Suns' Fire Burns Out for Championship Hopes

For four straight seasons, from 2004 to 2008, the Phoenix Suns were the talk of the entire National Basketball Association. For four straight years, Steve Nash reinvigorated the fire of native Phoenicians and brought titletown hopes to Arizona, a feeling not channeled since Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle went to the NBA Finals in 1993. For four years, there were MVPs to be won, fastbreaks to dunk on, and purple and orange swirling and zipping on the court.

The end of the era came when longtime Sun Shawn Marion whined his way in a trade, that helped neither him nor the Suns in the long run. Shaquille O'Neal was received in exchange and he helped to change the style of the Suns' winning offense. The architect, head coach Mike D'Antoni, was left to go onto other pastures in New York City, and familiar sidearms in the pistol-fast Phoenix system, Boris Diaw and Raja Bell, chafed under the new approach of Terry Porter, who became head coach of the team before being fired at the 2009 All-Star Break (Diaw and Bell were then traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for off-guard Jason Richardson). Phoenix has not been the same.

In the present, what becomes of the team's future is yet to be determined. Nash is going up for another contract and some have wondered if he will stay or go (or whether Suns management and owner Robert Sarver will just send him away). Amare' Stoudemire has been a malcontent and possibly aided in the reason why Marion was so irritable in his later years with Phoenix; "STAT" had been close to being traded and while now unlikely, it's still possible that he may go. Beyond Nash and Stoudemire, all else is seemingly meaningless, even with an All-Star center in Shaq and a great stable of role players to have for the future.

The 2008-2009 regular season was a great disappointment for the Suns, and 2009-2010 wil be even more of a crap shoot.