Dear Robert:

Say, what the hell is going on? A few weeks ago, our Suns were fighting for a finals birth. An unexpected one. An impressive one. One that was enabled by the work of David Griffin, Steve Kerr, Alvin Gentry, and of course your players. Let us not forget us fans filling U.S. Airways Arena, drinking your beer and eating your hot dogs for premium prices. Now, it is all unraveling fast before our very eyes.

WTF Robert? What is REALLY going on? We of the Suns nation deserve more than your little interview yesterday on KTAR, which was nothing -- not PR, not damage control, not information of any kind of substance or value.

You sounded like one of those old Enron Execs or something. Was your lawyer in the studio with you? Just a joke -- this isn't a rant to insult you; that's being done elsewhere by a bunch of bloodthirsty jackals.

Not me, sir. I'm writing with all due respect.

So down to brass tacks and the purpose of my correspondence:  What are your plans? Are you blowing this team up? Who's next, the players? Amare ... yeah, we get it; that's over. But what about the other winners that have made you so much money, that we all love and respect so much? Steve Nash? Grant Hill? Dudz, JRich? Lou and Frye (yeah, I'm sure they'll be demanding too much), Goran? The rest?

How's about Alvin Gentry? He's a good man, right? And he led our team through the ups and downs of this past season. How does he feel now? Maybe a vote of confidence ($ and security) would be smart or nice, or something to show some appreciation. A pat on the back these days doesn't pay the bills.

Hello? Bob? You there?

Listen, I'll be honest, you aren't looking so good right now. We don't really trust you and we have no idea what comes next. What are your motives? You can understand us being nervous, right? I mean, are you trying to fund a villa in Nice, or a yacht bigger than most of our homes, or are you trying to get the Suns franchise over the hump and into championship contention? Doesn't sound like the latter to me. In fact, it kind of seems like every time we have reason to believe we're going in the right direction as a franchise, you make Negative Nancys out of us.

Oh and this other thing that's bugging me personally: You really blew the BSOTS player evaluation project. We were rolling pretty good. Trevor, Watadogg, and myself were putting up some good work. Even Basketball Girlfriend was going to contribute as a means to celebrate our season and get over the disappointment of losing to the evil empire in LA.

You really screwed that up now, Bob. Do we continue in spite of the recent news, or do we just forget it, because a lot of us are considering taking up antidepressants, OD'ing on Krispy Kremes, or skipping work to get a 5th of Ten High and find a hole to crawl into.

Bob, your life is good. We congratulate you on your millions, but let's not forget who made a lot of that possible. So, here's an open invite to address some of the most intelligent, die-hard Suns fans. Why not give me a call or email and we can arrange an online interview where you can justify yourself and give us some truth.

Sincerely,

Wil Cantrell
Common Man 

PS:  Some of my my fellow common men may have some words for you below ... (Let's hear it, Bright Siders ... He'll read it, I'm positive).

 

[Note by Wil Cantrell, 06/17/10 10:00 AM MST ]:

In light of all the negativity of the past two days I think it's time to get back to celebrating a fantastic season and the players who helped make it happen ... Let's not let Bob Sarv stop our party ...Onward:

This is the fifth installment in our series of Suns player evaluations. We're going back to school using the old A-F grading system, weighing numbers, opinions, and all that cannot be captured in a statistic--value each player added to the Suns improbable run to the 2010 Western Conference Finals.

We're about to throw a grade at a class act. We're about to judge a man who's already proven his worth by three times winning the NBA's Sportsmanship Award and seven times owning that enviable All-Star status. We're going to examine a fellow who exemplifies what being a team player is all about, with loads of professionalism and leadership just a-swinging in his wake. It's our man Grant, a Hill of a Man. Grant Hill truly personifies the meaning of sportsmanship and love for the game, and this was evidenced by his tremendous efforts during the 2009-10 Phoenix Suns basketball season.

This isn't just about numbers and statistics, either. Okay, so Hill averaged 11.3 points and 5.5 rebounds this season (his highest rebounding average since 2002-03 and his most total rebounds - 445 - in a single season since 1999-00), but did anyone else notice that he seems to be pulling a Clooney on us? I mean, the man just gets hotter and hotter with age. Ask any female NBA basketball fan who they think is the most handsome and they'll likely respond Hill, or with some variation of his name. For this reason I find it difficult to think of even one reason not to give the man an A+. But of course we'll let the fans decide.

Morals. Values. A face you can trust. He could've retired to become a politician (gasp!), but instead Hill decided to keep it real in Arizona and give his heart and soul to the Suns. Hill's amazing attributes cater directly to what propelled the Suns to excel this year. The upbeat, optimistic, grateful and steady Hill pushed his team to succeed. A second season sans injury, with Hill's health often focused on by the media and by pessimistic fans, was a fantastic addition to Hill's outstanding work on the whole.

Hill's outstanding character was magnified during the Western Conference Semifinals, where he saw his first playoff series victory. I'm thinking about the Portland and Spurs games in particular, with Hill's drop-in and lock-down defense and priceless postgame interviews.

Y'all remember this too:

 

And his age, oh his age ... it seems like whenever he made a great shot or gave us that dependable D someone had to say, "... and that was 37-year-old Grant Hill over in the lane." Next season he'll be 38 and honestly, if he keeps on keeping on the way he's been, he's still going to be better than most of the younger guys out there - in my humble opinion, of course. The basketball dinosaur addressed the issue of his age recently:

"I'd like to prove that I can play until I'm 40. That would be nice. But I'm not going to play if I can't play at a level that I expect. Obviously, I'm not what I was 10 years ago. But I can still contribute and not be a liability. If I'm a liability, it's time to move away, and I'll move away. But, if I've still got it physically and I still have it up here, mentally and emotionally and I have that desire, yeah, I'll play another two or three years.''

Hill is no rookie in this game and he knows that changes are on the horizon. He's shown time and time again that he can adapt to change on the team, and he also knows that there aren't a lot of players that can set him up with a pass like Steve Nash or teams with a game system in which it's easy to make room and time to breathe. It's an easy fit for Hill who has been wise to stick with purple and orange for the latter portion of his career.

Also, it's been said before, and I don't believe it was an accident, that Earl Clark's locker was placed right next to Hill's for a reason. I only hope Clark paid attention to any potential pep talks or pointers that Hill may have imparted (with the best yet to come, I'm sure).

Finally, I love this slideshow. In his own words, Grant Hill modestly reflects on his career. One of my favorite lines consists of Hill looking at a slideshow picture of media day with the Suns for the start of the 09-10 season. He's talking about his pose with Amar'e and Nash, saying "15-20 years from now when they're old and gray and I'm just old, we'll look back...". Grant, we're glad to have you here in the valley of the Sun, and remember - you'll always have fans on the Bright Side.

Final Grade: A+

Poll

Grant Hill's 2009-10 Season Grade

• A+
• A
• A-
• B +
• B
• B-
• C ...and you know you're going to have to explain this one.

  473 votes | Results

You almost have to wonder if Steve Kerr senses an iceberg straight ahead and wants to jump ship while he’s still looked upon as the genius who guided the Suns to a surprise Western Conference...

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Things continue to shape up as more information comes out and it doesn't look good. Just weeks after the euphoric end to a better than expected season, the Suns seem to be imploding from the top down.

Instead of an anxious summer focused on making the best Amare decision possibly, the Suns are a team in free-fall, as the rift between ownership and management threatens to drag the franchise down for years to come.

Best case, the team will start the season once again with a large deficit of fan goodwill that they will have to earn back the hard way. Again. All momentum from this best season having been destroyed in the last 24 hours.

Worst case, think 20 years of Bidwell-run Cardinals or perhaps the LA Clippers -- low-balling coaches and key players, which leads to poor team morale and an organization that can't attract top free agent player or coaching talent.

I tried to be patient with this situation and not overreact, but at this point, 24 hours later, with the information that's come out and having heard from the key parties directly, there is absolutely no way to see anything positive coming out of this. I fear the Suns are in for a rough road as Sarver hopes to milk a couple of good years out of Gentry, Hill and Nash before their contracts are up and the team flounders as it tries to make crucial moves this summer when Amare opts out.

The latest sad news ...

Today, Paul Coro reported the following about what Kerr was offered, "a one-year contract to stay at his current salary or a three-year deal that would repeat his previous one except for adding a third-year bonus. That meant Kerr's first-year salary would be a cut of about 10 percent from last season, when his salary ranked in the upper one-third of West GMs."

KTAR's John Gambodoro continues to insist that Kerr was not offered a pay cut and today, while interviewing Robert Sarver on his radio show, said that Kerr told him there was no cut. But Sarver, when asked directly, didn't deny the cut and talked around the question.

Even more depressing is Sarver stating that the Suns would pick up Gentry's option year, keeping him one of the lowest paid coaches in the league through 2011/12 instead of giving Gentry a new, better deal. How do you think that's going to fly with Alvin and with the players who support him?

David Griffin, who is widely respected around the NBA and clearly qualified for the job, is the only chance for consistency in the front office. Unfortunately, Sarver made it clear that Griff doesn't have any kind of inside track and said he would give an interview if David wanted one.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the only guy the Suns could bring back with any hope of continuity in the front office. Then again, why would Griffin want the job if his hands would be handcuffed so badly by an owner who continues to show all the savvy of a bull in a china shop?

Were you shocked by Kerr's decision?

"Nah, I wouldn't say shocked. Nothing in this business will shock ya."

"He's had some good opportunities -- including going back to TNT -- and they made a hard sell to him this week, as well, as a team called to see if he'd be interested in being a head coach, which is something at some point in time maybe he'll end up doing."

What changed in the last 24 to 48 hours to make Kerr not come back?

"It's a stressful job ... at the end of the day, he decided this is what's best for (him) personally."

Steve Kerr told me (Gambo) he was not offered a pay cut at all, was he offered a pay cut on this next contract?

"A lot of these contracts -- GMs, players and coaches -- are based on what the market is and the market is, there's 30 teams, so there's 30 GMs, there's 30 coaches and there's 450 players. That's really what sets the market. In terms of Steve, he really wasn't at the top, but he was well compensated. He was in the top one-third of the Western Conference general managers and if you look at our payroll, our payroll is in the top third.

"Listen, you can't have the third best winning percentage in the league for six years and go to the Western Conference Finals three times unless you have good people and in order to get good people you have to pay them fair compensation and what makes sense in the market place."

Do you have to act quick to get a replacement in time for July 1 when free agency starts?

"The answer would be yes and no in that order. We have one of our best players who is a free agent.

"In terms of whether having a GM on board, I don't think that's going to make any difference.

"What's more important to players is number 1, the dollar amount of their contracts. Two, who are their teammates going to be, number 3 who's their coach going to be, number 4 what city are they going to live in and number 5, is this going to be a good fit, am I going to get to play, is this a winning team."

Were there philosophical differences between you and Steve that made him not want to come back?

"Over three years, we've made some good moves, we've made some bad moves.

"Do we agree on everything? No, we don't. Do we agree on 90%? Yes, we do."

Where are you with Gentry's contract (which has one year left and then a team option for the second year) and did that play any role in Steve not coming back?

"No, I don't think so. Steve was very excited about the job that Alvin did and so am I.

"Gentry signed a three year deal with the third year a team option. We are one year in.

"Picking up that third (year) option just makes sense, so that's what will be done."

What about David Griffin for GM and how quickly do you move forward on search for GM?

"I don't feel time pressure. What's important is that we get the right person in the job, so we will be looking everywhere. I don't have any preconceived notion as to who's the lead candidate or who isn't, who we'll include or who we won't include. We'll be assembling a list together of 20 to 30 candidates that will be looked at and narrowed down to a pool to be interviewed by several people in the organization and we'll go from there."

Will Griffin be on that list of candidates to be interviewed?

"If that's what he would like, he would. Yes."

Things continue to shape up as more information comes out and it doesn't look good. Just weeks after the euphoric end to a better than expected season, the Suns seem to be imploding from the top down.

Instead of an anxious summer focused on making the best Amare decision possibly, the Suns are a team in free-fall, as the rift between ownership and management threatens to drag the franchise down for years to come.

Best case, the team will start the season once again with a large deficit of fan goodwill that they will have to earn back the hard way. Again. All momentum from this best season having been destroyed in the last 24 hours.

Worst case, think 20 years of Bidwell-run Cardinals or perhaps the LA Clippers -- low-balling coaches and key players, which leads to poor team morale and an organization that can't attract top free agent player or coaching talent.

I tried to be patient with this situation and not overreact, but at this point, 24 hours later, with the information that's come out and having heard from the key parties directly, there is absolutely no way to see anything positive coming out of this. I fear the Suns are in for a rough road as Sarver hopes to milk a couple of good years out of Gentry, Hill and Nash before their contracts are up and the team flounders as it tries to make crucial moves this summer when Amare opts out.

The latest sad news ...

Today, Paul Coro reported the following about what Kerr was offered, "a one-year contract to stay at his current salary or a three-year deal that would repeat his previous one except for adding a third-year bonus. That meant Kerr's first-year salary would be a cut of about 10 percent from last season, when his salary ranked in the upper one-third of West GMs."

KTAR's John Gambodoro continues to insist that Kerr was not offered a pay cut and today, while interviewing Robert Sarver on his radio show, said that Kerr told him there was no cut. But Sarver, when asked directly, didn't deny the cut and talked around the question.

Even more depressing is Sarver stating that the Suns would pick up Gentry's option year, keeping him one of the lowest paid coaches in the league through 2011/12 instead of giving Gentry a new, better deal. How do you think that's going to fly with Alvin and with the players who support him?

David Griffin, who is widely respected around the NBA and clearly qualified for the job, is the only chance for consistency in the front office. Unfortunately, Sarver made it clear that Griff doesn't have any kind of inside track and said he would give an interview if David wanted one.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the only guy the Suns could bring back with any hope of continuity in the front office. Then again, why would Griffin want the job if his hands would be handcuffed so badly by an owner who continues to show all the savvy of a bull in a china shop?

Suns Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin won’t be selected. He told Sarver he would not be a candidate and would not stay with the organization after his contract expires in two weeks. He is not expected to return to the Suns after working for them for 18 years.

Were you shocked by Kerr's decision?

"Nah, I wouldn't say shocked. Nothing in this business will shock ya."

"He's had some good opportunities -- including going back to TNT -- and they made a hard sell to him this week, as well, as a team called to see if he'd be interested in being a head coach, which is something at some point in time maybe he'll end up doing."

What changed in the last 24 to 48 hours to make Kerr not come back?

"It's a stressful job ... at the end of the day, he decided this is what's best for (him) personally."

Steve Kerr told me (Gambo) he was not offered a pay cut at all, was he offered a pay cut on this next contract?

"A lot of these contracts -- GMs, players and coaches -- are based on what the market is and the market is, there's 30 teams, so there's 30 GMs, there's 30 coaches and there's 450 players. That's really what sets the market. In terms of Steve, he really wasn't at the top, but he was well compensated. He was in the top one-third of the Western Conference general managers and if you look at our payroll, our payroll is in the top third.

"Listen, you can't have the third best winning percentage in the league for six years and go to the Western Conference Finals three times unless you have good people and in order to get good people you have to pay them fair compensation and what makes sense in the market place."

Do you have to act quick to get a replacement in time for July 1 when free agency starts?

"The answer would be yes and no in that order. We have one of our best players who is a free agent.

"In terms of whether having a GM on board, I don't think that's going to make any difference.

"What's more important to players is number 1, the dollar amount of their contracts. Two, who are their teammates going to be, number 3 who's their coach going to be, number 4 what city are they going to live in and number 5, is this going to be a good fit, am I going to get to play, is this a winning team."

Were there philosophical differences between you and Steve that made him not want to come back?

"Over three years, we've made some good moves, we've made some bad moves.

"Do we agree on everything? No, we don't. Do we agree on 90%? Yes, we do."

Where are you with Gentry's contract (which has one year left and then a team option for the second year) and did that play any role in Steve not coming back?

"No, I don't think so. Steve was very excited about the job that Alvin did and so am I.

"Gentry signed a three year deal with the third year a team option. We are one year in.

"Picking up that third (year) option just makes sense, so that's what will be done."

What about David Griffin for GM and how quickly do you move forward on search for GM?

"I don't feel time pressure. What's important is that we get the right person in the job, so we will be looking everywhere. I don't have any preconceived notion as to who's the lead candidate or who isn't, who we'll include or who we won't include. We'll be assembling a list together of 20 to 30 candidates that will be looked at and narrowed down to a pool to be interviewed by several people in the organization and we'll go from there."

Will Griffin be on that list of candidates to be interviewed?

"If that's what he would like, he would. Yes."