Official Suns Free Agent/Trade/Transaction Thread

[bwgood77]

That's a lot. I wouldn't do that.

If we could get a guarantee from Love that he re-signs i feel that it would be more than worth it. It is a lot, but it takes money to make money.

I think that deal is about the most reasonable I've seen, and I'd do it (I don't think they'd need or want Len though, so probably something else) but I still don't think they would do it.

At this point I still think their #1 goal has to be to make the playoffs and that he will re-sign. Things could change in two months, depending on injuries, how well they are doing, etc, but at this point, I'd be surprised if they would deal him unless they got offered Griffin or something (which would make sense on some level for both teams). I like Love much more than Griffin, but from Minny's pt of view Griffin is under contract for longer. I imagine Griffin would enjoy playing with Rubio more than Paul too.

[cpfsf]

As i stated 4-5 pages back, i believe the only way we could land Love is in a 3-way.

Mattya, what exactly would the Wolves be looking for? Im guessing a SF, a PF, both young with potential, and a few draft picks?

Exactly. Probably any position. If we are trading Love, unless we get win now pieces, we will likely blow it up. In that case every position outside of point guard is of need.

What if we could work a 3-way with Detroit, netting you guys Monroe in the process? Something like:

MIN gets: Monroe/Okafor's $14.5M expiring/Len?/WAS 2014 1st/MIN 2014 1st (your own pick back)
DET gets: MorrisX2/IND 2014 1st
PHX gets Love

That gives you a great young PF/C with potential, a young rookie C with potential that was a top 5 pick, 2 2014 1sts and a very very very large expiring, which you could use to trade for another player(s) or just let expire for caproom in 2014.

minnesota rejected cleveland's offer for tristan thompson and the #1. i think it's implied that any trade should be better than that. now this was a decent opening proposal. even if the value is there, i think minnesota would still reject because it would hurt minnesota's chemistry. obviously rubio is more of a facilitator than a scorer/shooter. pekovic has virtually no outside game at all and really benefits from someone who can spread the floor.

wolves fans have a lot of differing opinions on who is more obtainable, so this is all from my perspective. guys like cunningham, barea, shved, muhammad could be traded. pekovic isn't necessarily on the trading block. but he potentially could be traded assuming the deal is right. obviously he could be shipped to a 3rd team too.

[phrazbit]

Ok, i know damn near EVERYBODY on the board hates the idea of Melo in a Suns uniform, but what if......

Okafor/Dragic/2014 pick(s) to NYC
Melo/Shumpert to PHX

After adding Melo to the mix approach Denver for a Faried trade. I'd offer them Len straight up for him.

Bledsoe/Shumpert/Melo/Faried/Frye

Pretty much do what you have to do to win with Melo, surround him with defenders and rebounders. For as much crap thats talked about Melo, he is a 25/10/3 player and an All-star. If we could get Horny to work with Shumpert on his 3 point shot like he did with Tucker, then we would be GOLDEN.

Golden for what? Annual 1st round playoff humiliations? Pass.

I believe 100% that its impossible to build a legit contender around Carmelo. He is a selfish iso player on the offense end who puts up huge numbers for himself while stifling the offense of all his teammates and he is a bad and disinterested defender.

On top of all that I would say there is a zero percent chance that we could extend him. Carmelo wants to be in a huge market, his market and his money have historically been more important to him than actually being on a winner, he has already hinted that the Lakers or Knicks, two terrible teams, are the two he will be considering. And thank god. Let him curse them with boring, bad basketball.

[sunskerr]

One can only hope we're able to land Kevin Love then... That would be amazing.

[LukasBMW]

A reasonably priced top 20 player will hit the market this year. The key is patience.

I'd LOVE to see us get Boogie. Yeah, he has a bit of an attitude problem, but dude can ball.

[phrazbit]

minnesota rejected cleveland's offer for tristan thompson and the #1. i think it's implied that any trade should be better than that. now this was a decent opening proposal. even if the value is there, i think minnesota would still reject because it would hurt minnesota's chemistry. obviously rubio is more of a facilitator than a scorer/shooter. pekovic has virtually no outside game at all and really benefits from someone who can spread the floor. minnesota essentially went into a free fall last year when kevin love went down.

wolves fans have a lot of differing opinions on who is more obtainable, so this is all from my perspective. guys like cunningham, barea, shved, muhammad could be traded. pekovic isn't necessarily on the trading block. but he potentially could be traded assuming the deal is right. obviously he could be shipped to a 3rd team too.

Its not a static environment. When Minnesota was shooting down trade inquiries over the summer they still had hope that the current Wolves would be playoff threat. That obviously had not turned out to be the case. They wanted shot down a #1 pick in a horrible draft and the questionable value of Tristian Thompson when they thought they had a playoff squad, their probable asking price now as they sit outside the playoffs but not in a premium position of a monstrously loaded draft is undoubtedly changing.

And I also dont think you can get anything for JJ Barea or especially Shved.

[bigfoot]

Need to sit on our hands right now.

We have a top 5 PG in Bledsoe.
We have a top 5 SG in Dragic.
Defensive stopper and growing three pt specialist in Tucker.
Good stretch 4/5's in Frye and the Morri
Defensive, rebounding, role playing center in Plumlee.
Developing rookies in Len and Goodwin

Let's see what free agency brings. Deng, Gasol, Dirk, Marion, Pierce, Bosh, and Melo would all be awesome as sixth/seventh men and shore up the bench production. If we finish this year strong with the crew we have, ring chasers will flock to our team.

[bwgood77]

When Minnesota was shooting down trade inquiries over the summer they still had hope that the current Wolves would be playoff threat. That obviously had not turned out to be the case.

They may not make the playoffs, but they have played pretty much the toughest schedule in the league so far, so I wouldn't necessarily count them out. For example, they haven't played Sacramento or Utah yet, and we've played those teams a combined 5 or 6 times. http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/ ... mberwolves

[Kyler Murray]

Need to sit on our hands right now.

We have a top 5 PG in Bledsoe.
We have a top 5 SG in Dragic.
Defensive stopper and growing three pt specialist in Tucker.
Good stretch 4/5's in Frye and the Morri
Defensive, rebounding, role playing center in Plumlee.
Developing rookies in Len and Goodwin

Let's see what free agency brings. Deng, Gasol, Dirk, Marion, Pierce, Bosh, and Melo would all be awesome as sixth/seventh men and shore up the bench production. If we finish this year strong with the crew we have, ring chasers will flock to our team.

Top-5? Don't think they're there yet. They're playing like it sometimes but I don't think they've established that yet. Only one that looks appealing from the guys you listed is Deng (& Marion just to get him to retire here). We should be after young guys 23-28 so that we can build a team to sustain for the next 5+ years tho.

[bigfoot]

Need to sit on our hands right now.

We have a top 5 PG in Bledsoe.
We have a top 5 SG in Dragic.
Defensive stopper and growing three pt specialist in Tucker.
Good stretch 4/5's in Frye and the Morri
Defensive, rebounding, role playing center in Plumlee.
Developing rookies in Len and Goodwin

Let's see what free agency brings. Deng, Gasol, Dirk, Marion, Pierce, Bosh, and Melo would all be awesome as sixth/seventh men and shore up the bench production. If we finish this year strong with the crew we have, ring chasers will flock to our team.

Top-5? Don't think they're there yet. They're playing like it sometimes but I don't think they've established that yet. Only one that looks appealing from the guys you listed is Deng (& Marion just to get him to retire here). We should be after young guys 23-28 so that we can build a team to sustain for the next 5+ years tho.

We currently have the young guys for five years. Our starters have competed with almost every team including the Heat, Spurs, and Thunder. Improve our bench strength (e.g., Green and backup center). With 20M we could pickup some nice veteran players that would be stronger than most other benches.

Also, Goran is the 2nd ranked shooting guard in PER behind Harden. Bledsoe is the 4th ranked PG in PER behind Paul, Curry, and Thomas. Right now these two guys are showing themselves as one of the top backcourts in the league.

[bwgood77]

You know a guy who I bet could be available soon is Zach Randolph. With Memphis slowly falling out of the playoff race, if they drop much further, I would bet they look to deal him, and might start focusing on the lottery a little bit. I don't know if we have the right pieces for them, but they might value picks and expiring contracts a little more than most good teams do.

I was thinking Gasol for Randolph could also happen at some point so Gasol could play with his bro and Zach could play for D'Antoni again (he played well for him).

Randolph has a huge player option next year.

I'm sure we would all rather have Love, but disregarding Love, would you deal for Randolph?

[bigfoot]

Bledsoe and Dragic PER

Win shares per 48min

Definitely two young elite guards and certainly pushing top five.

[Kyler Murray]

Yeah, I did say they're playing top-5 now, it's just that it's too small of a sample to jump onto conclusion yet. I'd love them to keep this going all year long. Aldridge & Love are the 2 best fits imo (perfect for our system). I'd love Horford here too. After that, we should chase young guys with big potential. No Z-Bo, Gasol, Carmelo (worst-case scenario for me). Someone like Boogie or Drummond.

[Kyler Murray]

Bledsoe and Dragic PER

Win shares per 48min

Definitely two young elite guards and certainly pushing top five.

Damn, Isaiah is 3rd?

[cpfsf]

minnesota rejected cleveland's offer for tristan thompson and the #1. i think it's implied that any trade should be better than that. now this was a decent opening proposal. even if the value is there, i think minnesota would still reject because it would hurt minnesota's chemistry. obviously rubio is more of a facilitator than a scorer/shooter. pekovic has virtually no outside game at all and really benefits from someone who can spread the floor. minnesota essentially went into a free fall last year when kevin love went down.

wolves fans have a lot of differing opinions on who is more obtainable, so this is all from my perspective. guys like cunningham, barea, shved, muhammad could be traded. pekovic isn't necessarily on the trading block. but he potentially could be traded assuming the deal is right. obviously he could be shipped to a 3rd team too.

Its not a static environment. When Minnesota was shooting down trade inquiries over the summer they still had hope that the current Wolves would be playoff threat. That obviously had not turned out to be the case. They wanted shot down a #1 pick in a horrible draft and the questionable value of Tristian Thompson when they thought they had a playoff squad, their probable asking price now as they sit outside the playoffs but not in a premium position of a monstrously loaded draft is undoubtedly changing.

And I also dont think you can get anything for JJ Barea or especially Shved.

we're approximately 20 games removed from the draft, so it's one of the best benchmarks you will be able to find. now i still think they are a playoff team. the return of turiaf and budinger will help the team immensely. obviously they are not great by any means, but they are essentially all-stars compared to guys like shved, hummel, and dieng. i can't emphasize this enough. the bench play has been pretty atrocious.

turiaf is a huge improvement as dieng stays on the bench and love stays at the 4. dieng is still very raw and obviously nobody in the world believes love is a center. next, minnesota needs to space the floor better. we are still a pretty bad 3P% team and we take a lot of 3 point shots. that's part of the reason why budinger needs to return now. it will greatly benefit rubio and pekovic since we need another shooter. these factors sound trivial at first glance, but 5 of those losses were by 4 points or less. essentially replacing dieng, hummel, and shved with turiaf and budinger will help a lot. it also helps that minnesota's schedule is beginning to ease up.

i also never said shved or barea could get anything of value. obviously gerald wallace was traded. it depends on the situation.

[RunDogGun]

I don't see the point throwing the Morri in many of these trades, when we are getting similar if not better output from them, than the guys we are drooling over. Harrison Barnes is averaging 14/4, Mark is averaging 13/6 and Marc is averaging 10/5, while the twins are doing that in less minutes and mainly from the bench. And when you look at a per36 stats, both Mark & Marc have better production, 17.7/8.5 and 17.1/7.5 respectfully, while Barnes has 14.6/4.5.

I think we stand pat for a bit until a deal comes to us we can't pass up. While we may be looking at Love/Hayward, I doubt we give up three to four picks and half our team in the process.

[bigfoot]

Bledsoe and Dragic PER

Win shares per 48min

Definitely two young elite guards and certainly pushing top five.

Damn, Isaiah is 3rd?

He played a very nice game last night. Good thing Plumlee shutdown Cousins or we don't win that game.

[JMac1]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yZUTa9xovs[/youtube]



Spot up Shooting: Check
Shooting off the dribble: check
Creating own shot: Check
Defense: Check
Attacking basket: Check
Finishing at the rim: Check
Athleticism: Check
One on One ability: Check

That is the reason for the Hayward love. Won't make a deal for him until after the draft though. Too many variables going on with us and them. I think we stay pat and play it out. Sign Gordon and Bledsoe next year. I remember Nash was all-star good with Dallas, but not MVP good; remember that people.

[bwgood77]

I like Hayward. I'm just a little concerned with the prospect of having Bledsoe and Hayward on max deals. If those are your max guys, what is your ceiling? And if we are going to keep Dragic, do we want $40MM per year invested in those three guys?

I don't think Hayward or Bledsoe deserve the max, but it might take that type of money to keep them in the crazy restricted free agency market, so it worries me, even though I really like both players.

[bwgood77]

Bledsoe and Dragic PER

Win shares per 48min

Definitely two young elite guards and certainly pushing top five.

Damn, Isaiah is 3rd?

He played a very nice game last night. Good thing Plumlee shutdown Cousins or we don't win that game.

That is pretty interesting. If you were to ask most people who has the best backcourt in the league, very few would mention ours, but we are the only team with two guards with a PER over 21, and I bet the next best team's combined PER for their starting guards is quite a bit below ours.