Thought experiment: you're the GM, what do you do?

[carey]

Does the thread title remind anyone else of this?

[youtube][/youtube]

Pop quiz, hot shot...

[SDC]

Any roster moves are akin to arranging deck chairs on the Titanic until they get rid of Babby and get a strategic basketball mind in there to use McD to help implement a plan.

lol, you got it backwards. mcdo (the young un) runs the day to day basketball operation and is the one selecting the players and doing the trades that you hate. babby is just a figurehead/master negotiator who mcdo needs to help him negotiate contracts with players.

[SDC]

Any roster moves are akin to arranging deck chairs on the Titanic until they get rid of Babby and get a strategic basketball mind in there to use McD to help implement a plan.

That is exactly right. I know he gets some hate around here, but Ryan is the just the GM--a general manager. He is there to help manage the roster, make decisions on which guys are worth the contract, work the phones to find out what players are available and how much. He basically puts a price on guys heads.

are you telling me the "failed" tanking plan of last year and the 3 pg log jam is not of mcdo's doing?

The strategic vision of what he needs to achieve is set in place by his boss. Some teams have the GM as that boss too, but we don't. We chose to have Babby be in charge of that, and I think that is a bad thing. We need someone that looks beyond individual players.

then you should get rid of his "real boss" too. -- sarver.

[SDC]

let's reunite cousins and bledsoe--in sacramento. i think vivek ranadive is the kind of owner the suns can deal with. sactown needs a star staring pg, dont they. they only hindrance to this from happening is george karl. he's too smart for this.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sch ... /2010.html

[da_suns_fan]

McDonough on Burns and Gambo now.

Yawn inducing interview with no insight on anything other than they are still really high on Knight. Meh.

Could say the same about every interview with the front office for the last ten years (including the coach). They never say anything besides "were going in the right direction....come to the games (give us your money)...blah blah blah".

[da_suns_fan]

I dont even know where to start. Do we really like ANYONE on the team anymore? Peeps are high on Len but, honestly, do you think any other team in the league really wants Alex Len?

If they cut him tomorrow he'd probably be picked up. But he'd play back up center on most teams in the league.

Trade them ALL for draft picks. I dont care if I ever see Bledsoe, the Morrii, Len, Knight etc again.

[Sunsfan4life]

McDonough on Burns and Gambo now.

Yawn inducing interview with no insight on anything other than they are still really high on Knight. Meh.

Could say the same about every interview with the front office for the last ten years (including the coach). They never say anything besides "were going in the right direction....come to the games (give us your money)...blah blah blah".

I always laugh at people criticizing interviews with front office people. What do you want them to say? Thank god you guys don't live here, Hinkie makes an ass out of the media constantly but not even doing interviews. People write column after column after column bashing the guy and radio personailities started off hating him. Now some people are starting to come around....Front office personal rarely say anything of note to the media, usually the good stuff, if any, come from the owners

[Indy]

I dont even know where to start. Do we really like ANYONE on the team anymore? Peeps are high on Len but, honestly, do you think any other team in the league really wants Alex Len?

If they cut him tomorrow he'd probably be picked up. But he'd play back up center on most teams in the league.

Trade them ALL for draft picks. I dont care if I ever see Bledsoe, the Morrii, Len, Knight etc again.

I think your view of Len is ignorant. I wish I could say that in a less harsh way, but I don't think there is one.

[SDC]

before the trade deadline, dan h asked me why i wanted to trade bledsoe for amare... now you know?

i also wanted to keep dragic and IT. mcdo did the opposite.

[TOO]

I dont even know where to start. Do we really like ANYONE on the team anymore? Peeps are high on Len but, honestly, do you think any other team in the league really wants Alex Len?

If they cut him tomorrow he'd probably be picked up. But he'd play back up center on most teams in the league.

Trade them ALL for draft picks. I dont care if I ever see Bledsoe, the Morrii, Len, Knight etc again.

I think your view of Len is ignorant. I wish I could say that in a less harsh way, but I don't think there is one.

[da_suns_fan]

I dont even know where to start. Do we really like ANYONE on the team anymore? Peeps are high on Len but, honestly, do you think any other team in the league really wants Alex Len?

If they cut him tomorrow he'd probably be picked up. But he'd play back up center on most teams in the league.

Trade them ALL for draft picks. I dont care if I ever see Bledsoe, the Morrii, Len, Knight etc again.

I think your view of Len is ignorant. I wish I could say that in a less harsh way, but I don't think there is one.

Alex len is average 6 points and 6 rebounds a game. I seriously doubt anyone is itching to get him.

Every ardent fan base is crazy about some kid who will be lucky to play five years of the league.

Laker fans are convinced Julius Randle is "the future". Here its Alex Len.

To say a player is "good" is completely relative. Good compared to WHO?

Lets compare Len to other Western Conference Centers.

What team are you ABSOLUTELY sure Len would start on?

Lets start at the bottom with Minnesota. Pekovic is certainly a more polished center but he just had achilles surgery so he's out. But their backup is Jonas Valanciunas who is averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds and is 22 years old. He's THEIR "Len" (albeit a much better one).

Then theres the Lakers. Jordan Hill is no stud but hes a fantastic rebounder and his mid-range jump shot is solid enough.

Next is the Kings and Demarcus Cousins and Alex Len dont belong in the same sentence.

Next is the Nuggets who dont even start a center so they might have interest.

Next is Utah. Two words: Rudy Gobert. He averaged 15 rebounds a game last month.

Next in New Orleans with Omer Asik who has had a nice season. I doubt they would have ANY interest in Len. Especially considering they have an MVP-caliber PF in Anthony Davis.

Thats just the NON playoff teams. Do i really need to talk about the Dwight Howards, Marc Gasols and Deandre Jordan's of the teams that actually MADE the playoffs?

So which teams do you think would actually WANT Len? As in enough to actively try and trade for him?

[carey]

Next is the Nuggets who dont even start a center so they might have interest.

Um, I doubt Denver would trade Nurkic straight up for Len. That dude is a) crazier than a shithouse rat and b) kind of good.

[Sunsfan4life]

before the trade deadline, dan h asked me why i wanted to trade bledsoe for amare... now you know?

i also wanted to keep dragic and IT. mcdo did the opposite.

No I don't know. Bledsoe for Amare would be basically giving Bledsoe away from nothing. He has value around the leaguem if you're going to trade him you can get something in return for him, not just a broken down PF that would be here for nostalgic reasons.

[ShelC]

Alex Len is 21 years old. Just sayin'.

[The Bobster]

Alex Len is 21 years old. Just sayin'.

Exactly. He's got good athleticism for his size, makes an impact defensively and has some rudimentary offensive skills. Any team in the league would like to have him, even if he isn;t better thn their current starter.

And at 20, Goodwin had great physical tools and has shown a few things he is good at, but has also shown that he has some serious holes in his game. You just have to be patient with these guys and not give up on them to early like many of us did on Robin Lopez or Goran Dragic (the first time).

I think we need to commit to Goodwin, Len and Warren and build around them with young veterans like Knight and Markieff, winnowing out the older guys like Green and Tucker as we go.

But if you look at teams like Golden State and Atlanta you have to realize it's not a one-year process, and you have to continue to build over an extended period of time.

[OE32]

I second the Bobster. I note Bled is not on your "keep" list.

[ShelC]

Middle of the season people here were gushing over Len, his defense, calling for him to get the ball on offense...now he's useless and hardly any teams want him.

So let's trade everyone for picks and in two years we can trade those guys for more picks and just do the same thing every 2-3 years.

[The Bobster]

I second the Bobster. I note Bled is not on your "keep" list.

He's worth keeping if you plan on playing him at SG with a big PG who can defend big guards (and also keep team honest on offense), but I don't think Bledsoe can be the starting PG on a winner.

Ideally you trade him for a stating-caliber SG that you can play alongside Knight because Bledsoe would be a really expensive third guard, even if Goodwin becomes good enough to start as an inexpensive SG.

[Sunsfan4life]

Middle of the season people here were gushing over Len, his defense, calling for him to get the ball on offense...now he's useless and hardly any teams want him.

So let's trade everyone for picks and in two years we can trade those guys for more picks and just do the same thing every 2-3 years.

haha 100% agree.

[Sunsfan4life]

Alex Len is 21 years old. Just sayin'.

Exactly. He's got good athleticism for his size, makes an impact defensively and has some rudimentary offensive skills. Any team in the league would like to have him, even if he isn;t better thn their current starter.

And at 20, Goodwin had great physical tools and has shown a few things he is good at, but has also shown that he has some serious holes in his game. You just have to be patient with these guys and not give up on them to early like many of us did on Robin Lopez or Goran Dragic (the first time).

I think we need to commit to Goodwin, Len and Warren and build around them with young veterans like Knight and Markieff, winnowing out the older guys like Green and Tucker as we go.

But if you look at teams like Golden State and Atlanta you have to realize it's not a one-year process, and you have to continue to build over an extended period of time.

Just an excellent post. I agree withs exactly what you said and the 5 guys you named. I like Knight but I'm interested to see what his market value is, he didn't play particularly well here, but that might actually help us. The Bucks took a tumble without him...