Hell yes, Dwight for a resigned Love. Move DMo to his natural position of center, have Love as the starting PF (stretch 4) and go to war. Yes, we miss a motivated Dwight in the paint, but that guy is just not a consistent player anymore, he doesn't BURN to win..... Love for Howard - yes please. DD
Worng point guard Bledsoe is under contract so there is no way he could possible get away PLUS better defense. Len is monster in training (two way player) but is a season or two away. They have the Lakers and Twolves picks as well. We could take Goodwin a combo guard just for grins (nice defender but needs to learn an outside shot) --> do not want to overpay PBev next season. With the Smith signing we have Jones to trade for a center to give Len some time for development. Our window grows for 5 more years which just happens to be most of Harden's and Bledsoe's primes in a guard driven league.
Yes he is, he is 100% a natural post player, a guy who is a natural Center - and a part time PF. He is not a shot blocking center but a positional one like Asik, but with offense. He is always in the right spot, and hustles and moves the ball and his body. We would be better with Love at PF and DMo at Center than we are now. DD
IF Howard was traded to the Suns for: Bledsoe, Len, Goodwin & the Twolves and Lakers picks. THEN: Jones, Dorsey, Shved and Terry ...for... Al Jefferson Charolette - gets a lot younger and they have Biyombo or can play small with Zeller. Jones skill set fits with their core. NEXT ERA ROCKETS Bledsoe, Harden, Ariza, DMo, Jefferson bench: Smith, KPapa, Len, Beverley / Canaan, Goodwin / Brewer D-League Capela , Johnson, OPEN (Need to move Beverley before we overpay him and will force KMH to play Canaan) Bundled the Laker, Twolves & NOP picks should = something special
I want Bledsoe or Lawson running the point ... * Bledsoe: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=nspwly4 Throw in NO pick and NY 2nd rounder if needed. * Lawson: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=nvnjbl6 Throw in NO pick and NY 2nd rounder if needed.
Apparently Cousins not happy in Sac town. Dwight for Cousins & Landry? Then: Beverley, D-Mo & NOP pick at the deadline for Isaiah Thomas or Dragic. According to ESPN trade machin, we would be +7 and +4 respectively while Phoenix goes negative every time :grin: New rotation: Thomas / Canaan / Shved Harden / Terry / Johnson Ariza / Brewer / Papa Smith / Landry (for now) / Jones Cousins / Dorsey / Capela
The Suns shake their head with a smile on their face as they hang up the phone. Have to give to get --> they need today bigs IF Denver falls apart maybe with both picks at the trade deadline. I do like your thoughts though
They have quality bigs in Len & Plumlee as well as solid contributors at the PF spot with the Morris twins ... and they have an overload at PG. What the Suns need is a solid wing player should they decide to move one of those point guards.
I don't know when Kevin Martin (MIN) comes back from his wrist injury, but how about Dragic to Houston Martin to PHX Rockets Assets to Minn (since they are rebuilding)
I don't think Martin is enough of a return for PHX .... he's an older player with injury issues. Martin when he was a Rocket , absolutely. But that time is long since passed. I don't think Martin is worth a first round pick at this point. Then factor in his contract , this year and two more at $6,792,500 , $7,085,000 & $7,377,500. They likely want a younger player still on a rookie deal or a better player than Martin.
It's happening! :grin: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Suns recalled Ennis, Goodwin and Warren from a three-game D-League assignment with the Jam. They are in OKC for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SunsAtThunder?src=hash">#SunsAtThunder</a> tonight.</p>— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) <a href="https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/550359326242512898">December 31, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In my view, Daryl Morey wants to trade for two players: 1) a very good veteran G, and 2) a forward who can a) shoot the ball and b) play alongside Trevor Ariza. We are talking about two separate trades, most likely. The target G is pretty clearly Goran Dragic. Here is the sort of very simple trade for Dragic that Morey would like to execute as soon as possoble: Jason Terry (expiring contract), Donatas Motiejunas, and the Pelicans first round pick to Phoenix; Goran Dragic to Houston Add Clint Capela and/or Nick Johnson, if necessary. Later, on 2/19 (trade deadline day), Morey will then seek to package two or three of his remaining expiring contracts (Kostas Papanikolaou, Corey Brewer, and Alexey Shved) with one or more of his remaining cheap, young players with perceived upside for one of the following veteran forwards: Al Horford Paul Millsap Luol Deng David West Danilo Gallinari Ersan Ilyasova Probably in that order of preference. If I had to put money on it, I would bet on Deng, followed by Gallinari, followed by West. It basically depends on which teams have fallen out of the playoff picture by mid-February. Houston will emerge as the frontrunner to win it all. They will possess a fantastic three guard rotation (James Harden, Dragic, and Patrick Beverley), a very strong three or four man rotation at forward (Trevor Ariza, Josh Smith, the newly acquired veteran forward, plus maybe Terrence Jones, or Brewer, if he is still around), and Dwight Howard at C (backed up by Joey Dorsey). This appears (IMO) to be Morey's plan, and it is a realistic plan.
I think your player-type targets are right. Vet guard and PF that can shoot. I don't think Morey will have to offer the "farm" for Dragic. The two best tradable assets on the table are DMO and NOP pick. I don't think BOTH have to be used on Dragic. One gets used, one gets pocketed. I think NOP+Capella+Canaan+Shved(salary) could get it done for Dragic. Capella was a 1st round pick so that is like 2 1sts to PHX + Canaan to replace Dragic. Then the Rockets have Dmo/TJones/Johnson/Kpap/NYK 2nd rounder as assets on the table to mix and match to make the PF move. I don't think Deng will be available. Riley has proven he is not going to "give up" and rebuild. Love Millsap and Horford but ATL is surging. David West might be very interesting. I would watch that.
Thanks for your reply. It would need to be Terry's contract, not Shved's, for salary matching purposes. Also, Terry (and Papanikolaou) are eligible to be traded right now, whereas Shved (and Brewer) are not eligible to be traded until the trade deadline day (2/19). The Dragic trade can happen at any time, whereas the trade for the veteran forward will not happen until right on 2/19. Morey may need to give up only Motiejunas or the Pelicans pick. But he is all in this season, and the Western Conference is so tough. You don't want to be greedy, and you don't want to beat around the bush. After using Terry plus Motiejunas (plus maybe the Pelicans pick) to get Dragic, you have all sorts of assets to mix and match: Expiring contracts (Papanikolaou, Brewer, Shved) Cheap, young players with perceived upside (Terrence Jones, Isaiah Canaan, Clint Capela, Nick Johnson) Draft picks As for Luol Deng: I agree that Pat Riley likes to hold onto talent, but Deng has a player option on Year Two (2015-16) of his contract. He wants one more nice 3-4 year deal and he did not get that this past offseason. So he is going to opt out. Riley will get nothing for Deng if/when he signs with somebody else this upcoming offseason. So, if Miami continues to look like a non-contender in mid-February, I think he gets traded for exactly the sort of package that Morey will be peddling. A package of Papanikolaou, either Brewer or Shved, and Capela (or maybe Johnson), plus maybe that Knicks second rounder, is what Riley will want (and get) for Deng. Deng is a nice two-way player who is a pretty good shooter. But keep your eyes on Denver. That team is not looking like a contender, yet their payroll is pretty big. Getting rid of JaVale McGee's contract is probably a pipedrea, so they can obtain payroll relief by trading Gallinari. Gallinari is only a year and a half away (summer of 2016) from hitting unrestricted free agency, too. Denver will for sure look to trade both Arron Afflalo and Wilson Chandler. Afflalo has a player option, so he will for sure opt out this (summer of 2015) summer, and hit unrestricted free agency. And Chandler has a rather large ($7.2 mil) TEAM option that will (IMO) most likely be declined. Denver will be shopping both players, and neither will fetch much. I think Morey is aiming much higher, and would be interested in Gallinari. Afflalo is a nice shooter but do you play him at SF if you're Houston? He is (I think) only 6'5", so probably not. Chandler is okay but is he really an upgrade over Brewer or Papanikolaou? Not really. Deng is, though. So is Gallinari. And David West. Atlanta looks like a team that can make it to the NBA Finals, and when has that ever happened? That is why I do not see them trading away any of their good players. Millsap, and especially Horford, would be great, but extremely unrealistic, for Houston. Deng, Gallinari, West, Ersan Ilyasova = realistic trade targets. So many of the trade ideas in this thread involve players who are not getting traded. Seems like a waste of time to talk about trading for guys who are not going to be traded at any point in the foreseeable future. Let's look at what Morey, and other teams, are ACTUALLY doing, or trying to do. If you look at each team's payroll situation, near term and long term, and then you look at the terms of players' contracts, you get a good idea of which players are truly available.
