Suns News: September

[Ring_Wanted]

DRtg of last year's Suns, per basketball-reference.com:

104 Plumlee
106 Bledsoe
106 Len
106 Kieff
106 Randolph
106 Tucker
107 Frye
107 Goodwin
107 Smith
107 Mook
108 Green
109 Dragic
110 Barbosa
110 Christmas
110 Kravtsov

IT's DRtg with the Kings was 111.

Yeah, I covered that when I discussed IT3-Bledsoe with Informer. It is a severe downgrade no matter how you cut it.

Other stats also support Bledsoe. From NBA.com, Opposite FG at the rim has Bledsoe #2 overall, allowing 41% on three attempts defended per game.

It also gives Bledsoe a defensive rating of 100.5%, good to be around top30 overall (including all the monster rim protectors), on par with the likes of Chris Paul or Tony Allen and elite among PGs.

And like I mentioned before, the Suns had a league best defensive rating of 93.1 when using Bledsoe-Goran-PJ-Frye-Miles (whose first half of the season as a rim protector was outstanding).

[Cap]

BTW, Anthony Tolliver was 107 with the Bobcats, same as Frye.

Trivia: The all-time career leader in DRtg is Gar Heard. Followed by Tim Duncan, Dave Cowens, David Robinson and Ben Wallace. Other notable Suns: Truck Robinson, #28; Alvan Adams, #31; Shawn Marion, #60; Paul Westphal, #63; Jason Kidd, #79.

We have a lot more atop the ORtg leader boards: Charles Barkley, #7; Steve Nash, #11; Kevin Johnson, #12; Jeff Hornacek, #18; Larry Nance, #26.

[INFORMER]

Yeah, I covered that when I discussed IT3-Bledsoe with Informer. It is a severe downgrade no matter how you cut it.

Yet they're separated in DWS by just .3, and they're net rating is only differs by 1. Additionally, Thomas's PER dwarfs his opponents. So you can look at the defensive stats in a vacuum, or you can look at the overall net effect. Factor in the defensive difference between Phoenix and Sacramento in general, I again maintain that is a far from "severe downgrade."

[INFORMER]

For Bledsoe, the qualifying offer is far below his value by any account. He essentially would be buying his freedom because he would become an unrestricted free agent in July, when teams like the Los Angeles Lakers could pursue him. The Suns could offer him more money than other teams at that point but they also will be facing free agency with Dragic, who likely will pass on a $7.5 million 2015-16 salary to become an unrestricted free agent.

A qualifying offer still allows Bledsoe to be traded by February but only with his approval and it would be difficult for a team to do so, knowing he would be a free agent months later.

The Suns began to seek or listen to sign-and-trade options for Bledsoe last month but their priority remains to sign Bledsoe to a multi-year contract. The Suns likely would be willing to increase their offer if they had a chance to negotiate, even though they have no market competition for the restricted free agent.

In the third month of free agency, many teams are unable to pursue a high-priced free agent because of salary-cap restrictions with settled rosters. Other teams are unlikely to pursue Bledsoe because they are either settled at his position in a point guard-rich league or they remain unsure about his value due to his knee history and his small sample size as a starter.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /15221867/

[INFORMER]

The Suns outmaneuvered the league to acquire Bledsoe last summer when he was the league's most highly sought piece on the trade block because of his potential.

Just stop, Coro.

[Ring_Wanted]

Yeah, I covered that when I discussed IT3-Bledsoe with Informer. It is a severe downgrade no matter how you cut it.

Yet they're separated in DWS by just .3, and they're net rating is only differs by 1. Additionally, Thomas's PER dwarfs his opponents. So you can look at the defensive stats in a vacuum, or you can look at the overall net effect. Factor in the defensive difference between Phoenix and Sacramento in general, I again maintain that is a far from "severe downgrade."

Yeah, or you can download some Sacramento games and see how well IT3 played defense, or how much effort he put into it. Now, if Hornacek can turn him in to a factor defensively, more power to him, but the gap between IT3 and Bledsoe in this area is really wide. And it's not like Bledsoe was a perfect defender either but we'll find out soon enough.

[INFORMER]

Yeah, or you can download some Sacramento games and see how well IT3 played defense

Funny, because I was thinking about recommending the same thing with Bledsoe's game against Thomas. Thomas lit him up. Bledsoe was getting blown by and caught on screens all night long.

[Ring_Wanted]

Hence why I said he is not a perfect defender as I've also seen him doing some Harden-esque stuff where he just takes the play off. But be my guest and pick one random Kings game and tell me you are ok with the intensity and awareness IT displays.

[TOO]

Kings are my local team and I've seen enough Thomas D to say he's sufficient given his offensive quality. Not too far from when Dragic guards PGs. He's not atrocious on D, and Bledsoe isnt a great defender, the truth on both lies somewhere between. I'm more than happy to let Thomas do his thing.

[SDC]

The Suns outmaneuvered the league to acquire Bledsoe last summer when he was the league's most highly sought piece on the trade block because of his potential.

Just stop, Coro.

clips got rid of him in exchange for our dudley (and MIL's reddick) and replaced him with collison, and they never missed him.

[Shabazz]

Suns in the mix to sign Zoran Dragic:

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post ... nbaTwitter

Good thing we used a roster spot on Shav.

[Superbone]

Here's the tweet:

https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/508827474768437248

[SDC]

zoran and ayon, would be nice.

[SDC]

just sign zoran and gustavo and withdraw the 4/48 offer for bledsoe.

[Mori Chu]

just sign zoran and gustavo and withdraw the 4/48 offer for bledsoe.

Can anybody give a bit of a scouting report on Zoran? Is he a PG or more of a SG? What is he good at, what does he need to improve? How similar to Goran's is his game?

[JCSunsfan]

just sign zoran and gustavo and withdraw the 4/48 offer for bledsoe.

Can anybody give a bit of a scouting report on Zoran? Is he a PG or more of a SG? What is he good at, what does he need to improve? How similar to Goran's is his game?

He is a wing. He is not a pg. He is a sg/sf who works hard on defense and is hot and cold from the 3--a Jared Dudley type of player. I think the Suns are under the salary minimum so they should sign someone, especially if Bled takes the QO.

[Superbone]

Double Dragon!

[Superbone]

I've watched most of the Slovenian games in the World Cup. I'd say he'd probably play mostly shooting guard in the NBA. He can handle the ball fairly well though too.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Double Dragon!

Love(d) that game.

[SDC]

just sign zoran and gustavo and withdraw the 4/48 offer for bledsoe.

Can anybody give a bit of a scouting report on Zoran? Is he a PG or more of a SG? What is he good at, what does he need to improve? How similar to Goran's is his game?

his game is kinda almost similar to dragic's but he's 6-5.