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Phoenix Holds Key To Free Agency
Expect to see Pippen on the Suns' horizon
By Sam Smith
CBS SportsLine Pro Basketball Writer
Oct. 22, 1998
You're the Phoenix Suns.
This is generally a good thing.
In Cleveland and Detroit,
they're getting snow showers
already. In the Pacific
Northwest, it's cloudy and
damp (tough job being a
weather forecaster there,
in Texas, they're
swimming down Main Street.
Ah, to be in Phoenix, the
Valley of the Sun. Who
wouldn't want to be?
The question for the Phoenix Suns once this labor mess
in the NBA gets over is who will they want to be.
Because after all the threatening and gamesmanship is
over between the NBA and its players -- and I'm saying
the first week of January we're back to it -- the Suns
might hold the key to what all the fuss was about.
Because the Suns have not only the sun (and lots of
golf courses), but management which will "take care" of
free agents now in the coming era of less.
GONE, TO SOME DEGREE, will be the gargantuan contracts
of the past. So free agents will have trust in mind.
Like Phoenix has shown for Danny Manning.
"Come play for us and you'll be taken care of (wink,
wink)," the Suns, in effect, told Manning a few year
back when he passed up $35 million from Atlanta to take
the Suns' $1 million for a year.
So what does Manning do but blow out his knee for a
second time. So what do the Suns do but reward him with
a $40 million contract through 2003.
Manning, of course, is going through rehabilitation on
[Danny Ainge] his third major knee injury
Coach Danny Ainge will The franchises a player
have a new cast of could probably count on to
characters to play with be taken care of start with
once the Suns are done Phoenix, then there's
with free agency. Orlando (hello, Horace
(Allsport) Grant), the Lakers (are they
-------------------------still paying Magic
Johnson?), and perhaps
Miami, the Knicks and Portland. The next question is
which of those teams have substantial room left under
the salary cap to sign free agents.
THAT WOULD BE THE SUNS first in that group, with about
$10 million and then perhaps Orlando with a little more
than half that.
So what is going to be the top free agent destination?
Even for those players who wouldn't know a double eagle
from a double play?
Right again, class.
The larger question, though, is what the Suns will do.
Do they have Scottie Pippen in their future?
The big talk around the NBA through the end of last
season was the Suns would make a major free agent
strike with Pippen, the disgruntled Chicago Bulls'
star.
That would be the highlight of the free agent
sweepstakes. And everyone knows Suns' owner Jerry
Colangelo likes to make a splash. But as the Suns began
to think about Pippen, they began to tread water a
little bit.
Suddenly someone noticed Pippen, for all his abilities,
really was a guard. Bigger than most, a better defender
than most, a better rebounder. But still a perimeter
player.
AND DIDN'T THE SUNS HAVE Jason Kidd, who has the ball
so often one would think it's his. They'll retain Rex
Chapman, who doesn't have it long once someone passes
it to him. Manning says he'll be back in time for
whatever season the NBA has, and Manning is a perimeter
player like Pippen, though less talented.
So why exactly would the Suns want Scottie Pippen when
Phoenix plays in a conference with Shaquille O'Neal and
Tim Duncan?
The Suns have only Mark Bryant at forward on their
roster, although they are expected to retain free agent
forward Antonio McDyess. But neither is a center. Don't
they at least need someone to stand in front of O'Neal
and Duncan?
So why not go after a center? There are several
available, like the Pacers' Rik Smits, the Hornets'
Vlade Divac and Matt Geiger, the Clippers' Isaac
Austin, the Bulls' Luc Longley and the Nets' Jayson
Williams.
Smits and Williams figure to remain with their teams,
so the best bets look like either of the Hornets'
centers, although Divac has mostly talked about
returning to play for a California team, or Austin.
After all, isn't that how you contend?
THE BULLS BUILT IN THE late 1980's to challenge Detroit
and then when Jordan returned to challenge Orlando. The
Pistons reformed themselves to challenge Boston. You
identify the teams you have to beat to get to the
Finals, and then go out and add the right players.
Which is the Suns' dilemma now.
To contend with the Lakers and Spurs, the Suns need a
center. But do you beat Shaq or Duncan with Vlade
Divac, Matt Geiger or Isaac Austin? Maybe you can do it
the Bulls way, by assembling talent and letting the
talent overcome.
After all, one of the Bulls most potent weapons against
O'Neal was Dennis Rodman, and O'Neal always has trouble
when he is guarded by Karl Malone and has to match up.
The traditional approach is to get the big man.
But it's not necessarily a traditional NBA anymore.
And when the Suns had their most success, in 1993, it
was after they obtained 6-5 Charles Barkley.
THE GUESS IS, IN THE END, the Suns will decide to add
the All-Star Pippen rather than just another
seven-footer.
Because you win with stars, not by having a guy whose
head is closer to them. But can they get Pippen? Or do
they even want him after he underwent back surgery for
a second time this summer?
At 33, is he worth the risk?
Probably, but that's as long as the Suns don't bring
Jerry Krause in as general manager.
That first day when teams can sign free agents once the
lockout ends, expect Pippen on the plane to the city
that makes the best offer with barely a regret -- or a
chance of an offer -- from the Bulls. The guess here,
in the end, is it will be Phoenix.
Because you know you can count on those guys from
Arkansas. Wait, Pippen's from Arkansas? Like Clinton?
Now wait a minute....
Sam Smith covers basketball for the Chicago Tribune.
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