As General Manager of the Phoenix Suns, Steve Kerr has two jobs to complete. Courtesy of his cheapskate owner the first would be to save money. The second however is to win as soon as possible. Their NBA Championship window is almost closed. If they do not win the title this year then it will never happen with this Phoenix team. What Steve Kerr managed to accomplish in that trade worked for Phoenix. He got rid of Kurt Thomas and his contract and a got a trade exception that he can use to add another piece to the Suns puzzle. Yes he has sacrificed the future of the franchise for the present, but lets be honest when is the last time the Suns had a good first round draft pick? They haven’t kept a pick since 2002 when they drafted Amare and it has turned out pretty ok for them.
None of this will matter if the Suns win the title next year. And that is the only goal they have.
On a sidenote…which is worse Bonds’s steroid use, Vick’s dog fighting or Donaghy’s betting on games he officiates. To me it is a tough call. I’m not down with the sensationalistic approach and reporting on Vick’s dog fighting or Donaghy’s betting. I mean for all I know at this point, Michael Vick’s three friends could have done every aspect of it and used his name. Donaghy could have acted alone in meaningless games. There simply is not enough information out there for me to really accurately throw an opinion out there. Or rather let me rephrase I haven’t gathered all of the information out there enough to feel right about putting my two cents out there. I mean the way they are ripping Mike Vick apart…it is like a re-run of what they did to Kobe. I don’t think Barry did steroids and that is my personal opinion that few in the world share. Just like I don’t think steroids make you commit pre-meditated murders on your family, I don’t think steroids give you the ability that Barry Bonds has. Remember when Jason Giambi was on steroids and was doing terrible and he came back clean and was doing good? Steroids don’t give you that god-given ability that Barry Bonds has. I have yet to hear about any sort of positive test coming from Barry Bonds. And even if it were to be somehow proven that he did take them, steroids are all over baseball. At one point in time it was part of the culture to take them and there were no rules or regulations against it really. Steroids don’t make you a great baseball player.
My last comment on Donaghy is this. The media is looking hard at the ‘mafia’ angle…but they forget this is one referee who acted on his own accord. This is not 9-10 referees who were doing this, this was one guy. That is why to me personnally this is not as big of a deal as the media is making it out to be. To me this does not ruin the “credibility” or “image” of the game because of one referee. Just like when Chris Benoit killed his wife and kid am I supposed to think that all pro wrestlers are sick and twisted people? No. It was a singular man acting on his accord. Remember this as well; the FBI has yet to charge Donaghy they are simply investigating. Now as this story develops, so will my opinion but I just have to see some more facts. On the outside looking in, I believe that Donaghy just had a severe gambling problem and was in debt to some bad people. Because NBA referees are well paid, don’t let people fool you.
So in response to the question which is worse? Ask Coup because I think they are all overblown and way out of proportion.
You know what is funny though? In 03′ Donaghy got threatened by Rasheed Wallace in the loading docks at the Rose Garden. Back then it was ‘oh my god you can’t threaten an official like that’. And he was reffing the game when the Pistons and Pacers brawled.