Pretty solid team that needs better backup bigs, but otherwise should be able to compete for a championship.... SHOULD, not WILL. I think Morey, and everyone, would prefer a better third best player... but Dragic at this year's production is REALLY good... not sold he could keep it up, but even close to it, and that's really good and that team can go to battle for sure. Also, to the extent Illyasova is acquired with TJones... I just prefer to keep TJones. It's not like Illyasova is a great defender or even had a better year than TJones. Illyasova's peak is better, but he's regressed while Jones is still only 22. It's the Dragic addition that is tempting everyone in this thread... for good reason. It basically needs an Asik-light backup big and then would be a "huge" upgrade, imo, because every one of the players "traded out" was replaced with a better defender. Also, don't sleep on Dragic. Whether he can keep it up is VERY IMPORTANT. But if he can, he was at least an average or slightly above average defender, while being GREAT offensively, efficient, and nails/clutch. Maybe not as clutch as, say a Damian Lillard... but clutch, and posted a 21+ PER to Lillard's 18, for example (not that PER is everything). Think about it this way. While indeed Parsons kept us in some of those Blazers games in the first half, he disappeared in the second half while Batum lit him up. that's an upgrade. The Rockets will find ways to score. They couldn't find ways to stop a Batum second half. And more importantly, Lillard. Beverely tried to check him, but was way too aggressive. Dragic couldn't hold him either, but would at least offer a second "pesky" defender - which is how I'd describe Dragic's defense a bit... pesky in that crafty way, plus his height. More importantly, Lillard put forth basically 0 effort defensively. The roster he put together I think definitely beats the Blazers... and from there, who knows? ---- NOT THAT IT MATTERS! This Dragic thing is a pipedream kept alive by this amazing thread!
The only thing that could prevent him from staying would be a team chemistry issue, team role issue, injury concerns, etc.
Is Dragic worth the 5 year max? I suppose him being a 2 way player helps but man the Spurs get away with murder paying guys like TP 12m per in his prime.
Yup. Dragic seems far from the type to be involved with chemistry and team role issues too. He would be a starter, he would be treated as a star, one of the big 3, so no problems that I could see really. Dragic also has already played in Houston, loved McHale and the fans, I bet he'd fit in with our group and chemistry very well. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MHpS4hKD4jI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Not sure what Dragic's actual max would be, but Kyle Lowry got 12m per at the same age, and I guess Dragic is maybe slightly better than Lowry, I suppose? I'm not sure, but if he got a 5 year deal, you could maybe get away with not giving him the full max and closer to 13-14m per.
no Adding Dragic will not make this team a championship contender. Getting Dragic will lock down our cap and we are stuck with a less than championship. It throws away our flexibility too.
There is virtually no chance Drgaic isn't a free agent next year. He has a player option and he could get a $5 million increase in salary. He is perfect from a flexibility perspective. You get a look to see how much better the team is. The only loss is the assets used to give him up.
How do you know that Dragic wouldn't make us a contender? Why couldn't he? He's right up there with Bosh talent wise. Dragic and Ariza is a lot closer to Bosh and Parsons then most think. I also highly doubt this flexibility you speak of would net us much better the Dragic. You realize that we don't have enough money to offer anybody the max right? Lets say we manage to get rid of EVERYONE, except the following 3 Howard - 22 Harden -16 Ariza - 8 cap hold - 4 = 50 million in salary the salary cap is projected to be 65 million next off season so we would have 15 million to spend in free agency... hmmm, that's about enough to get.... Dragic or Milsap, if were lucky. So we would have to completely blow up our team, get rid of Beverley, Jones, Motiejunas, Johnson, Daniels, Canaan, Johnson, the Pelicans pick (because 1st round picks count against the cap) just to end up with only a chance, to bid on a player of Dragic's caliber... How about, we try to trade for Dragic now, be able to go over the cap to re-sign him, and keep the whole damn team instead?
If the Suns plan to keep Dragic around and trade him at the deadline, they are either planning on keeping Isiah Thomas on the bench until the deadline (not likely - if you sign a $7 mil FA and then give him no minutes for 2/3 of the season, the fan base would explode) or they are going to move Dragic to being exclusively a 2 guard. Option 2 seems a bit more likely, but Dragic has never played the 2 for 50% of his minutes and only above 20% for 2 of 8 years. Essentially they would be planning on "showcasing" him by playing him out of position. That seems like a pretty obviously stupid plan. The only other options that I can think of are S&T Bledsoe before the season (possible, I guess) or run out Dragic as a 2 for the year, then let him walk. Planning on letting Dragic walk doesn't seem very likely. That is a "maximize short term returns" plan, and they aren't in short term mode. Maybe they won't trade him to Houston, but I don't see how keeping 3 high priced point guards makes any sense at all for Phoenix. To do so would essentially be planning to damage the asset value of at least 1 of the 3.
I'm sorry, 66.5 million is what it's projected at. So we could maybe keep Beverley's cap hold (he will be a free agent. Howard 22.4 Harden 15.8 Ariza 8 cap hold 3.5 Beverley 1.6 We would have somebody a 15.2 million dollar contract. Still would have to get rid of Jones, Motiejunas, Capela, Daniels, Johnson, Canaan, Pelicans first, Lin's cap hold, not spend our MLE this year, just to free up the cap. So same exact point, just corrected the numbers.
But, you see, many recently-acquired contracts can't be traded until September. So if Plowman is right, we could have a wait on our hands. It was King Drew who put the extra b.s. spin by inventing the day(s) a trade would go down. If he's a Red Rowdy, I hope his brethren jackslap him our first home game.
Bill Simmons talked some in the latest BS Report about Boston and Rondo-- just ideas and speculation but it does remind me that Rondo is a sensible target for Morey to go after. Morey has been reported to have interest in Rondo in the recent past. Rondo should be available for a reasonable price for the same reasons (and more-- Boston is a crappier team than PHX) that some of us speculate that Dragic would be available at a reasonable price. BOS may still be trying to get into the Love sweeps or try to trade their assets for a star or two to put next to Rondo. But the odds are not looking good and they have to think about trading him soon. Simmons opined that the problem BOS faces is that the teams that have the good assets are not good enough to give the assets up because Rondo can leave in 2015 and those that can use Rondo as a key part of a contending team do not have the best assets. Simmons and his guest Joe House kicked around a Knicks trade idea centered around using Amare's expiring deal for BOS to unload Gerald Wallace and Jeff Green plus getting some combination of young guys (Cleanthony Early, Tim Hardaway Jr) and 1st rounders from the far future (2018, 2020). I figure Morey can offer better than this, no?
Why would the Knicks do that when they won't win anything this year even with Rondo and they can just sign Rondo outright after this year?
They are very, very different players, but talent wise, they are close to the same level. Dragic is younger, will be cheaper and is arguably a better player. I'm not saying Bosh wasn't a better fit to our roster, but our PG position is just as weak as our PF position Now besides that, lets say we have deal for Dragic on the table. Jones, Beverley, Capela, Pelicans pick for Dragic. We take it, re-sign Dragic next off season for 16-18 per. We also have this years, AND next years MLE, BAE. You can't spend either if we want to spend money next year in free agency. We get to keep Motiejunas, Daniels, Canaan and Johnson. We also get to keep Lin's TPE. Your saying, you think we could create a better roster with Howard, Harden, Ariza, Beverley and only 15.2 million in cap space next off season? Then we could if we got Dragic, kept Motiejunas, Daniels, Canaan, Johnson, Lin's TPE, 2 MLE players and 2 BAE players? Please tell me how.
mo Then we are about the same team as last year. A 1st round and go home. Dragic is not even close to the talent as a Bosh. Withe Bosh we would have been a fave to win it all to a Dragic where we would be maybe god enough to get to the 2nd round. Then we qre locked into that line up for years.
