Analysis: Suns' title hopes close, yet still far away

LOS ANGELES -- The backpack resting on the floor next to Amar'e Stoudemire's seat in the STAPLES Center visiting locker room on Wednesday symbolized the close-but-no-championship-cigar Suns he's played on his whole career.

It was a dark blue Nike bag, subtlety marked with an even darker navy U.S.A. Basketball symbol on the front, a gift from STAT's three-year tour of duty with the Redeem Team that ended with Stoudemire withdrawing himself from consideration for the final 12-man roster that ultimately won the gold in Beijing just a few months later.

On Monday, Dwight Howard sat in that very same seat in front of that very same locker and told a group of reporters that he had his gold medal from the Olympics outside on the team bus and that he takes it every where he goes.

It could have been Stoudemire.

It makes you wonder if Phoenix's Larry O'Brien Trophy hopes mimic the gold-medal-less resumé of its freakishly athletic big man.

So close but so far away.

Does Jason Richardson, a 6-6 jumping jack of a shooting guard in his eighth season get them any closer?

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If these were still the Seven Seconds or Less Suns, maybe he does. A career 18.8 points per game scorer who can hit the three (45.8 percent this season) and run the floor, Richardson's tireless lane-filling and three-dropping ability would theoretically fit in seamlessly with Mike D'Antoni's system like Lloyd being added to the cast of Entourage.

But Terry Porter's everyman 24 Seconds or Less Because That's the Rules Suns? How do they exploit what Richardson brings to the table?

"It was an opportunity to get a guy who scores 20 points a night, can do some things and add some athleticism to us which Raja [Bell] and Boris [Diaw] couldn't bring as much," Porter said before the game.

At Porter's introductory press conference, general manager Steve Kerr stressed that he wasn't swapping offense for defense with the hiring.

"The key for us was having somebody who would be balanced on both sides of the ball, who wanted to continue to push the ball and maintain our up-tempo style but could also help us come in and improve defensively," Kerr said.

But they haven't been able to do both.

Phoenix's defense has improved, marginally, from ranking 25th in points allowed last season (105.0) to 21st (101.1) this year, while its offense has downgraded from third in points scored last year (110.1) to eighth this season (101.3).

Which means Phoenix's point differential margin has dipped significantly from +5.0 last year to +0.2 in 2008-09.

Don't forget how close the Suns were to a championship.

So close, but a 4-1 loss in the conference finals to eventual champion San Antonio in 2005.

So close, but a 4-2 loss in the conference finals to Steve Nash's pal, Dirk Nowitzki, and the Dallas Mavericks in 2006.

So close but a 4-2 conference semifinals loss to the Spurs in 2007 thanks to a hipcheck by Robert Horry and suspensions to Stoudemire and Diaw that still don't -- and never will -- sit well with fans who willingly wear purple and orange garments in public.

Kerr inherited the team in his first gig as a GM and did what every quick study does -- try to copy what worked for successful people in his field in the past.

Jerry West brought Shaquille O'Neal to Manhattan Beach and won three championships. Randy Pfund and Pat Riley brought Shaq to South Beach and won a championship.

Kerr was going to bring O'Neal to the desert and win one too.

The timing of the Richardson deal was particularly curious because Phoenix had won its last two games after Nash had declared the team in a "dark place" last week. Part of that resurgence was O'Neal's play, with a double-double against Utah and a season-high 35 points on 14-for-19 shooting against Milwaukee.

Suns assistant coach Alvin Gentry said before the game that Shaq already has had more quality games this season for the Suns than he had all of last season and playoffs combined for Phoenix.

So, if you start to turn the corner on the shoulders of a center who is as halfcourt a player as halfcourt players get, why blow it up for an up-and-down player who averages 16.4 shot attempts per game for his career?

Raja Bell and Diaw, sent Charlotte's way along with Sean Singletary for Richardson and second-year forward Jared Dudley, combined to average 14.4 shot attempts a game for Phoenix this year. How does that jibe especially when Stoudemire, clearly the best player on the roster and a talent that the Suns don't want to see walk off into the sunset come July 1, 2010 when he joins in the free agency bonanza, only averages 14 shots per game and recently voiced his displeasure with his limited role to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, saying, "You've got LeBron James who's a featured guy. You've got Dwyane Wade. He's a featured guy. Dwight Howard? They go to him. Chris Bosh? They go to him ... Bottom line: I want to be that guy." Stoudemire called Richardson "another threat," not to his own shot attempts, but rather for opposing teams to guard. However, Stoudemire was quick to remember how Richardson beat him in the Slam Dunk Contest at the 2003 All-Star Game in Atlanta.

Porter praised Richardson's talents as a scorer several times in the pregame media scrum, but would only label him a "decent defender." A "decent defender" trying to replace Bell, who was coming off an All-Defensive Second Team selection in 2007-08 after his First Team nod in '06-07.

"There's no right time for a trade, is there?" Porter quipped to reporters.

It certainly didn't feel like the right time considering O'Neal was away from the team because of a death in the family and Alando Tucker was out of the lineup with a knee injury, leaving Phoenix with just eight healthy players to send out there against a Lakers team with a 17-3 record. Phoenix played valiantly before falling to the "struggling" Lakers, who needed a late push to win 115-110, avoiding the embarrassing outcome suffered by the Washington Wizards when they lost to an eight-man Knicks squad while waiting on players to arrive from the Clippers after the Jamal Crawford trade back in November.

The Suns bench was a rare site. Usually an NBA bench is so crowded with players and coaches that you have a handful of guys on the team either sit in a second row behind it or even on the floor in the corner of the court adjacent to it. Not so on Wednesday when Phoenix's players had more space to spread out than when Verne Troyer flies first class.

"Whatever decision the front office makes is to better the team and to win a title," Stoudemire said. "What we have to do is accept that and work on what we need to work on, improve as a unit and go out there and win ballgames."

Nash was asked if Richardson was just another body in the long line of potential Joe Johnson replacements brought in since Johnson was traded for Diaw in 2005 to get Phoenix back to that level.

"Well, we've had a pretty good run, we've had a pretty good three-plus years," Nash said, reminding a reporter that the team didn't exactly struggle once Johnson became a Hawk.

Except the finality in Nash's voice after seeing his best friend on the team, Bell, leave town didn't just suggest missing a buddy, but rather forgetting about a trophy hoisting ceremony in June.

"I hope it's not a situation where they're just trying to blow it up," Nash added.

They're not blowing it up. A core of Nash, O'Neal, Stoudemire and Richardson is still a playoff team.

But a championship team?

Maybe there was one in the home locker room in STAPLES Center on Wednesday, but it's doubtful about the team in the visitor's space.

Again, so close, but so far away.