Really? Step back from a personal attachment to a player and look at the 'asset'. Dragic is not an all-star, will opt out in the summer to pursue a max deal (which it looks like he would get considering the bums who got one this summer), and plays the same position as a bloke you just signed for MORE money than Dragic (Isaiah Thomas), and a bloke who is very, very, very talented, and looks for all the world like a future all-star, and possible a franchise player (Bledsoe). Now, would you flip Goran into a future first, (which is almost lottery guaranteed) plus a talented young big (Jones or Motie), plus some eurostash? They are not a contender, they don't NEED Dragic, and a lotto pick helps them fill their actual 'needs' down the track. If I'm the Suns GM, it's certainly something I would consider.
I didn't "guess" anything. I wrote down what their GM said. If you believe without any ascertainable evidence, that he was, for some mysterious reason, laying, that's your problem not mine.
Trade value in the NBA isn't just about on-court impact. So much of it is about contractual status and other circumstances. Why, for example, have elite players like Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, James Harden and more been traded for random collections of players and future draft picks, none of which would be reasonably expected to be turned into players at their level? Often, a team trades a player for future assets because the end of his contract is coming up and there is a risk that will leave the team as a free agent-- at which point you get no value in return for his departure. While Dragic hasn't been publicly disgruntled like Howard and Paul, and PHX isn't hard-pressed for money like OKC was when Harden's extension came up, there is still a real chance that he'd choose to leave or be too costly for PHX to retain-- there will be many teams chasing Dragic next summer and some of them may be in better position to contend or be more willing to spend on Dragic than PHX is. If PHX doesn't view itself as a contender this year, the only year in which they are guaranteed to have Dragic under contract, they'll have to consider trading him for the best offer out there rather than keeping him. Heck, they can even pursue him as a free agent in 2015 if they have the cap room. Another factor: Goran will be 29 by the time a new contract is inked. If the team isn't certain of their chances to being in "win now" mode in year 1 or 2 of that new contract, they have to think about how much trade value that contract has.
His contract situation is the same as Love's (ie he's only going to opt in if he's injured), and he's a point guard. The market for point guards is illiquid unless you're selling Paul, Curry and Westbrook types (and then you're selling "stars" not "point guards" anyway). No one really knows what Dragic wants, but making the playoffs sometime might be up there for him, who knows, he doesn't complain and his agent represents only euroball players except for him and unlike Bledsoe, his age presents an issue if you're not "win now". So what if pick is more likely to be a bust than a star? the great advantage and why their market is so liquid is because you get 4 years of barely paying anything to find out, then control them for another few years if you want. Why do you think Morey flipped Lowry for that pick? no one wanted a point guard, exchange that pick for Lowry and do OKC take that trade? hell no, and then OKC turned it into Adams, who will be pretty damn good value at a cpl million a year for the next 3 years.
First off, I don't think the NOP pick is "lottery guaranteed". They have a good team to put on the floor, and I am not betting on injuries. I think the LAL pick they already have trumps is by a large margin. They don't need Jones or DMo, they have the Morris twins. It's a wash and there's no point to that trade. Dragic is their SG, not their PG. Yes, he handles the ball a lot, but personally, I think that's a reflection on the league's move away from traditional positional roles anyway. What is Harden? Honestly, he's our PG... in the same way that Dragic is their SG. Those positions are interchangeable with the right guys on the floor. They are definitely overloaded at the guard positions. At some point they are going to want to move people - but only to get stronger in other positions where they are weak IMHO. They are very strong - with Dragic - at the 1/2, but they are OK at every other position. They have room for improvement at the 3/4/5. What do we have to offer them there? Again, they don;t need our PFs. So, what? The pick is the best asset we have, and it's marginal considering what they already have. They are strong at 2 positions - why risk one that you're already strong on to gamble on another? I think they are probably willing to move him under the right circumstances. But we need another team to give them something they can use if that is the case, because we don't have anything they'd need.
If you link keeps getting deleted, that can only mean two things: that website is too shady that mods don't think they are worth posting, or the website it too shady that it gets censored here... Either way, shady reports are shady.
