Posts Tagged ‘Paul Coro’

Suns Exploring Trade Options?

February 20, 2013  ·  4:01PM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Phoenix Suns center Marcin Gortat is in the second to last year of his contract, but that hasn’t stopped the big man from making his way into the trade deadline crosshairs this season.

Gortat’s name has surfaced in a report from Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic regarding the Suns and Oklahoma City Thunder. The rumored deal would have the Suns sending Gortat and P.J. Tucker to the Thunder for Kendrick Perkins, Jeremy Lamb and a first round draft pick.

Coro came back later and clarified his earlier report, via Twitter:

But Gortat’s name keeps coming up for a reason. Plenty of teams would be interested in a productive big man, with a reasonable contract (one more year at $7.72 million), who can play in any system and play any style.

Toss in the $6.4 million in salary cap room the Suns can work with, and there’s a reason they’ve been mentioned as potential trade deadline players, even as perhaps the third team in a three-team deal.

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Posted in 2013 Trade Deadline / Comments (7) /

What’s Next For Steve Nash?

April 26, 2012  ·  9:47AM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – No one will ever question the love folks in Phoenix have for Steve Nash or the love he’s shown them back over the years.

Love, however, might not be enough to save this relationship come summer. Nash is going to be a free agent in July. And even though he insists that the Suns will be on his short list of possibilities, there is a very real chance that his 10-year run (covering two different stints with the team) could have come to an end last night with that thunderous standing ovation at US Airways Center.

It was quite the scene, as Nash made clear to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic:

“It was obviously amazing to get that type of reception and support,” Nash said. “It’s very special because it’s not something I asked for or imagined. To get that kind of reaction means it’s authentic, the relationship I thought we had. It really feels special. The fans have been phenomenal and it’s meant a lot to me to play in a city like this as long as I have and to feel important to the fans and community. I just feel like a very lucky guy.”

Lucky enough to stick around for whatever the Suns continuing rebuilding process has in store?

We’re guessing no.

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Posted in HT News / Comments (236) /

Labor Talks: Circling The Wagons?

November 3, 2011  ·  11:59AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – While we admire the solidarity message the players’ union has delivered repeatedly throughout the NBA lockout, it’s tough to read exactly how that message has been received.

While the majority of the rank-and-file players have been saying (and tweeting) all the right things about their unified state, cracks in the union’s foundation have emerged (as Jerry Stackhouse displayed passionately). The voices of discontent over this latest standoff are getting louder and louder. And there is a growing sentiment that we could see some sort of significant movement in mood after the union brass and executive committee members gather for a “strategy session” today in New York.

Are they circling the wagons with this pow-wow and gearing up to take another stand against the owners? Or is this the beginning of the end of the “stand united” campaign and the union’s solidarity movement?

Union executive director Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher will find out sometime later today or perhaps this weekend, when the Boston Herald reports that negotiations are set to resume.

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Posted in HT News, Labor / Comments (35) /

Heir Jordan No More

June 20, 2011  ·  4:22PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Has it come to this for Vince Carter?

The one-time heir to Michael Jordan‘s throne (one of many proposed successors) could find himself on the move come Thursday night, when the wheeling and dealing of for the 2011 Draft kicks into high gear.

Actually, Carter could simply be moved off of the Suns’ roster, bought out of the remainder of his contract for $4 million, per my main man Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Carter would be a Draft night footnote for the Suns in their quest to get younger:

“We are in constant conversation all day, every day with virtually every team in the league, trying to see if there’s anything we need to get an additional pick or if there are other ways to improve our team,” Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby said. “Like most of the conversations in the NBA, they usually don’t come to fruition. We’re trying to take everyone’s temperature.”

Since 2004, the Suns have traded or sold five first-round picks. Of the three first-round picks they kept, Alando Tucker and Earl Clark are gone and Robin Lopez no longer is considered unavailable on the trade market. This 13th pick would be their highest selection they kept since drafting Amar’e Stoudemire ninth in 2002.

“At some point, we have to get younger,” Babby said. “We want to begin with the draft to infuse younger players into our team.”

It would be yet another sad twist in the cruel ending to the career of one of the most exciting players the league has seen and easily one of the most talented players of his era.

Watching past drafts on NBA TV the last few days was a reminder of just how much promise is heaped upon the shoulders of some of these prospects as they enter the league. Carter’s arrival was one of the most anticipated I can remember, not that he was the No. 1 pick or anything (he went fifth overall in 1998 behind Michael Olowokandi, Mike Bibby, Raef LaFrentz and his North Carolina teammate, Antawn Jamison), but because he offered that rare, above-the-rim ability that so few of his contemporaries then or since could match.

To see him tossed aside like he could be in the coming days, after all these years, is just a reminder that Father Time remains the only true undefeated champion in all of sports.

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Posted in 2011 NBA Draft / Comments (246) /

Hang Time Podcast (Episode 46)

March 1, 2011  ·  7:18AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Now that the dust has settled from the trade deadline, it’s time to consider how all the moves made by the various teams (and it seems like every team made some kind of move) will shape the rest of the season.

Here at the hideout it’s time to react, reflect and round-up those in the know so we can make sense of it all. And that’s exactly what we’ve got for you on Episode 46 of the Hang Time Podcast .

Paul Coro from the Arizona Republic stops by to talk about Steve Nash‘s future and how the shakeup in the Western conference will affect the Suns’ suddenly promising playoff hopes, and A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast SportsNet in Boston drops in to explain the Celtics’ moves (as best he can, anyway).

You don’t want to miss this one.

LISTEN HERE:


As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazine and Sekou Smith of NBA.com, as well as our super producer Micah Hart of NBA.com’s All Ball Blog.

– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here.

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Posted in Podcast / Comments (54) /

Nash Speaks On Trade Rumors

November 11, 2010  ·  1:02PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – It seems a bit ridiculous now, Steve Nash having to address trade rumors a whopping seven games into the season.

But all it takes is someone raising the question, as my main man Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic did in the video above (fast forward to the 4 minute mark and see Nash’s response).

Nash responded the way you might expect, with the perfect blend of respect for the man who posed the question and disdain for the premise. Nash squashed any rumors and politely explained that he’s still in a Suns uniform because he wants to be. As for the rumors, Nash labeled them as “a lot of chatter, nothing really substantial.”

That won’t slow the conversation surrounding Nash’s future, a debate no doubt stirred by NBA.com’s Shaun Powell a couple of days ago when he legitimately raised the question about where the Suns go from here:

For a franchise that doesn’t seem willing (or able?) to spend money on big-ticket free agents, the only way to rebuild is through the Draft or with promising young players. The only way to do that is to trade an asset. Do the Suns keep Nash around for sentimental reasons and to win 45-50 games (which takes them out of the Draft lottery) and play a round or two in the playoffs? Or do they trade him and get something in return before it’s too late?

With Goran Dragic as a capable replacement for Nash, at least until they get somebody better, the Suns owe it to themselves to study the situation between now and the trade deadline.

Shaun suggested several options for the Nash and the Suns, including the Heat and Magic, needing what he brings. It’s an intriguing premise, even if it is all just hypothetical chatter.

We all play armchair GM anyway (sorry Steve, but this is what some people do in between games) and no one is off limits.

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Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (173) /