Suns News: Week 17 2/16-2/22

[Superbone]

A lot of good stuff from tonight's D League game:

Besides the debut of Alec Brown, Reggie Bullock shined with 26 points on 14 shots. I say give him a shot at starting at the 2.

Franchise cornerstone Archie Goodwin shot 4-18.

And yet people continue to minimize Goodwin's failure to improve his shot. I can't imagine he's putting up 1000s of shots a day and working on his form with his lack of improvement he's shown. A year and a half later, we should have seen noticeable improvement.

Do you remember how awful one Goran Dragic looked as a 20 year old? Probably not, because he was two years from even playing in the NBA, when as a rookie he couldn't dribble or shoot and was being called the worst player in the league.

Give Archie time.

I'm willing to give him time but my patience is running thin. Dragic's shot was much better right out of the gate. I still remember watching his secret workout video after we had acquired him.

[Shabazz]

Do you remember how awful one Goran Dragic looked as a 20 year old? Probably not, because he was two years from even playing in the NBA, when as a rookie he couldn't dribble or shoot and was being called the worst player in the league.

Give Archie time.

It's not just about age. It's about experience and talent. A 20 year old playing in the Slovenian league shouldn't be at the same level as a 20 year old that has been given NBA coaching and training. Birth certificates aren't as important as experience and talent.

Age is a HUGE factor when evaluating talent.

[specialsauce]

Why do people think it would be 'risky' to trade IT and still lose Dragic? Who cares. We have Ennis to use as backup PG who I'd rather have getting minutes over IT anyway. And we'd be in the market for a real 2 guard, which IT is not.

I agree with you that I'd rather have Ennis on the court than IT. At least the ball would move. This team absolutely needs to get away from all the one-on-one play.

+1

[specialsauce]

Do you remember how awful one Goran Dragic looked as a 20 year old? Probably not, because he was two years from even playing in the NBA, when as a rookie he couldn't dribble or shoot and was being called the worst player in the league.

Give Archie time.

It's not just about age. It's about experience and talent. A 20 year old playing in the Slovenian league shouldn't be at the same level as a 20 year old that has been given NBA coaching and training. Birth certificates aren't as important as experience and talent.

Age is a HUGE factor when evaluating talent.

If he even showed one tiny bit of improvement, that'd be encouraging. I feel like he's gotten worse (or at least his numbers have, though I haven't actually looked them up).

Plus his comments about "I don't know what they're doing- if they don't play me next year I'm out" just turned me away from him. How about you accomplish something first

[AmareIsGod]

Archie has either maintained his poor shooting mechanics and percentages or regressed since we drafted him. This usually equates to a player that thinks he can get by on athleticism and not hard work or improvement.

[Wally_West]

Just got home, did I miss any news?

[Cap]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[TOO]

Just got home, did I miss any news?

The Flash is on hiatus again .

[INFORMER]

Just got home, did I miss any news?

The Flash is on hiatus again .

It got off to a rocky start, but it's come on strong in the last several episodes. Ditto for Gotham.

[Ring_Wanted]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Ha!

[Wally_West]

Just got home, did I miss any news?

The Flash is on hiatus again .

It got off to a rocky start, but it's come on strong in the last several episodes. Ditto for Gotham.

Which reminds me, I should watch today's episode. Heard some shit went down.

[Superbone]

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

I heard that Sunday night.

[SDC]

He wants 20 mill and run his own team?
Fine by me, let's acommodate his wishes and get the best return posible.

I love the guy, but if he is about business, so we are. He couldn't handle a down season for the team?
We brought his bench fodder brother from overseas to make his NBA dream true, and acomodate the Dragic family together, so now he can take him to the team he is going to run by his own, right into a quick first round exit.

I loooove the guy, but as Shel C said, he is no corner stone, he has no right to held the team hostage over a trade demand. He is no Dwight Howard, nor Kevin Love, to deliver a "desired teams" list to the front office. He has leverage, yeah, but he is burning bridges with my fandom of him, the way he has handled this issue.

you're delusional. there's no trade demand coming from dragic's camp. his fate is in mcdo's hands.

[SDC]

And I'm not saying Dragic doesn't have a right to be frustrated. He absolutely does. I just don't think it should be to the point where he's so offended that he's taking the option to return completely off the table.

here's the 3 key points.

-he never asked for this meeting with mcdo.
-he never gave an ultimatum (mcdo did).
-and he never asked to be traded.

i've always said that if this team doesnt make the playoffs, goran will leave. and let's be honest here, suns arent making the playoffs this year. they tried the 3 pg lineup and we now know the results.

[SDC]

And I'm not saying Dragic doesn't have a right to be frustrated. He absolutely does. I just don't think it should be to the point where he's so offended that he's taking the option to return completely off the table.

lol... obviously, giving dragic the ultimatum at the middle of the season has backfired on mcdo. #schadenfreude

this is the same front office that caved to rich paul.

[SDC]

Dragic has good reason to be annoyed though. They basically took his team away from him. Pushing him farther and farther away from his natural position. The front office has had all season to see that this wasn't working.

and yet, dragic might have favored staying if he can see the team playing well and is a legit playoff contender.

we should be honest, do you really want to continue this path to lottery/mediocrity and pay dragic bledsoe money next season? we already know it's not working.

[jkalldaway]

As I understand it, Goran's agent asked for the meeting. Goran said he would like to be traded. Goran have a list of teams he would like to play for.

[Dan H]

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=m3rv67m



?

[LazarusLong]

uh, no, Dan.

I don't care how good the Suns med staff is.
That was a horrific injury and players who do return from something like that are never the same.
George will be lucky to be 75% of the player he was before.

[carey]

Good morning,

So my word on the meeting is that we offered to get rid of IT and asked Dragic if we gave the best offer if he would stay with Bledsoe. Dragic will not play next to Bledsoe. He wants a big market team where he is the primary ball-handling point guard.

He does not want to go to a team and will tell any teams that is not a playoff contender and where he is in his role as primary BH that he will not resign.

He specifically wants the Lakers or the Knicks. Not Houston because of the Harden/Bev factor.

The NBA seldom sees people who turn down 5 year / 100 mil deals. But we know the Lakers are likely to offer 4/80. I haven't heard about the Knicks. The dilemma is who gives up assets for him at 5/100? Not many. None, really. It's an overpay at 4/80.

The Knicks have nothing we want. The Lakers are offering crap. The Celtics if he will resign are willing to part with picks and Sullinger. But that depends on Dragic. Houston is offering Morey type deals. The Kings are sweetening but nowhere close to Cousin, so quit dreaming. The other teams can sign him in the offseason but he wants a five year deal. That's our only leverage. His bird rights.

Good chance we offload Dragic, IT, Green, and Plumlee. Zoran is gone fo sho if Dragic goes.

But we aren't trading Dragic for 2nd rounders. Lakers unwilling to give Randle and remove protection. It's a pickle. I think none of us will get what we want for Dragic. But we won't toss it down the drain, either; for nothing.

Zoran was signed for Dragic. His request. We've asked Zoran to go to the D League and he refuses utterly. We have coddled his behavior and brother for the sake of Goran. The FO was unwilling to part with Bledsoe and commit to him being the primary PG.

Some of this I figured out. Some is new info totally and makes sense. I've been wondering why Zoran hasn't gone to the D-League at all.