Someone from the phoenix board came across a few weeks ago and called him an imposter (even cited years of the same bull****)
If what he's saying is true, how is that a good thing for phoenix? EB is firmly of the belief that he should get a max deal. The longer this drags on the more like it is that they're either going to lose him this year or next. Might as well get something out of it other than an unhappy player.
I never saw that and really have no reason to believe some random poster, especially considering how our own board jumps down the throat of our own "insiders". The person I am quoting has the respect of at least one suns board, so I will pass it along. Take it for what its worth, or don't.
They can give him a contract for up to four years starting at 175% of his current $9.5 million . So well over $16 million.
From NBA.com The Curious Case of Eric Bledsoe will finally be resolved, one way or another, in the next week. Rarely has a player as talented as the 24-year-old Bledsoe spent so much time unsigned. By anybody. But with camps opening up at the end of this week, Bledsoe has to decide what he wants to do. The Suns' guard is a restricted free agent, an especially difficult classification for a player. Restricted free agency was one of those categories owners insisted upon during the last couple of collective bargaining negotiations with the players, arguing that teams needed more tools to keep their good young players from being scooped up by deep-pocketed teams. A restricted free agent can thus seek out contracts from other teams (offer sheets), but the "home" team has the right to match those offers within three days and keep the player. The problem for Bledsoe is that no other team has, thus far, stepped out there and made him an official offer. And Bledsoe has refused Phoenix's four-year, $48 million offer it made earlier this summer. That leaves the one-year, $3.7 million qualifying offer from the Suns for the 2014-15 season. If Bledsoe takes the one-year offer from Phoenix, he'll be an unrestricted free agent next year, free to negotiate with any team without the Suns having the right to match. But Bledsoe would be gambling against a long-term debilitating injury. It's the tactic that Detroit's Greg Monroe, also a restricted free agent, opted to take, signing a one-year deal with the Pistons. He'll be on the open market next summer. But Bledsoe has yet to do so. He's running out of time. Bledsoe has flashed throughout his NBA career. Last season, he teamed up brilliantly at times with veteran Goran Dragic, averaging 17.7 points and 5.5 assists for the high-flying Suns, who surpassed all expectations and were in the playoff hunt until the last week of the season. The Suns were supposed to tank royally last season, positioning themselves for a high lottery pick in a deep Draft. Instead, Phoenix had one of those beautiful campaigns, when everyone played loose and free and everything went right. Bledsoe was electric when healthy, Dragic had a career year, the Morris Twins (Markieff and Marcus) came out of, seemingly, nowhere to be impactful pieces, and role players like P.J. Tucker and Miles Plumlee were godsends. All of that production will ultimately cost someone money. Whether that's Phoenix or another team remains to be seen. The Suns offered Bledsoe the same deal that the Raptors gave Kyle Lowry this summer and that Denver gave Ty Lawson in 2012. It was obviously less than the max deals for Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and John Wall, but more than Stephen Curry (four years, $44 million) and Jrue Holiday (four years, $41 million) got in recent years. Whether Bledsoe is savvy or crazy to turn that down is in the eye of the beholder. His supporters would point to the artificial limits placed on him early in his career playing behind Chris Paul in Los Angeles, followed by a trade to Phoenix where he had to share the ball with Dragic. They'd point to his production at the ends of games, a PER that ranked higher last season than John Wall, Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and Chris Bosh. They'd note that anyone should want to be unrestricted in the next year or two, with the salary cap almost certain to explode exponentially when the money from the next TV deal kicks in. Why would it be any different for Bledsoe than it is for LeBron James -- also a Rich Paul client, it should be noted at this point -- who opted for a two-year deal in Cleveland, in part, so that he'll be able to cash in for max dollars again in 2016? Bledsoe's also figuring the Suns won't want to gamble on potentially losing both of their starting guards next summer (though the Suns hedged that bet this summer by working a sign-and-trade deal for Isaiah Thomas from Sacramento). The 29-year-old Dragic will be an unrestricted free agent next year unless he inexplicably opts in for $7.5 million in 2015-16. And forward Gerald Green will be an unrestricted free agent next year. That was part of Phoenix's original plan, of course -- maximize potential cap room in order to be players in free agency as soon as possible. It's just that no one expected what happened last season. Minnesota stepped in at the 11th hour last week, trying to figure out a way to work a sign-and-trade deal with Phoenix. But once the Suns informed the league through Yahoo! Sports that they wouldn't be interested in Minnesota's package, the line of teams with potential offers of their own began forming to the right. The glut of quality point guards in the game has hurt Bledsoe from the moment he went to Kentucky the same year Wall did, but though there aren't many NBA teams left with a clear need at point guard, a few still are looking, and could be willing to make a deal. The Rockets, of course, are always willing to inject themselves into trade talks at the drop of a hat. While Patrick Beverley is a perfectly good starter at the point going into the season, Bledsoe is a better player. Houston GM Daryl Morey is always interested in upgrading any position. The Rockets have enough cap room to absorb another big contract, though they'd have to move multiple players in order to fulfill Bledsoe's desire for a max deal. On the other hand, Houston needs to jettison at least one contract before the start of camp, anyway, as the Rockets currently have 16 guaranteed deals, one more than the maximum 15 allowed to bring to camp. You hear that the Bucks have been talking Bledsoe all summer, as they should be. They have cap room, they have young, good role players on reasonable contracts (John Henson, Brandon Knight) and they have intriguing Draft picks in the future (their second-rounders, likely coming high in those rounds, will have much hidden value the next couple of years). While I doubt Phoenix would be interested in taking on Larry Sanders' or O.J. Mayo's big contracts, there are a lot of assets to put together for a sign and trade that would allow the Bucks to add Bledsoe to their Giannis Antetokounmpo-Jabari Parker base. Having more credible talent like Bledsoe could also only help the Bucks as they try to find state and local financing for the new arena they need to keep the team in Milwaukee. While there's muted optimism in Milwaukee that the political forces necessary to fund the public piece of the partnership required to get an arena deal done will fall into place, the proof will only come when the money's in the budget. NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum was in town last week to meet with Mayor Tom Barrett and the club's new owners, and to scout out potential locations in the city for the new building. There's also a California-based NBA franchise that will be looking for a long-term solution at the point after this season. (This team currently has a 40-year-old incumbent at the position.) It will have an inordinate amount of cap room next summer, more than enough for a max offer to a still-young point guard with superstar potential. It would be a gamble for Bledsoe to play this season on the chance that that team would come calling next summer, but that's why they sell insurance, right? Bledsoe has been quiet almost all summer about his intentions. But if he opts to play the year out in Phoenix on relatively short money, it's hard to see 2014 as anything but his last year in the Valley of the Sun. Never thought about the Bucks, but they could be a real player for Bledsoe.
Confused though... He's a restricted free agent, he can sign with either of those teams and they wouldn't have to give back anything to do so if the Suns refuse to match. A SnT isn't needed to acquire him.
He might say no to that, "traded to the team of your choice" is a bit finicky, it's something they certainly don't have to honor, and it seems a bit like Bledsoe is willing to go nuclear.
If that "insider" is speaking the truth, it would mean that Phoenix has a possible team who's willing to rent Bledsoe at $3-4mil and will give up more assets than teams in S&T deals. It would also be a team Bledsoe would clearly want to go to, since he has a no-trade clause with the QO. A team that could fit the bill would be OKC. Or heck, perhaps even the Rockets. But I have a hard time imagining either team giving up more stuff for Bledsoe than what they can get in S&T.
Cleveland can't re-sign him though. Rockets can if they like him enough. And OKC would never pay him anyway so they won't care.
That's true if the team had the cap space to sign Bledsoe outright but that isn't the case with the T-Wolves or Bucks. The T-Wolves are over the cap and Milwaukee is about 12m under the cap. There's really no other option for the T-Wolves other than SnT, they'd have to dump too much salary otherwise. For Milwaukee they'd have to dump enough salary to be able to cover Bledsoe's max deal or they have to do a SnT.
Somewhat reassuring Rubio information from a CBS article: Whether it was a New Year's resolution or the tireless work with him and assistant David Adelman, Rubio managed to turn the corner a bit after Dec. 31. Over the final 51 games of the season, Rubio made 40.2 percent of his shots. From Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season, Rubio had a higher field goal percentage than Paul George (39.5 percent). He wasn't exactly shooting the ball like John Stockton, but he managed to crack and sustain the arbitrary 40 percent from the field standard so many had decided he needed to reach. I'll admit to being a Rubio fan due to his unparalleled court vision and awareness, but share the general concern with his shooting.
WTF. You know how bad of a shooter you are when you are celebrating shooting 40%. I just can't see how he's going to help us when his man is always going to be double teaming someone else.
