FOCAL POINTS
If Nash bolts, Suns may make push for Deron
The Suns have started planning for life after Steve Nash if their two-time MVP opts to come to New York or heads to Toronto when he becomes a free agent on July 1.
Brooklyn fans — it’s strange to write that — won’t like it, but the Suns are going to go all out for Deron Williams.
The Suns’ first choice is to bring Nash back and have the greatest player in franchise history play his final game in Phoenix. They’re hopeful that a twoyear, $20 million deal does the trick, and if they add a third season, that would probably cinch it since it would take Nash through his 41st birthday.
But there has been enough buzz about Nash leaving the Suns, after he played his eighth season with them, that Phoenix has come up with a contingency plan for his exit. Going into this weekend, the Suns view the Knicks, Raptors and even the Nets as their biggest competitors for Nash’s services. They are operating under the assumption that Nash will not go to a contender, although he has interest in Miami, where he would have to accept a lot less money than he will get to stay in Phoenix.
“If they lose Steve, then they plan to go after Deron, hard,” said a person with knowledge of the Suns’ plans. “They know he loves golf and they’re going to try to sell him on going out there.”
Meanwhile, the Mavericks remain the team the Nets have to fear more than any other when it comes to losing Williams. He’s been at the top of their free-agent wish list since before they won the title last June, and owner Mark Cuban will “pull out all stops” to bring Williams home, according to a team source.
KEVIN SENT
The day the Minnesota Timberwolves went to see a high schooler named Kevin Garnett in his pre-draft workout in 1995, the team decided to let it leak out to the other general managers in attendance that it was definitely going to take him with the fifth pick, even though that was never its true intention.
“We figured that by saying that, somebody who was picking above us would take him, and then we’d be able to get one of the four other guys, who we thought were the top players,” recalled Flip Saunders, then working in the front office with Minnesota GM Kevin McHale. “Plus, our coach at the time, Bill Blair, didn’t want to take a high school kid. He wanted to win.”
This was before Kobe Bryant, in a time when NBA teams were loathe to take a player who didn’t play at least two seasons of college ball. So that was the TWolves’ plan. They wanted either Maryland’s Joe Smith, Alabama’s Antonio Mcdyess or North Carolina’s Jerry Stackhouse or Rasheed Wallace, projected to go in the top four. Then Saunders and Mchale went to Garnett’s workout and witnessed a 7-1 freak of nature.
“He was doing these doublejumps — putting his hand several inches above the box on the backboard, coming down, and then going right back up and doing it again,’ Saunders said. “Kevin and I were blown away. Once we saw him, we were like, ‘We better hope this guy is still around at No. 5.’ We figured there was no way he’d last that long.”
But the four collegians were taken ahead of Garnett, so Minnesota had its foundation player for the next 12 seasons. Still close to Garnett, Saunders laughed when he told that story the other day in Miami, where he accompanied the Celtics as an adviser to Doc Rivers. Saunders not only takes notes on the Heat, he recommends strategy on what to do against LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Rivers also asks him for a game-by-game assessment of the Celtics, including their veteran center who turned 36 last month and is a free agent at season’s end.
Even if the Celtics don’t reach the Finals, they intend to re-sign Garnett, as long as they don’t have to break the bank to keep him.
“The only way Kevin won’t play next season is if he says, ‘All the preparation that it takes me to be this good is just too much,’” said Saunders, who was fired by the Wizards this past season. “But I don’t see that happening. I think he will continue to play because he sees that he still is an impact player. When he doesn’t think he can make an impact, that’s when he’ll get out.”
P robably a f ter two more seasons.