http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0623sunsonline0624.html

Suns trade 'Q' to Knicks

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 23, 2005 09:30 AM

The Suns have agreed to a trade that sends swingman Quentin Richardson to the New York Knicks for power forward Kurt Thomas and a conditional future first-round draft choice, two sources involved in the talks confirmed Thursday morning.

Richardson happened to be in New York this morning for an apparel photo shoot when he got the news from his agent and Suns president and general manager Bryan Colangelo. That was news to Richardson, who said he thought he was part of "the core" Phoenix talked about keeping together after the season.

"It definitely is a shock but I also understand it's a business decision," said Richardson, who signed a six-year contract last summer with Phoenix. "It's something that comes along with being a NBA player. I've gotta roll with it." advertisement




Richardson said Colangelo told him that the deal was made to help make financial space with the contract extension of Amaré Stoudemire and re-signing of Joe Johnson forthcoming this summer. Richardson had five years and $37.7 million left on his contract.

Thomas will be paid about $14 million over the next two seasons and has a player option for $8.1 million for 2007-2008.

Thomas, 32 and a 10-year veteran, averaged 11.5 points and 10.4 rebounds for the Knicks last season. He fits the Suns offseason goals for acquiring a player who can help on the boards and with low-post defense. Thomas is a better quality player than what Phoenix could have garnered in a free agent post player. He also has a solid mid-range shot that will still allow Stoudemire space to operate in the paint and can be used in the pick-and-roll game with Steve Nash.

Richardson changed his game to focus on three-point shooting last season and hit a club-record, league-leading 226 threes. He went scoreless in his final game as a Sun when Phoenix was eliminated by San Antonio in the conference finals. He said the way his season finished, with a cold shooting spell and a difficult matchup on Manu Ginobili, may have played a factor in Phoenix's decision to trade him.

"It'll give me an opportunity to play more of my game," said Richardson, whose post-up game may fit better in New York.

Richardson and his fiancé, Brandy, were building a home in the Valley that was nearly completed.

"It's not something I wanted but it's something I accept," Richardson said of the trade. "I'm not trying to be angry or spiteful. They're trying to better the team and I can't be mad at that. When we're not playing the Suns, I'm still going to be a Suns fan."

Colangelo, who also got Knicks president Isiah Thomas to take Stephon Marbury's and Penny Hardaway's hefty contracts a year and a half ago, could not be reached for comment.

I think this was posted in the trade thread

Posted by TMS:

i would have liked to hear him say "i'm excited to play in NY & i want to show the Suns how big of a mistake they made in trading me"

He's probably going through a period of shock. Hopefully in November he'll come out on the court with the attittude you mentioned.

someone needs to show Brandy all the nice places to shop on Madison Ave.

Dolan likes this trade. More Celebs in MSG now.

Posted by Cookdcokehop:

Posted by TMS:

i would have liked to hear him say "i'm excited to play in NY & i want to show the Suns how big of a mistake they made in trading me"

How would you feel if you got traded from the best team to one of the worst. I think he'll be over and his Jersey sales start going up. I cant wait for the 2006 season and see the first head pound and Brandys fine ass court side.

still, you want to start off on the right foot with your new fans...at least, i would want that...it's not as if he was traded to some small market team like Atlanta or Charlotte...this is NY! the MECCA of basketball! if you can make it here, you can make it everywhere!

ok i'll stop.

I'm a big fan of Q's game. He is a fiery player. His whole game changed for Pheonix though. I hope he didn't forget how to post up and drive!

I hope he can get together with the team and really embrace it and try to become more of an emotional leader out there. He's good at getting himself worked up.....I wanna see him and Marbs become a tandem.


I wanna know Crawfords reaction!!!! He must be nervous as hell. With Q there Craw is either a siting duck or a bench warmer.

Posted by EnySpree:

I wanna know Crawfords reaction!!!!

Well it could be, "Whew! Thank GOd they found someone who actually shot a WORSE percentage than me last year! Now I won't look so bad!"

Don't worry, I'm all for the trade - I'm just saying.

I think the Richardson we get will definitely be more like the one who played for the Clips in 04.

The Suns clearly had an idea of what they wanted to do, get out and run, and shoot a lot of 3s, and they made QRich fit that mold.

I expect a lot more posting up and utilizing Richardon's strengths, which are posting up, crashing the boards, etc. He's a great outside shooter, I expect him to shoot 3s, but not to live on the line like he did in Phoenix.

"[Quentin] was one of only four NBA guards to average at least 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds (Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Jason Richardson) in 2003-04"

Richardson can rebound the ball as well as any perimeter player in the NBA, so he'll help in that department as well.

Great deal by Isiah.

That might be a stretch, KT's vertical was like 5 inches, most of the rebounds he got were defensive rebounds, just from being where he was supposed to be as a 4.

On offense, he was never close to the hoop for offensive boards, something a 4 is supposed to do.

I'd say Rose and JYD were both better than him, and probably Sweetney too.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by franco12:

we're going to need someone to rebound the ball now that our best front court rebounder (kt) is gone!

This trade probably improved the Knicks' rebounding. They just got an SG/SF who averages between 6 and 7 boards a game. If he were to replace TT in the starting lineup, it would be a net gain of about 3+ rebounds a game

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 06/23/2005 17:49:59]

Possibly yes- we're going to need someone up front to pick up the slack, thats for sure.