The offseason has officially begun, and so now have the questions about who will stay and who will go for the Arizona Cardinals.  These decisions will be first and foremost on the minds of Valley sports fans, many of whom will anxiously await Kurt Warner’s return, Anquan Boldin’s possible departure, and any other pieces that could be added to the mix.  The buzz and scrutiny this organization will now face is similar to that which the Suns faced following their own “close, but no cigar” championship run two years ago.  In the two years since, the Suns have lost their identity, and lost the imagination of sports fans in the Valley.  The Cardinals will to avoid that fate:

The Suns and Cardinals parallels.

SUNS:  What not to do

2 years ago the Phoenix Suns were EXACTLY where the Arizona Cardinals are right now.  Talk of the town- most exciting brand of basketball in the NBA.  They had a veteran quarterback (if you will) running their offense that everyone loved (Steve Nash).  They had a young superstar that everyone was certain would lead the team into the future (Amare Stoudemire).  Like the Cardinals the Suns came sooo close to achieving their goal, and if certain things hadn’t happened (David Stern suspensions) - they might have. Like the Cardinals the Suns had many offseason questions.  There was the unhappy player the Suns didn’t trade (Shawn Marion).  And the unhappy player the Suns didn’t trade for (Kevin Garnett).  Now two years later Marion is gone, Garnett is an NBA Champion, Amare is still an NBA underachiever, and the Phoenix Suns are lost.

CARDS: What will they do?

Like the Suns two years ago, the Arizona Cardinals are the talk of the town, the most exciting brand of football in the NFL.  They have a veteran point guard (if you will) running their offense that everyone loves (Kurt Warner).  They have a young superstar that everyone is certain will lead the team into the future (Larry Fitzgerald).  Like the Suns the Cardinals came sooo close to achieving their goal, and if certain things hadn’t happened (James Harrison 100 yard TD return) - they might have.  Like the Suns the Cardinals have many offseason questions.  There is the unhappy player that wants a trade (Anquan Boldin).  And there are several players the Cardinals will have to determine if they’re worth paying for (Karlos Dansby, Antonio Smith, Antrel Rolle, Adrian Wilson, Darnell Dockett).

So, the question becomes what steps do the Cards need to take to avoid becoming like the Suns.   Burnsy says re-signing players (like Dansby to hefty contracts, in order to avoid the perception of being cheap is the 2nd major step.  (First step, of course, being re-signing Kurt Warner).

Terry Porter also stopped by for his weekly visit to talk about the Suns big (in every sense) home win over Sacramento and road visit vs. Golden State tomorrow.

 

 Suns and Cards parallels [6:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (17)

 

 Terry Porter [13:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (26)