Suns down

Phoenix 0, San Antonio 3.

There is still a measure of justice in this world.

Now that the Suns are just a game away from going on a fishing trip, it would be nice to know what Shawn Marion (who is already holding a fishing reel along with the rest of the Miami Heat) could be thinking right now.

I have a few conjectures. Marion is thinking: Serves you right for trading me...The Suns could have been 2-1 ahead in the series if I was still with them...In recent memory, the only time that a team won the NBA Finals because it added an aging All-Star to its lineup was when the Houston Rockets won in 1995 after it acquired Clyde Drexler...Charles Barkley tried to win a Finals ring with the Rockets and so did Karl Malone with the Lakers after making sudden jumps from their previous teams, but they all failed...

Something vital is lost when you tamper with the chemistry of a team that had gelled after years of playing together. There are hardly any instant solutions in the NBA where a long regular season is the battle field where team work and bonding are developed not just in a single season. Look what happened to the Sacramento Kings of Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, and Doug Christie, which almost knocked out the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Kings management gradually chopped off the top players from the roster until only Bibby was left, until even Bibby was out. Head coach Rick Adelman was fired in 2006, after nine seasons where he took the Kings with him to the playoffs every year of his tenure. The Kings never made it far in the playoffs after that particular player and coaching roster got broken up.

A team might be shaken up with good results when management dips its dirty fingers into a well-baked pie. But bad results are the norm.

When loyalty and hard work are rewarded with an axing, there will be consequences, because justice, unlike apple pie, is best served cold.

Reel it in, Mr. Marion. You caught one.

Looks like good fishing post-season.