Suns News: The Offseason (2015)

[In2ition]

The best unis were the old Western-themed ones.

I like the classics and variations of the classics, and I consider the Western-themed ones as a classic. A lot of people, whether Suns fans or not, do not think much of the new uniforms. I have to say that I actually like them, even though I would have preferred that they bring back a variation of the western themed ones. I still feel like there is a touch of new along with a nod to the past. In a way, it's like when they changed the model of the Ford Mustang from the ugly 80's version.

[jkalldaway]

I liked the 90s jerseys and this new one will look good as well.

[Superbone]

The best unis were the old Western-themed ones.

+1M

[Superbone]

The worst Suns uniforms were the Nash/Amare era jersey's with the gray accents.

[TOO]

The worst Suns uniforms were the Nash/Amare era jersey's with the gray accents.

100%

Followed closely by the crap we're currently trotting out.

[The Bobster]

The best unis were the old Western-themed ones.

There are the ones I grew up with and they're still my favorite.

The purple needs to be purple, not dark blue. And if you want an accent color use copper - it was one of the Suns' original colors and is a lot more original than throwing in black or gray. Just don't use it on the uniforms.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Interesting article about Warren:

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/2 ... -TJ-Warren

Apologies in advance if this was already posted.

[dragickingdom]

The best unis were the old Western-themed ones.

There are the ones I grew up with and they're still my favorite.

The purple needs to be purple, not dark blue. And if you want an accent color use copper - it was one of the Suns' original colors and is a lot more original than throwing in black or gray. Just don't use it on the uniforms.

My thoughts exactly. Black and silver are Spurs colors...and I'm not exactly a fan of the Spurs.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/NBABeLike/status/626454051518054400

[TOO]

[Superbone]

Boo hoo! The article is mostly speculative but apparently neither McDonough nor Hornacek has spoken to Markieff since the trade. Read the comments at the end. 99% are against these guys.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball- ... 41924.html

Following his twin brother's trade to Detroit, Markieff Morris doesn't appear to be happy

We have no way of getting inside of Markieff Morris’ head, right now. We’re not saying that because he’s a twin. We’re not saying that because of the unfortunate incidents that marked his 2014-15 season, and we’re not saying that because he’s part of a generation that, despite screaming advancements in terms of communication and social media, can swiftly get to pick and choose whom they decide to ignore via smartphone.

We’re saying this because different people handle disappointment in different ways, and it’s fair to assume that Markieff Morris is rather disappointed right now. His Phoenix Suns traded away his twin brother Marcus Morris in a bid to secure cap space in the squad’s failed attempt to sign LaMarcus Aldridge, who plays Markieff’s position. Some would be fair in speculating that the Suns also had other motives for breaking up the duo, which had spent two and a half seasons together in Phoenix.

Read more...

[INFORMER]

"I think he's at a reasonable place now," McDonough said of what he's heard via others in the organization. "I don't know if it's a good place or not. I think he's processed all of it, he had time to let the rawness, the emotional part of it wear off."

The same naivete that assumed Goran was going to be cool not playing point, and that the trio of Bledsoe-Dragic-Thomas was going to work.

[INFORMER]

SI sheds a spotlight on the Suns moves and the direction of the team/franchise:

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/07/23/phoeni ... don-knight

"The system is good so long as there’s buy-in from the players," McDonough said. "We value guys who can push the ball in transition, score in transition, and if that’s not there, can get into early offense and run a pick-and-roll. I think the more guys you have on the floor who can do that, the better.

The buy-in stuff is such crap. Why are we acting like this is some tried and tested winning formula? It led to one 48-win season and now we're married to it. I'm not against the 2-point guard system in theory, I just don't get the commitment to it. And I can't support any system that takes players away from they do best.

"I think the issue last year was we had three pretty high-level players who all wanted the ball in their hands," McDonough said. "But again, 48 games into the year we were 28-20 despite losing a few games at the buzzer. So it’s not like [playing two point guards] didn’t work or was a disaster, as some people believe. It didn’t work as well as we would have hoped and the players didn’t accept it as well as we would’ve hoped and we had to deal with the repercussions of that."

This is the second offseason is a row that the GM is pointing to the team's record over a portion of the season as a means of validation. It was tired the first time around.

I was part of the Celtics team with Kevin Garnett, who was then in his mid-30s and is now in his late 30s getting close to 40 and still playing at a pretty high level.

I really don't understand how anyone can watch KG now and think he is playing at "a pretty high level."

So we projected all that and with the way the salary cap is going or looks like it’s going, over the last couple of years we really put a premium on locking up our players for as long as we can.

...regardless of whether they're actually worth building with or will actually take the team anywhere.

[carey]

Thanks for reposting the SI article. It got lost in the video game discussion last week.

[Mori Chu]

I love this quote:

"A lot of teams, you read the media reports and you can kind of tell what they’re doing or what they want to do," McDonough said. "I’ve got a few people telling me, ‘We have no idea what you guys are doing.’ I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not, but we do value the element of surprise."

The other teams have no idea what we're doing. Do we?

[LazarusLong]

The quotes show that he's unfortunately learned the nuances of BabbySpeak -- the non-statement statement. Verbal activity without achievement.

[carey]

The other teams have no idea what we're doing. Do we?

I tweeted something similar when the article came out. I do not read that as a compliment. I think it means that others view the Suns as a team without a plan. How can that be a good thing?

[Superbone]

The other teams have no idea what we're doing. Do we?

I tweeted something similar when the article came out. I do not read that as a compliment. I think it means that others view the Suns as a team without a plan. How can that be a good thing?

McDonough and Co. have a plan. Is it any good? That's the question. Time will tell.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I think is too harsh to say that the FO don't have a clue in what they are doing. It's about gathering assets, young players and looking for the next chance to land a SuperStar or Bona fide AllStar, we already pulled this off once with the Nash signing.

Those looking for the total rebuild path, are not that truly patient, if they can not even wait for this middle ground strategy to pan out. I would say that the total rebuild strategy requires a even more surgical precision over a longer period of time. One butched top five pick, and there goes an entire year of sucking out the window.

There are no sure path to contention, and the changing landscape of the league is forcing teams to try different formulas, even at the same time, and thats what I'm looking in our case.

[Mori Chu]

The current braintrust's plan seems to be to acquire a bunch of tweeners who are not great at any one thing, and then make all of them play out of position.