Suns News: The Offseason

[n4th4n]

Ya'll got to chill about rumors. Calling people idiots for deals that aren't even actually happening. Deep breaths homies. No need to inflict so much undue stress on yourselves.

[carey]

https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/886024598222905344

[specialsauce]

Ya'll got to chill about rumors. Calling people idiots for deals that aren't even actually happening. Deep breaths homies. No need to inflict so much undue stress on yourselves.

Seriously

[Split T]

https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/886024598222905344

Trade him for Courtney Lee and ship Lee elsewhere. We might need to add something to the deal though. Lee was a decent player last year.

[MightyMoog]

we're not going to get anything of value, nor is anyone going to take him. We're going to have to take someone else's trash, and hope that it works out better for us. Just hope we don't give up assets to move him. It's not like we need cap space, we just don't need him around our team. I truly believe he can regain some value somewhere else.

[Cap]

I truly believe he can regain some value somewhere else.

Well, the Suns FO, much of Suns fandom, and Brandon Knight's family all truly believing that somehow doesn't make anybody want him.

[Wormwood]

If we can get a trade of Courtney Lee for Knight + Len, we still win.

[carey]

On the new Suns Solar Panel they talk about TJ Warren tweeting "paint my name in the sky so you know that I'm still here" which he then deleted.

http://www.sports360az.com/solar-panel-suns-podcast/

I really don't want to have yet another freakin' unhappy player because we brought in someone at their position. Why is everyone so scared of competition. If you can't beat the guy for a job then you probably don't deserve it. You know?

[EDC]

I dunno. Wasn't there some talk about the possibility that they promised Jackson a starting spot? After the way Watson handled Chriss and Bender it doesn't surprise me that TJ is worried that Watson has found a new favorite. I just don't think Watson really makes his decisions based on who is playing better.

If they bench TJ in order to start Jackson and Chriss I think it would be reasonable for him to be annoyed. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[Mori Chu]

On the new Suns Solar Panel they talk about TJ Warren tweeting "paint my name in the sky so you know that I'm still here" which he then deleted.

http://www.sports360az.com/solar-panel-suns-podcast/

I really don't want to have yet another freakin' unhappy player because we brought in someone at their position. Why is everyone so scared of competition. If you can't beat the guy for a job then you probably don't deserve it. You know?

Would you like it if your work hired somebody who does your exact same job and made you "compete" to keep your role at the company? I know this happens often in real life, but it is usually not much fun.

[Shabazz]

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/7 ... gan-bender

[Superbone]

On the new Suns Solar Panel they talk about TJ Warren tweeting "paint my name in the sky so you know that I'm still here" which he then deleted.

http://www.sports360az.com/solar-panel-suns-podcast/

I really don't want to have yet another freakin' unhappy player because we brought in someone at their position. Why is everyone so scared of competition. If you can't beat the guy for a job then you probably don't deserve it. You know?

Would you like it if your work hired somebody who does your exact same job and made you "compete" to keep your role at the company? I know this happens often in real life, but it is usually not much fun.

It's the freakin' NBA. Boo hoo. Get over it!

[Superbone]

Seriously, are we supposed to stop drafting and bringing in FAs because the current roster players' feelings might get hurt? Give me a break.

[Superbone]

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/7 ... gan-bender

Nice article on Bender. I hope we start seeing some nice progress this year. I was very pleased by his last performance in SL. He showed lot's of versatility.

[jonh]

On the new Suns Solar Panel they talk about TJ Warren tweeting "paint my name in the sky so you know that I'm still here" which he then deleted.

http://www.sports360az.com/solar-panel-suns-podcast/

I really don't want to have yet another freakin' unhappy player because we brought in someone at their position. Why is everyone so scared of competition. If you can't beat the guy for a job then you probably don't deserve it. You know?

Would you like it if your work hired somebody who does your exact same job and made you "compete" to keep your role at the company? I know this happens often in real life, but it is usually not much fun.

*Hot take* If management gets a pushback from Warren about getting lost in the logjam this summer, one solution could be to ship Chriss out for a future draft pick (or package him with Knight to make the trade more paletable for the other team). I wouldnt be opposed to a starting lineup of Bledsoe, Booker, Warren, Jackson, & Bender/len/Chandler. I think Chriss leaving would make it easier for Bender to develop and give Warren a larger role. Plus, there is a chance that his stock does not go up much more than it is right now. *Hot take*

[carey]

Would you like it if your work hired somebody who does your exact same job and made you "compete" to keep your role at the company? I know this happens often in real life, but it is usually not much fun.

Really? This might be the worst analogy I've ever seen you make Marty. I shouldn't even have to explain why a professional athlete's job is not like any other job in the world so I won't. There is a real argument to make for McDonough's penchant for adding redundant pieces but this isn't it.

[Mori Chu]

Would you like it if your work hired somebody who does your exact same job and made you "compete" to keep your role at the company? I know this happens often in real life, but it is usually not much fun.

Really? This might be the worst analogy I've ever seen you make Marty. I shouldn't even have to explain why a professional athlete's job is not like any other job in the world so I won't. There is a real argument to make for McDonough's penchant for adding redundant pieces but this isn't it.

I don't even think it is an analogy. It is literally what happened to Len. He was being groomed as a starter, but then they brought in a veteran (Chandler) who took his starting minutes and role away. Sure, in a perfect world the players are all automatons who will just suck it up and play as hard as they can regardless of their role or the other players on the team. And Chandler doesn't take 100% of the blame for Len's anemic improvement last year. But it's still a huge deal.

If we hadn't signed Chandler, Len probably would have gotten a lot more minutes with better teammates. His numbers would probably look a lot different. But we decided we didn't want that; we wanted a long-shot at signing a mediocre free agent in LaMarcus Aldridge by signing one of his supposed veteran buddies. And that failed.

It's becoming a pattern with McDo. He already has Bledsoe and Dragic, then he goes and gets I. Thomas. He already has Warren, he drafts Josh Jackson. He drafts both Bender and Chriss in the same draft and then they have to awkwardly compete with each other for minutes, with Watson showing a clear preference for Chriss. He signs Chandler to jump in front of Len.

I don't mind signing players for depth. But if you think Len is your future center, maybe actually let him show whether he can succeed in that role, rather than undermining him by putting a vet starter in his way?

[O_Gardino]

We always have unhappy players. The way the roster is constructed is a real problem, but the way we communicate with and handle players is also a real problem.

As for Warren, I don't know if there is any evidence that he is unhappy with management or coaching. He might just be unhappy with the media all talking about the huge hole we have at SF and how we finally got someone to play that position.

[Split T]

Would you like it if your work hired somebody who does your exact same job and made you "compete" to keep your role at the company? I know this happens often in real life, but it is usually not much fun.

Really? This might be the worst analogy I've ever seen you make Marty. I shouldn't even have to explain why a professional athlete's job is not like any other job in the world so I won't. There is a real argument to make for McDonough's penchant for adding redundant pieces but this isn't it.

I don't even think it is an analogy. It is literally what happened to Len. He was being groomed as a starter, but then they brought in a veteran (Chandler) who took his starting minutes and role away. Sure, in a perfect world the players are all automatons who will just suck it up and play as hard as they can regardless of their role or the other players on the team. And Chandler doesn't take 100% of the blame for Len's anemic improvement last year. But it's still a huge deal.

If we hadn't signed Chandler, Len probably would have gotten a lot more minutes with better teammates. His numbers would probably look a lot different. But we decided we didn't want that; we wanted a long-shot at signing a mediocre free agent in LaMarcus Aldridge by signing one of his supposed veteran buddies. And that failed.

It's becoming a pattern with McDo. He already has Bledsoe and Dragic, then he goes and gets I. Thomas. He already has Warren, he drafts Josh Jackson. He drafts both Bender and Chriss in the same draft and then they have to awkwardly compete with each other for minutes, with Watson showing a clear preference for Chriss. He signs Chandler to jump in front of Len.

I don't mind signing players for depth. But if you think Len is your future center, maybe actually let him show whether he can succeed in that role, rather than undermining him by putting a vet starter in his way?

It's impossible to bring in a new player and not have him compete with an existing starter. We brought back every starter from last year. Outside of IT, I had no problem with the doubling down on positions. Chriss, Bender, Warren, and Len have not shown nearly enough to hold a starting spot for them.

[MightyMoog]

I have no problem with the roster moves. Just the communication. Thomas should have been told he'd be coming off the bench. Not that he'd have a chance to earn a starting position. I know he looks great in Boston, but I still think he's a bench player for a championship team. Biggest problem we have is coaching and second problem we have is that Sarver has a bad rep among players. That's mainly because of Lebron and his posse. Really, he's been the one to decide where everyone plays. Him and his buddies negotiated for this crappy CBA that has turned the NBA in to the WWF. And Sarver was one of the few owners that didn't like it, so he's being blacklisted a bit. I think McDo has done great with what he's had to work with. He really needs to swing for the fences to make anything happen, and so far he's only blown it with Brandon Knight. Everything else has been a net neutral or positive.