Around the League: Playoffs

[ShelC]

Perfect. We have a mole on the inside to help get the Brandon Knight for Jose Calderon/Jerian Grant/Kyle O'Quinn deal done.

Are you being facetious? Not sure Hornacek is/was a fan of Knight. Not saying he's wasn't either. I think Knight is a perfect candidate to get moved to teams like Philly, BK or NY but I'm not convinced McD wants to move anyone.

Also, Steve Kyler was talking Sixers yesterday and he alluded to the fact that the Sixers and Suns may have talked trade but the Suns weren't willing to part with a PG. Nothing serious or official in terms of talks, just that it takes two to tango and the Suns weren't interested.

[Ring_Wanted]

I'm not convinced McD wants to move anyone.

The guards are his creation and he spend dearly to acquire Knight. Easy to see at least one full season of Bledsoe-Knight. Would be more than happy to be wrong.

[Ring_Wanted]

And just this came in, from Arizona Sports via Reddit:

"Ryan McDonough (Suns GM) took the fall for the Isaiah Thomas trade, but he never wanted to trade him. Hornacek kept pushing Ryan to trade him."

http://arizonasports.com/player/?a=322196

Sean McDonough is Ryan's brother and the commentator for Monday Night Football, so take it FWIW. He also says Jeff wanted Marcus Morris traded whereas McD didn't, although that is more understandable.

[Superbone]

And just this came in, from Arizona Sports via Reddit:

"Ryan McDonough (Suns GM) took the fall for the Isaiah Thomas trade, but he never wanted to trade him. Hornacek kept pushing Ryan to trade him."

Well, that fits in with the Hornacek smoothing things over with Dragic news.

[OE32]

I'm not convinced McD wants to move anyone.

The guards are his creation and he spend dearly to acquire Knight. Easy to see at least one full season of Bledsoe-Knight. Would be more than happy to be wrong.

Meh. What if Knight too was Hornacek? I think we can be pretty confident that Bledsoe was McD's guy.

It's an interesting twist. McD and Hornacek worked together, and Hornacek's suggestions weren't ultimately constructive. Watson seems far less likely to want to have a lot of input - focusing instead on coaching. Maybe the Watson hire is more of a signal that we're moving in the direction of splitting the roster assembly and roster deployment functions more completely.

[JCSunsfan]

I'm not convinced McD wants to move anyone.

The guards are his creation and he spend dearly to acquire Knight. Easy to see at least one full season of Bledsoe-Knight. Would be more than happy to be wrong.

Meh. What if Knight too was Hornacek? I think we can be pretty confident that Bledsoe was McD's guy.

It's an interesting twist. McD and Hornacek worked together, and Hornacek's suggestions weren't ultimately constructive. Watson seems far less likely to want to have a lot of input - focusing instead on coaching. Maybe the Watson hire is more of a signal that we're moving in the direction of splitting the roster assembly and roster deployment functions more completely.

Nah. I think Knight was a McD move. I think he still likes him and will only move him if it is clear he can get what he wants. I get the impression that mgmt and coaching staff are not nearly as down on Knight as fans are.

[Mori Chu]

The guards are his creation and he spend dearly to acquire Knight. Easy to see at least one full season of Bledsoe-Knight. Would be more than happy to be wrong.

Nah. I think Knight was a McD move. I think he still likes him and will only move him if it is clear he can get what he wants. I get the impression that mgmt and coaching staff are not nearly as down on Knight as fans are.

I agree with both of these comments. We keep concocting Knight trades, but I think McDo and Sarver like him and still want to see how we'll do with both of them healthy plus Watson as the coach. They want one more year. I think it'll be another dreadful season, and hopefully they'll start to learn that they need to make major wholesale changes after that. Hopefully. They won't be willing to fire Watson that quickly, so they'll have to look at the players and trades.

[O_Gardino]

And just this came in, from Arizona Sports via Reddit:

"Ryan McDonough (Suns GM) took the fall for the Isaiah Thomas trade, but he never wanted to trade him. Hornacek kept pushing Ryan to trade him."

http://arizonasports.com/player/?a=322196

Sean McDonough is Ryan's brother and the commentator for Monday Night Football, so take it FWIW. He also says Jeff wanted Marcus Morris traded whereas McD didn't, although that is more understandable.

All I hear from these kinds of quotes is that Sarver is a bullshit leader who hides his insecurities by keeping his people at each other's throats. Seriously. Every single year since Robert purchased the team, there has been all this "he said / she said" drama in the offseason. Every player and staff departure has been antagonistic. That kind of shit comes from the top down. I don't even read the gossip any more. It's all just a symptom of a really unhealthy organization. And it comes from the top down.

[O_Gardino]

I'm not convinced McD wants to move anyone.

The guards are his creation and he spend dearly to acquire Knight. Easy to see at least one full season of Bledsoe-Knight. Would be more than happy to be wrong.

Meh. What if Knight too was Hornacek? I think we can be pretty confident that Bledsoe was McD's guy.

It's an interesting twist. McD and Hornacek worked together, and Hornacek's suggestions weren't ultimately constructive. Watson seems far less likely to want to have a lot of input - focusing instead on coaching. Maybe the Watson hire is more of a signal that we're moving in the direction of splitting the roster assembly and roster deployment functions more completely.

You are a software engineer.

[INFORMER]

I hope one day people start holding Ryan McDonough accountable instead of just assuming every bad thing is a Sarver mandate.

[The Bobster]

I hope one day people start holding Ryan McDonough accountable instead of just assuming every bad thing is a Sarver mandate.

Oh, I think you have to hold both accountable, it's just that Sarver has a longer track record of incompetence here.

[JustWinBaby]

I hope one day people start holding Ryan McDonough accountable instead of just assuming every bad thing is a Sarver mandate.

Oh, I think you have to hold both accountable, it's just that Sarver has a longer track record of incompetence here.

Sarver is the guy that hired McDonough and all the other incompetents, like Babby.

Thus all the bad things are a result of Sarver's incompetence.

Who is the President of Basketball operations today?

Did Sarver dump that position to reduce costs?

[Shabazz]

Prediction: Jon Leuer signs with the Knicks this summer.

[INFORMER]

Prediction: Jon Leuer signs with the Knicks this summer.

I didn't realize he is a free agent.

[O_Gardino]

Budinger, Luer, Price, and Teletovic are all unrestricted.

[carey]

Budinger, Luer, Price, and Teletovic are all unrestricted.

Oddly, Hoopshype still has Humphries on the books for us next season. I don't think that's right.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/MarcJSpearsESPN/status/740325212525367296

Sad.

[Mori Chu]

Wow. And Kimbo Slice also passed this week. Sad to see somebody in their 40s pass away. That's way too young.

[Uncle_Gene]

R.I.P. Sean Rooks.

Only 46 years old. So sad.

[LazarusLong]

Who'd ever thought former UofA teammates Bison Dele/Brian Williams and Sean Rooks would both be dead well before either turned 50?