Burns: Don't squash Nash trade rumors yet

Those words belong to Lon Babby, the Suns president. When asked Wednesday morning by Doug and Wolf if he wanted to squash another round of Steve Nash trade speculation he chose to take matters and the English language into his own hands.

Well then, consider it squashed. Feel better?

Yeah….me neither.

Will it be squashed with a capital squash a week from now? Will it be squashed with a lower case squash a month from now? Will we even remember the phrase "squash with a capital squash" 24 hours before the February 24th trade deadline? In this snapshot moment, it's easy to scoff at Steve Nash trade talk but if the current trend continues (they've won only two games since the Orlando trade) who knows where they're going to be, both in terms of the standings and their philosophy, a month from now.

Besides, I don't even know what I'm rooting for anymore with Steve Nash. Keep him if you want; he's a fan fave and the product could be borderline unwatchable without him. Trade him if you want; it could be borderline unwatchable with him and if that's the case there is no reason not to get something for him.

Since losing to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, the Suns have lacked any kind of discernible plan. The roster is badly misshapen, there aren't any young impact stars on the horizon, the payroll looks like my wife's credit card bill, and most of the decisions were made in the dead zone between front office regimes. Their nebulous approach to building this team has left me in a similar daze about what to do about Nash. You can change the tires if you want….this car is still going around in circles.

Don't trade him for a fresh start. Don't trade him just to dump his salary in the pursuit of that gawd-awful phrase "financial flexibility". Don't trade him because you feel like you owe him something better. You don't. It was his choice to sign an extension here and his choice not to explore options that would have brought him closer to a ring.

Trade him because you're getting something in return that you can legitimately build around. Trade him so your fan base has a reason to believe in the future. Is that too much to ask? I fear that it is.