Nash to Phoenix

[fgrep15]

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks free agent guard Steve Nash reached a verbal agreement Thursday night to sign with the Phoenix Suns, ESPN.com's Marc Stein has learned.

Deal reportedly five years, over $65M


Like I said, don't worry about Kobe and get Nash and a Center, maybe Dampier, but more likely Okur:

PG: Steve Nash/ Barbosa
SG: Joe Johnson/ Casey Jacobsen
SF: Shawn Marion/ Zarko Carbakapa
PF: Amare Stoudemire/ Antonio McDyess (hopefully)/ Marcej Lampe
C: (Hopefully Dampier or Okur)/ Marcej Lampe/ Jake Voushkl (McDyess can play center too)

[Full Surface]

I guess they gave up on Kobe. Nice to see Nash back in Phoenix though, this time where he can actually be a role player.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

That's good for the Suns, but they won't be getting Dampier most likely. Okur or Blount may be option. I would rather have Mark Blount.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks free agent guard Steve Nash reached a verbal agreement Thursday night to sign with the Phoenix Suns, ESPN.com's Marc Stein has learned.

Deal reportedly five years, over $65M


Like I said, don't worry about Kobe and get Nash and a Center, maybe Dampier, but more likely Okur:

PG: Steve Nash/ Barbosa
SG: Joe Johnson/ Casey Jacobsen
SF: Shawn Marion/ Zarko Carbakapa
PF: Amare Stoudemire/ Antonio McDyess (hopefully)/ Marcej Lampe
C: (Hopefully Dampier or Okur)/ Marcej Lampe/ Jake Voushkl (McDyess can play center too)

I don't even see the point of them making the deal with the Knicks a few months back when they already had an all-star PG in Marbury. Marbury is better than Nash IMO, but I guess they will end up getting more during free agency.

[Mazzocchi]

God Damnit!
Now Dallas Can't Get Shaq! Cuz we were gonan give up either Dirk OR Nash (most probally) and now were gonna have to give up Dirk if we want em god damnit

[tcrock]

Bad move for Dallas now who is our PG, the rookie from Wisconsin?? I hope not

We should trade Dirk (he has bad knees)

[Mazzocchi]

We should trade Dirk (he has bad knees)

yea dirks a solid player tho, untill his Knees completely go, were keepin him

[Amphatoast]

I don't even see the point of them making the deal with the Knicks a few months back when they already had an all-star PG in Marbury. Marbury is better than Nash IMO, but I guess they will end up getting more during free agency.

salary cap move. Both Penny and Marbury are off there hands now. Also picked up Lampe who never got a chance to play .
They were trying tomake a run for Kobe, but it seems like Kobe is just messing around and looking like he is going to stay in LA. I'd rather pick up one star, rather than wait for 1 star to decide to join or not; and if that 1 star doesn't join, a 50 lose season looks promising.

[magius]

wow, i wonder why they even tried for kobe in the first place. nash is a better fit in phoenix. now their lineup is pretty intimidating on 4 slots and maybe 5 if amare can play the C. Getting dampier or okur would be very nice though, so you could give lampe some time to develop maybe. i forget, but can anyone remind me whats happening with mcdyess? is his ontract up? another year? Maybe he can come back from injury? i dunno, he relied on his athleticism a lot, but maybe he can still be good....

good job by phoenix management! None of these 4 possible all stars strike me as guys who force a lot of shots, and they can continue to concentrate on making amare their number one option which i think is a much better choice than any alternative out there.

[putodelagoa]

Marquis Daniels will probably start in Nash's place. The fact Cuban didn't match the offer shows how high they are on their draft steal...

Having a lottery pg as backup doesn't hurt, either.

[Matt]

I like this signing for the Suns. This is good news for Marion, Johnson and Amare. They now have a pass first PG that's concerned with keeping teammates involved and is also a high % shooter. We'll see how his defence keeps up though.

[Micchy_boy]

by getting nash they will have a great shot on okur or dampier. but dampier wants to go to memphies. they gave up on kobe coz they know kobe will stay in LA (lakers or Clip)

[Fresh8]

It's good for Nash...finishing his career with the suns!

[VMS]

The Dice man better play center. Dice is too good to be 2nd string, and the suns can't live without Amare. Good for the suns though.

[Amphatoast]

dice could be a 6th man, he is too short to play center; especially in the west.
back up center/PF could be his role giving him good minutes off the bench.

[Matt]

Dice could play C vs most East teams, but it's best to have a steady starting 5

Suns need a 5 and a deeper bench

[RedTorro]

Marquis Daniels can run the point, but I don't think he'll run it as smoothe as Nash did.

[Matt]

its hard to eplace Nash....he just doesnt stop dribbling the ball and that makes him so good

[fgrep15]

Marquis Daniels can run the point, but I don't think he'll run it as smoothe as Nash did.

Harris will probably start at point.

Only problem with this signing is way too much money and length of contract on a 30 year old man, Cassell was only making MLE I think, he's making 5.6 million htis coming season, and 6.1 the next, that's what Nash should be getting.

[air gordon]

perhaps i'm the only one who thinks that this signing was more bad then good...

as mentioned above, the suns are paying an awful lot and for a long time for the "older" nash.

nash isn't much of pure PG himself, is pretty poor on the defensive end, and has a history of breaking down in the 2nd half of the season.

was it such a wise move to spend all that money on a pg when you already have 2 developing pgs (barbosa & vujanic) and a wing player who can handle (johnson)?

phoenix does have a bad history bad signings- googs, p hardaway, etc

[Fresh8]

Oh yeah! Too bad for the Mavs that Nash skipped town cause they now cant offer anyone for Shaq!

[MC Hao]

well, the mavs signed daniel to more than 6 mil per year, i think he's gonna be good. we saw some of his decent games last season when stepping in for injured starters.

[FanOfAll]

perhaps i'm the only one who thinks that this signing was more bad then good...

as mentioned above, the suns are paying an awful lot and for a long time for the "older" nash.

nash isn't much of pure PG himself, is pretty poor on the defensive end, and has a history of breaking down in the 2nd half of the season.

was it such a wise move to spend all that money on a pg when you already have 2 developing pgs (barbosa & vujanic) and a wing player who can handle (johnson)?

phoenix does have a bad history bad signings- googs, p hardaway, etc

Nash isn't a pure PG??!!? Nash is the purest point guard in the league today, maybe more so than Kidd because he beats people with his quickness and speed.

I have injury concerns with Nash as well, but he hasn't broken down for the last 3 years. He played 82 games in both 2001 and 2002 and 78 in 2003. Yes, IMO it's wise to spend $13 million a year on Nash because he'll help this team so much on offense. He's a fast break guy and a pure point guard who distributes. Barbosa likes to score more than Nash and with guys like JJ, Marion, and Amare, you should be spreading the ball around. Vujanic can play some 2. In fact, that's what he plays in Europe right now, iirc, and probably what he's better at. Last time I checked, he was averaging 3.8 apg, but I could be mistaken. Neither he nor Barbosa are proven commodities like Nash is in the league. Yes, Barbosa showed lots of promise (and I loved having him on my fantasy team) last year, but he's only 22 and has many years ahead of him. He needs a lot of development off the court as well, and Nash can be a good mentor for him.

[Macca]

I think that this was a pretty good move by the Suns. They lost Marbury and struggled at the point, but now they've got Nash- and he'll for sure finish out his days in Phoenix.
But this could be a problem for the Mavs- like everyone's said, if they wanted Shaq, he'd be one of the players to go to LA, but it ain't gonna happen... LA aren't that stupid. Anyway, Daniels should fill the hole for the Mavs, but they can still sign a point guard when free agency roles around.. Crawford, Van Exel (who said he wanted to finish his days in Dallas) so, we can only wait..

Macca

[Nick]

Yay. Amare has a point guard that will pass. Marion will probably score more points getting set up by Nash on the break... same with JJ.

But jeez... a bit expensive 65 mil over 5 years (6th year is optional to the suns) or something i think... that's 13 mil a year. Nash is a great vet who will help our team a lot but he's not going to get any better... he's on the decline if anything... maybe not yet.. but soon... and in a few years we might end up with another washed up all star like Penny was.

And i can't help but feel a little dissapointed that we're not getting Kobe... but i must keep reminding myself that it was just a fantasy wish anyway.

But aside from that, this is great news!

PG: Steve Nash/ Barbosa
SG: Joe Johnson/ Casey Jacobsen
SF: Shawn Marion/ Zarko Carbakapa
PF: Amare Stoudemire/ Antonio McDyess (hopefully)/ Marcej Lampe
C: (Hopefully Dampier or Okur)/ Marcej Lampe/ Jake Voushkl (McDyess can play center too)

Forgot C/PF rookie Jackson Vroman. (And that euro Vujanic fella, if he comes over)

Crossin' my fingers on Dampier...