You can talk about what % of games PHX won when both Dragic and Bledsoe are healthy. The fact still remains that PHX was and is about the 9th best team in the West and needs to be a whole level or two better before being taken seriously. Injuries are a part of the NBA. A real contender doesn't win 67% of their games (about a 54-55 win pace) when all of their best guys are healthy, a real contender win 67%+ or so of their games in the regular season, period, even with an important player or two missing 10-20 or maybe more games. Phoenix' issues, and Dragic's issues, are not just Isaiah Thomas. It's easy to blame him because he's the new guy. But the Suns were 3-5 in games without Isaiah Thomas-- and both Dragic and Bledsoe played all 8 of these games. They can trade Thomas. And it will give Dragic and Bledsoe more touches. But will it make them better? I doubt that Thomas will fetch some high level talent in a trade. He's still 5'9'' the last time I checked and nothing he did so far has made him look like any different a player than what we knew him to be in the summer, when he wasn't exactly a hot ticket free agent even with the market full of teams with cap space. Trading Isaiah Thomas might be what they say to be their preferred option, but it really doesn't move the needle for them as far as getting out of the 9th place.
It's the logical conclusion of phoenix's behaviour and situation, born out of experience from an almost identical situation. Why would phoenix leak that they're looking to trade thomas to satiate dragic? Doing such a thing only reduces their leverage on thomas but increases their leverage on dragic, why does a team do this if their real goal is to trade thomas? Unless phoenix are ok getting absolutely nothing for Thomas, and then pay dragic 16m a year (and his worthless brother another 2) to stand around and watch a 14m Bledsoe freeze him out, well more power to them i guess. Don't get us wrong here, we don't think it's phoenix's first choice, but given that bledsoe and thomas are both point guards, both slightly overpaid, that james harden was a deadset fluke based upon presti being the greek god of nba drafts and the dirty peasant of trades, has a less than 1% chance of getting someone (and closer to 0% of said someone not being a point guard). Coupled with that, no one is worried about any big name player ever signing to a team run by Robert "Give the players nothing" Sarver, because of course the players remember who tried to **** them and who was willing to pay them in cba negotations.
Even with the new rules SnT remains a possibility if if if. Yes, I agree if I'm PHX FO I resolve it prior to 2/20 (unless the Suns have a dramatic rise like Phoenix...).
Yeah, Memphis is a pretty good team, but they still managed to win only two more games than Phoenix while missing Gasol for thirty games. Would have Rockets won 55 games if Harden missed 35 games last year? That argument is just ridiculous.
Eh, again , that didn't happen last year, they worked well together, and I don't know why would it be different this year. They both sacrificed a little and averaged 18 and 6 instead of 22 and 8 they're capable of, but they were good together and they were wining. Nobody was complaining. Even before the start of the season they were widely considered a top 3 backcourt in the league with a bright future. Why has that suddenly changed a month and a half later?
Harden didn't miss 35 games, but he did miss 9 and the Rockets were 67% of those games that he missed. The Rockets also saw Howard miss 11 games, Beverley miss 24 games, Asik miss 34 games, Lin miss 11 and Parsons miss 9. They managed to win 54 games with these injuries, probably an usual amount for an NBA team-- not particularly lucky or unlucky. And guess what, these Rockets were not quite a contender. That "pretty good" Memphis team, too, exited in the 1st round. Phoenix can perhaps claim to be "pretty good," but pretty good doesn't get you much in the West, maybe not even the playoffs.
Are we assuming that if Phoenix is willing to part with Dragic, they're giving up on the 8th seed? Because I'm not seeing anything we have that would make them better this year, other than I guess DMo. So you'd think a third team that doesn't need Goran would have to be involved.
Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that Bledsoe wasn't the only guy that missed time in Phoenix either, but that's besides the point, we're talking about the best or second best player on the team. And I'm not saying that Phoenix is a legit contender, far from it. They have a giant hole in their frontcourt rotation, sorely needing somebody to protect the paint, I think they might be even last in the league in the points allowed in the paint category, and other issues too. But I don't think that Goran and Bledsoe are the problem there.
Gregas, still wondering what you'd do if you're the PHX FO and how you're going to deal with cap space, salary for 3 pg's, and fit for a rebuilding team?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Rockets expect to make roster move needed to add JSmith tmrw, source said. They think Smith will be able to join team in Mem, but uncertain.</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/548284392632614912">December 26, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
PHX wants a quality big. If trade were made today they would want to get a difference making big for a run to the playoffs. So we're either looking at giving up DMo (NO!) or turning the trade into a 3-way trade where they can add a big. I am speculating that the clearing of the cap may allow them to add a couple players. Perhaps one player like Jarrett Jack or perhaps Wilson Chandler into their cap space followed by a second player such as possibly Brooks Lopez or perhaps a McGee/Mozgov combo of bigs by sending out other salary with Goran (or Bledsoe) to a team (presumably us) who sends other salary to Brooklyn or Denver to make a 3-way trade work. Perhaps that may change at the deadline and PHX is out of it and perhaps they just want draft picks and a replacement PG or whatever.
Of course they are not the problem. But just because they are not the problem, it doesn't mean that Phoenix shouldn't trade one (or even both) of them. Again, I find it useful to look at those 9th place Rockets teams. Was Kyle Lowry "the problem" for them? No, he was the best player on the team. But he still got traded for a Toronto draft pick which was projected to be mid-to-late lottery and it was perfectly sensible for the Rockets to do so. It was not a matter of a late lotto pick is likely to result in a player as good as Lowry, it was a matter of Morey understanding that he didn't have enough assets to acquire another top player to pair with Lowry and it was best for him to exchange Lowry for an asset that is more liquid and more likely to hold its value than Lowry's contract. Likewise, it was sensible for the Rockets to trade Shane Battier, Carl Landry and Courtney Lee even though none of these guys were "the problem" and could have been and, in fact, were important members of a very good teams. Was I, as a fan, particularly happy about these deals? No. Likewise, I was not happy about losing Scola via amnesty (and Kevin McHale STILL misses Scola). But it was what had to be done if the Rockets wanted to put themselves into contention without tanking for a high pick.
Everything I know, and that falls short of talking to either Woj or McDonough, is that PHX wants the second coming of Channing Frye. Would Olynyk/Wallace for Thomas work for both teams? Or for that matter, Dragic, with Pap/Dorsey/Pels make it a 3-way? In any event, who gives what and when for PHX to ease their logjam?
Good points. BTW - - when I've seen Luis this year that gent, very regrettably, looks like toast. At least getting Smith means I no longer have to worry about Boozer becoming a Rock...
