Suns pursuing free agent Blake Griffin

[Mori Chu]

Free agent forwards Blake Griffin and Paul Millsap will meet with the Phoenix Suns after the NBA free agency moratorium period begins Saturday, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.

http://arizonasports.com/story/1161553/ ... ee-agency/

[Split T]

Presumably any hypothetical Blake Griffin contract would mean the end of Alex Len's run as a Sun, yes? Not enough room to sign both, I would assume, without going way over the cap / into the tax (and the Suns wouldn't want to do that for Len I assume).

Yes, we'd have to renounce our rights to Len for sure. Have to move another contract as well, I'd imagine. Maybe that's where the Dudley for 2nd rounders trade rumor came from.

[Mori Chu]

I'm actually not super concerned about the injury history with Blake. If he signs here he would be coming to the team with arguably the best medical staff in the league. I bet we'd have him on the floor and able to play. I don't have any confidence that the Clips took the best care of him and preventing injuries.

The big thing for me would be the fit between him and the other players on the roster, particularly the other PF/C players on our team like Chriss and Bender. If we sign Blake, Chriss's minutes are probably going way down. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Chriss showed nice flashes as a rookie, but I don't know if I saw superstar potential there. If you can get a 20 point and 8-10 rebound guy in his prime to walk right into that PF slot, I think you have to give it pretty serious consideration.

[Split T]

If we waive barbosa and millsap and renounce the rights to Len and Ronnie price, we'd have about 25 million in cap space. We could add another 3 million in space by waiving jones jr and renouncing Alan Williams. I don't think it's worth the 3 million to lose those guys. We could easily move Dudley to free up 10 million and give us max space. And if we could move knight, that would be even better.

[Split T]

I'm actually not super concerned about the injury history with Blake. If he signs here he would be coming to the team with arguably the best medical staff in the league. I bet we'd have him on the floor and able to play. I don't have any confidence that the Clips took the best care of him and preventing injuries.

The big thing for me would be the fit between him and the other players on the roster, particularly the other PF/C players on our team like Chriss and Bender. If we sign Blake, Chriss's minutes are probably going way down. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Chriss showed nice flashes as a rookie, but I don't know if I saw superstar potential there. If you can get a 20 point and 8-10 rebound guy in his prime to walk right into that PF slot, I think you have to give it pretty serious consideration.

Ya, I think you'd have to try and play Chriss and Griffin together. It might work, but the bigger teams might beat us up a little down low. You'd be counting on a mismatch on the other end with Griffin or Chriss being covered by a C. Although, there isn't a lot of C nowadays much bigger than Chriss and Griffin.

[Superbone]

Free agent forwards Blake Griffin and Paul Millsap will meet with the Phoenix Suns after the NBA free agency moratorium period begins Saturday, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.

http://arizonasports.com/story/1161553/ ... ee-agency/

Frontcourt 2020?

[bajanguy008]

Oh dear , not quite sure how I feel. All the trading the 4th pick for a vet rumours last week had me nervous and drained me lol so I will just wait and see

[The Bobster]

There are plenty of other ways to clear cap space - a sign & trade with the Clippers would be one (Dudley & a draft pick?) or sending Dudley or Knight to another team to create space.

[Split T]

There are plenty of other ways to clear cap space - a sign & trade with the Clippers would be one (Dudley & a draft pick?) or sending Dudley or Knight to another team to create space.

Ya, we can create the space pretty easy. The real question is whether we should.

[The Bobster]

Exactly. They have to do their due diligence checking out his health and attitude.

[JustWinBaby]

Exactly. They have to do their due diligence checking out his health and attitude.

I agree totally and I expect that is the most important parts of the upcoming meeting. If Blake is hell bent on leaving our draft picks could be the best thing for the clips. They will be in total rebuild mode via free agency and the Draft.

[1tinsoldier]

hmmm
i like the young blood, rebuild mode we are in.
with Griffin, playoff mode would be obtainable
but, imo, it would probably be too soon

i'd rather see usfigure out their strengths this year
and look to add a key free agent next year or there after

i guess the question is
do we take the best opportunities when they become available?
or do we patiently plan our moves on a logical timeline and hope opportunities will be there when we're ready?
i think we'd be in better position by solidifying phx as a up and coming contender first

[carey]

I wouldn't worry too much guys. I'm 99% sure that if he leaves the Clippers he's going to sign with Miami.

[Sunsfan4life]

I don't see the fit on either end. I'm not leaving 30mil on the table to join the suns and I'm probabaly not disrupting the rebuild for Griffin, But I have an open mind. Millsap makes zero sense with him being more than 10yrs older than our core.

[Flagrant Fowl]

"Pursuing" is a bit of an overstatement, IMO. Meeting with him, sure, but there's not been any indication that they'd be willing to dump a pile of money on him.

[ShelC]

Silver lining is that these guys are willing to meet with us. We're on the radar with some good young talent and guys like Booker and Millsap see that Booker is legit. Sends a message to other players and agents for the future.

[TOO]

I wouldn't worry too much guys. I'm 99% sure that if he leaves the Clippers he's going to sign with Miami.

Is this some sort of reverse psychology because you actually want him?

[Split T]

Griffin is seriously underrated as a ball handler and passer

[youtube][/youtube]

[Sunsfan4life]

Rumor is Blake reached out to US. Couple this with hi randomly naming us as a good city to play in and apparent relationship with Bledsoe (played together in LA) and its a good look for us. Still don't see it making a ton of sense for either side, but whatever

[Sunsfan4life]

Silver lining is that these guys are willing to meet with us. We're on the radar with some good young talent and guys like Booker and Millsap see that Booker is legit. Sends a message to other players and agents for the future.

I'm glad Booker sees himself as being legit. Millsap too!