing himself from the Cuban pack. I think that Sarver will pay $12 million for one year if it means retaining the core of a title contender.

Consider the center of that Suns core.

Robert Sarver loves Amare Stoudemire. Stat's his guy. Sarver knows very well that Stoudemire is the key to a Suns championship, as not since the Bulls has an NBA not featured a dominant big man. The thing about Stoudemire, though, is that he is weak defensively. When he's paying attention, he's an excellent weak side shot blocker. And when he displays the energy and passion for statistics, he's a monster rebounder. But he doesn't do it consistently, and he seems to feel that he has to compete with someone for the stats. Enter Shawn Marion.

Shawn keeps Amare honest on defense. Without Marion directing traffic and plugging holes, Amare is exposed for his defensive lapses. And Amare really seems to love fighting Shawn for rebounds. Amare is even starting to steal the ball more. It is an on-court relationship that needs to stay in tact for one more year. If Shawn decided that, for one year, he would concentrate solely on defense and getting that defensive player of the year award, and not even think about offensive numbers (no more threes, only back door cuts and alley oops), Amare Stoudemire could explode next season.

I have a feeling that he will, too.

Amare had a great season coming off microfracture surgery, but it was average for him. He only scored 20.6 points and grabbed 9.6 rebounds a game this season. Those numbers jumped to 25 and 12 in the post season. Amare wasn't as explosive this year as he was in 2005, so he relied more on finesse moves under the basket.

Two seasons ago, a classic Amare move was his one handed dunk from three feet to the left of the basket. The defender would think that he's blocked the attempt or altered the shot, but Amare's arm seemed to reach another five feet as he threw it down with force. This year, that became a lay up (he had the opportunity in the March 14 game at Dallas, when Eric Dampier came between him and the basket - Amare dropped the shot in for the and-one instead of dunking it).

Jason Kidd came back six months after having the procedure. Two years later, he averaged a triple double in the first round of the playoffs. Amare Stoudemire is coming up on the two year anniversary of having his procedure. Add to that Amare's desire to "be the man", and you have the makings of an MVP caliber season. I fully expect Amare Stoudemire to post 27 points and 12 rebounds next season, challenging his own teammate and two time MVP Steve Nash for the award in 2008.

The kid could average 40 and 15 through a round in the playoffs. Why not? He averaged 37 and 9.8 in the 2005 Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. He averaged 26.4 and 10.6 this season. In a first round match up against a team like Golden State, Amare could do an amazing impression of Wilt Chamberlain.

A lot of those points are going to come from Steve Nash assists, of course, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Steve average 16 points and 14 assists next season. After getting jobbed by the media this season, Steve might very well be the sentimental favorite to win the MVP next year. As Steve goes, so go the Suns.

All this talk about the lottery and the suspensions and whatever voodoo, Babe Ruth, Billy Goat curse is grossly misplaced. The lottery is just the basketball gods' way of telling us that we are just fine. Karma will prevail, and the Suns will stun the league. The Hawks have their lottery gold, we'll have our championship gold. Big deal.

*Update:

Dan Bickley wrote a very good article about the state of blame.