People were really down on him as a person and a teammate before he came to Sacramento.

Also, Phoenix made a huge blunder trading Marion for Shaq because they now need to shed salary to stay under the luxury tax, and Shaq’s deal doesn’t come off the books until next year (unlike Marion’s). Because the luxury tax will be lower next year (which caught many GMs by surprise), their owner (Sarvor) is forcing Kerr to deal salary. The only contracts big enough to do the trick are Stoudemire, Shaq and Nash. No one wants Shaq’s salary and Nash is the face of the franchise, making Stoudemire the choice by default.

Had they not made the deal for Shaq, they could have just let Marion go or dealt him for picks, expirings and young players and kept Amare. It was just a terrible move that is going to set them way back.

I totally would trade the #1 pick this year if we didn’t have to give up Hawes or Thompson. If we were to get Stoudemire now, we would also have a chance to win more ballgames, and we could end up with a pick in the 7-13 range, which probably will get you a player that will never amount to more than a borderline starter. Sure, that pick could become an all-star, but chances are slim that the player picked in that spot will ever be as good as Amare. I would even throw in Salmons, or the Houston pick to get the deal done.

1. pick, Salmons, Bobby Jackson’s expiring, Sheldon’s expiring, Douby’s expiring for Stoudemire. Don’t know if it works salarywise, but it should be close. The only problem is we are taking on salary next year, which the Maloof’s have said they won’t do. Petrie would probably have to shed salary elswhere (i.e., convince Cleveland to take Brad Miller for Wally) to get the Maloofs to sign off on it.