True or not, Kidd's stand, and perception that the trades were motivated by public relations in a town where the team's once-solid standing has eroded, was supported about 12 seconds after his deal when the Suns shipped starter Clifford Robinson, who also had a legal run-in, to Detroit for a pair of reserves.

Colangelo used the word "malaise" to describe what had become of his Suns, and Starbury will bring a jump start. Phoenix said that's what it wanted, and the desire was understandable. Kidd is arguably the best point guard in the game, but his on-court personality tame by any measure and downright invisible compared to his successor. The Suns cranked the steering wheel hard to find a new direction, veering away from the team that can win 50 games but not get out of the first round.

On the other hand, they just traded their best player while barely addressing a major need, an improved perimeter game. Marbury is better than Kidd in that regard, but a shoot-first point guard who hit 44.1 percent overall last season and 32.8 percent on three-pointers won't do much to flush out other weapons.

He is four years older than Marbury, which may also have factored into Phoenix's thinking, but that still makes Kidd all of 28 and showing no signs of slowing. In fact, the final couple months of 2000-01 may have been the best stretch of his career. The bigger concern in New Jersey should be that his contract is up in two years, while Marbury, though with huge dollars coming, is committed through 2004-05.

Deal 2: No one really moved (cities, at least)
When the Warriors drafted Michigan State's Jason Richardson at No. 5, adding defense and athleticism to the backcourt, they also signaled that Larry Hughes will be switching to the point so that Richardson can play shooting guard. Hughes' strides last season amid long-term shoulder and thumb injuries were commendable -- "He's so much more under control," said his former coach, Larry Brown- - but this is still a big jump for someone who has never been known to play with stability. And that doesn't even begin to address whether he has a distributor's mentality.

Golden State still has Mookie Blaylock and can persue another backup via free agency. But this could get interesting.

Deal 3: Mike Bibby (and Brent Price) to Sacramento for Jason Williams (and Nick Anderson).

	Bibby

	Williams

In short, the Kings dramatically upgraded the weakest spot in their starting lineup and it took trading someone who spent a lot of fourth quarters on the bench, most notably in close playoff games. It didn't hurt that, although Williams was wildy popular with some fans, they also got rid of one of the few bits of negative energy in the locker room. He got along with teammates personally, but they, and everyone else, had grown tired of antics that showed a striking lack of committment and professionalism.

In truth, there are reasons. Just none motivated by basketball. Williams can be an exciting player, the way watching two Semis play chicken on an open road can be exciting, and is a name for the region because of his brief college experience at Florida. So maybe he will help spark interest and sell tickets in a new city -- forgetting for a moment that fan relations has never been one of his strong suits, with a rap sheet of being fined by the league for using the middle finger to tell them who's No. 1 and even throwing racial slurs at an Asian-American by, among other things, telling them to remember Pearl Harbor. For that one, the Kings didn't discipline him or get him a History tutor.

And, the Grizzlies are making a new start in every way possible. New city and new beginning, so they wanted to get new faces to put with the franchise. There went Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Bibby, bound for new playoff moments.

Deal 4: Lindsey Hunter to the Lakers for Greg Foster