I don't think the Suns are looking at a particular position as much as they are just looking for the best talent/asset in return for any trade. PHX may publicly talk about positional balance, but it's not like that PHX would be a contender this year if they can only trade Dragic or Bledsoe or whoever for the PF/C equivalent of these guys. PHX needs to get talent that's a whole order of magnitude better than what they have now. I'm sure they would prefer to just cash in some of their talent and assets for an elite player like Morey did trading for Harden, but those opportunities are not always available. And unless something like this materializes, PHX has to be realistic about Dragic's contract situation.
Judging by the past 2 seasons, I don't think Bev is a 32+ min/game player. He is AWESOME but I think he's tired and more hurt than we know. His infusion of defense and hustle combined with 36.5% career 3pt is a huge asset. Goran is having a bad season with PHX but he does not fit well with Bledsoe or Thomas since they dominate the ball more while Goran sits in the corner like Bev does for us, only Bev is maybe a very slightly better stand still 3pt shooter imo. I think Goran could be better at this if he played with us though. With Goran we can make Bev a token starter (similar to Dorsey) to set the tempo, and bring Goran off the bench earlier than we would Terry, with our rotations set so that neither Goran nor Harden are off the court at the same time. As Rockets fans know, we suffer immensely with offensive lulls with Harden out, and Harden plays way too many minutes with respect to how much he dominates the ball, thereby making him less efficient offensively and defensively. Our lineups and substitutions would end up pretty similar to what Milwaukee does at PG with Knight/Bayless, but in this case I'd have Goran off the bench and playing about 30-33 min and Bev ~20-22.
Ryan Anderson would be a bold acquisition but if you thought Harden's defense was bad... oh boy. And he's a huge injury risk even as a bench guy getting only 22 minutes/game. Maybe he'd shoot 40% with us but his defense/rebounding is pretty atrocious.
the question that nobody is addressing is not which of our assets would Phx want for Dragic, but rather who is the best big our assts can garner on the open market in a 3 way for Dragic...
Exactly. Dragic no matter what, starts asap. Think Beverly will benefit a lot, being able to rest more and go back to defending and hitting threes. If we acquire Goran, watch out this team will be built to go deep into the playoffs.
This might be blasphemy for a lot of fans here, but if we can get Dragic and not use too many assets, I would love if Morey can ship Bev out and use our other assets to pickup someone like a DJ Augustin type player as a backup for Dragic. And if he could snag a Kevin Martin type player (or a Ray Allen) to backup Harden for about 15 minutes a game, we would be really stronger and a contender favorite. We will need another center (backup) though to really compete maybe.
Here is hoping Morey can pull it off, It wouldn't hurt to get a third team involve ( Like Utah) since Kanter wants out. Maybe we can get both the Dragon and Plumlee. We will probably have to sacrifice NOP first rounder, KPap, Shved and maybe T Jones to get that done.
As other posters can attest, I am a big fan of Dragic and support his acquisition. However, I am drifting more firmly into the camp that prefers to keep the New Orleans pick. I fear Dwight Howard is done as a major force on a nightly basis. If that is true, we will need a true center to replace him. A strong possibility for the Rockets, using the Pelly pick, would be Willie Cauley-Stein. Another would be a trade with the Utah Jazz for Enes Kanter using the Pelly pick. Even if the Rockets trade for Dragic with a proviso for signing him to a multi-year contract, we will have no center other than D-Mo, who is really a PF. This leaves us in the position of having a solid point without a focal point of attack. In other words, opposing teams can focus on the donut because of the hole.
DD I would do that in a heartbeat but would the Suns take an unproven kid who has upside and the Pel's pick? IMO Dragic would throw Houston right over the top if they could acquire him for that type of package.
I disagree with D-Mo being a PF. He has great numbers defensively at the rim, he rotates extremely well, and is too slow to guard some of the stretch 4's we go up against like Ryan Anderson. If Smith can be brought back this off season, that would still give us a solid 3 big rotation next season when Dwight is sitting out.Dorsey is guaranteed for next season too, and there aren't too many 5's he can play next to. Kanter could be a possibility since he has a nice faceup game, but even then I would hate to see Dorsey and Kanter on the court much together. I think our big rotation has a high chance of being the same next season as it is now (adding Howard back hopefully). Maybe next season McHale will realize that those 14 minutes a game for Dorsey aren't necessary.
You prefer Kanter over Dragic? I like Kanter, but I like the Dragic fit much much better. We need a strong defensive strong rebounding center next to Dmo (or Smith). I do not see Kanter being that center.
I don't think the trade market for him is huge. He has said he is exploring free agency. Also, his advanced stat numbers are back to career averages after his career year last year.
