Suns News: Week 11 1/4-1/10

[JCSunsfan]

Goran is horrible in Miami with that huge contract. He could play with Bledsoe it only if Bled would be the shooting guard. He was intimidated by IT.

Don't know what to say. Can't imagine wanting to have him over those picks we got for him.

[Ring_Wanted]

“That’s why I didn’t hesitate to sign in free agency, because they are always on top,” Dragic told Yahoo. “They are always looking at that big picture to win a championship. I still remember that year with the Suns, when we made the [conference finals in 2010]. That was one of the best moments in my career and I want to feel that again, to be in the playoffs and to be a contender."

I still like the dude. McD really screwed the pooch with him. I said in the other forum that I'd rather be paying him 85 mil than Bled and Knight 140 mil.

Totally agree. I think Sarver and McD are so into "metrics," that they miss all the other things stats don't capture. A guy who leads the team (that traded him in the first place) and makes sure everyone is involved, who cares about the city and winning and being a professional.... But hey! Bledsoe is the mini-LeBron! And Knight is an almost all start in the East!

They might have all the numbers, but they clearly don't understand intangibles at all.

This was not a matter of metrics. If it was, Dragic and Frye would have been kept at basically all costs, since they had a monster rating for two man game. No other pair scored better per possession on pick and roll/pop sets.

What screwed things was the concept of VALUE while disregarding fit and ignoring thing people call diminishing returns. IT3 at 7M per is brutal value, but turns the guard rotation into a mess.

[Ring_Wanted]

Next time we find something good that actually works, let's just make sure we keep it instead of outsmarting ourselves reinventing the wheel.

Uncanny how different things would have been if after striking out on the big free agents we would have just be content with Bledsoe-Dragic as the main guards, paying Fyre those 8M and picking up freaking Ish Smith's team option for under 1M.

But no. The fucking IT3 contract. Sometimes we truly get what we deserve.

[Ring_Wanted]

Goran is horrible in Miami with that huge contract. He could play with Bledsoe it only if Bled would be the shooting guard. He was intimidated by IT.

Don't know what to say. Can't imagine wanting to have him over those picks we got for him.

?
Bledsoe was the nominal PG when they played together, but it didn't really matter since the way the team ran things on offense made them interchangeable. On D, Dragic would guard the SG. What made things ok was having enough room to let each guy play as the only PG.

Intimidated by IT? First time I hear this. Maybe what had him unhappy was not getting to ever be the actual PG. You are playing with Bledsoe? You are the SG. You are playing with Thomas? You are the SG. Mmmh oh, let's use all three PGs at once. Btw Goran you are the SF.

Come on.

[Indy]

Goran is horrible in Miami with that huge contract. He could play with Bledsoe it only if Bled would be the shooting guard. He was intimidated by IT.

Don't know what to say. Can't imagine wanting to have him over those picks we got for him.

?
Bledsoe was the nominal PG when they played together, but it didn't really matter since the way the team ran things on offense made them interchangeable. On D, Dragic would guard the SG. What made things ok was having enough room to let each guy play as the only PG.

Intimidated by IT? First time I hear this. Maybe what had him unhappy was not getting to ever be the actual PG. You are playing with Bledsoe? You are the SG. You are playing with Thomas? You are the SG. Mmmh oh, let's use all three PGs at once. Btw Goran you are the SF.

Come on.

Thank you.

[Shabazz]

Did anyone catch McDonough's interview today? Care to summarize?

[OE32]

Did anyone catch McDonough's interview today? Care to summarize?

http://arizonasports.com/story/511279/s ... ure-ahead/

Listening now...

EDIT: Listened. Extremely encouraging interview. Lots of stuff to chew on there. Bottoming out a real possibility, trading Keef all but certain, trading the vets very possible if the team doesn't start to compete. Love it.

[Superbone]

Did anyone catch McDonough's interview today? Care to summarize?

http://arizonasports.com/story/511279/s ... ure-ahead/

Listening now...

EDIT: Listened. Extremely encouraging interview. Lots of stuff to chew on there. Bottoming out a real possibility, trading Keef all but certain, trading the vets very possible if the team doesn't start to compete. Love it.

About time! This is a poorly assembled team. Love the young guys though we got through the draft. That is about the only thing McD has been getting pretty much right.

[JCSunsfan]

Wow. Some tough questions.

"If you end up with a top lottery pick this summer, what is your confidence that you will be the one making that pick?"

"Is the Markieff Morris situation close to a resolution?"

"Is there a place for a 33 year old veteran center on a rebuilding team?"

[Shabazz]

Suns waived Jefferson (who I liked) and Cotton (meh).

Just getting out of the guarantee or precursor to another move?

[djy2j]

Suns waived Jefferson (who I liked) and Cotton (meh).

Just getting out of the guarantee or precursor to another move?

Removes them from the guarantee. They'll be brought back on a 10 day more than likely.

[Indy]

https://t.co/FmOmmaS7iB

Lowe's podcast where he includes Suns talk this week. I haven't listened yet, though.

https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/685108366931312640

[Ring_Wanted]

Straight to the jugular. 'Sarver's is the quote that keeps on giving'. The millennials stuff is making him look even more of a douche. Tries to be snarky but he fails.

Since Hornacek is in the hot seat, they wonder why so many coaches have been fired since 2013 in the west. 13 out 15, so all teams but SAS and Dallas. They call this summer the summer of the head coaches instead of FAs. Doubts about Toronto, BRY, Fisher (yellow flag they say). Said Hornaced looked like he didn't care during LAL's game and others.

2014 deadline: Suns looked like winners (wut?!) but have been very bad since acquiring Brandon Knight. Thomas playing the best among the three PGs (four, including MCW. Five I guess, including Ennis ahah). They note that adding Thomas alienated Dragic although getting those MIA picks is a great haul. They make the question: IT3+LAL vs Knight+Cle (please, what's to debate here?).

What should the Suns do next? They just don't have an answer. Call out weird decisions on the big stuff, mixed with good calls on smaller things. They believe Bledsoe's knee and Chandler decline put a dent on the training staff's reputation. All factors considered (east strong, west weak, Bledsoe down, worst team at the moment, etc) a top5 pick is pretty much within reach (no shit).

Knight critiziced for his poor passing, obviously hurting Chandler.

Kieff saga: key player to this team, much better than Leuer-Teletovic. Way below maket contract. They wonder if the Warriors could make a play for him, after pointing at some nice defense on Draymond Green (over 21 minutes, 5 games, larger example than it seems). Veredict: if you can get him for free or close to it, you have to do it despite baggage. Called 'low hanging fruit' by a GM. All you have to do is 'not being the team that traded his brother'. OKC, Mavs, TOR, NOP, others. Detroit obvious destination.

Cavs in particular because they struggle with small ball. Now it gets ridiculous because they suggest the dumping costs the Suns returning Cle's pick. Anyway, Cavs not interested. Payroll reasons mainly, but also Cavs believe with health they can beat the Ws. Enough at PF (we'll see about that).


Around the league, trade stuff. Sellers: LAL, Suns, NOP. Buyers: BRY wants wins so buyers with JJ's contract (imo big opportunity here for us to dump money and get stuff via a third team, like Raps). Miami with Whiteside+Deng. Sacramento is not giving up.

[Ring_Wanted]

Heh. So if the Nets truly want to spend JJ's contract to get wins, they can have basically a brand new team.

PHX out: Knight, Tucker, Teletovic, Weems, Goodwin.
PHX in: JJ's contract, Bennet, LAC '17 1stR, TOR '16/'17 1stR. Would push for NYK '16 but doubt it.

TOR out: Ross, Patterson, Johnson, Nogueira, Bennet.
TOR in: Thad, Tucker, Weems.

BRY out: JJ, Young.
BRY in: Knight, Ross, Johnson, Teletovic, Nogueira, Goodwin, Patterson.

[djy2j]

I'd take that trade. Not sure if Brooklyn blows their cap space for that return.

[ShelC]

Thomas playing the best among the three PGs

This.

They believe Bledsoe's knee and Chandler decline put a dent on the training staff's reputation.

Not sure I agree with that. Bledsoe's always had knee issues and it was probably just a matter of time. Chandler's always got tick-tack injuries but also will play hurt if his team is playing well and tends to dog it when his team sucks. That's something we need to anticipate this year.

Steven Kyler maintains Kieff has no trade value. I think he's still got a lot because of his age, contract and skillset. I thought the cavs would be a good fit but they won't make a move this year. I hoped Love would struggle again so we could maybe make a play for him but that's out the window.

BK won't take on big money and use up their capspace. I'd offer up Knight because they literally have no one at PG and he'd be a great building block for them, but again I don't think they'd take on his salary. Never know with Billy King tho.

[Cap]

"Literally no one"? What position do Shane Larkin and Donald Sloan play?

[ShelC]

You know what I mean tho. Long term, there's no one there.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/685184163964534784

[TOO]

Because we need another combo guard?