Orange & Purple snaps

The website calling for Steve Kerr to be fired as G.M. of the Phoenix Suns has over 1,000 hits. Looks like the fans in Phoenix may be onto something. Dan Bickley already predicted that this will be Kerr’s last draft as G.M. of the Suns. Needless to say, he is not a very popular fellow around the Valley these days.

The club officially announced today that they will hold training camp at the University of San Diego September 28th-October 4th. I suppose it’s no coincidence that Kerr, Robert Sarver, and Jenny Craig (part owner) all reside in the 619. Though many fans are disappointed the Suns are leaving the state for training camp, I’m excited for the 2-hour cruise south to see my team next season.

There are rumors circulating that the Suns may make a move to try and move up in this week’s draft, possibly as high at the #5 pick. Although my pipe dream of Ricky Rubio really is a long shot, Kerr may impress me and make a move that is actually for the betterment of the organization.

Shaquille O’Neal has been noticeably quiet on the Twitter front lately. He does have the option to do whatever he wants, and post whenever he wants, but ever since he caught flak for his suck-up to Kobe post Finals, we haven’t heard much from him. Suppose he’s looking for housing in Cleveland on the low low? After all, there is absolutely no way we will see him in a Suns uniform next year.

Suns deny trade rumors

Paul Coro reported this morning that the Suns haven't even had the discussion with Minnesota regarding any possible trade including Amar'e Stoudemire or Al Jefferson.

An indirect source mentioned Wednesday that there was talk of a deal that would send Al Jefferson, Minnesota's sixth pick (and maybe even Mike Miller) to Phoenix for Amar'e Stoudemire before a direct source shot it down. A Boston Globe blog reported later Wednesday that there were talks of a Jefferson-and-No. 6 deal for Stoudemire. The Suns denied even having a conversation.

Since the original blog posting, Globe writer Marc Spears added Thursday morning that the trade would not happen but the Suns had made the offer and new Minnesota GM David Kahn called Jefferson to tell him he was not going anywhere.

The addition of Mike Miller into those trade talks would make this a downright theft for the Suns. I don’t understand why the Suns would be so quick to deny such a rumor, unless there’s validity to that very rumor. I don’t see Minnesota taking that gamble knowing that Amar’e will be able to opt-out after next season.

Let’s pretend for a second that this trade did actually happen. Miller included, assuming Jefferson has recovered fully from his ACL injury, the Suns would have the #6 and #14 picks in the draft, plus the possibility that Cleveland will panic and make that deal for Shaq. The Suns would gladly welcome a buy-out opportunity for both Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic, while saving about $10 million in cap room. And for the hell of it why not throw those first two picks at Chris Wallace, GM of the Memphis Grizzlies and see if he bites for the #2. He’s been known to make idiotic deals in the past, so what’s it going to hurt for Kerr to at least make the call.

In a perfect world take Ricky Rubio with the #2 and you are set. Re-up Steve Nash for 2 more guaranteed years with a team option for a 3rd and let Rubio learn from an MVP. A starting five next year of Nash, J-Rich, Miller, Jefferson, & Grant Hill would be formidable. You still have Barbosa, Jared Dudley, Robin Lopez, and Rubio off the bench. And as we saw with the Lakers, it never hurts to have some depth on that bench and Alvin Gentry has already shown that he utilizes a much deeper rotation than Mike D’Antoni. This would officially end the Goran Dragic experiment, so if he could be packaged in one of the afore mentioned trades, then don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Quite frankly though this is all just a pipe dream of potential that Steve Kerr wouldn’t even be able to pull off in this lifetime. Let me know if you have any other ideas for the direction the Suns should head this offseason.