Q. Rich: "Joe did not want to leave"

[Elijah]

• "They said he was going for the money. Yeah, after you stick it to him once, twice - man, you still think he's coming back here? Joe did not want to leave. But that's the business part. They have to cover their own butts so the fans won't say, 'You ruined our team.' In actuality, they did."

Go to Hoopshype NBA Rumors and Control F "Joe" and you'll find it. Q. Rich was talking about how he and all the SUns from 2004-2005 are still tight.

I think Joe did want to leave

[exodus]

• "They said he was going for the money. Yeah, after you stick it to him once, twice - man, you still think he's coming back here? Joe did not want to leave. But that's the business part. They have to cover their own butts so the fans won't say, 'You ruined our team.' In actuality, they did."

Go to Hoopshype NBA Rumors and Control F "Joe" and you'll find it. Q. Rich was talking about how he and all the SUns from 2004-2005 are still tight.

I think Joe did want to leave

I doubt he wanted to leave at first. But when they lowballed him after his 3rd season he felt dissed, just like i am sure the Joshs felt last summer.

It is pretty clear that the Suns' ownership is tight given that they were selling 1st round picks to avoid the luxury tax on a team that was a legit title contender. It the owners had made JJ a strong offer from the beginning i have no doubt that JJ would still be there.

[NineOhTheRino]

that's pretty much common knowledge around the league. Joe even said as much in his Sports South special.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I still say that the Suns were crazy for breaking that team up after one season. I know they did it for money reasons, but that just proves that the Suns owner wasn't serious about winning a title. As long as he could put an entertaining product on the floor, and the people kept coming to see them play, he could've cared less about a title.

And it's so funny. They let JJ get away from them, and they traded away Shawn Marion . . . but end up trading for a hybrid of those 2 in J-Rich, trying to replace some of the athleticism, long range shooting, and shot creating ability they lost. LOL . . and they STILL don't have an adequate backup for Nash.

Thank you Phoenix, for not wanting to pay JJ.

[crimedog]

I still say that the Suns were crazy for breaking that team up after one season. I know they did it for money reasons, but that just proves that the Suns owner wasn't serious about winning a title. As long as he could put an entertaining product on the floor, and the people kept coming to see them play, he could've cared less about a title.

And it's so funny. They let JJ get away from them, and they traded away Shawn Marion . . . but end up trading for a hybrid of those 2 in J-Rich, trying to replace some of the athleticism, long range shooting, and shot creating ability they lost. LOL . . and they STILL don't have an adequate backup for Nash.

Thank you Phoenix, for not wanting to pay JJ.

I thought that one of the best peices Simmons had ever written was when he talked about the death of the Suns when they traded for Shaq.

So many people looked at that team and said things like "Oh well they are just proof that you can't win a title by running" but the fact of the matter is that those teams were DAMN good and fun to watch and would have had a good shot of getting over the hump were it not for some terrible personnel decisions and frugality (justified or not) on behalf of the owners. They needed a backup point, a defensive minded backup big, and some fresh blood and they sold picks and Kurt Thomas for cash in addition to letting JJ go.

[AHF]

I thought that one of the best peices Simmons had ever written was when he talked about the death of the Suns when they traded for Shaq.

So many people looked at that team and said things like "Oh well they are just proof that you can't win a title by running" but the fact of the matter is that those teams were DAMN good and fun to watch and would have had a good shot of getting over the hump were it not for some terrible personnel decisions and frugality (justified or not) on behalf of the owners. They needed a backup point, a defensive minded backup big, and some fresh blood and they sold picks and Kurt Thomas for cash in addition to letting JJ go.

Had they had better ownership they would have been a sick team. Those picks ended up being pretty valuable by themselves - Luol Deng, Rajon Rondo, etc.