与其引进吉米·巴特勒，太阳队倒不如尝试向他学习。尽管重建的过程可能会很痛苦，但若长时间留住一位年迈球星，将使他们的前景更加黯淡。
菲尼克斯太阳队似乎认为吉米·巴特勒能够解决他们所有的问题，这其中蕴含着一种悲剧性的讽刺。当巴特勒拼命想要离开迈阿密热火时，据报道，太阳队将自己视为他的理想下家。他们急于利用另一支拖延放弃最佳球员机会的球队，而忽略了高昂财务成本、身体机能下降及受伤风险等问题。
然而，如果从巴特勒和热火之间纷争中得到启示，那就是在面临续约老牌明星的问题时，采取早期行动比以往任何时候都更重要。在当前这个某些合同随意签出就可成为负担的NBA时代，以前那些对过度慷慨金钱投入进行辩护的话语或许已失去效力。
去年夏天，帕特·莱利有三个选择：（1）给巴特勒提供两年1.13亿美元的续约；（2）交易他；（3）什么都不做。然而，他选择了第四条路径——无所作为，并公开激怒了巴特勒，此后热火逐渐走向平庸，看不到重返总决赛的明确途径。
事后的分析虽容易，但可以公平地说，迈阿密本应更积极接受关于巴特勒报价，而不是等待双方关系不可避免地破裂。自打取得8胜1负开局以来，太阳仅交出了11胜18负的不佳战绩，对阵净胜分排名前十球队时，他们也只有3胜8负。这显然显示出，他们未意识到自己正接近陷入一种虽然相对平稳但同样有害的发展境地。在交易截止日期之前，他们应该反思，不再寻求引进其他昂贵老将，而是考虑交易凯文·杜兰特。
我并非那种鼓励“彻底推倒重建”的人，但这样的结局已经酝酿了一段时间。我明白，在第17个赛季仍保持全明星级别表现且场均27分、精准投篮能力超群的杜兰特点赞之声响起。但建议与这样一位名人堂成员分道扬镳确实听起来鲁莽，我愿倾听任何认为保住目前10号种子席次乃唯一正确选项的人士观点。本赛季布克、比尔和杜兰特马上只共同作战过18场比赛，对于布克而言，人们自然期待他恢复昔日犀利状态。而这支拥有丰厚才华、投射能力以及经验丰富背景团队，本该具备竞争实力.
I am aware that the Suns are trapped in their owner's obsession, who misinterprets NBA's ecosystem。The era of giving three players max contracts is over; depth and flexibility have become paramount. The current roster has fewer "homegrown" talents than any other team in the league, with only Booker, Ryan Dunn, and Iguodala to show for it..Buker. While Durant publicly supports owner Mat Ishbia’s vision for a championship run at Phoenix Curry or James Butler” style basketball — they seem further away from contention as ever.Durant remains an All-Star caliber player but his age (36) poses many questions about future sustainability after he signs another two-year $120 million extension this summer if things don't change soon!
Their season started strong yet faltered quickly post-injury woes among key players leading Budenholzer into adjusting rotations without Nurkic even being utilized anymore - which seems wise given how well shooting alone can carry some teams through tough stretches despite underlying issues lurking beneath surface level stats & metrics keeping track on performance efficiency ratings reflect just 19th place ranking out off all franchises currently competing within association today overall standings-wise respectively speaking too!
This leaves us pondering: What's left worth holding onto? If staying together yields little more than playoff appearances while not taking home trophies annually then what does long-term viability look like moving forward anyway?