The fingerprints of rookie general manager Steve Kerr are all over the Phoenix Suns now, in fact, bubbling over with hot grease that has strangely taken on the shape of 330 pounds worth of Shaquille O'Neal.

Ah yes, the deconstruction of the Suns.

In the wake of their five-game playoff loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the Suns as we knew them are finished ... virtually all the undoing of Kerr as the henchman for owner Robert Sarver. Coach Mike D'Antoni (232-96) is likely through, clashing philosophy with Kerr from Day 1 of this season, the effect of unloading Kurt Thomas in a preposterous trade to start the season, the dealing of Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Miami for O'Neal, and it all came to a head in a first-round knockout - the only time that has happened in his four-plus seasons as the Suns head coach.

It's easy to point to O'Neal, the Big Cactus, as an even bigger target. He was presumably brought in just for a series like this with the Spurs - to clog the middle defensively and be a problem for Tim Duncan. Well, Duncan averaged 24.8 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in the series. And point guard Tony Parker treated the lane that O'Neal was supposed to own as his own personal crash pad, averaging 29.6 points and 7.0 assists.

And on the offensive end, The Big Cactus was the Big Target, as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took advantage of O'Neal's legendary free throw bricks by fouling him continuously to disrupt the Suns whenever they did get on a run. O'Neal may contend he makes them when they count, but are we being presumptuous by saying the 32 he missed in this series meant even more than the 32 he made?

And while Kerr is being portrayed as the villain (how can the incredibly affable and bright Steve Kerr be a villain?), it all really started nearly four years ago.

You see, this whole thing was inevitable as soon as Sarver bought the team from Jerry Colangelo in the summer of 2004 and president/general manager Bryan Colangelo fled to Toronto in March of 2006. They were the guys that brought in D'Antoni, allowed him to build a new model of NBA basketball around the group of Marion, Steve Nash, Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire. They tweaked it with defensive additions Thomas and Raja Bell.

They created a new era of "fun-and-gun" basketball, with three consecutive Pacific Division titles, and other teams emulated what they accomplished. It took the NBA back to the 1980's with a new version of Showtime, and rejuvenated flat television ratings for the league.

But Sarver began to break it down with a controversial sign-and-trade of the magnificently talented Johnson to Atlanta that brought Boris Diaw and draft choices. Sure, Johnson claimed he wanted to be the guy, but so did Marion and Stoudemire always complained about shots. That's what coaching and being a general manager are all about. You deal with the egos, but at the end of the day, it's all about performance and they performed at a high level for D'Antoni, the irrefutable NBA Coach of the Year in 2005.

They lost to the Spurs in the conference finals in 2005 and the Mavericks in 2006 ... clearly knocking on the door. And then last season in the semifinals against the Spurs and the series tied 2-2, there was the controversial issue of Stoudemire and Diaw getting suspended from Game 5 for leaving the bench in the Game 4 Suns' win when Robert Horry took a cheap shot at Nash that sent him flying into the scorer's table. It killed the Suns' momentum. They lost Game 5 and Game 6, setting up Kerr to take over the personnel department from D'Antoni and David Griffin.

The handwriting was on the wall at the start of the season when they dumped Thomas - a key figure for interior defense last season - and two first-round draft choices for a conditional second-round pick. It was about the last year of his $8 million contract, so wouldn't that have been invaluable this summer? He was replaced by the much cheaper and less talented Brian Skinner.

The bigger deal came in February, of course, for O'Neal. D'Antoni put on a happy face for the trade, contending he pushed for the deal. And in some ways it helped them run because he added some rebounding. But Shaq didn't help defensively because the big man never steps out on the screen-and-roll, which Parker and Manu Ginobili jumped all over in the series. He didn't help the screen and roll with Nash on the offensive end either. It opened up the game for Stoudemire in a lot of ways, but O'Neal's presence also inhibits others. It always has and always will.

So it pushed D'Antoni into a corner, often confused the brilliance of Nash, and now they're done. We know this love affair between Sarver, a Tucson native, is tied with Kerr, illustrious alum of the Wildcats. And he owns the team. Well, so be it.

With coaches about to play musical benches - beginning with jobs in New York and Chicago as starters - it won't take long for D'Antoni to start anew. It's all a matter of how this is finessed. But with O'Neal 36, Nash 34 and Grant Hill 36 in October, this team has Stoudemire, Diaw and Leandro Barbosa to build around.

The bad news for the fans is the most fun team in the league to watch is history.

The good news for the Suns is Sarver and Kerr have a much longer offseason to figure out what to do next.