The Suns led by Nash, Jr. and D'Antoni, although they failed to win the championship, have always been the most vivid in the memory of fans. Recently, former Suns player "Big Q" Quentin Richardson recalled the past in his podcast "Knuckle Heads" and said that if he and Joe Johnson could stay with the Suns, the Suns could win the championship.
Talking about that Sun, Richardson admitted that it was the closest to winning the title in his career, and that Sun was super interesting, with Nash, Littles, Marion and Johnson. He remembers that before the start of the 2004-05 season, many people thought that the Suns would be at the bottom of the division, but they set off a small ball wave and swept the league.
In the 2004–05 season, the Suns led the West End with 62 wins and 20 losses, and Nash was named the regular season MVP for the first time. "If we could keep that lineup for another 2 or 3 seasons, I absolutely believe we have a chance to win the championship," Richardson said, "but I was sent to the Knicks and Joe to the Hawks after the season." After that, everything is different. ”
Both of richardson's deals took place in the 2005 offseason. The Suns packed Richardson and Nate Robinson, traded Cott Thomas and Dijon Thompson from the Knicks, and then bought Johnson from the Eagles for Dior. It is worth mentioning that in Johnson's deal for Dior, the Suns also got 2 first-round picks, and later Rondo and Robin López were selected separately, but Rondo did not play for the Suns for a minute.
From what happened later, both Thomas and Dior played a role in the sun, especially Dior. Unable to find a position at the beginning of his career, he finally played the title of "French magician" in the sun, and at 2.03 meters tall, he was creatively pushed to the inside line by D'Antoni, playing his organizational strengths.
But now when it comes to the Suns, many people are still strangled by their failure to win the championship. In both 2005 and 2006, the Sun broke into the Western Conference, but failed to get any closer. The 2007 Suns were considered closest to the championship, but they suffered a draconity in the second round of the West End, and Horry's collision with Nash knocked out the Suns' hopes of winning the title. In 2010, the Sun re-entered the Western Conference, but that was only the last afterglow of that strong team.
When asked if the Suns were shocked by the failure to win, Richardson gave an affirmative answer. He called Johnson an All-Star, and while he wasn't an All-Star, he was a good fit for both of them. If the Suns had maintained their original squad, they would have been hopeful of winning the championship.
The past cannot be traced, and people can only search for the pictures of that year from memory. (Supine Braces/Hairy)