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Cavs Cavs Archive Cavs Should Think Twice Before Dealing
Written by Sam Amico

Sam Amico
This year's NBA All-Star weekend has brought with it a flurry of trade rumors, with the difference between the haves and the have nots being pretty crystal clear with a little over 30 games left in the regular season. Where there is smoke, there is often fire, and right now .... there's a lot of smoke about a Wally, J.J. Hickson, and a #1 pick to Phoenix for Amar'e Stoudemire deal. In his latest, Sam is leery about a potential deal with the Suns, saying these Cavs are good enough to win it all, and a trade for Amar'e does not guarantee they will be a better team. Just different.

I love Steve Kerr. I love the Phoenix Suns. I love Amare Stoudemire. I love Danny Ferry, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the players who Ferry reportedly offered to the Suns for Stoudemire.

Now that we've gotten all that cleared up, I have just one thing to say: DON'T DO IT!

Don't trade Stoudemire if you're the Suns. Don't deal Wally Szczerbiak, J.J. Hickson, Anderson Varejao, Moondog the mascot, or whoever else you're supposedly shipping to Phoenix for Stoudemire if you're the Cavs.

Let's start with the Suns.

If you really want to gut the team, why start with the youngest, most athletic part of your nucleus? If you want to rebuild, save money, and so on and so on, why START with Stoudemire? He's the guy around whom you should build. If you want to start over, why not start by unloading Steve Nash or Shaquille O'Neal or Grant Hill -- or all three of them? Nash, Shaq and Hill are all swell fellas, but they're also in their mid-30s (which is the equivalent of being in your mid-70s in NBA years). I mean, wouldn't you rather have Stoudemire in 2012 than those three combined?

Anyway, more on the Suns in a minute. Now let's talk about the Cavs.

Unlike the Suns, they are soaring. They're 40-11 and their coach, Mike Brown, is leading the Eastern Conference All-Stars. As of today, the Cavs are one of the league's three best teams, a team that could be on its way to bringing Cleveland its first championship in something like 418 years. Not really, but it sure seems like it.

So why would Ferry want to mess with success?

OK, maybe he thinks the current group STILL isn't good enough to win a title. And maybe it's not. Maybe he's worried about the Cavs' 1-4 record against the L.A. Lakers, Boston and Orlando this season. Maybe he thinks Stoudemire would put this year's Cavs over the top -- that Stoudemire's size, athleticism and low-post scoring is the only thing the Cavs are lacking. Maybe so.

But Ferry should also consider what's happened to the Suns.

Last season, Kerr traded Shawn Marion for O'Neal. Kerr took a chance, making a big move for a big man who's accomplished big things.

At the time, I praised Kerr. The Suns needed to do something, anything to get past San Antonio in the playoffs, I wrote. Marion seemed somewhat disgruntled and the Suns were undersized. Kerr's move was gutsy -- and it was time for the Suns to take a risk.

Obviously, it hasn't worked yet. The Suns are still good (why does everyone seem to forget that?), they just aren't as good as they were before the trade for O'Neal. They are no longer considered Finals material.

Still, if I'm Kerr, I'd make that trade again. Truth is, the Suns weren't likely to win a title with Marion, either. That team had gotten as far as it could. Kerr has no reason to regret that trade, and if you're one of those unreasonable Suns fans you should leave him alone and get a life.

But these Cavs are different than those Suns. There's no proof they can't win a championship as is. They've come a long way in a short amount of time, this being their first full season with Mo Williams, Delonte West, Ben Wallace and Szczerbiak. Trading for Stoudemire right now could ruin their chemistry, could make it so that the Cavs are starting over -- again. A big trade wouldn't guarantee that the Cavs would be better. They would just be different.

All Ferry needs to do to understand that is talk to his friend who is running the Suns.

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