LEN? wow didn't expect that. I know already that Suns want to get rid of Green and the twins. Especially the twins. I told you. Suns are not so interested in picks and just assets that don't fit . There are no stars in the market to trade for and won't be for the future .
Put yourself in the place of the Suns GM. You have a young team that you want to get playoff experience, but you know isn't going to win anything. You have acquired assets in an attempt to trade for a real star. You see that Boston and the Sixers have even more assets than you when/if a star is available. Your city isn't last on a free agents list, but not as high as NY or Boston or LA and all three have capspace to grab any stars that free agents. So you then look at your roster. You have a good secondary star in Bledsoe signed long term to man the guard spot. You have signed okay, but not elite role players in the Morris twins. Inside at the 5 you hope Len works but you don't know. So your best player is 29 years old and plays the same spot that you just spent big money on. Would you spend max or near max money on a soon to be 30 year old point guard that isn't a perennial all star? Could Phoenix do it? Sure but hard to argue it is a smart move for a team in a rebuilding phase. It is also quite possible his contract is difficult to move if there is any slip in play or even if there isn't any slippage. The Lakers and a few other teams will probably throw a 4 year max deal at him. Sign Dragic to a hometown discount? Not likely. So what do you do?
Only way Dragic leaves the Suns is if they can't move IT. They will be able to offer the most money and his brother is there!! Can't ask for a better situation. Unless Ofcourse the Suns can't find anyone to take IT and then there's something to consider. I'm not holding my breathe tho...
him being greedy depending on how much the Suns want him (and judging by even making Len available I would say A LOT! ) favours the Suns. If they offer near max for 5 then he will stay.
The Nuggets got starry eyed when the Cavs overpaid for Mosgov and now they think they can duplicate that for all of their players. Unfortunately, the league has seen repeated games where their best players have essentially mailed it in since the Mosgov trade and now no one wants to give the Nuggets what they want for their players. They need a reboot with new players and a new coach but not sure they can bring themselves to do it and accept reality.
If the Suns want him that much and his makes it a requirement to sign to get rid of IT then IT will get traded in 5 minutes. Their asking price was the reason they couldn't find a trading partner. If they asked for a very late first OR an ok prospect many teams would be all over it. Not to mention expirings.
By being greedy, I mean him not agreeing to terms in principle during this meeting today. If they don't have a good feeling about being able to keep him, trading him is the obvious next move in my opinion.
Lawson is worth two first +. Actualy barring any injury he is an asset on the rise. His contract with the new cap environment just added 1/3 more value. Maybe more. He is getting paid like what a good role player will get paid this summer and the next.
Dragic must be looking for one or both of two things: 1) The most money, longest contract considering his age as a PG 2) A team that will allow him to play PG and have a chance to win If he only wants the most money, he will stay in Phoenix and the meeting today will only confirm that they will pay him his 5 year max contract if he opts out. If so, that will be a quick meeting and he will be off the trading block. But if it is also about being able to lead a team as a PG, he is basically gone from Phoenix because they are not going to get rid of Bledsoe, so at best Dragic would just still be a SG on Phoenix even if they agree to get rid of IT. A team trading just to get his bird rights without having in agreement with him in place is just taking a huge risk that he will stay there and not sign with another team, because if it was only about the money and a 5 year deal, he would stay with Phoenix. Therefore I think his trade value goes down if the Suns do decide to trade him, because it will mean that he wants more than just the money, so it also has to be a team that thinks that he will want to play with them not only because of the money. Houston has the best chance if he is traded, and they probably won't have to give up as much as most are thinking they will.
His brother being there isn't a big deal, he can follow Dragic to another club. Don't forget that Houston brought his brother in too and Dragic left over money. Dragic has been traded before, has been a professional for a long time and knows this is a business. He isn't going to give any sizeable discount to Phoenix or any other team. He has already made it clear, he will test the market. So unless Phoenix comes with a huge offer... and I am not sure they will do that based on their dealings with Bledsoe and their past.
I agree! IT has a pretty bargain contract I'm sure it'd be easy to move! I wonder what Morey does next if Dragic is out of the picture. Does he push for Lawson? Does he just stay as is at PG maybe moving a piece to get a competent back up big?
I don't think anybody with half a brain is arguing with that point. He will accept the biggest offer no doubt. Will the Suns meet with him today and commit to pay that amount of money to a guy that may only be their second best point guard is the real question? Especially when they have yet to make the playoffs with this group and have plenty of other holes that need to be addressed.
With the Suns track record I wouldn't be surprised if they're dumb enough to handicap themselves by having a huge chunk of their cap on the same position. Lol but then again that's on them... It'd be an awful move and keep the Suns at the 8, 9, 10 seed for a while by giving Dragic big money.
I like IT a lot! He is not as popular as other PGs but the kid can play. Yes he is 5'9 but you guys are acting like we are looking at trading for Earl Boykins to be a secondary ball handler.
That's not a safe assumption. Money is the primary motivator for some basketball players, but that's not the case with all of them. You have some guys who will stay in a terrible situation for the money like Melo who doesn't care about ever winning anything, but then you have guys like Dwight who take a bit less to be on a contender. If Dragic stays in Phoenix simply because they offer him the max, we'll know exactly what his priorities are. I think he wants to be a PG again, and he can't be that in Phoenix.
I wish Phoenix would trade us Dragic and IT, and we give them Bev. We need a scoring PG with that second unit also or when playing with Harden. Our team defense will cover up his faults as long as he remembers to direct his man in the right direction for help.
The Suns RELUCTANTLY paid 5 year / $70,000,000 contract to Bledsoe this Summer. There is no way on earth they are willing to strap themselves and give Dragic something similar especially when they don't have the superstar in place that they covet so disparately. They probably want to offer 48mil and Dragic knows he can get that this summer AND don't have to share point guard duties with ANOTHER point guard. The meeting today will probably lead to him getting traded.
hM..I think that there's more to it than that. I think that even if the Suns make the max offer they will go back to Morrey and inform him so his trading value will be big. I am very optimistic that Dragic will be a Rocket in two days. Yeah with Dragic it's a very safe assumption. Considering there are at least two teams dying to offer him the max. And Dwight didn't leave LA only to join a contender. He wasn't happy there. Dragic is pretty happy in Arizona.
