Phx-Suns.Net

Bruiser wrote:

Mori Chu wrote:At this rate, if Bledsoe signs the QO, I fully support the idea of burying him on the bench. There is no point in playing him big minutes if he isn't a part of our future. If he signs the QO, it is a 100% guarantee that he won't be here after next year. And we have Dragic and Thomas and Ennis who can make valuable use of those same minutes and who all may be part of our long-term future as a franchise. I say bench him, give him spot duty only, and trade him for anything of value as soon as possible.

All of this assumes he takes the QO. If he has a change of heart and accepts an offer at/near $48m/4, I will welcome him back with open arms. I can't totally hold him accountable for believing the grandiose promises of his buffoon of an agent or being starstruck by his new buddy Lebron. If he wants to play here and takes a reasonable contract, I'd love having him in purple and orange for years to come, despite the current fuss.

Well, I fear I have to agree with every bit of that.

About time to make a decision, Eric Bledsoe.
Where and who do you want to be?

Agree with the pair of you.

Its been a busy house in the England Sun household all summer and I keep checking to see if anything is moving and besides Lemouth getting involved, nothing.
Get over yourself and decide.
Then we can prepare properly for the upcoming season without this:-(

I think he has decided. Where he wants to be is not here, and who he wants to be is not a Phoenix Sun.

Why rush to sign the QO? He still has a few weeks left, and there's still a chance that one of the other 29 teams in the league will show interest in acquiring him. Not that his agent is burning up the phone lines trying to make it happen, but you never know.

Cap wrote:I think he has decided. Where he wants to be is not here, and who he wants to be is not a Phoenix Sun.

Why rush to sign the QO? He still has a few weeks left, and there's still a chance that one of the other 29 teams in the league will show interest in acquiring him. Not that his agent is burning up the phone lines trying to make it happen, but you never know.

I don't think he has decided that. LeBron's post also seems to go against that. He just thinks he is a max player, and taking this to the end is his agent's way of negotiating.

Cap wrote:I think he has decided. Where he wants to be is not here, and who he wants to be is not a Phoenix Sun.

Why rush to sign the QO? He still has a few weeks left, and there's still a chance that one of the other 29 teams in the league will show interest in acquiring him. Not that his agent is burning up the phone lines trying to make it happen, but you never know.

Sure. Wait another few weeks if you think something might materialize - but please resist the urge to ask your superstar friend to make that joke of a tweet for you. Come on. Be a man! You cannot actually expect that sort of issue to be resolved like that. Even LeBron cannot make the fact go away that you are seeking more money than it seems teams want to invest in a player with your skillset and history. If you say it's all business then go ahead and act like it's all business. Why even consider taking it personally? PHX break bread? Just get on the phone or meet and tell them how much more money you need to help your client save face after this completely unnecessary disaster in communication and media management. No shame in admitting you were bluffing with all that QO talk. Just own it

It guess it's not even worth mentioning but obviously this is directed at EB and his agent and not at all at you Cap!

JCSunsfan wrote:

Cap wrote:I think he has decided. Where he wants to be is not here, and who he wants to be is not a Phoenix Sun.

Why rush to sign the QO? He still has a few weeks left, and there's still a chance that one of the other 29 teams in the league will show interest in acquiring him. Not that his agent is burning up the phone lines trying to make it happen, but you never know.

I don't think he has decided that. LeBron's post also seems to go against that. He just thinks he is a max player, and taking this to the end is his agent's way of negotiating.

Unfortunately - I feel that this is true...

The old SG position is kind of dying because it's seen as being too specialized: a guard who can shoot/score but can't pass or create. Young guards are learning to shoot/score AND pass/dribble/create. And that gets them branded as PGs.

my position on this has evolved. now i'd rather have two pgs on the court over conventional pg-sg tandem if both pgs are good decisionmakers and ball handlers with okay size (around 6-3).

another way to look at it is i'd rather have a 6-3 PG playing SG with good decision making, ballhandling, shooting over a 6-6 guy with good shooting, athleticism, defense.

Ring_Wanted wrote: Under no circumstance take stupid 2 year+ contracts like Ilyasova just to get something.

Ilyasova is not a terrible contract. He has 3 years left, but the last year is a team option. I would have no problem taking him along with Brandon Knight and one or two of Khris Middleton, John Henson, and/or Damian Inglis.

INFORMER wrote:

Ring_Wanted wrote: Under no circumstance take stupid 2 year+ contracts like Ilyasova just to get something.

Ilyasova is not a terrible contract. He has 3 years left, but the last year is a team option. I would have no problem taking him along with Brandon Knight and one or two of Khris Middleton, John Henson, and/or Damian Inglis.

It's not he worst thing, but his 8M become a problem for us next summer if you want to do something in free agency besides our own players. Ilyasova had a miserable season and I don't feel like taking that kind of contract to see if he bounces back. I would have just paid Frye.

The only realistic way I would cooperate with Milwaukee in a sign and trade scenario is if they put at least one decent pick and another asset like Inglis on the table, then a third team was found so I don't lose cap flexibility, because otherwise the net returns for the Suns become extremely marginal.

Middleton and Knight are nice pieces and have value, but for the upcoming season we don't lack what they provide although Middleton could be used at times as a stretch 4. Henson is the only one who would cover a need. I don't love him, yet I acknowledge his utility for this roster. Still, when I consider the other factors I would just stand pat, play Bledsoe and have cap space in 2015.

Split T wrote:

INFORMER wrote:I wonder if New Orleans would be interested in a Bledsoe-Holiday swap.

I've thought about that too, although I'm sure they'd much rather do a bledsoe-gordon swap. Which honestly i'd risk if Bledsoe is really gonna take the QO. Only two years left on Gordon's deal.

I'm starting to agree with this. While I would still take Holiday, I would settle for moving a maxed Bledsoe and Shavlik Randolph for Gordon, Russ Smith, and Jeff Withey.

Ring_Wanted wrote: Ilyasova had a miserable season and I don't feel like taking that kind of contract to see if he bounces back. I would have just paid Frye.

Unless you had some way to get Frye to agree to a 2-year deal, that's a silly statement to make.

And Ilyasova's contract does not prohibit having cap space in 2015, unless the Suns were committed to paying the Morris Twins, which they shouldn't be.

And there really isn't a big fish to catch in free agency next offseason.

https://twitter.com/ScottHoward42/status/508036249312296961

Scott Howard has obviously never seen Jerry Maguire.

Rumor has it Rich Paul shows it to all his clients.

INFORMER wrote:

Ring_Wanted wrote: Ilyasova had a miserable season and I don't feel like taking that kind of contract to see if he bounces back. I would have just paid Frye.

Unless you had some way to get Frye to agree to a 2-year deal, that's a silly statement to make.

It is not. All things cosidered I would choose Frye and his new contract over Ilyasova's if forced to pick one, which is what happens in this scenario so the sign and trade can work. I'd rather have the cap space, as I stated.

INFORMER wrote:And Ilyasova's contract does not prohibit having cap space in 2015, unless the Suns were committed to paying the Morris Twins, which they shouldn't be.

It complicates it by 8M no matter what.

As for the twins, we'll see what they deserve after this upcoming season.

INFORMER wrote:And there really isn't a big fish to catch in free agency next offseason.

Millsap, Monroe, Faried, DeAndre Jordan, Marc Gasol, Thaddeus Young, Tobias Harris, Omer Asik, Vucevic, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard.

Regardless of their status, if you don't have the money available, you can't try to get them.

Jordan and Leonard... Drool.

Ring_Wanted wrote: Regardless of their status, if you don't have the money available, you can't try to get them.

Uh, no, you have to take their status in mind. I'm not sure why you would dismiss it.

Because status comes second after ability to get them. It doesn't matter if the Spurs are 99.9% sure to match anything for Kawhi, or the Warriors for Klay. If I can't make the max offer there is nothing to even consider no matter how improbable acquiring some of the listed players may look like.

If our cap situation was different, it is, if we were already capped out and commited to a certain core plus role players under long term contracts, sure, take the package from Milwaukee as it doesn't cost you anything in terms of opportunity. But that's not the case, and adding those players would have an impact of 21M next offseason (including Knight's cap hold of 9M as RFA).

There is just too much unknown in the inmediate and mid term future of this franchise to make 8M mistakes. Of course, it's not set in stone that Ilyasova would be a fail here, but personally I don't want to find out, at least for Knight-Henson-Middleton given our current roster and cap configuration.

Ring_Wanted wrote:Because status comes second after ability to get them.

Not when you're making decisions on who to add or who to let go. Likelihoods have to be weighed in the decision-making process, otherwise you end up passing on talent that you shouldn't have, or letting go of someone that you shouldn't have.

Besides, $8 million dollars does not destroy the Suns flexibility. They'd be looking at $20-30 million in guaranteed salary on the books. Yes, they have free agent cap holds, but who says you keep all of the players? If you're bringing in free agents, you're likely going have to let someone go just in terms of having enough playing time. Bottom line, the Suns cap situation is fluid enough that I don't think $8 million dollars has the cataclysmic effect that you're painting.

The twins will be an interesting situation. If combined they're both going to get 12-14 mil, why not put that towards a guy like Monroe. And how do you approach them and offer say, Markieff 7-8mil, and Marcus the MLE? Or, what if we want to keep one and not the other? I know we all say it's a business, but it will affect things regardless with those two.

Informer, the simple math with no Bledsoe is this:

Players under contract after next season= 20.4M
Cap holds for Dragic (11.25M), the Morrii (7.5M each), Green (6.65M)= $32.8M
Add whatever the 2015 picks end up meaning.

Then Ilyasova's 7.9M.

Plus the other pieces supposedly coming from Milwaukee. If it is Knight, Middleton and Henson, that means a total of $21M, Ily included.

9M of those 21M coming from Knight's cap hold until he was given a new contract.

You can't be telling me with a straight face that you like such scenario.

And the best part is that you make it look like I am abusing hyperbole when in fact I am doing the opposite and I am detailing how those 8M (and what would probably come with them) are not a good idea given our situation next summer. Painting a cataclysm? Pse.