Paul Coro

azcentral sports

The Suns have intentions of pursuing a potential free agent who opened the playoffs Sunday with a 27-point, nine-rebound performance.

Another game like that from LeBron James in Game 2 tonight, and the Suns might have some competition.

Suns management earned a lot of fan confidence with the 2013 off-season work of a plastic surgeon, performing a franchise facelift that made the Suns younger and more attractive. Landing James would be the work of a witch doctor.

The first issue, and it is the most troublesome one, is that James likely is not going anywhere. He can — and probably will — exercise his $20.6 million player option to remain with the Heat next season.

At the All-Star break, James was asked if he could imagine a Miami departure.

"At this point, I can't," James said.

Two months later, it's no more plausible after he has attained what he wanted on South Beach, but dreaming is free for a Suns franchise that can create about $20 million of cap space in July and would like to play off Eric Bledsoe's close friendship with James to make the pursuit.

"If we can get LeBron, I would like to get him," Suns guard Goran Dragic said when asked about team off-season needs.

The Suns have landed a Most Valuable Player in free agency. It's just that Steve Nash was not yet an MVP, was coming off a non-All-Star season when he signed, was not going to be paid the same by Dallas and was comfortable with Phoenix because he had played here and had a friendship with then-executive Rex Chapman.

James in Phoenix would be undoubtedly crazy popular. Bestickets.com just used Google search volume data to surmise each state's most popular athlete. James is Arizona's most-searched athlete, just as he is in 22 other states.

One is Florida, where he could be on the verge of a three-peat in a market far more fitting for his corporate standing than Phoenix. Miami is also a franchise that will always be able to lure in reduced-rate help for him, like it has with Ray Allen, Shane Battier and Chris Andersen.

Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough reiterated last week that the Suns will pursue the best available players, just as he said coming into the job last year. He proved that with the Bledsoe acquisition. He was part of that mindset in the Boston front office when the Celtics landed Allen and Kevin Garnett in one summer to set up a championship.

At the least, it is an inspiring sign of what the franchise envisions. James may be a Suns dream, but the franchise will never be able to open new doors without first having the boldness to knock. To that end, the Suns would not be done with signing James. The Suns become a lot more attractive to Kevin Love if James is around and if Love is on the trade market this summer. Dream big.

Knicks' Coach Kerr?

When Steve Kerr was ashen with stress at times as Suns GM, he would be reminded that he could still be winning every game on TNT and spending most of the week on a golf course or a surfboard in Del Mar.

The reminder stands as the New York Knicks' coaching job becomes available with his old coach Phil Jackson in charge and reportedly interested.

Kerr always has wanted to coach. That hankering is even what got him sideways with Mike D'Antoni, when he made coaching suggestions after a loss. Kerr agreed to the GM role only because he had been a Suns investor and a trusted adviser for Managing Partner Robert Sarver at the time Bryan Colangelo left for Toronto and D'Antoni was not right for GM while coaching.

Kerr has never coached, but his championship pedigree, acumen for the game and ability to communicate well with people at all levels (players, staff, sponsors, owners, media) is much like what Jeff Hornacek displayed this season in Phoenix. If a salary that won't be matched elsewhere is not paramount, Kerr need not jump at the first chance in an unforgiving market (see D'Antoni's presidential aging process as Knicks coach).

A sleeper possibility in New York could be Tyronn Lue, who has been hailed as a future head coach by Alvin Gentry and played for Jackson. For Kerr, the bigger coaching allure has to be the potential of that Golden State job opening, so he could have a more talented team with the young star he once coveted and thought he landed in Phoenix — Stephen Curry.

Coro can be reached at paul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2470. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/paulcoro.