Why are people still acting like Dragic is realistic? They just traded for Wright - they're buyers, not sellers. We need to hope the Suns lose like 10 games over the next 15 or so to even have this open back up as a possibility. I wish more people would be rational about this. I want Dragic more than anyone.
Because he's still likely to walk in FA, they still have too many PG's on the roster, and they still have a notoriously cheap owner. I think he still gets moved no matter what.
Trying to get Dragic in FA will be a totally different scenario - we would have to get rid of some pieces to even have room for him, plus we wouldn't have his Bird Rights.
No kidding. Phoenix is not trading Dragic, at least not this season. Phoenix will probably make the playoffs this season, and if Alex Len continues to develop nicely, this team can be awfully good in the near future. No more Dragic trade talk, please!
I agree the wright trade indicates what the FO intentions are and therefore signals to the rest of the league they are less inclined to trade dragic and are trying to stay ahead of OKC for the last playoff spot. However the schedule between now and the deadline isn't favorable and if it looks like they are out of the playoff picture by then I think they're back to having to look at moving dragic out of fear of losing him FA. Making the playoffs is pretty much the only thing that can help PHX secure Dragic. You sound certain PHX makes it, looking at their schedule for the remainder of the season though do you think even with the improvement of Len and the addition of wright they can out pace OKC?
Morey would have to gut our depth to acquire D-Will.. Brewer Papa Jet Shved PLUS one of Capela Jones D-Mo
Dragic will be 29 after this season...They're not freezing him for 3 years until their young guys are in their prime. He's also not good enough to go all in now around him, rather than trying to build a team that can really compete for years in 2 years or so. Remember that the suns were trying to pull a Morey previously. They were trying to land a star or two and pair them with Dragic and then Bledsoe...that would have been a great idea, but it didn't happen. Then they sign Thomas because they really believe in that 3 guard rotation? We all know that's BS. Thomas was insurance, in case Bledsoe or Goran left. They can't continue under this current path because they're going to get stuck in a one or two year window, likely as a mediocre team, and then Dragic will be phased out due to age, without getting anything of value for him. By going primarily with Thomas and Bledsoe as their backcourt, it's more like a 6 or 7 year window. So they definitely should be looking to get something for Goran now, and build with that. I think their problem is they really like Goran and he means a lot to the community there, so it's not going to be a popular decision being made.
While the Wright trade does make it look more likely that PHX will "go for it" with the current cast rather than trade away Dragic, it is not certain that Phoenix will do so. A lot happens in the NBA in a month, and we'll just have to see where PHX stands by the time the trade deadline rolls around. Now, it just looks like that Brandan Wright happens to be a guy who fills a need available at a relatively cheap price. The MIN 1st rounder that Phoenix gave up to get Wright is protected 1-12 for the next 2 years and becomes 2 2nd round picks later. It sure looks most likely that we are going to be dealing with the 2 2nd rounder scenario here. We'll see what impact Wright makes and how the Suns do in a challenging stretch of schedule coming up. Now, if the Suns get red hot (like the 07/08 Rockets win streak hot), it will be hard to imagine them trading anyone for future assets. Don't want to piss off customers that way. But who knows what will happen.
Like I said, the Suns need to go on a losing streak which might happen given the tough schedule coming up. Then they can reconsider. But they're not taking calls about him right now.
You are correct and everyone should remember. PHX signed IT because they wanted to make sure they had a PG replacement if one left. But to be more specific on that point, PHX signed IT because they wanted a replacement if Bledsoe left................in a sign-and-trade. They were looking to trade Bledsoe. Even though they were facing Goran's free agency. Because they were confident that Dragic would stay there and lead the show for them and they were committed to them. Fast Forward to today...now Bledsoe has the big 5-year deal and Dragic is saying he's going to look around in free agency, specifically at teams who want a driver like the Knicks and Lakers. And understand what happened here. PHX originally offered 4/48 and not a penny more and then tried repeatedly to generate a sign-and-trade with Bledsoe to no avail, and then they wound up giving him 5/70!! That's $14 millon a year for 5 years, not 4 years at $12 million per season. Now consider which one of these guys has the greatest trade value: Goran or Bledsoe???? Which one?? Goran's an expiring contract who has openly said he's looking around. And he's a 7-year vet so depending on where the cap comes in he could be looking at a huge deal even for 4 years, say $72 million to $100 million. But Bledsoe is locked in for 4 more years and $57 million after this season and is several years younger than Goran. So...shouldn't it be obvious which guy has the greater trade market and greater trade value? It's Bledsoe obviously. Flip Saunders already came out and said he was willing to pay Bledsoe a max deal. Now Bledsoe is signed for 4 more years after this one at slightly less than a max deal. There's your first suitor. Has anything changed with how Flip feels about Bledsoe between when he signed his deal and now? Nope. Phoenix was willing to sign-and-trade Bledsoe before and ride it out with Goran on his expiring deal and Thomas signed to his deal. The only thing was they were looking for more trade value than they were getting before they re-signed Bledsoe. What I'm telling you is don't sleep on Bledsoe being the PHX point guard that is traded. That's all.
I agree Bledsoe would net them more in return but it'd be a huge risk that dragic could still walk. Even if doing so demonstrates to him their committment and would have the cap space to max him out assuming they trade Bledsoe for little salary in return. Does dragic stay with that team? The likelihood is higher but not a certainty. Does the PHX front office risk that?
The suns weren't trying to do a sign and trade for Bledsoe. If they had been willing to move him he would be in a different uniform.
