Eric Bledsoe [RFA]

[ShelC]

As others have said, it's on the agent. Maybe Bledsoe should be mad that Rich Paul spent so much time on LeBron and his "indecision" and holding court with a bunch of other teams instead of shopping his other client around and getting him an offer sheet.

[Superbone]

The market has spoken. Sign your contract Eric and move on. The longer this drags on, the worse you and your agent look.

[INFORMER]

Or feel free to sign and trade him at any time, Ryan. Seriously.

[Superbone]

Here are some pretty ignorant takes from Sheridan and friends:

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2014/07/18 ... JTc6XbX.99

How will the negotiations between Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns play out?

SHERIDAN: It will be tough for Bledsoe to leave $48 million on the table, but this is a guy who can be a max player one year from now, and the Lakers will be flush with cap room along with a need for a point guard to supplant Jeremy Lin as the starter for the long-term. Next year’s free agent class is nothing like this year’s free agent class, and Bledsoe can be No. 1 or No. 2 on the list if he can find a way to produce decent numbers in Phoenix despite its point guard glut. So I think he will take the qualifying offer.

BERNUCCA: GM Ryan McDonough’s offer of $48 million for four years is the same the Raptors gave Kyle Lowry and seems fair. And Bledsoe’s request of a maximum $80 Bledsoemillion for five years is on par with the deals given John Wall and Kyrie Irving and seems a bit much. But Bledsoe is the only player on Phoenix’s roster who has a chance to be truly special. You would think cooler heads would prevail and the sides could meet in the middle, perhaps at $65 million for five years. But if McDonough isn’t just posturing and truly pinching pennies, he could lose Bledsoe to Atlanta, Milwaukee or Philadelphia, all of whom either have or can create the cap room to make bigger offers.

SPRUNG: Atlanta as a possible destination is a good one. The Hawks have the requisite cap space, tried to trade Jeff Teague for much of last season and have a good platform for Bledsoe to make plays. With Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic, Archie Goodwin and rookie Tyler Ennis already on the payroll, the Suns don’t really need Bledsoe. Sure, Bledsoe is the only current Phoenix player who has the potential to be transcendent, but the need isn’t there to overpay. I see this playing out until another team signs Bledsoe to an offer sheet and sets the market for the Suns. Once they see an offer, the Suns will have three days to make an extremely important decision. If there’s a team that wants Bledsoe for the max, it seems like he’s there for the taking.


Read more at http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2014/07/18 ... 5wmV6VQ.99

[Superbone]

Hoops Hype rumors:

http://hoopshype.com/rumors.htm

Sources close to the Suns have said privately they expected Bledsoe back either on a new deal or after he signs the qualifying offer they issued worth just over $6.56 million. Basketball Insiders

Sources say there continues to be ongoing dialogue towards a deal and there is some sense that the Suns might increase their offer slightly; there has also been talk that Bledsoe’s camp might agree to a short-term deal that gets Bledsoe into free agency again inside the next three seasons. Basketball Insiders

[Superbone]

I believe the cap hold is 6.56 mil but the QO is more like 3.7 mil.

[Mori Chu]

If he wants to take a short-term deal and risk his bone-on-bone knees, sure, go nuts.

[Cap]

Taking the QO is extreme. If he prefers flexibility to security, I think he can get 2/24 with a PO after 1.

[JCSunsfan]

Taking the QO is extreme. If he prefers flexibility to security, I think he can get 2/24 with a PO after 1.

If I am the Suns, I refuse to do that. I would give him 3/36 with a po for a 4th but that's it. You have to maintain some continuity to build a team.

[Xylus]

Taking the QO is extreme. If he prefers flexibility to security, I think he can get 2/24 with a PO after 1.

If I am the Suns, I refuse to do that. I would give him 3/36 with a po for a 4th but that's it. You have to maintain some continuity to build a team.

Agreed, I think the 3rd year is crucial. The PO for the 4th would be fine for both parties, giving Bledsoe the opportunity to earn more, and allowing the Suns to offer more when the cap inevitably rises.

I wouldn't mind if the FO upped the offer a little, just to give Bledsoe and his representation the chance to save a little face, and to show future free agents that we care more about our players and less about saving money. When this entire process began after the Suns' 4/48 offer was revealed, Bledsoe looked like the greedy one. As time goes on, though, I think the Suns will come out of this looking worse than they'd like to; if they don't bend a little.

I realize they don't want to bid against themselves, but they might have to add a few extra million to the deal to pacify any potential turmoil. We don't want another JJ on our hands.

[Xylus]

It's a little unnerving to me that Suns fans who wanted Bledsoe re-signed at the beginning of free agency now want to explore sign-and-trade options, simply because Bledsoe hasn't signed on the dotted line yet. Elite athletes want to get paid. Everyone wants Bledsoe to want to be here and just sign any offer the Suns throw his way. But he has every right to negotiate his contract, and just because he wants more money doesn't mean he doesn't want to play here.

Maybe Dragic has set a standard for loyalty. You look at Dragic and you see a guy who wanted to come back to Phoenix, a team that traded him just shortly prior, who wears his emotions on his sleeve. Bledsoe doesn't do any of that, but I feel like we haven't heard enough from him to say with certainty that he wants to move on. He seems to genuinely like his teammates. He seems to enjoy playing for a winning ball club. I think Bledsoe wants to be here.

[Ring_Wanted]

Taking the QO is extreme. If he prefers flexibility to security, I think he can get 2/24 with a PO after 1.

If I am the Suns, I refuse to do that. I would give him 3/36 with a po for a 4th but that's it. You have to maintain some continuity to build a team.

On the other hand, if he gets injuried again and takes his option you have just one more year on the books and it is an expiring contract. There is an upside to that kind of contract too.

[Mori Chu]

On the other hand, if he gets injuried again and takes his option you have just one more year on the books and it is an expiring contract. There is an upside to that kind of contract too.

I think the last year or two, the value of an expiring contract has gone way way down. Nobody talks about expiring contracts as being great assets any more. They are rarely the centerpieces in big trades.

Basically a contract is either good or bad. If it's bad, having it be shorter is better, but a bad short contract doesn't seem like it is considered much of an asset.

[ShelC]

The problem with the QO this year for Bledsoe is that we're so deep at PG that his numbers could get watered down. I'm sure this also plays into the strategy of the FO. Instead of being the lead guard playing 36mpg, and putting up 24ppg, 8apg , he plays with Dragic and puts up 18 and 5 last year. Adding Isaiah Thomas could deflate those numbers further or least cut his minutes and usage a bit which theoretically could affect his value.

[Cap]

Taking the QO is extreme. If he prefers flexibility to security, I think he can get 2/24 with a PO after 1.

If I am the Suns, I refuse to do that. I would give him 3/36 with a po for a 4th but that's it. You have to maintain some continuity to build a team.

It's better for both sides than the QO. We need to rebuild a relationship that has been poisoned by the process.

[Mori Chu]

Love your sig, cap. "8/3/3 ≠ 5/80", lol.

[Ring_Wanted]

On the other hand, if he gets injuried again and takes his option you have just one more year on the books and it is an expiring contract. There is an upside to that kind of contract too.

I think the last year or two, the value of an expiring contract has gone way way down. Nobody talks about expiring contracts as being great assets any more. They are rarely the centerpieces in big trades.

Basically a contract is either good or bad. If it's bad, having it be shorter is better, but a bad short contract doesn't seem like it is considered much of an asset.

It is true that expirings are less sought after now that the max length has been limited, but my point is that it would still hold intrinsic value for the Suns, as we are discussing an scenario where he gets injuried.

[Superbone]

Love your sig, cap. "8/3/3 ≠ 5/80", lol.

The equation isn't really realistic though. 8/3/3 are career number, correct? OTOH, he only played half the games last season so it wouldn't be right to use those numbers either. Somewhere in between would be more fair.

[TOO]

This forum is no place for math!

[Superbone]

Here is a detailed breakdown of the Bledsoe situation from BDL:

Eric Bledsoe: 'I can understand the Phoenix Suns are using restricted free agency against me'
By Dan Devine

Eric Bledsoe got to play starter's minutes last season for the first time after a summertime trade from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Phoenix Suns, and he quickly proved deserving of the opportunity. The tough, explosive guard was one of just six players to average at least 17.5 points, 5.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game last season; the other five were the league's MVP (Kevin Durant) and runner-up (LeBron James), two perennial All-Stars (James Harden and Russell Westbrook) and arguably the best guard in the Eastern Conference last year (Kyle Lowry). He was a two-way menace who paired with Goran Dragic to give first-year coach Jeff Hornacek one of the league's best backcourts, a hard-charging duo that helped propel the Suns from basement dwellers to the brink of a playoff berth in a brutal Western Conference.

Bledsoe's breakout campaign was limited to just 43 games and 1,416 minutes by January surgery to remove a piece of the meniscus in his right knee. But despite the worrying nature of a second meniscus surgery in 27 months, the Kentucky product looked just as quick, strong and productive after returning from the procedure, and looked to be in line for a big-time payday as he entered free agency this summer. As we near August, though, a full four weeks after the NBA's annual free-agent frenzy began, that payday has yet to come.

Read more...