DirtyDez wrote:There was still the thought at that time the Suns could trade for a superstar like Kobe or T-Mac so the Suns weren’t going to spend on role players but McDyess would’ve been a great backup on those teams. Ultimately the Lakers decided to keep Kobe over Shaq and Houston traded their starting backcourt for McGrady before the start of FA. Nash was a pretty good backup plan looking back.
Bryant was a free agent, but, yeah, the Suns were definitely interested. I always thought that the idea of signing him seemed far-fetched, though, and Phoenix seemed to have hedged its bets when Nash agreed to the Suns' offer.
http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/02/sports/sp-lakerep2And that decision by Phoenix probably proved wise, because based on Bryant's own comments to Shaquille O'Neal in their recent mutual interview on NBA TV, he was going to join the Chicago Bulls until the Lakers decided to trade O'Neal.
Trading for McGrady allegedly would have cost both Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson, a notion that never made sense to me. By 2004, I was not high on McGrady, and despite some special abilities on his part, I frankly do not consider him a "great" player. He created, or settled for, a ton of bad shots, hence his career .519 True Shooting Percentage with only one season above .532 and only two higher than .526. Whatever the Basketball Hall of Fame may value, it is not offensive efficiency or wise, disciplined offense.
Of course, if the Grizzlies had not foolishly turned down the Suns' offer of Steve Nash for the fourth overall pick in the 1997 draft (which Vancouver used on Antonio Daniels), I would have loved to have seen Phoenix select McGrady in retrospect. Can you imagine a lineup, circa 2000 or 2001, with Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Clifford Robinson, and Antonio McDyess? I am not sure if it would have produced a championship, but it would have been really fun to watch, and the defensive potential—with all that size, length, and quickness—would have almost matched the offensive potential. Even a lineup with Kidd, Wesley Person, McGrady, and Robinson at point guard, shooting guard, small forward, and power forward, respectively, would have given Phoenix a fine foundation for championship contention.
Bryant suffered from that same basic flaw as McGrady (as did the latter's cousin, Vince Carter), but he was tougher and more tenacious and a much better free throw shooter. Still, I am not sure if he would have ever won a championship without Phil Jackson and the triangle offense (and, of course, an elite big man within the triangle). Although he often struggled to play within the triangle, I sense that it provided just enough balance and structure to allow a club to win championships (ultimately five of them) with Kobe Bryant. But without Jackson, there seems little chance that O'Neal and Bryant would have ever won a title together, which is a remarkable idea given the sheer talent of that duo.
With the Suns' collection of young players circa 2004, Nash amounted to a much better fit than either Bryant or McGrady. With one of those two, I believe that Phoenix would have proved significantly less successful, especially in McGrady's case, given that the Suns would have probably needed to part with both Marion and Johnson. Besides, as I indicated, McGrady simply was not as good of a player as Bryant, although he would have paired more easily with Amare Stoudemire in the pick-and-roll.