Ok, I'm just having fun this morning.

In light of Seth's reporting that the Suns may not be done dealing, and admitting their ideal dream of a better PF/rebounding option in the lineup... 

Here are 2 ways that, to me, seem reasonable to get Josh Smith from Atlanta

Hawks fans and management are souring on Josh Smith. He doesn't shoot well enough to be a SF, and isn't as good a PF prospect at Al Horford. At the same time, the Hawks are trotting out a terrible lead guard in Mike Bibby next to Joe Johnson. In the Hawks's perfect world, maybe, they replace Josh Smith with a talented PG and save a bit of money at the same time (or at least don't spend more).

Let's pretend they fall under Shaq's spell and sign him to play C. Then they can move Horford to PF, play Marvin Williams at SF. This gives them the flexibility to move Smith for a viable PG.

What the Hawks DON'T need is Jason Richardson. What the Suns need to trade, to get Josh Smith, is Jason Richardson.

How do we solve this dilemma?  A third team, with an available PG.

 

Like, Golden State's Monta Ellis to Altanta

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2dvl7k4

Altanta gets Ellis, GS gets JRich and Earl Clark, Suns gets Josh Smith and (to make salaries work) the expiring contract of Vlad Radmanovic.

Golden State has Steph Curry for PG duty, but at 6'2" he cannot successfully play with an equally short and defense-deficient SG in Ellis who also needs the ball in his hands. Ellis is a scorer/playmaker extraordinaire. Both players would ideally fit next to a 6'6" or 6'7" strong SG. Their new owner might be wanting to engender fan support, and bringing back a long-time fave in Jason Richardson would do the trick. This also gives GS - over the cap this season already - flexibility next summer.

Of course, Vlad wouldn't play a minute for the Suns but he would help convince GS to do the deal, and he's expiring.

 

Or New Jersey's Devin Harris to Altanta

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=28tyc86

NJ has a new PG in Jordan Farmar (don't laugh). And they have a real playmaker find in 2nd-yr man Terrance Williams. They've already figured out that Devin Harris is not the future in NJ.  So far, they struck out in free agency. Like, bigtime. Like, nothing worth writing home about. And they have a new owner. Lately, the talk has been that they will wait till next summer to make their big splash. So why not give themselves more flexibility now? 

ATL gets Devin Harris and Earl Clark.  NJ gets Jason Richardson.  Suns get Josh Smith.

 

The Skinny on Josh Smith

Either deal works all the way around, netting the Suns a real PF in Josh Smith.  That would allow Chill and Duds to play SG, and Turk and Hill to play SF, and Smith and Warrick to play PF.  More balanced, I admit.

For those you desperate for a "real" PF, he's as good as it gets for this system.  Here's Hollinger's writeup on Smith last year.

Scouting report: A left-hander with explosive leaping ability, Smith came into the pro game straight from high school and his mental game has lagged his physical skills ever since. He still doesn't have a great idea of what a good shot is or understand that his jumper doesn't qualify as one in most situations. Granted, one must also point out that the Hawks' coaching staff constantly leaves him in positions to spot up on the perimeter -- what do they think is going to happen? 

Smith has long arms and great timing for shot blocks, though he was less aggressive about going for blocks last season. His long arms also make him adept at picking up smaller players on switches -- in fact, the Hawks switched virtually every screen last season because of the mobility of Smith and Al Horford. 

Smith is at his best in transition; he can push the ball up court himself, and he sees the floor fairly well. He's also, of course, an outrageous dunker when he's on the business end of transition passes. In half-court settings he takes far too many jump shots with his long, side-shoulder release, which defenses are more than happy to concede. 

He's better at attacking bigger players off the dribble from the high post, or posting up smaller ones straight up from the right block. As he's developed more muscle, the Hawks have called his number on the latter play more often, with Smith able to curl in toward the rim for a lefty shot or spin back to the baseline and shoot. He shot a career-best 60.4 percent in the immediate basket area last season, and those post-ups helped him get there. 

2009-10 outlook: Smith is only 23 years old, and while he hasn't figured things out as quickly as Hawks fans might have hoped, it's easy to forget the considerable progress he's made. Atlanta's addition of more perimeter players may help him focus on sticking to his knitting in the paint, and it would help him further if the Hawks' play calls gave him something to do besides stand 20 feet from the rim waiting for a kickout. 

The fact remains that he's going to be only a third or fourth option for this team. The way he can really make an impact is by dominating defensively with his shot-blocking ability. For whatever reason, that talent was largely AWOL last season, but if it bounces back, Smith can resume his push toward stardom. 

Anyway, this is just having a little fun.  I've already argued that the Suns are plenty fine the way they are.  And these trades will probably also be available at the trade deadline.

But just to give us something to talk about on a Saturday in mid-July...

Poll

Let's make a deal

• 3-way with Golden State, netting Josh Smith for J-Rich
• 3-way with New Jersey, netting Josh Smith for J-Rich
• NO TRADE! Keep J-Rich - he was our playoff savior
• NO TRADE! We can do better than Josh Smith. Just be patient.

  1525 votes | Results

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In the last couple of days, some important Suns voices have given interviews. I'll be linking to them here, and posting some of what I thought were the most interesting (i.e. stuff I didn't already know) nuggets of info.

How long have the Suns been discussing Turkoglu? What kind of front office is Sarver planning? How much money is Sarver going to spend? Did Leandro Barbosa get blindsided or forced out? Or did the Suns accommodate his request for a fresh start? What does Goran think of all the moves?

 

First, there's the Robert Sarver interview on KTAR (as a link off the KTAR sports page). I don't have a transcript of this, but these (paraphrased) items stood out to me:

• Suns have been wanting Hedo Turkoglu for years.

• Turkoglu was a name they were discussing since the end of the season, even using it as a selling point to Amare in those last days of June. (This means they'd planned to have Turk play SF in the same front court with Amare and Lopez. Given the transaction - LB + Jones for Turk - that definitely could have happened.)

• Even after acquiring Josh Childress and Turk, Suns may still do some tinkering this summer, though he didn't mention specifics.

• He's looking to start out the season at about $65 million, midway between the "cap" and the "tax." (Right now, the salaries stand at about $62 mill or so. Add in spots 10-13 at minimum, and you're right around 64. Maybe Sarver is factoring in using the 2 mill bi-annual exception for a vet big. But really, any new rotation additions would have be accompanied by losing 1-2 players at the same time. There's just not enough minutes for the people we have, let alone another veteran big man.)

• He mentioned that the Suns have a lot of assets, and that the $65 million allows them to add someone during the season if the fit was right. He mentioned the remaining $6 in TPE specifically, plus the depth of the team in general (I love this - it means no more scrimping if there's a huge weakness someone can fill, or there's injuries).

• Regarding the front office, he said they currently still have about 20 people in the Operations dept, and that Todd Quinter did most of the scouting/selling on Childress. (Have I mentioned I love me some Chill?)

• He also said he wanted to add an analytics department (this has become the latest craze in basketball, used extensively by Houston, OKC and Portland, to name a few. Personally, I think this is a long time coming. Suns are one of only about 7 teams that don't already have this department.)

• When asked about the GM hire, he said he wants to hire a few people (which indicates to me that both of the rumored names - Dell Demps and Tom Penn - might be brought in, in addition to Babby.  Demps is a talent evaluator, while Penn is a cap guru and analytics guy)

Next, we have an Alvin Gentry interview with Suns.com.  Interesting/new tidbits:

• Regarding the LB trade: "This is just one of those situations where he just felt like he wanted to be in a different place and have an opportunity to play more minutes. With J-Rich (Jason Richardson) playing the way he is and Goran (Dragic) coming on, he thought it might be best to be moved and play somewhere else. I understand that. There’s no hard feelings and we wish Leandro nothing but the best, and I think he’ll be successful wherever he is." (I didn't know LB expressed desire to move on.  Makes sense, of course.)

• Regarding Hedo, and mixing with Nash: "One of the things we haven’t been able to utilize over the years here is Steve’s ability to be a shooter. If he’s not the best shooter in the league, he’s in the top two or three shooters. We like for him to be the guy off the ball some coming off screens and I think Hedo will allow us to do that." (To me, Nash has never been a good spot-up shooter.  He's best off the dribble, as is Dragic.  But then, the sample size of spot-up opportunities is pretty small.)

• regarding Childress: "He’ll be one of those guys that we ask to defend Kobe (Bryant), Paul Pierce, Dwyane Wade, LeBron (James) and guys like that, and do the best job that he can." (He will be a nice changeup with Hill and Duds all taking turns)

And finally, our own Goran Dragic.  Man, does his confidence sound sky-high right now!

• Regarding his personal trainer, and why he came back to the US just this past week after a few weeks on vacation: "I came here to the States to work with my personal coach Nenad Trajkovic. He’s Serbian and signed with the Suns...Last year he was in Phoenix like for two weeks and they saw what kind of improvement I made. We share the same agent so it was an easy for them to sign him and I’m very happy about it." (Suns signed Goran's personal trainer?  Sweet!)
  

• Regarding expectations in Phoenix: "...everybody was expecting me to play the same game as Nash, but I have a different one. Journalists in Phoenix, they were expecting me to play the same as Steve. I don’t have the same game as Steve. I’m not a Nash clone. So then, Alvin just gave me an opportunity, I relaxed  and just started to play my basketball. And then when you have a good game you realize you can play at this level." (So maybe we should stop trying to change players, and just allow them to play to their strengths?  Umm, excuse me, Goran.  Don't you realize us fans and journalists know what's best?  Hedo needs to become a rebounder/banger, and so does Frye. Oh, and can you get us 10 assists a game in 20 minutes next year?  Otherwise, we'll call you a shoot-first guy and write you off. kthxbye.)

• Regarding Hedo: "Hedo Turkoglu is a great guy and a great player and he can help us a lot. The club is getting players with great characters and our chemistry is great."

Of course, there's been tons of talk and spin on the internets lately.  And Sarver and Gentry said a lot more than I mentioned above.  But I just wanted to post what I thought was interesting, so don't get all up in my grill.  Click the links to hear/read all of it.

 

Also, Seth got some good quotes from Todd Quinter this week.  Check out his fanshot lower down this page for the link.

 

If you've seen another interview from a Suns person that had interesting nuggets in it, please paste the URL into the comments below.