Suns News: Week 4 11/6-11/12

[Cap]

SI: NBA's Worst Rebuilds

Which team would you least want to be traded to?

Phoenix Suns. Why would you ever want to play for the Suns? Robert Sarver is notoriously cheap and has run most of his good players out of town. GM Ryan McDonough has no problem throwing his players under the bus through the media. And Phoenix's dry heat can't be good for your skin.

Seriously, though, Eric Bledsoe is a perfect test case for why no NBA player should want to head to Phoenix any time soon. The Suns low-balled Bledsoe during contract negotiations, signed too many players at his position, failed to put together a competitive team around him, and then kept him in purgatory at the end of last season in order to tank. Does that sound appealing to you?

The Suns' future isn't entirely bleak. Devin Booker can score, Josh Jackson has potential, and Dragan Bender is showing some flashes this season. (The Suns' gorilla is also a top–five mascot.) But the front office has a long way to go in showing it can cater to players in what is an increasingly player-driven league. Unless you are a friend of LaMarcus Aldridge looking for one last payday (keep getting them checks, Tyson Chandler!), it's probably best to avoid Phoenix until the arena has an "Under New Management" sign out front.

[ShelC]

Woof.

[Split T]

At first I thought it was a player saying that, but it's just a media member. Still not good and most everything he said is true. Hopefully we can rebuild some of our reputation as I don't expect sarver to sell anytime soon.

[MightyMoog]

Yes Sarver is so cheap that he paid a guy max money that never became an all star and never lead the team to the playoffs. I do agree that sitting him last year was a mistake though. I think that whole team that almost made the playoffs acted like they deserved so much because everyone counted them out and they overachieved. But really, in hindsight they achieved nothing.

[Cap]

Yes Sarver is so cheap that he paid a guy max money that never became an all star and never lead the team to the playoffs. I do agree that sitting him last year was a mistake though. I think that whole team that almost made the playoffs acted like they deserved so much because everyone counted them out and they overachieved. But really, in hindsight they achieved nothing.

Nit pick: Sarver paid Bleds $14M/yr when his max was about $16M. Not quite max, but close.

[TOO]

Sarver spending has never been the problem. Trying to short cut rebuilds, bad coaching/GM hires have always been the problem. That in part falls on Sarver because of his lack of patience. But he's never been "cheap."

[Superbone]

At first I thought it was a player saying that, but it's just a media member. Still not good and most everything he said is true. Hopefully we can rebuild some of our reputation as I don't expect sarver to sell anytime soon.

Yeah, all we can do is hope he's wrong. Sarver has admitted to his mistakes and says he's getting better. Time will tell. Hopefully, McD is also learning from his mistakes. If they both continue to improve, we could turn this ship around. I feel like we're going in the right direction now but time will tell.

It's tough. I'd really like a top 5 pick in this next draft but I don't want Sarver and McDonough handcuffing the team to get there. It will be interesting to see how we handle the Monroe situation.

We're probably going to be a pretty high lottery team naturally this year. It took a herculean effort to beat the TWolves last night and that's not going to happen regularly, I wouldn't think. Unless these guys (Booker/Warren) just blossom into the superstars they looked like last night and the role players play at their highest levels much like last night. Although, we won even with an uneven performance from our prized rookie. So, not everything was running on all cylinders last night.

[Superbone]

Sarver spending has never been the problem. Trying to short cut rebuilds, bad coaching/GM hires have always been the problem. That in part falls on Sarver because of his lack of patience. But he's never been "cheap."

I wouldn't say never. I'm pretty sure we lost out on Kerr from him being cheap with the front office.

[Mori Chu]

Sarver spending has never been the problem. Trying to short cut rebuilds, bad coaching/GM hires have always been the problem. That in part falls on Sarver because of his lack of patience. But he's never been "cheap."

Sarver has absolutely been cheap, many times. From the first day he arrived, when he wouldn't pony up +$5m/yr for Joe Johnson, to selling draft picks in multiple trades, such as dumping the Rajon Rondo pick, dumping two (two!!) draft picks just to get a year of Kurt Thomas's contract off our books, and so on. I will readily agree that he has been more willing to spend in recent years. But you absolutely cannot say that Sarver has never been cheap. That is just not even arguable.

[Flagrant Fowl]

The best thing that can be said about Sarver's spending is that he went from totally cheap to slightly less cheap by spending unwisely.

[TOO]

I guess I have a different definition of cheap. Ho hum.

[Split T]

https://twitter.com/nbagleague/status/929565928207110144

[Superbone]

What's with the neon pink unis?

[O_Gardino]

https://twitter.com/nbagleague/status/929565928207110144

He really looks like a legit NBA rotation player whenever he gets minutes. Maybe my standards are low because of ho bad we've been, but DJJ is MVP if he stays in the G-league.

[ShelC]

He's really an effortless athlete. Unreal.

[Mori Chu]

Jones Jr is another of the many reasons I wish we hadn't drafted Josh Jackson. With a SF rotation of Warren starting and Jones Jr off the bench, I thought we were actually pretty decently set at that position. We really needed a starting PG (to replace Bledsoe, who needed to be traded), or else a big 4/5 man.

[O_Gardino]

Jones Jr is another of the many reasons I wish we hadn't drafted Josh Jackson. With a SF rotation of Warren starting and Jones Jr off the bench, I thought we were actually pretty decently set at that position. We really needed a starting PG (to replace Bledsoe, who needed to be traded), or else a big 4/5 man.

By creating a logjam at the 3, we were able to be sure we could have another unhappy player demanding a trade in the next year and a half. Got to make sure the next dramafest is in the pipeline.

[JCSunsfan]

Eric Bledsoe: Suns shutting me down healthy last season sparked trade request

https://sports.yahoo.com/eric-bledsoe-s ... ml?src=rss

Who is buying this bs? Come on.

I definitely could see this. Team sits me down, so they can lose, I want no part of that organization. None. Losers mentality.

Why would you be happy with getting shut down when you're perfectly healthy? Of course it was the beginning of the end.

Especially when your team is tanking to draft the player that will be your replacement.

[JCSunsfan]

Jones Jr is another of the many reasons I wish we hadn't drafted Josh Jackson. With a SF rotation of Warren starting and Jones Jr off the bench, I thought we were actually pretty decently set at that position. We really needed a starting PG (to replace Bledsoe, who needed to be traded), or else a big 4/5 man.

When you have the 4th player in a draft like that, you draft the BPA. I believe he clearly was. BTW. If we had drafted a pg, we would have had a glut at that position. Same with 2 guard. Your #4 pick would be destined to be a back up. At the pf position we had two promising players--as promising as TJ seemed to be --in Chriss and Bender. So center would have been the only player we could have drafted for need. And Markannen is a pf.

[The Bobster]

Sarver spending has never been the problem. Trying to short cut rebuilds, bad coaching/GM hires have always been the problem. That in part falls on Sarver because of his lack of patience. But he's never been "cheap."

Absolutely. He hasn;t been extravagant in his spending, but he hasn't been cheap. He just hasn't been very smart.