I like your well thought-out post but: 1. How many teams out there are in the market for a starting point guard? Add to that question, how many teams out there are in the market for a start point guard that's going to his free agency next summer? 2. To piggy back onto the first point: how many teams are willing to give up an All-NBA big for a free agent point guard? 3. You can package any combination of players you want but unless someone is willing to bite, Thomas/Green/Morris/1st ain't going to get you an All-Star big. Tack on the fact that you'd be asking the other team to make room for all of these players. Afflalo, Pelicans' first pick, and Jones would definitely, imo, be a conversation starter as 1. Afflalo fills a need they have now at the wing because he is an average defender but is a good perimeter shooter. 2. The first rounder is valuable trade commodity for them down the road 3. They get another front court player that could be used or moved for something else down the road 4. This alleviates the clog they have at the point. They could conceivably play Bledsoe and Afflalo in the back court to start and rotate as needed. Above all else, if they don't re-sign Afflalo after the season's over, they still have the 1st Rounder and the assigned cap room that would have went to Dragic. Dragic getting dealt isn't an impossibility at all.
lol And still wouldn't be championship quality unless they get that defending big man but we would be locked down in salary and unable to get one.
You mean an extra 7-footer. Because Dwight with his knee issues is still the best defensive rim/paint protector big man in the game.
Exactly. We're not getting Dragic, Millsap, Lebron, or anybody else you unrealistic dreamers fantasize about getting for the cr*p we have to offer.
That crappy Pels pick may be the single most valuable asset AVAILABLE on the trade market right now. Doesn't mean it'll get a deal done. But if its' really that crappy, there ain't gonna be no big deals go down. Not unless the crappy Dragic and the crappy Millsap are traded for each other or something.
The Suns know what they have in Dragic and so does the NBA. What the Suns did this offseason was invest in an asset (Bledsoe) rather than letting him walk for nothing. Their valuation was that Bledsoe (at the max) is worth more in future returns than Dragic. A similar approach, albeit on a smaller scale, was taken with Isaiah Thomas. The Suns team-building strategy is very similar to Morey's. No tanking. Acquire assets, develop them, showcase their talents while maintaining a winning organizational culture. Rival executives take notice and make calls of inquiry. Tires are kicked and eventually the Suns package their valuable assets (Isaiah Thomas, Bledsoe, Ennis, Green, Lakers lottery pick, etc.) to land their very own James Harden. That's how you build a contender without tanking. The alternative (as many of you claim) is to diminish Dragic's All-NBA value by drafting a PG, signing Thomas and Bledsoe (@ $82MM) for the expressed purpose of reducing Dragic's minutes and All-NBA impact on the floor. Then, after successfully diminishing his value, trade Dragic at the deadline for a piece(s) that may or not get you into the playoffs. Ryan McDonough was schooled in the art of general management for 10 years in Boston. I seriously doubt he strategized option 2 as his team-building formula for contention in the West. Granted, I may be way off about McDonough but I just don't see it.
Just don't understand the focus on PG's here. Sure an upgrade is always something you do when you can but its just not critical...at least as critical as the frontcourt. Canaan has shown he is an adequate back-up to PBev and Nick has shown a lot potential. Jason Terry has been more than adequate. This team with Harden doesn't need a super point guard. The front court is where we are at critical mass. TJones is damaged goods. Popa is hurt and you can't have a lot of confidence in the ability of D12 to play a lot of games the rest of this season. The rookie Black just isn't a starting 5 on a legitimate play-off team...and Dorsey, well a marginal rotation player. Capella isn't ready...may be some day but not now. Imagine where we would be without DMo. We need frontcourt help far more than we need backcourt help right now. IMO its critical that DM shore up the frontcourt immediately.
Richie_Rich you have zero evidence of what the pattern or plan the Suns have is similar to the Rockets. They haven't traded anyone for assets like Morey, in fact they keep extending guys that had good years and letting good players walk for nothing. They could have gotten something for Channing Frye. They gave stupid money to the Morris twins. You can keep talking about it but it doesn't mean it's fact.
So by what you're saying...wouldn't Dragic be the most expendable out of the 3? You're getting a "max-level" player in Bledsoe because, well, you gave the guy the max contract with the hopes that you get a max level player down the road. You're getting great value in Thomas because his contract is reasonable and he's performing just as well as your 3rd All-NBA teamer this year. The only similarity I see is that they've built a team that's going to be a perennial 9th place team much like the Scola/Martin led team we had before. What assets are they actually showcasing? They signed Bledsoe to the max, it doesn't look like they're going (or should) move Len or Plumlee at the moment, and the Morris twins are a dime a dozen players. As far as packaging all of their assets for their own Harden, tell me how many times that has happened in the past 20 years where a team was able to get a star player not even in his prime for $.80 on the dollar. There's a reason why Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe, Heny Abbott, etc are still talking about that trade to this day--that's because it was an outlier. Well, by your estimation in his importance to the franchise, maybe the Suns did all those transactions and acquisitions so that they can suppress Dragic's numbers this season and thereby lowball him next summer. After all, there's only so many Dynex TVs one can buy. The Suns currently have Bledsoe, Dragic, Thomas and Ennis on the team. Guess which one wasn't acquired by McDonough?
Lets just entertain the idea and say Dragic is available to the highest bidder. What power forward out there would be considered to be a better player than Dragic that's available right now? If Dragic is untouchable then I'll concede everything I've said. I'll even welcome Brandon Bass with open arms. But if Goran's available and can be had, I'd find it hard to believe that people would pick a player like Brandon Bass over Dragic.
Not true. With Howard and Jones out our front court of Dmo and Black has been satisfactory. With Harden out of the line up our playmaking go to ****. We have no legitimate ball handling playmaker, NONE other than Harden. We struggle to score not defend.
At no point did I ever claim to have facts or insider knowledge on the Suns FO. I even admitted that I may be way off on McDonough's way of thinking. My intention here was to think critically and offer an opposing view to the presumption that Dragic could be had so easily. That is all. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to have the Dragon back. But I'm also not going to just blindly accept that 'it's happening' without some semblance of logic. Didn't mean to offend anybody. Just sharing my thoughts.
Very logical. But....project this forward. You hold on to Dragic. And then you've got to pay him. What do you think you are going to have to pay him to keep him from walking? Not only that what are you going to have to pay him to keep him in an unhappy role playing off-guard for the vast bulk of the time? You're going to have to pay the dude big $$$$. Ok, so you do that. Now, you've got a trade asset that's worth a whole lot less as a trade asset. Why? Well because he's owed a ton of money. And then he goes into next year once again unhappy in the off-guard role. So then you decide to trade him. What exactly do you think you're going to get for Dragic after he signs a huge megadeal and is unhappy in his role....and he wants to play the position that has the most talent in it in the whole NBA? Look, there's simply not much of a market for point guards in trade these days. And that fact isn't going to change after Reggie Jackson goes through free agency, gets his $$$ and moves on to another team to lock down the point guard spot for them. And it isn't going to improve after another player or two like Canaan breaks out and shows they can be a big time player at the NBA level. Then what? Somehow a re-signed Goran on some 5-year contract worth about $70 million (or possibly even closer to $100 million) is somehow going to be worth more in trade than a Goran on an expiring $7.5 million deal??? Rondo moves to LA or NY. Reggie Jackson moves to another market. And Goran re-ups in PHX for a king's ransom. I'm just asking here. You tell me. Goran going to be worth more later in a trade than he is now?
These are the guys I think we need to target with the TPE: Timofey Mozgov Taj Gibson Greg Monroe Amir Johnson Wilson Chandler Corey Brewer Anyone who makes more than the trade exception we cannot trade for. We are trying to use the trade exception to gain an asset without giving any of our players up. We will obviously have to cut someone but the whole point of this is to use the trade exception. That means we cannot trade for: Rajon Rondo Al Horford Brooks Lopez Deron Williams Joe Johnson Paul Milsap Roy Hibbert David West and on and on. Their salaries are too high. I think a trade like that would be made at the deadline.
Definitely agree that Bledsoe has tremendous upside as well as 'max-level' talent but a large part of the reason McDonough balked at throwing max dollars at him was because of his injury history. Thomas is certainly a value get (performance vs. contract) but that's not how you determine his value over Dragic. The question is can Thomas produce at an All-NBA level if he is to replace last year's All-NBA player? Dragic is the same player he was last season without the minutes, FGA, usage and ball-dominant role. There's a reason Sacramento let him walk for nothing. It may have to do with style-of-play. Bledsoe alone is worth more on the market than Martin/Lamb/Toronto 1st. Even if you include Scola (who wasn't part of the package), Bledsoe would still rate a higher asset overall. That being said, I agree the Harden trade will go down as one of the greatest heists in NBA history -- if not the greatest. But that lopsided deal cannot be compared to what Phoenix can put together for a perennial All-Star PF/C. Bledsoe, Thomas, Green, Plumlee, Lakers lottery pick, etc. is vastly superior to what we had to offer OKC for Harden. There's not a top 5 player available right now for Phoenix to acquire in trade, IMO. OK, this made me laugh. I still remember that pic of the Dynex. Good times. Touché.
http://basketball.realgm.com/wireta...ut-Hopes-To-Remain-Part-Of-Hornets-Turnaround looks like lance stephenson might be on the block anyone know his salary and if a trade could work, i think it would be a good move for us, lance would give us toughness and another playmaker to give harden rest would you throw in the pels pick for him
