The Suns were blown out by a mediocre Philadelphia 76ers team tonight and are now tied with Utah for the 8th spot in the West. As the team continues to flirt with not making the playoffs, the more likely it becomes that they might actually trade their superstar power forward, Amare Stoudemire.

A lot came out today on the Amare situation, and it is time to look at all the new rumors about Amare today.

The first piece of news came from David Shuster of 670 the Score, who reported that Paxson is itching to make a trade.

So once again Paxson has some big decisions to make. He was in this same position when Kevin Garnett and Pao Gasol were put on the market.

In those instances Paxson failed to pull the trigger but sources indicate that this time around he is itching to do so. And good for him that he hasn’t been fooled by the recent improved play of Thomas and Noah. Finally Paxson’s mind has been made up to shake up his roster.

It’s going to happen whether it’s a Stoudemire trade or something else.

This seems to be an accurate read of the situation. The Bulls never had a chance at Kobe Bryant and the Celtics offered a better package to the Timberwolves for Garnett than the Bulls did. Paxson has been stockpiling assets throughout his tenure as a general manager and is just waiting for his moment. If the Suns are willing to trade Stoudemire, than Paxson will jump at the opportunity, as this is the moment that he’s been waiting for.

The second rumor was from Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel who said that the Suns are looking elsewhere for a destination for Amare Stoudemire.

Among the most interesting fallout from the recent round of trade rumors is the amount of passion for Michael Beasley in this market. The email box runneth over (seriously, the automated notice came about a mandatory cleanup).

Fine. It looks like, after all, he’s not going anywhere. No, not because the Heat has made Michael untouchable, but apparently because Phoenix is looking elsewhere with its Amare Stoudemire salvage effort.

I would suspect that this rumor holds little validity. The Suns are looking for a combination of an expiring deal and a young talent. Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley present by far the best combination of those two things. If Beasley is available, I have a hard time believing that Phoenix would pass on such a deal.

I think what is more likely is that Miami feels that keeping Beasley is their best strategy. They probably feel that they can make a core out of Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley, and two 2010 free agents. The Heat will be able to sign two 2010 free agents while keeping the talented Beasley, because Beasley will still be on his rookie contract in the 2010 offseason.

There is a small chance that the Suns are passing on this, because it would mean that they would have to give up Leandro Barbosa to balance contracts while keeping Phoenix out of the luxury tax. But teams usually can find a third team in the NBA to make trades work, so this seems like an unlikely reason for the Suns and Heat to continue pushing through trade talks, seeking a third team to get things done. The most likely scenario is that Michael Beasley is not available.

The last major update came from Bulls’ insider Tech N9ne, who gave an update on Amare Stoudemire today. Here is what he had to say:

As we all know, the Bulls and Suns have had lengthy discussions about a possible trade that would send All Star big man Amare Stoudemire to Chicago. The Bulls are very much in the running to land Stoudemire, as GM John Paxson is willing to package just about any deal with mutliple players involved to get him, except for Derrick Rose of course. One scenario that is very possible and has been discussed the most would be a deal that would send Drew Gooden, Tyus Thomas, Thabo Sefoloshia and a 1st round pick to the Suns in exchange for Stoudemire. However, Steve Kerr would like Joakim Noah added to the deal as well. Phoenix will continue to talk with other teams to see if they can either find a better deal, or wait and see if the Bulls will add Noah to the trade. The Bulls want Stoudemire so much, that adding Noah may just happen. Even then, the ball will still be in the Suns court as they have multiple teams to work with and several deals to weigh out, the highest bidder will win.

That seems like the logical package that the Bulls and Suns would be discussing. The Bulls need to push this trade through, even if we have to give up both Noah and Thomas. Even at their best, both players are still significantly worse than Amare’s average. The Bulls front court would be a mess for awhile, but the Bulls would be able to rebuild that through free agency. (Rasheed Wallace is an unrestricted free agent this summer; Omer Asik is coming over in 2010). Sitting at 22-29, the Bulls are in no position to compete this year, so there should be little emphasis in trade talks about what the Bulls front court looks like this season. As long as it includes Stoudemire, while Rose, Hinrich, Gordon, Nocioni, and Deng are all still on the team, I will be happy.

I think the fact that Tech N9ne made a blog post about this, that seems somewhat favorable to the Bulls getting a trade done is good news. Tech N9ne works for the Bulls, so it is counterproductive for him to fan the flames of the Amare trade rumors if there is nothing to them.

I really do think that Steve Kerr, if he decides to trade Stoudemire, that he wants to do it to the Bulls, his former team. But as a Bulls fans, I have to use some restraint and not get too excited over this. I’ve seen trades for big names not happen in the past, and wouldn’t be shocked if this happened again. Still, I remain hopeful that Amare will be a Sun by the end of next Thursday.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 12:09 am and is filed under Commentary, Rumors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.