Suns 2015 Trade Deadline Aftermath

[Mori Chu]

To be fair, if a Heat or Bucks fan read our board this week, he'd say that a lot of us seem bitter at Dragic and glad he's leaving.

[cbesch5]

It's a weird time. What should've been a season where we took that next step, we've basically leveled off, maybe even taken a 1/2 step back. So do we continue towards the playoffs with our vets or try and get some young guys (TJ, Archie) some meaningful minutes?

Thornton shouldn't get any minutes. He can fill it up, but there's no point giving him PT.

I think the next couple of weeks will determine how we finish out the season. If we hold strong and stay in the playoff race, we will probably continue to play the vets (Thorton, Green, Tucker) extensive minutes to push for playoffs. If we go into a tailspin, I would imagine the young guys would see some good run in the final weeks.

[JCSunsfan]

Miami just got some very bad news. Chris Bosh has blood clots in his lungs and is out indefinitely. May miss the remainder of the season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12352 ... ests-lungs

Very dangerous situation. He could have dropped dead with that condition. Still could.

[wpmiller42]

Wow, tough break for the Heat and Bosh. That's scary stuff. I think I read once in Runner's World that you're not supposed to fly immediately after doing a long run (or something like that)? Maybe the frequency of flying and playing is having an effect? I don't know, some doctor should correct me.

With regards to the trade, it sucks how everything ended with management and Dragic. While I think most of the blame lies with management on this one, but there's plenty to go around. I think the biggest issue I have with yesterday's trades is the Lakers' draft pick. I just think that was going to be a really, really, good pick, and one that would have been realized relatively quickly. I think our current management is always looking too much and too far ahead into the future with regards to cap space and asset acquiring instead of just trying to figure out how to put a real team on the floor. You can't just go around collecting picks and contracts if you don't have plan with what you're going to do with them.

I do like Brandon Knight though, and think he'll play well for us. And I think if we sign Thomas Robinson, that could be a potentially low risk/high reward situation. I hope going forward we get to see Goodwin and Warren in real game situations. We need to figure out what we have with those two, especially Goodwin, and if they are going to be part of the future.

[Shabazz]

Press conference now on suns.com.

[JCSunsfan]

OK. So taking it all in.

Dragic trade. Like it. We just couldn't pay him $20 million and someone would. He plays his heart out, but he has to dominate the ball, is a mediocre distributor, and a poor defender. We got two picks, one with minimal protection, and one with no protection at all.

IT trade. The Cleveland pick is OK. I assume it will end up being 20-30. Cleveland is going to get it together and be good for a while. Thornton. Almost would rather not have him. He adds to a glut of SG's that do not have a role on this team.

Knight trade. Big gamble. Gamble on whether Knight is all that the Suns think he is. Is he an upgrade over IT? Probably. But he is replacing Goran. Giving up the Laker pick. Big gamble that pick won't be something really valuable.

Silver lining. Hopefully Archie gets more minutes. I would be glad to have Archie fill the IT role instead of Green. Its time. Also, with Plumlee gone, Wright will have to play almost all his minutes at backup C. That may mean that Marcus will get minutes at backup PF and TJ will work his way in backing up PJ. Time to get the young ones some burn.

[INFORMER]

To be fair, if a Heat or Bucks fan read our board this week, he'd say that a lot of us seem bitter at Dragic and glad he's leaving.

But that would have nothing to do with his performance on the court. The only person that had any sustained complaint about Dragic on the court was OE, and that seemed to only pertain to his inability to hit the corner 3 this season.

[Ring_Wanted]

Press conference now on suns.com.

Babby said moves were made to recapture the chemistry from last season. They won't apoligize for trying to improve. He believe this is one of the most professionals organizations in basketball.

McD: Knight a player they have followed for some time. Believes he could have been an allstar this year. Best player on the Bucks (really?). Just 23, his best ball ahead of him. Thorntorn has a role. Says that in order to compete for a championship some players need to accept reduced/different roles, but players sometimes get selfish, 'I/me/my' attitude. Wants sustainable roster for the future. A lot of value on those picks from Miami, although fans find it hard to see it sometimes with these intangible assets.

Q: Was IT3 a wrong move in retrospect? McD, emphatically: No. His number and game, he did well. Links his signing to not being able to pull a superstar FA. Says that being in the conversation was a good sign of progress. IT3 saw himself as a starter and they accomodated him. Again, grabbing a pick is value but fans don't always see it this way.

Q: Knight, a PG. Still trusts the two PG system and believes Bledsoe-Knight can be terrific for a long time. Recurrent pointing to the 25 wins in 12-13 and the magic/improvement in 13-14.

Q: About the resulting rotations. He feels good about making those moves because he has a number of guys who need an opportunity and have done well in the DLeague.

Q: Goran's demand, nobody saw it coming, or his unhappiness. Babby: They were not blindsided, were aware that he was concerned as he expressed it back to the Bledsoe trade. Thought 13-14 erased those concerns seeing how he played, MIP, AllNBA. In any event, he says they were prepared for something like this.

Q: Knight RFA. Will address it whe it comes. Wants a long term relationship with him.

Q: How did the three way trade unfold. McD: Every day they are thinking about ways to improve the team. Lots of phone calls between those teams over the last few days. Biggest influx of activity he has ever seen in a deadline. Happy how everything turned out.

Q: Knight-Bledsoe chemistry. Already spoken to Brandon, confident he adapts due to his high character (class valedictorian). Legendary work ethic, back to his Detroit days. Recurrent point about how he should have been an allstar in the east.

Q: 2 PG system. We want to get back to the swing style from 13-14. Believes B-K can achieve better ball movement than what's been going on this year.

Q: Availability of players. Want the players to get the physical done and play in Chicago.

Q: Now a very young roster (average of 24). This trade is the ultimate vote of confidence in Bledsoe. And Markieff Morris. Babby.- One of the motivations behind the trades was positioning better for the future. From 28 to 23 Goran-Knight. Foresees changes in the west with how old some teams are, cites Duncan. Still a very young team, but look at the other young teams; they are not good. Couple that current quality with flexibility and future assets, feels confident about building the next great Suns team.



Gotta go, mofos.

[OE32]

To be fair, if a Heat or Bucks fan read our board this week, he'd say that a lot of us seem bitter at Dragic and glad he's leaving.

But that would have nothing to do with his performance on the court. The only person that had any sustained complaint about Dragic on the court was OE, and that seemed to only pertain to his inability to hit the corner 3 this season.

I also thought that, at least this season, he wasn't a willing passer, often looked disengaged, wasn't consistently effective in the halfcourt because of the absence of a true stretch big, and got burned defensively by mediocre shooting guards, increasing the pressure on our bigs.

I don't think Knight solves all those problems. I just didn't think Dragic was as good as people thought he was given his role on the team. Others thought we should ditch Bledsoe and give the team back to Goran. IMO, it's harder to find multidimensional impact players like Bledsoe than pure (albeit well-rounded) scorers like Dragic.

[INFORMER]

Interesting Ryan talked about opening things up (not as a goal, but as a side effect of all the moves) for Gerald Green to get more minutes, larger role.

[cbesch5]

Does anyone else think that Dragic coming out publicly and bashing the FO and demanding a trade was all orchestrated by the Suns? Maybe the plan all along was that they would trade him now for whatever they could get and he is in agreement that when he becomes an UFA, he will come back and sign in PHX for an already determined contract???

Hahahaha, I had to throw it out there!

[INFORMER]

https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/568825952991637504 Just shoot me now.

[Shabazz]

McD and Babby were pisssssssssssed.

[INFORMER]

McD and Babby were pisssssssssssed.

Yeah, I noticed that too.

[OE32]

Does anyone else think that Dragic coming out publicly and bashing the FO and demanding a trade was all orchestrated by the Suns?

One thing that does seem to work in our favor is the bad taste it's put in fans' mouths. Over at the inferior RealGM board, everyone was frothing at the mouth at the thought of losing the one and only Goran Dragic. Mood turned quickly after the trade demand - made the medicine easier to swallow, for sure. Funny, because I have absolutely no emotional reaction to it - I feel the same rather neutral way about Goran as I felt before, and I was always down to trade him.

This is not to suggest that I think this wasn't genuine. I highly suspect it was. Babby and McD certainly acted unhappy about the way Goran's agent handled things. I guess we'll more clues the next time we're dealing with Duffy's clients.

[OE32]

https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/568825952991637504 Just shoot me now.

[INFORMER]

Thought 13-14 erased those concerns seeing how he played, MIP, AllNBA.

This tells me how clueless they are.

[OE32]

Thought 13-14 erased those concerns seeing how he played, MIP, AllNBA.

This tells me how clueless they are.

Talk about spittin' venom.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/568825952991637504 Just shoot me now.

I knew when I read that a few minutes ago you were probably seething in your seat.

[Sunsfan4life]

Good recap. Thanks guys. Alot of what we expect. Alot of praise toward Knight and keying in on how we got younger. Sounds like Ryan was pretty open and honest when it came to the Dragic situation and about him being upset for a few years now. What he said about getting a 1st for IT and value is accurate. Didn't pan out he was moved on and we gained a 1st for our troubles.

I think This undoubtedly makes Bledsoe the face of the team going forward this yr and I'm eager to see how he plays tonight and for the next few months. The suns struggled without him against Sacramento. Is Alex Len returning tonight does anyone know?