Rudy Gay is mediocre as hell, and in a vacuum, I would prefer Ariza 9 out of 10 times, however, I am eager to tear apart everything that was last year, which was was just awful. This is of course predicated on Gay waiving his player option for next year. That is a given, to even consider a trade. Ariza, Brewer, Dmo, Beverley, are your guys preventing you from signing a max player next year, so you turn two of them into an expiring contract in Rudy Gay and you have cleaned up your cap exponentially, without it really costing you much on court. Plus there is always hope that Gay can actually turn into a non terrible player under Dantoni. Lets see what happens.
It's really the Ryno and Ego contracts that will prevent us from signing a star in the next four years. Ariza, Bev and brew are all really cheap and moveable (well maybe not Brewer). DMo TBD. When we signed Ryno and Ego to those deals we pretty much said this is what were going to war with for Hardens peak years.
But to attract star you have to have a good season first. We can't afford to have another subpar season. Anderson and Gordon are the best FA available in the market who can help us immediately and position ourselves to add another significant talent in the future.
Even if we have a good year we have no flexibility or good assets to trade. What if we have a bad year?
It seems pretty clear that in today's NBA, if a team needs to make cap space, it is probably possible. Consider this sequence of events. To have a major FA sign, you have to have a really decent team in the first place. To have a decent team in the first place, you have to have a lot of really solid players, and a star already. To then sign another star, you just have to move one of those really solid players for cap space. That's easier to do in a world where most teams have cap space because of cap spikes... but (i) the cap WILL increase meaningfully again next year, even if not as meaningfully as otherwise thought, and (ii) there are opportunities to trade players for expiring contracts at the trade deadline, or for non-guaranteed contracts post season. Basically, that means, if you absolutely have to create cap space because you need to sign a major free agent, you can. See Andrew Bogut. The downside to the Anderson and Gordon contracts are they suck... not that they were signed for that amount in the first place. I'd be more upset about the length than the $ amount... would obviously rather they both be 3 years, with team option on the 4th. If we have a bad year? then they are bad signings. clearly, any time you sign someone, the expectation should be that they perform to their contract.
Taking stabs here- Sac-Gay, McLemore, Cousins! Phi-Noel, Okafor, McConnell Phx-Bledsoe Mil Atl-Milsap, Korver, Splitter? NJ-Lopez, Vasquez Milwaukee is the odd choice. Who'e disgruntled there? They are an up tempo team, could use Brewer, maybe DMo, Harrell, Capela. Who do we want-MCW?
Greg Monroe: Spoiler <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Greg Monroe and Rudy Gay, league sources say, continue to be two of the NBA's most prominent proven vets known to be available via trade.</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/755402545988710401">July 19, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
They're movable if they prove to stay healthy. Big if.. we already knew what these signing were. High risk, high reward. Productive players if they can stay on the court.
I'm hoping we can get Bledsoe and Tucker, especially if we loose Ariza . I'd slap my momma for Milsap tho Bledsoe /GP2 Harden/ Gordon Tucker/gay?? MILSAP/Anderson Capela/Nens I'd pass on gay for Bledsoe/Tucker combination.
Not saying I don't believe cod, and thanks as always for the info cod. But I just don't see any way we get milsap here with the assets that we currently have. I really don't want rudy gay especially if it means we have to give up ariza. He's not going to flourish next to james
Tucker would be an acceptable replacement for Ariza... nonetheless, losing ariza does not sit well with me.
Is Tuck even a good defender anymore? I remember he use to be a few years back but I haven't really watched The Suns in a while. I really don't think Ariza gets dealt unless we are getting a legitimate upgrade at another position who is a good defender. I think Morey and MDA understand the value of Ariza's defense even though he dropped off a bit last year.
Absolutely, he would. But Minny wouldn't. They can get a better, younger piece and/or pick for Rubio.
