Too literal! You took it too literally! What did you do to Steve?! WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?!

Given this kindness, I came to a realization – most NBA fans of teams other than the Suns wouldn’t mind sending their most valued possessions to Phoenix for little to no return! They just want to help Steve in any way possible and get him a championship, right? That’s the way that they always couch their argument to Free Steve Nash, so this must be the logical conclusion!

I decided to take a look at how kind some teams could truly be in their contribution to Operation: Get Nash a Ring. If you’re a Suns fan, I think you’ll appreciate the generosity of our NBA brethren. If you’re a fan of any of these teams, let me be the first to say, “thank you.” You were right – we should have freed Steve Nash ages ago!

1. Vince Carter to OKC for Serge Ibaka, Russell Westbrook, and Nick Collison

I’m of the mind that ridding the Suns of a zombie will instantly make them a better team. Unfortunately, zombies are highly contagious, so the NBA will not allow Vince Carter to be traded in a combination with any other player. Fortunately, Oklahoma City has a well stocked team full of reasonable contracts that can be combined into equal (financial) value in order to trade for Carter.

This trade would be quite kind of Oklahoma City, as Phoenix would employ two of the best point guards in the league – either in two different units, or in an incredible crunch time lineup with Westbrook running the point and Nash playing off the ball. Serge Ibaka would make the Suns defense even better, and he and Gortat could form a formidable front line. (more…)

The drumbeat steadily increases. With every unsavory Suns’ loss to a losing team, writers, fans, and pundits make a beeline to the same three word chorus.

Free Steve Nash.

“I don’t want to say guys aren’t trying, just sometimes we don’t finish plays … We don’t grab loose balls, we don’t grab rebounds that are kind of 50-50 ones. I just think we kind of fall asleep sometimes and give up possessions here and there that at the end of the game are crucial.”

Steve Nash after Phoenix lost to the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.

Maybe you hit shift+3 before you type it, and you leave out the spaces. You might fire up the ESPN Trade Machine and while away an hour or two trying to find a way to bring Nash to your favorite team. Maybe you don’t even have a dog in the race and simply believe that Nash would be happier (and you would be, too) if he was playing off the ball with Russell Westbrook at the point.

More often than not, I hear the same whispers. “Sure, Nash says he’s happy in Phoenix, but how could he be?” “Did you see what Nash said? Read between the lines – he wants out of Phoenix!”

I’ve also often heard it said that journalism is the only profession in which one can ask a question without providing a solution. If that’s true, Steve Nash manages to turn every fan into a journalist. You espouse his unhappiness, even though you don’t know how he truly feels. You demand that he be traded, even though you don’t know where he should go or what the other team should provide in return.

As a Suns fan, it makes me angry. As a basketball fan, it always makes me think of Carmelo Anthony.
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