PMOTT3 and Chuck Texas Early Off-Season Review: Phoenix Suns

[Texas Chuck]

PMOTT3's Review:

Suns

Key Losses:

N/A

Other Losses:

Gerald Green
Brandon Wright
Marcus Morris
Danny Granger
Reggie Bullock

Nothing huge here. Its probably a good thing to get rid of 1/2 of the Morris drama. Wright and green would have made nice depth pieces.

Draft:

Devin Booker

Loved this pick. Was hoping he'd fall to the Hawks at #15. He had some nice games in SL including that ridiculous 30+ game against the pelicans.

Trades:

.(#44) rights to A. Harrison for John Leur
.Marcus Morris, Danny Granger, and Reggie Bullock for DET 2020 2nd

Pretty meh trades. Have never been big on the Harrison twins. Second trade was to create cap space for the almost LMA signing. Nothing major lost or gained.

Free Agency:

Re-Signed Brandon Knight
Tyson Chandler
Ronnie Price
Mirza Teletivic
Sony Weems

Brandon Knight was definitely an overpay. However, after giving up that extremely valuable LAL 1st for him they had to retain him. Hes going to have to play better this season to prove he's worth 5/$70

At first I liked the Tyson Chandler signing but after more thought I'm just not so sure. The guy is 32 years old and his entire contract is guarnteed. It helps having the best medical staff in the league but 4/$52 for a guy who will turn 33 at the start of the season doesn't seem wise. I also think there's a risk this signing could stunt the development of Len.

Price, Teletivic, and Weems are just guys.

Current Depth Chart (rough):

PG: Bledsoe/Price
SG: Knight/Booker/Goodwin
SF: Tucker/Warren/Weems
PF: Morris/Leur/Teletivic
C: Chandler/Len

Needs:

A better back up for Bledsoe. Although i suspect there will be a lot of times with Knight playing as the PG since he's more of a combo guard.

I'd also be in the market for one more stretch 4 to compliment Chandler. Their depth in the front court looks weak as well. Still not sure about Teletivic's health situation.

Additional Thoughts:

I thought that Pheonix was in basketball purgatory before the off-season started and that hasn't changed since. I really feel like they need to tank and collect assets. They ended up trading away their best asset (the LAL 1st) and the end result probably isnt even going to get them into the playoffs. It is really going to sting if that pick becomes a high lottery pick (has to be outside top 3).

I worry about Len getting the PT he needs to develop with Chandler starting. Also not convinced Bledsoe & Knight can co-exist together in a back court; I need to see more games of them together.

Win/Loss Prediction: 40-42

They may be able to sneak into the playoffs as an 8 seed but i think they will come up short and be in the lottery with a 12-14 pick.

Off-Season Grade: C+

I really liked the decision to go with Devin Booker on draft night. Hated the money given to Knight and wasn't thrilled about the money thrown at Tyson Chandler either. A mediocre off-season for a mediocre team.


Chuck Texas Review:

Losses:

Brandon Wright
Gerald Green
Marcus Morris
some irrelevant guys

Nothing too significant here. Great move getting Morris out of there. Wright and Green were useful bench pieces, but not too hard to replace.

Draft:

Devin Booker

Great pick. He should be ready to take over for Gerald Green immediately and I expect really good things from this kid.

Trades:

draft rights to a Harrison twin for Leuer
Morris, Granger, Bullock for future 2nd

First the fact that they could dump that dead weight and not have to give an asset plus they get one back was just great. Great deal. Im not convinced Leuer is really an NBA player, but he has some interesting skills and the price was right. Im okay with it too.

Free Agency:

Tyson Chandler -- 4/$52M
Brandon Knight 5/$70M
Teletovic 1/$5.5Mnd
Sonny Weems -1+1 Vet Exception
Ronny Price vet min

Knight they had to do after the deadline moves. I didn't like the move to get him at all, but its their plan. Tyson will help them quite a bit. He's still a very good player and he will do a lot for the culture there. The years and money is a risk and it makes me curious how they really feel about Alex Len. I like Teletovic and he should help as well. Clearly they made a move to bring in some more stable veterans.

Depth Chart:

Chandler/Len/Leuer
Morris/Teletovic
Tucker/Warren/Weems
Knight/Booker/Goodwin
Bledsoe/Price

Needs:

Make a decision on Morris(I'd move him out). Is he a guy you can count on or do you need to find a different PF. Work out the wing rotation. Knight will take most of the backup PG minutes I'd guess which helps, but Tucker/Warren/Booker/Goodwin probably all deserve minutes at least at first to see who your best guys are.

But mainly this team needs a star. They have a collection of good players, but are lacking that one guy to carry them. Their guards are the best candidates but I don't believe either guy is really that.

Additional Thoughts:

I really like some of their young players. Booker, Warren, Len would all seem to have bright futures tho I'm wondering if there is a red flag on Len that I don't know about. I like the veterans they brought in. This team will have more leadership and less knuckleheads. I hated their deadline moves and while I'm not sure these moves were the best ones, I do think they got better.


Win-loss Prediction: 46-36

They should be better than last year and they should be in the mix with New Orleans and Utah trying to replace Dallas and Portland in that middle of the West playoff pack. Best case scenario I think they could approach 50 wins. Worst case they win in the 30's again which I think leads to some jobs getting lost.

Off-Season Grade: B-

Loved Booker. Don't love Knight, but you had to get that done and they didn't antagonize one of their best players like last year. Chandler will really help on the court and with the room. But the last 2 years of that contract are scary and he blocks Len. Teletovic was a smart pickup that I think is really going to help them. They unloaded some dead weight and got rid of a Morri. LMA would have been a home run and Im glad they were really aggressive in going after him.

[HartfordWhalers]

This feels like an offseason much easier to grade as individual components than as its sum.

Drafted Booker: B/B+ I would have Oubre, but understand why they did. And it is an intriguing pick of a super young guy.
Harrison for Leuuer: D/F What a silly trade. After going for lots of upside, then sells off (marginal) upside for a polished guy that isn't that good.
Re-sign Knight: Well, they kinda had to so that is a plus, but I'm not sure he is going to play into it. B-/C+
Sign Chandler: Hmm. Great move for impressing LMA. But it didn;t get LMA and I think we all knew it wouldn't. Still, a great addition, but it blocks Len and will tie up a lot of money going forward. C+/B-?
Trade Marcus Morris, Granger and Bullock for a 2n: A+ Clears a bunch of wasteland, but leaves Markieff in limbo.
Sign Tele for 5m: D. I don't see a guy worth that.

So, you have 2 moves to get stretch 4's that are unremarkable, a get young and raw and a get old and win now move; one twin traded and one left behind angry and with pending criminal charges.

I want to give them an Inc. But I get it. They are trying to sneak into the playoffs while still retooling. I think they fall short of both (or get blown out as an 8th seed), but for what they were doing it does fit that well. C+/B-? Lotta non-conviction on this grade.

[NTB]

Thanks guys.

Alex Len played only 23 mins per game last year. So even if TC comes, it won't effect Len's minutes. He can still get 25+ minutes and if he can score from outside the paint, he can play near TC also. Not more than 10 mins because of defending mobile PFs is what Len can't do but still, he can get his minutes anyway.

And mentoring side of TC is important IMO. Len never had a mentor, veteran leader near him. It will definitely help Len.

Also, TC played 74 and 75 games with Dallas Mavericks in 2010/2011 and last season. I don't think that's coincidence. Dallas has a nice medical staff and so we do. I don't think his age will effect him till 35. We have at least 2 years to think about that. And after next year, his 13 MD per year will seem like nothing.

[NTB]

Also I'd like to add that Weems, Teletovic and Leuer are not just guys.

Weems WAS JUST an athletic wing that only dunks in transition in Toronto. BUT he improved A LOT in Europe. He developed a 3pt shot which its peak was %40 and EL career avarage was %37. He is a very capable defender both one-on-one and weak side help defense. He can play pick and roll and create a shot for himself.

He is like Gerald Green with a brain.

Teletovic will be huge for us because we NEED stretch 4 so much. Even he misses his shots, his space-creating will be so beneficial for both Bledsoe and Knight. He will probably get 25 mins as well.

And for Leuer, I think he won't get more then 5-10 mins unfortunately for him. But he has a potential to be a nice stretch 4 as well. He couldn't play because he can't defend well and that is what Grizzlies are always looking in a player. So he couldn't find his chance there but he fits nice in high tempo teams.

And, Price won't be even backup PG for us. He will be a veteran guy and locker room guy that's all.

PG minutes will be shared between Bledsoe-Knight-Goodwin IMO.

[bondom34]

Went B+, loved the Chandler signing if for nothing more than a mentor for Len, and Knight had to be done. I didn't know about the Booker pick only based on fit, and would have loved him for OKC too, but he's looking pretty good so no complaints there. Great move to send out one Morris, they pawn the other one off on someone and the grade could be bumped, but B+ and I think they will be in the 8th seed race.

[Hawk Eye]

Thanks guys.

I'd like to get your thoughts on how your teams off-season went. Also a few other things and feel free to answer in bullet point format as well if you'd like.

. Do you think the team is in a state of mediocrity (on the treadmill) right now? Would you rather rather see them tank and collect assets?

.Would you rather have Brandon Knight or would you rather have the top-3 protected LAL 1st?

.Do you think Booker is a better prospect than TJ Warren?

.Do you see them in the lottery again?

Was expecting a lot of feedback from suns fans on this one but since that hasnt happened yet i had to throw all this on ya. Looking forward to your response.

[NTB]

Thanks guys.

I'd like to get your thoughts on how your teams off-season went. Also a few other things and feel free to answer in bullet point format as well if you'd like.

. Do you think the team is in a state of mediocrity (on the treadmill) right now? Would you rather rather see them tank and collect assets?

.Would you rather have Brandon Knight or would you rather have the top-3 protected LAL 1st?

.Do you think Booker is a better prospect than TJ Warren?

.Do you see them in the lottery again?

Was expecting a lot of feedback from suns fans on this one but since that hasnt happened yet i had to throw all this on ya. Looking forward to your response.

Do you think the team is in a state of mediocrity (on the treadmill) right now? Would you rather rather see them tank and collect assets?

• I don't think so. Yeah we have missed playoffs for 5 years but winning 25 games and then winning 48 games next season is not being on a treadmill IMO. Also McDonough is on charge only for 2 years and I think he made great decisions in his tenure. His drafts were good, his trades were good and he tried his best to get a superstar here. First of all, we have a very young core and you can see they are improving. With Tyson Chandler addition and improving young core, FAs will take a look at us. Western Conference makes it deceptive for people and make them think Suns are on the treadmill but no. Conference is full of elite teams and even you win 48 games, you may not go to playoffs.(When you can be 3rd or 4h in EC)
  
  So what I'm trying to say is, we had bad management 2 years ago and we had no aim or anything after Nash's gone. McDonough came as GM and he set a target. He wanted this team to have a winning culture and said we won't tank and we will be competitive and push for playoffs from the first year. For 2 years, we have an aim and we are doing well since then. We may have a took a step back but we need to be patient. Suns team was trash 2 years ago with Beasley, Shannon Brown, Haddadi vs.
  
  I give McDonough at least 2 years more to judge him with putting the team on a treadmill. I hope I could answer your question.

Would you rather have Brandon Knight or would you rather have the top-3 protected LAL 1st?

• Contrary to others, I liked Knight trade and then signing 5 years. He has the human profile that I want to see in a basketball player. He is very mature, hardworker, loyal. As a player, he is improving each year. I think he and Bled will mesh together well. He is only 23 and that signing is a good investment. I don't trust draft picks, it is always risky. When you have a finished and ready product, go take it.

Do you think Booker is a better prospect than TJ Warren?

• This is a tough tough question. It depends on TJ though. If he can be versatile and not just a scorer, then he can be All-Star in future. Also he will need to develop a 3pt shot or at least trustable long mid range shot.
  
  I can say I LOVE Booker already. Even he haven't made his NBA debut, I'm sure he will be a starter on an elite team in future. He has so high basketball IQ, very nice shooting touch, unselfish, moves the ball well, not a liability on defense, can rebound etc.
  
  If I had to make a decision I'd choose Booker.

Do you see them in the lottery again?

• I believe we can get the 8th spot.

Yeah, I wish they could write their comments here. Maybe they didn't see yet. I'll post the link on Suns forum.

[brackdan70]

I loved the Draft pick and Chandler seems like a great signing, I gave an A-...but they lost a lot of role players, I may be missing the potential effect of missing guys like Morris, so I can see a C-B as well.

[Frank Lee]

Thanks for the view from afar...

as resident nay sayer and poopoo-er (really just a non-optimist), I'd say we had a better than expected off season, that said, I had very low expectations. Getting rid of one MoBro was a plus, but there may be more cleansing to do if MoBro2 doesn't come around (and get acquitted ) McDuh pulled his standard 6-7 guy flip flop in his relentless quest to right this ship. Too much monkeying around did him in last yr. At least we added some good 'old' blood this time. Who wouldn't like TChandler. Other than that.... Yawn.

Im betting we are a mediocre team with potential to swing 5 games on either side of .500. Would hesitate laying the O/U in Vegas, unless its ridiculously high. (Careful ChuckT) I naturally lean to the low. Tanking is not an intentional option. The owner is desperate for a playoff game ($$) as they are about to lose what little fan buzz they gained from 2 yrs ago. After pages of debate I have come to the conclusion we are on an exercise bicycle.

Essentially we replaced Dragic and that 1st with knight and 2 1sts. Last yr was a confusing season. The locker room was unraveling, and some horrid BBall was played, W's be damned....toss in some unique behavioral drama...train wreck complete. Problem was, we just didn't suck enough. But I digress. May be it will just go away, but that pick will likely haunt us, especially since its tied to the fLakers. Have to let this one play out. We didn't see much of Knight and Bledsoe together. Guess we will this yr as the 2 PG not-so-secret weapon is slated to return. I would have kept the pick and just bid on Knight (really would never let Dragic go) Only Knight can make these moves pan out. Front Office is all in on him.

Nice to have two prospects. If one contributes consistently, we beat the odds. Many in Sunsland have already dubbed TJ our next all-star, so yes, expectations abound. He will certainly get his minutes. Booker too, especially if the PJ Party continues. Add Goodwin to the may-be-mix. Most just want to see them get playing time. What else is there? Might have a youth group as second string, now Len has been pined.

We'll teeter-totter with the Lotto...again. So many real good things have to happen in order for anything different. Don't think we'd fair too well against the 1 or 2 seed. But, is there really a big difference between pick #12 and #18 ? Who knows, may be McDuh can pull off a mid season BBuster, and we surprise a few. I think we'll be vying with NO, Minny, Utah, and may be a healthy Dallas for the last slots.

Right now, the Hub Bub is with the MoBros... court date coming up, tweeter wars, sour grapes...and a somewhat unfinished roster.

Not 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. Expect McDuh to make some noise.

[plonden]

I think you guys are vastly underrating the trade with the Detroit Pistons. Marcus Morris had to go before training camp. It is a textbook case of addition by subtraction. Markieff Morris has divided the Suns board fairly evenly this offseason. But, even prior to yesterday's embarrassing twitter drama, there has been essentially zero support for Marcus Morris on the Suns board, and in Phoenix in general. On the positive side, Marcus was a pretty solid backup forward for the Suns last season. He can reliably hit the three pointer. He also had some great games, including a 34 and 12 game against the Jazz.

But, other than that, he's been nothing but trouble. He brings out the worst in his brother. He racked up 9 technical fouls, while only playing around 25 mpg. Similarly, Markieff racked up 15 techs--second only to Westbrook's 17. Marcus and Markieff are facing felony assault charges, which has a chance of putting both of them behind bars. Marcus has also clashed--to put it lightly--with Coach Hornacek (the fireworks begin at 0:44):

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaG7B8vXD5o[/youtube]

It would be one thing if Marcus was a supremely talented player, or a promising young player like Markieff. But he's not. He's an average rotation player who is extremely immature and approaches basketball, and life, with an outrageous sense of entitlement. Marcus is a prima donna. He brings out the worst in his brother. He contributed to a large extent to the discord in the Suns locker room last season. He will not be missed at all. Even independent of the LMA situation, I'm convinced Marcus was not going to be in Phoenix at the start of training camp. Good riddance.

[blind prophet]

Agree with Chucks B-

But 46 wins is too much. The West is just going to be tough for them this year and I've got them closer to 500 like PMOTT3 said.

[NavLDO]

As a 'homer' and a 'violent disagree-er' of the 'treadmill' argument, I gave it a B. A couple of points to remember/take note of:

- McD went full bore for LMA, and were is son to reside in the 'Valley of the Sun', does anyone here doubt he would've chosen PHX over SAS?

- Chandler was a slight 'overpay' but think about it for a minute. With McD going hard in FA two years in a row, he's establishing a winning mindset. Sure, he failed to attain LBJ, Love, and LMA, but all it takes is for Chandler to have a year like he did last year, along with Bledsoe and Knight, and further progression of Len and Warren, and all of a sudden, FAs will start to take PHX seriously again.

- Knight was not an overpay, as has been suggested. He's been every bit as impactful as Bledsoe. What he lacks in D, he makes up for in offense and BBIQ. A 23 YO near All-Star for $14M per, especially with increase in cap, and it's a very reasonable deal, IMO.

- Booker was a nice get, but don't expect much for another couple of years.

- Weems is a gamble, but he came cheap enough and still has upside.

- Harrison for Leuer is really a no brainer. Leuer is still young and has proven to be a good shooter beyond the arc. I guess it comes down to who do you think will have a better chance at impacting the team, a bench PF behind Kieff (maybe) and Mirza, or Harrison behind Bledsoe, Knight, Goodwin, Booker, Weems, and Price. But it's all perspective. Should they have rolled the dice on a young developmental PF instead of Leuer? Maybe, but our PF position had, at the time, not one good mentor.

- Mirza was a great grab, and one of my favorites in the off-season. Gets a year to prove he belongs at a very affordable $5.5M.

I guess my overall point is that I do not see any reason or evidence to 'tank'. The Suns are too good to 'tank' IMO, with some nice young pieces (Booker, Len, Warren, Bledsoe, and Knight) to build off of.

[Texas Chuck]

As a 'homer' and a 'violent disagree-er' of the 'treadmill' argument, I gave it a B. A couple of points to remember/take note of:

- McD went full bore for LMA, and were is son to reside in the 'Valley of the Sun', does anyone here doubt he would've chosen PHX over SAS?

.

I think you won't find many people outside of Phoenix who thinks he would have chosen Phoenix over SA even if he was from the desert. He didn't pick the Spurs to "go home" he picked them to win right now and because they are a great organization and with Kawhi they can be good in teh post Duncan/Manu/Parker era.

He's from Dallas and I promise you he never gave us serious consideration. And believe me, people from Dallas don't see SA as home. Or vice versa. Texas is a pretty big state in case you hadn't noticed and Dallas and SA are very very different places.

[loserX]

I thought it was a pretty good pre-season overall.

They were going to max Knight, and they did. Their choices were (a) max him, (b) let him walk, which would have been a real disaster after all they went through to get him, especially PR-wise, or (c) get into protracted negotiations with him that could very well have been a repeat of the Bledsoe situation last time: things got resolved but it wasn't overly pleasant. They took the least of the three evils and I for one am excited to see how Knight and Bledsoe work together in Hornacek's guard-centric offence. Ditto Devin Booker...that should be fun to watch.

Dumping some salary at no cost was a fine move. They came as close as anyone could to getting LMA, so good on them for trying, at least.

I can see how the Tyson signing would be a bit divisive, but I like it even though it didn't bring LMA along. Bledsoe was a pain to re-sign. Dragic complained his way out. IT did too although not quite so vociferously. The Morrii were causing all kinds of trouble off the court (another reason dumping Marcus was smart...now they have to get Markieff to behave). Getting Tyson brought in a good character guy and proved that Phoenix *is* a place that people want to play. That was a huge statement for the Suns and it had to be made.

The team needs help at PF especially if Kieff ends up either in jail or becoming even more of a grump. Still need to see how the SF situation shakes out, too. The Suns still have work to do but I like what they have done this summer so far.

[buckboy]

All I have to say is that I'm soooooo glad someone else signed Knight.

Too bad for Phoenix fans. They've had a really bad 6 months.

[bwgood77]

I don't know if I'd rather have Knight or the Lakers pick. That remains to be seen. But really the Suns had an impending free agent they would have lost for nothing, a redundant pg they didn't need (IT), and a pick and they traded them for Knight who they now have locked up for 5 years, and three firsts (one unprotected). They basically used their cap space last season (signing Thomas) to add an additional first round pick (Cleveland's 2016 first rounder).

Although I can see how some might view the Knight and Chandler signings as overpays (and I do think they would have been if we didn't have a huge cap jump next season), I think one underestimated thing about the Suns is that ALL their key players are locked into contracts BEFORE the cap jump and the Suns have the rights to Len, Warren and Booker for 6-9 years.

Now of course if these guys don't turn into a group that can play at a high level together, obviously locking all those guys in could end up NOT being a good thing.

I like the FO's initiative though, and that they went so hard after Aldridge. I'm not going to pretend to know all the thoughts that went through his mind, but I think he was dead set on signing with SA for several reasons and I think the Suns gave him pause, which I found impressive.

I think the fact they won't have to massively overpay any of their current players next summer is big, and only will have Len the following summer and Warren the summer after that.

So I think they will likely have max cap space every summer going forward. I don't think these will look like overpays at all (provided they stay healthy) come next summer when we see new deals being handed out.

We've had endless discussion about whether we are a treadmill team on the Suns board, but ultimately we have gotten younger every year and have traded vets and added picks. We have all of our own plus three additional first rounders going forward. So we are still rebuilding. I think we expected to get higher picks when we went young two summers ago, but our players and coach massively exceeded expectations, so we are attempting to reload, go younger, and be competitive, which is a massive challenge, but it was fun two years ago, not so fun this last year and the Suns fans are hoping we get back to having a fun product that eventually has a chance.

Theoretically the west is SO tough with GS, OKC, Houston, SA and LAC that it's going to be tough for anyone to get out of the conference for years, so if we can have fun watching our team as fans, many of us want that because I'm a fan primarily for entertainment. All of us want championships, but unless you have a top 5-8 player or two top 10 players, your odds of winning one are very slim.

[NavLDO]

As a 'homer' and a 'violent disagree-er' of the 'treadmill' argument, I gave it a B. A couple of points to remember/take note of:

- McD went full bore for LMA, and were is son to reside in the 'Valley of the Sun', does anyone here doubt he would've chosen PHX over SAS?

.

I think you won't find many people outside of Phoenix who thinks he would have chosen Phoenix over SA even if he was from the desert. He didn't pick the Spurs to "go home" he picked them to win right now and because they are a great organization and with Kawhi they can be good in teh post Duncan/Manu/Parker era.

He's from Dallas and I promise you he never gave us serious consideration. And believe me, people from Dallas don't see SA as home. Or vice versa. Texas is a pretty big state in case you hadn't noticed and Dallas and SA are very very different places.

There's a difference between a 14 hour drive and a 4 hour drive. I lived in Texas for over 4 years, so yes, I'm familiar with TX.

You also are not taking into consideration his good friend Earl Watson, a Sun's coach, and the fact that Aldridge wants to play exclusively at PF, which the Suns could offer with Chandler and Len. The Spurs don't have a true dedicated Center, which means LMA is now one of 4 PFs--Duncan, Diaw, West, and now LMA. Now, West wasn't signed yet, but they still didn't have a dedicated Center.

I get what you are saying, but it was down to two teams at the end, and the Suns were one, which means they 'outbid' Portland, LAL, and the Mavs.

[Laimbeer]

C+ Liked the Booker pick. Knight was one of those necessary stretches and Chandler is iffy but wasn't awful given the market.

They're a franchise that seems to take a step or two forward and then a step or two back. Looks like they'll hit the half century mark with no titles to show for it.

[bwgood77]

As a 'homer' and a 'violent disagree-er' of the 'treadmill' argument, I gave it a B. A couple of points to remember/take note of:

- McD went full bore for LMA, and were is son to reside in the 'Valley of the Sun', does anyone here doubt he would've chosen PHX over SAS?

.

I think you won't find many people outside of Phoenix who thinks he would have chosen Phoenix over SA even if he was from the desert. He didn't pick the Spurs to "go home" he picked them to win right now and because they are a great organization and with Kawhi they can be good in teh post Duncan/Manu/Parker era.

He's from Dallas and I promise you he never gave us serious consideration. And believe me, people from Dallas don't see SA as home. Or vice versa. Texas is a pretty big state in case you hadn't noticed and Dallas and SA are very very different places.

There's a difference between a 14 hour drive and a 4 hour drive. I lived in Texas for over 4 years, so yes, I'm familiar with TX.

You also are not taking into consideration his good friend Earl Watson, a Sun's coach, and the fact that Aldridge wants to play exclusively at PF, which the Suns could offer with Chandler and Len. The Spurs don't have a true dedicated Center, which means LMA is now one of 4 PFs--Duncan, Diaw, West, and now LMA. Now, West wasn't signed yet, but they still didn't have a dedicated Center.

I get what you are saying, but it was down to two teams at the end, and the Suns were one, which means they 'outbid' Portland, LAL, and the Mavs.

I always think about as going to a movie knowing what you wanted to see or a restaurant knowing what you were planning to order and getting there and noticing an option you were not anticipating. And that makes you wonder and consider what you didn't originally expect to be an option. But then your gut worries that you don't want to regret making a decision you were not set on to begin with, so you stick with the original plan. But I in no way think he didn't give the Suns some pretty good consideration. Obviously none of this matters at this point, but I still was surprised and found the front office's move impressive.

[Frank Lee]

Steak or hamburger ? Easy choice