Sarver weighs in on Suns' offseason

Robert Sarver is not hard to find during Suns games.

He's the uber fan sitting in the front row, shouting his approval when things go right, screaming at officials when they don't.

But the Suns owner has been in the background since the season ended. General manager Steve Kerr has done most of the talking for the franchise, both in terms of what went wrong this past year and what lies ahead.

On Tuesday, however, Sarver opened up. In a wide-ranging interview with the Tribune, he touched on everything from the future of coach Alvin Gentry to his disappointment in the team's veterans and his unwillingness to sit through a rebuilding process.

Let's start with Gentry, because taking the interim tag off his title was supposed to be the first order of business for the Suns. The day before the season ended, Kerr said he expected a fairly quick resolution in talks with Gentry.

Yet two weeks have passed and Gentry still doesn't have a contract extension.

Sarver said there's nothing to read into the delay. He learned his lesson with former coach Mike D'Antoni that it's better to let some time pass after the season rather than talk when emotions might get the better of reason.

"It's always good to step back for a couple of weeks and approach things with a fresh view," Sarver said.

Does he still expect Gentry to be the coach moving forward?

"I'm hopeful he will be," Sarver responded. "But there are no guarantees."

Interesting.

I still expect Gentry to be the coach, but the longer this goes on without a press conference, the more I wonder if there's something else going on behind the scenes.

Sarver was more direct in his criticism of the Suns' veterans, saying their unwillingness to accept coach Terry Porter's philosophy helped to undermine the season. He didn't name names, but he didn't have to. Steve Nash and Amaré Stoudemire know who he's talking about.

"Our players could have been more supportive of the coach, despite the fact they didn't like playing for him," Sarver said. "That could have potentially led us to win a few more games and get into the playoffs. The leadership didn't come through as much as I would have liked it to."

In terms of going forward, Sarver made it clear he's willing to pay the luxury tax next year if it's the only way the Suns can put a playoff team on the floor. Assuming Phoenix picks up the options on Nash and Louis Amundson, it will have approximately $76.1 million committed to 10 players. That doesn't include Grant Hill, Matt Barnes and the club's first-round pick in the NBA draft. The luxury tax is expected to kick in at about $67.5 million.

"We're not going to do something to save us a bunch of money if it causes us problems on the court going forward," Sarver said. "At this stage, I'm prepared to play with what I have. I'd rather pay the luxury tax than make a bad decision. We've paid the tax the last two years, so I'm used to it."

That doesn't mean the Suns have decided to stand pat with their current roster. Sarver and Kerr will explore the possibility of moving one of their high-salaried players, more than likely either Stoudemire or Shaquille O'Neal.

But Sarver can't stand the notion of starting over from scratch, even though he agrees with Kerr's assertion that the Suns aren't a championship team.

"I didn't get into this business to make money or sit and watch my team lose," Sarver said. "I'm not prepared to do a three- or four-year rebuilding period and win 25 or 30 games a year. I feel I'd be letting the community down. Plus, I like to win. Losing would be too difficult for me."

As for Stoudemire, who can opt out of his contract after the 2009-10 season, Sarver said he hasn't yet decided whether to offer the forward an extension.

"I don't have any preconceived notions. I really don't," he said.

Translation: Stoudemire's future is tied to O'Neal's. If the Suns can trade Shaq, they'd be more willing to re-up Stoudemire and play him alongside Robin Lopez. But if O'Neal is here next year, Stoudemire might be dealt because Phoenix would need a better defender at power forward.

Finally, Sarver said Kerr will return as GM - there have been some whispers that Kerr might walk away to a more leisurely life as a broadcaster - and that he's had no second thoughts about the O'Neal-Shawn Marion trade.

"In hindsight, I still think it was the right thing to do," he said. "Obviously, we've won only one playoff game. But I don't think we were going where we wanted to go with Shawn. I'm a person that's willing to take risks and go for it. I'm happy we did."