Jason Richardson A Sun

Suns trade Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to the Bobcats for Jason Richardson. Big move. A starting lineup of Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire, and Shaquille O’Neal is pretty scary, but losing Diaw off the bench will hurt some. The Suns haven’t had a playmaking 2-guard on the perimeter since Joe Johnson left for Atlanta, so it’ll be interesting to see if Nash will benefit from having a backcourt mate that isn’t strictly a spot-up guy. J-Rich isn’t nearly as good as JJ, but I’m nonetheless digging how the Suns now have legitimate offensive threats at every position. If there’s one thing that Richardson can do better than JJ - and most other players in the league - it’s finish at the rim, so at least Nash will have a Shawn Marion-esque target on the break. Here’s to hoping that Porter will let them run. Bell's defense will be missed, but Richardson is shooting a pretty staggering 46% from beyond the arc this season, so it isn't likely that the team will miss Raja's outside touch.

On the other hand, Steve Kerr, in his attempt to build a "defensive squad," has managed to trade away Shawn Marion and Raja Bell, the team's two best defensive players. I love Matt Barnes and Richardson, but they're clearly guys who would be better suited to running in D'Antoni's system. Bottom line: the starting 5 has the potential to be one heck of an offensive juggernaut, but trading Bell and Boris for Richardson does nothing for the defense. I agree that a shakeup was necessary, but if you're going to pick up players who are built to run, you'd better let them run.