Eric Bledsoe Speaks On Free Agency.

[Q00]

This is pure speculation but I think he hasn't signed an offer yet because nobody is willing to meet his asking price.

Could be true. There's a theory with Monroe (who is in same situation) that he doesn't want to play for the Pistons anymore, so he's not signing any offer sheets on purpose because then the Pistons would just match and he would be forced to stay there.

Bledsoe could be doing the same thing. One of the theories as to why Monroe might not want to play there is because of the crowded frontcourt. With Phoenix adding Thomas to go along with Dragic already there at PG, I could see Bledsoe wanting a trade for the same reason.

[jredsaz]

You think wasting teams time like that is a good move? Waiting in free agency when your not Lebron is the worst thing you can do. Teams with cap space aren't going to wait or tie it up on a player they might not get. Now there's no one left and you have no leverage.

Rich Paul let those teams make their pitch for LBJ and was able to advocate for Bledsoe in the process. That is not a waist of time and I would consider it a savvy strategy.

Any team that was going to extend an offer to Bledsoe was going to have to wait and tie up salary due to his restricted status. That had nothing to do with Paul. That is part of the CBA.

He needs a new agent if that is the case. I'd be pretty pissed if I was nothing more than an afterthought in my agents negotiation process of another player.

Yeah. As a Heat fan you should know. LBJ is just "another player" Hitching your wagon to James is a good move, period. Ask Pat Riley.

Getting Bledsoe a max deal in this point guard market, with a restricted tag, and with his injury history, was going to be next to impossible for Bob Sugar much less Rich Paul.

[Heat3]

Rich Paul let those teams make their pitch for LBJ and was able to advocate for Bledsoe in the process. That is not a waist of time and I would consider it a savvy strategy.

Any team that was going to extend an offer to Bledsoe was going to have to wait and tie up salary due to his restricted status. That had nothing to do with Paul. That is part of the CBA.

He needs a new agent if that is the case. I'd be pretty pissed if I was nothing more than an afterthought in my agents negotiation process of another player.

Yeah. As a Heat fan you should know. LBJ is just "another player" Hitching your wagon to James is a good move, period. Ask Pat Riley.

Getting Bledsoe a max deal in this point guard market, with a restricted tag, and with his injury history, was going to be next to impossible for Bob Sugar much less Rich Paul.

Seriously what the hell does how good Lebron is have ANYTHING to do with bledsoes contract? There are no teams left with money or desire to even try to pry Bledsoe away. He's going to end up with a contract that is well below what he wants, but it's ok cause Lebron is pretty good and something about me being a heat fan. Incredible reasoning there any agent would love that type of thinking from their clients. Just take their cut and not actually have to try to represent them.

[jredsaz]

He needs a new agent if that is the case. I'd be pretty pissed if I was nothing more than an afterthought in my agents negotiation process of another player.

Yeah. As a Heat fan you should know. LBJ is just "another player" Hitching your wagon to James is a good move, period. Ask Pat Riley.

Getting Bledsoe a max deal in this point guard market, with a restricted tag, and with his injury history, was going to be next to impossible for Bob Sugar much less Rich Paul.

Seriously what the hell does how good Lebron is have ANYTHING to do with bledsoes contract? There are no teams left with money or desire to even try to pry Bledsoe away. He's going to end up with a contract that is well below what he wants, but it's ok cause Lebron is pretty good and something about me being a heat fan. Incredible reasoning there any agent would love that type of thinking from their clients. Just take their cut and not actually have to try to represent them.

LeBron James status as the best player in the league helped Rich Paul get in front of teams with cap space and talk to them about Bledsoe. It's been documented. That is how his James' skill connects to Bledsoe's contract.

Paul's play to attach Bled's negotiations to James' was a gamble that didn't pay off. However, I consider it a decent plan taking into account what Bledsoe and his team had working against them.

As a restricted free agent, with his history of injury, and the wealth of talent at the PG position, he was always going to get less than max with or without Paul as his agent.

[spaceballer]

Should ask for a sign and trade

He already made it clear he doesn't want to be there

He has no leverage to ask for a sign-and-trade. To force the Suns to consider such a deal, there needs to be a credible threat of him walking to another team with the Suns getting nothing back. There is no such threat, because he's an RFA that the Suns can match, and because no team has the free cap space or desire to give him a max contract if he walks.

A team that wants him in a sign-and-trade would have to entice the Suns by offering above market value in trade assets for the Suns to choose that trade package over keeping Bledsoe.

Otherwise, neither Bledsoe nor the team that wants him in a sign-and-trade has any leverage to get the Suns to consider such a deal, given the hollow threat of him walking for nothing.

He can't go too another team on his own because short of the max, I think the Suns will match whatever offer is thrown at him

Rather than keeping him hostage, just get some assets from another team (picks, expiring contracts etc) and move on. Its not doing either party any favours by forcing him to stay on the team. Its not good for team chemistry if he stays (they also have 2 GREAT pgs in Dragic and Thomas as well as T. Ennis) and they can exploit another team based on Bledsoe's current overrated stature in the league for a guy that barely played last season

I doubt they'll let him go that easily unless they get a trade package they just can't turn down.

They're going to need all 3 of Bledsoe, Dragic, Thomas, because they like to run a 2 PG line-up on the court at the same time. This lineup got them some success last season. Ennis is a rookie and they may not want to depend on him too much till they're sure of what they have in him.

Further, Dragic will probably opt out and become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. So they'll want Bledsoe locked in just in case they lose Dragic, or want to trade Dragic before he leaves for nothing.

[cw3k]

Suns should stay put until they find someone who can be build around. Suns played very well with all these average potential players but none (not even Dragic) can be built around as a contender team. They just need to hold out for a super star to build around.

[Gomagic44]

Orlando would've been better off throwing him a max offer before blowing their wad on Frye and Ben Gordon

He is not yet a max player. I'm glad we didn't. And we have 1-2 set with Payton/dipo for the future. Both on rookie contracts.


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Sure, but if the choice is overpaying him or overpaying the same amount to Gordon and Frye, it seems like an easy decision to me. Gotta put it in relative terms

I believe we have gordon on a 2 year deal where the 2nd year is a TO. I have no issue with the frye signing as he is an above average shooter, and we lack those.

[NashtyNas]

As a Suns fan, I find this utterly ridiculous.
What did he actually expect?
That we would come out and throw away ALL our leverage, offer him the full 5 year max and keep him around?
I love his game and I think we should keep him even if some other team offers him a max as I have said this from the start. That does not mean that he is worth the max, let alone a 5 year $80M+ contract. It also doesn't mean that WE are going to offer him that, or any max at all.

He's a RESTRICTED free agent. If he feels like we're "abusing" restricted free agency, he can take the QO, or go to China/Europe for a year. The whole point of RFA is that the team has the leverage. Bledsoe isn't worth the max as it is, and with antics like this, I don't see anyone offering it to him any time soon.

I think silly, immature comments such as the ones he made today are only going to hurt his case.

Suns should stay put until they find someone who can be build around. Suns played very well with all these average potential players but none (not even Dragic) can be built around as a contender team. They just need to hold out for a super star to build around.

It's obvious that we overachieved, but it's unfair to say that a contender can't be "built around" Dragic. Of course he's not a top calibre #1 guy, but as long as he can duplicate or improve on what he did last year, he can be considered one of the better #2 guys in the league. Obviously for that to happen, we need to get a #1 guy first. Still, Dragic is in the top tier of PG's based on his production last year and will likely remain there for the foreseeable future. He can certainly be considered as an important part of our rebuild and can be a top 2 impact player on a contending team.

[Illuminati_]

As a Suns fan, I find this utterly ridiculous.
What did he actually expect?
That we would come out and throw away ALL our leverage, offer him the full 5 year max and keep him around?
I love his game and I think we should keep him even if some other team offers him a max as I have said this from the start. That does not mean that he is worth the max, let alone a 5 year $80M+ contract. It also doesn't mean that WE are going to offer him that, or any max at all.

He's a RESTRICTED free agent. If he feels like we're "abusing" restricted free agency, he can take the QO, or go to China/Europe for a year. The whole point of RFA is that the team has the leverage. Bledsoe isn't worth the max as it is, and with antics like this, I don't see anyone offering it to him any time soon.

I think silly, immature comments such as the ones he made today are only going to hurt his case.

Suns should stay put until they find someone who can be build around. Suns played very well with all these average potential players but none (not even Dragic) can be built around as a contender team. They just need to hold out for a super star to build around.

It's obvious that we overachieved, but it's unfair to say that a contender can't be "built around" Dragic. Of course he's not a top calibre #1 guy, but as long as he can duplicate or improve on what he did last year, he can be considered one of the better #2 guys in the league. Obviously for that to happen, we need to get a #1 guy first. Still, Dragic is in the top tier of PG's based on his production last year and will likely remain there for the foreseeable future. He can certainly be considered as an important part of our rebuild and can be a top 2 impact player on a contending team.

We? Are you some billionair owner?

You know that the QO would be below market value for him and would have him lose out on a substantial amount of money? Why would china even be an option here? This is what he means by suns using his rfa status against him lol.

Players make crazy first offers all the time. Bledsoe and the suns will meet at some point this is the first time hes spoken about the situation so what immaturity are we speaking about? Lol.


Its funny how fans always side with billionaire owners.

[Illuminati_]

Rich paul isnt to blame. Bledsoe is in a bad spot with injury history and rfa status. Its business and suns are using their position to get him to sign for cheap.

[NashtyNas]

We? Are you some billionair owner?

You know that the QO would be below market value for him and would have him lose out on a substantial amount of money? Why would china even be an option here? This is what he means by suns using his rfa status against him lol.

Players make crazy first offers all the time. Bledsoe and the suns will meet at some point this is the first time hes spoken about the situation so what immaturity are we speaking about? Lol.


Its funny how fans always side with billionaire owners.

Great start to a debate by taking shots at me when I haven't even commented on anything you said yet, kudos to you, earns you a lot of respect.

"We" - meaning the Suns organization, who I represent as a fan. This site is called RealGM, no? I'm assuming I can represent my favorite teams best interests... if I can't.. sorry for over-stepping my boundaries.

Yes, taking the QO is going to cost him about $45M of guaranteed salary according to what we've offered him.
That would be his decision, not the management's. I'm assuming sitting the year out would mean he's a UFA next year, so if he really has a problem with what we've offered him and no one is giving him the max (which is the exact situation right now), then he can sit out of the NBA for a year and go overseas. Come back as a UFA and see if he has better luck. Of course it's a gamble, that's why he needs to decide what's more important.

Holding out for the extra money which may or may not ever come, or taking what you can right now.

This is in no way "using RFA against him." That is how RFA works. That is how it has worked for a long time. You have numerous options to become a UFA. Yes, they involve sacrifices, but you must prioritize in life and learn to take calculated risks. If he thinks someone will offer him a max next year, he can certainly go that route, but unless he's willing to take that risk, he's stuck taking what we offer him.

I have no sympathy for Bledsoe because a) he's not worth the max and b) he's been offered a more than fair contract. Obviously I'd like him to stay, even for the max (4 year, not the 5 year max we can give him), but I'm not going to hope that my team destroy their future flexibility to offer him that if the next best option he has is what we are already offering him anyway.

You don't bid against yourself, period. This has very little to do with me "siding with owners" over players, and a lot more to do with wanting my team to succeed in the long term.

Of course, you're still free to go ahead and take shots at me for no reason, but that doesn't change the facts.

[theFRANCHISE]

can't even shoot the jump shot consistently, don't see how he would get MAX money. Rich Paul over hyping him.

[Sun Scorched]

Yeah - this reeks of Rich Paul being an idiot. I think Bledsoe received some poor advice, Paul over-promised ("You're a max player Eric! Yay!") and now he can't deliver. Instead of going to his client and managing expectations ("Sorry Eric, we tried, but this is the market for you"), he's attempting to make the Suns the bad guys in this scenario.

If Bledsoe cam back with a reasonable counter to the original Suns offer (4/$48), I think a deal would have already been done. Maybe 4/$50 or 4/$52? The Suns aren't going to negotiate against themselves, but I could see them interested in moving forward with this team.

This is now a distraction. One caused solely by Bledsoe and his agent. Pouting to the media like this is immature. What does he expect the end result to be? This is not the behavior that makes an NBA team increase their offer - it is the behavior that makes them rethink it, though.

[H20FAN]

This is pure speculation but I think he hasn't signed an offer yet because nobody is willing to meet his asking price.

Could be true. There's a theory with Monroe (who is in same situation) that he doesn't want to play for the Pistons anymore, so he's not signing any offer sheets on purpose because then the Pistons would just match and he would be forced to stay there.

Bledsoe could be doing the same thing. One of the theories as to why Monroe might not want to play there is because of the crowded frontcourt. With Phoenix adding Thomas to go along with Dragic already there at PG, I could see Bledsoe wanting a trade for the same reason.

but since pistons/suns have all the leverage and lets say they really want a trade...but nothing happenes in the next 2-3 months, arent they forced to sign with their original teams?

[azuresou1]

TBH at this point if I were the Suns I'd retract my original offer and put out a team friendlier deal... even 4/48 is arguably an over pay for a guy with chronic knee issues and who's had only half of a good season.

Shades of Eric Gordon all over again

[will]

Needs to play ONE full seasons first as a starting point guard.

[niQ]

Come on guys! Think about his children!