Ah, Tempus fugit.* It's hard to believe that it's already been over a year since I wrote my first real post on this blog begging the Suns not break up their team by trading a star player, but I suppose it's that time again. This year however, rather than the departed Amare Stoudemire, trade rumors involving the Suns center around point guard Steve Nash, the last remaining link to the "Seven Seconds or Less" Suns that dazzled the NBA (in the regular season, at least) from 2004 until 2007.
*That's "time flies" in Latin. As an aspiring Classics minor in his fourth semester of Latin, it was only a matter of time before I incorporated Latin into this blog, since it is dominating every other aspect of my life.
However, this year it is even more tempting to get swept up in the trade talks. Nash will be 37 later this month, far too old to be a legitimate building block for the future, unlike Stoudemire last year. And unlike last year's team, this incarnation of the Phoenix Suns isn't very good. Sure, they could catch fire and sneak into the playoffs as a seventh or eighth seed, but they aren't going anywhere after that. They don't have a starting-caliber power forward (sorry Channing) and their offense runs through Vince Carter, an aging star who takes more ill-advised shots than my roommates on a Friday night.
So, why NOT trade Nash and Hill?* If the team is lousy now, and will presumably continue to be lousy for the twilight of their careers, why not trade them to a contender, give them a shot at a title, and restock for the future? Well, first of all, it might not be all that easy to trade them to a contender. Looking around the league, there really aren't all that many good teams that could use someone like Steve Nash and could provide value in return. Going down the list by record: the Spurs have Tony Parker, the Celtics have Rajon Rondo, the Heat don't really have any young players who would have value in a rebuilding project, the Bulls have Derrick Rose, and the Lakers don't run an offense that meshes with Nash's playing style. If teams with a shot at a championship don't have a use for Nash, they aren't going to trade for him, regardless of how productive he still is.
*Regardless of where you fall on the "free Steve Nash" debate, it would seem to make sense that if the Suns trade Nash, they ought to trade Grant Hill, his (bridge) partner in crime, as well. If the Suns trade Nash, they would be blowing up the team as currently constructed as well as acknowledging to their fans that they will not be a playoff contender for at least a couple of years. And there is absolutely no reason to keep Grant Hill around for that sort of rebuilding.
And even if the Suns do find a suitable trade partner, there remains a huge impediment to making a successful trade: the difference in the perceived value of Nash and Hill among Suns fans and among the rest of the NBA. In Phoenix, both Steve Nash and Grant Hill are incredibly beloved. Grant Hill revived his career here, changing his career narrative from "supremely talented potential superstar who couldn't stay healthy," to "savvy veteran who plays the game the right way (trademark)." He has stayed healthy, been a stabilizing force (by all accounts) in the locker room, engaged the community and played with heart and soul for four seasons in the desert. Steve Nash, of course, is easily the most popular figure in Phoenix sports right now (Larry Fitzgerald is probably a distant second) and probably makes the Mount Rushmore of Arizona Sports all-time. There are simply not many figures associated with Arizona who could have criticized SB 1070 with impunity last spring, but Nash did it and suffered almost no drop in popularity, something that speaks volumes about what this city thinks of him as a player. Suns fans, almost to a man, maintain that Nash is as good as any point guard in the league right now, and that any trade should net a windfall of assets.
Other teams in the NBA don't see it that way. Instead, they see a point guard in his late 30s who can still score and rack up assists, but who's best days are clearly behind him. Obviously no team, even one in need of a point guard, would trade the farm for a guy like that. I'm not advocating or criticizing this view, but it does inhibit a potential trade. If the Suns, in a rush to complete a trade, get too little in return for Nash and Hill, the front office will be forced to explain to angry ticket holders why they traded the heart and soul of their beloved team for a couple of role players and draft picks.
I'll freely admit that I'm biased here. Steve Nash is my favorite basketball player and, even though I certainly watched Suns games before him, I truly become a Suns fan once he was signed. I was 13 during his first season in Phoenix, on a team that I consider the best team (in any sport) I've ever been a fan of. That team defied convention, played up-tempo basketball, and won 62 games with an undersized band of misfits. Even then, in my formative basketball-watching years, I remember being amazed at this scrawny white guy from Canada who managed to always set his teammates up perfectly, make ridiculous shots over players a foot taller than him, and generally run an NBA offense better than all but a few have ever run it. Over time, my amazement hasn't waned at all, as I've been consistently in awe of his ability to play through pain. And of course, I've always been impressed by his humble, although quirky, demeanor off the court.
I'm fairly certain that I'm not the only Suns fan to feel this way. Indeed, there was an entire generation of Phoenicians who became Suns supporters through watching Steve Nash do his thing in the mid-2000s. And of course, that's exactly what makes him (and to a lesser extent, Grant Hill) untradeable, that he simply matters more in Phoenix than he would in any other market, making it impossible to receive equal value. Other fans see him as he is now, while we still have visions of "Seven Seconds or Less" dancing in our heads. I guess what I'm trying to say is this: the 2011 Suns are not going anywhere, and if Nash or Hill don't want to be associated with that, the front office should do their best to accommodate them. But they haven't asked out, so what's the harm of keeping them here, especially since the team is not going to get anything special in return? Nash and Hill are worth more, both financially and intrinsically, than whatever they would garner in a trade. So with that in mind, why not let fans of the Phoenix Suns grow old with their aging stars?
