Lon Babby Podcast.....talks about Suns rebuild

Cutter · Post #1 » by **Cutter** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 1:02 am

http://icestream.bonnint.net:8000/az/audio/2011/12/p_Doug_and_Wolf_20111222_2pm.mp3

Suns GM Lon Babby interviewed on 620 KTAR Doug & Wolf show on 12/21/2011. This takes a while to open so be patient.....

Babby interview starts at 23:40. He talks specifically about the future approach to the rebuild at 28:14.

1) Babby acknowledges that the Suns window is basically closed and the team is in "transition".

2) The door is open for Nash retiring as a Sun, and it sounds like that is what Babby wants him to do.

3) Suns feel compelled to compete for the playoffs (not necessarily a championship) as long as Nash and Hill are on the team. In other words no hint of tanking for draft picks.

4) The Suns approach to the rebuild is "flexibility". Meaning clearing cap space and being ready to sign a FA if they become available.

5) When asked what FA are available in 2012 beyond Dwight, CP3 and DWill he wouldn't answer, just said the Suns wanted to have cap space availabe to be flexible when a star became available.

6) He specifically talked about the "transition" taking 2 - 3 years. We aren't going to spend all of our cap space in one year. That typically means you are overpaying for talent.

Obviously if the Suns tank hard this year he would welcome a high draft pic. However Suns are basically looking at fielding the best team they can, year after year, and having a lot of cap space to go after FA or RFA.

sunskerr · Post #2 » by **sunskerr** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 1:27 am

Definitely an interesting way to transition a team. Not sure if other teams could pull it off if they don't have classy guys like Nash and Hill. About overpaying; we could do that to a player whom we'd expect to improve and eventually earn their big salary.

thamadkant · Post #3 » by **thamadkant** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 4:11 am

If they aren't going to spend all space in one off season (which is smart), then they need to keep the team fresh and young and attractive....

means HIGH draft picks and players on rookie contracts or young players on bad situation but still talented.

They need one of Love, Westbrook this coming off-season and a below max player like OJ Mayo... and take risk on Anthony Randolph and get a top 10 pick... thats a FANTASTIC start.

Revived · Post #4 » by **Revived** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:18 am

If Suns fans are smart, they would quit going to the games so that Sarver loses money and sells the team.

The faster that happens, the closer we are to contending for a championship.

Nando88 · Post #5 » by **Nando88** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:23 am

sunsfan88 wrote:If Suns fans are smart, they would quit going to the games so that Sarver loses money and sells the team.

The faster that happens, the closer we are to contending for a championship.

sarver then sells to the highest bidder that will relocate the team to another city... be careful what you wish for.

JohnVancouver · Post #6 » by **JohnVancouver** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:58 am

I think it's a sensible way to go about it. I have no problem with it

JasonDaPsycho · Post #7 » by **JasonDaPsycho** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 3:49 am

Wait, so we're rebuilding by being mediocre. That pretty much sounds like we're not going to suck enough to draft potential franchise players and we're not good enough to sign star players.

Sounds very promising to me. I can't wait for the next three seasons to come. We're going to be so exciting to watch. With our two 35+ yr old franchise players (one of whom is a role player) and a bunch of other role players in their prime, we're going to contend for a championship. I have an extremely positive outlook towards the future of this team.

RunDogGun · Post #8 » by **RunDogGun** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:08 am

Nando88 wrote:
sunsfan88 wrote:If Suns fans are smart, they would quit going to the games so that Sarver loses money and sells the team.

The faster that happens, the closer we are to contending for a championship.

sarver then sells to the highest bidder that will relocate the team to another city... be careful what you wish for.

So any Suns games have more opposing fans as they do home fans, or at least vocal fans. Many corporations get tickets and give them to clients, so I really doubt that a fan boycott would do anything to Sarver's bottom line. I have seen many games where people were just there to be seen. After watching OKC and GSW games, our fans that go to the game are so weak as it is.

Revived · Post #9 » by **Revived** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:28 am

Nando88 wrote:
sunsfan88 wrote:If Suns fans are smart, they would quit going to the games so that Sarver loses money and sells the team.

The faster that happens, the closer we are to contending for a championship.

sarver then sells to the highest bidder that will relocate the team to another city... be careful what you wish for.

There's no gurantee that the new owner moves the team out of PHX.....isnt there more than just one millionare in Arizona?

Either way as long as Sarver is out, I'm good.

RunDogGun · Post #10 » by **RunDogGun** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 8:37 am

So the Suns will only cost a million? :lol:

And there is no guarantee that the new owner will do any better than Sarver. More than likely, if fans boycott games, Sarver will sell picks again to make up the losses, not sell the team.

Frank Lee · Post #11 » by **Frank Lee** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:38 pm

It seems Babby has great skills with non committal vagueness.

I think as we go through the season, we will have to extend Nash if he is to retire a Sun. This 'leave it up to him' is fine and dandy, but it also goes down a very reactive pathway. Nash should be given an reasonable behind closed doors offer/ultimatum and the front office should make a decision, so we can rebuild accordingly.

Years90Suns · Post #12 » by **Years90Suns** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:26 pm

We would never agree with the best way to rebuild this team in a million years.
Plans are difficult to stablish, as you can hope to get Howard, Williams, Westbrook or any other player, then he is traded to a team where he wants to stay and all of a sudden your plans are in the dust bin.

So getting a salary margin, keeping some good players, having a good coach (as we think it is our case) and not rushing things up (not this time) is important.

We cannnot throw this season into the garbage bin just now. Firstly, we have an image to keep. There is no guarantee that would be a faster way for improvement. Then, you have players that always want to win and, specially here, some veterans who know that they have just a couple of years left before they retire.

We shoud play out the season. Than decide if Morris and Gortat are starting material. Then decide if Frye, Dudley, Warrick, Childress and López are good bench players. If not, decide what to do with them. Then see if Steve and Grant want to be here one more year, or two, at a very reasonable price.

For what I saw the other day in the game between Kentucky and North Carolina, there will be plenty of small forwards in next years's draft, if everybody declares. There are pretty good point guards too. The idealistic situation would be get a 3 or a 2, and a 1, then keep Nash and Hill to teach them through the beginning of their careers. Too good to be true.
Kidd-Gilchrist, Teague, Rivers... those would be really good options. Rivers would be the idealistic fit for this team. A superstar of the future than can play both guards positions.

Cutter · Post #13 » by **Cutter** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:34 pm

Frank Lee wrote:It seems Babby has great skills with non committal vagueness.

I think as we go through the season, we will have to extend Nash if he is to retire a Sun. This 'leave it up to him' is fine and dandy, but it also goes down a very reactive pathway. Nash should be given an reasonable behind closed doors offer/ultimatum and the front office should make a decision, so we can rebuild accordingly.

Suns will offer Nash a 2-year extension for $13mill. This matches the $6.5mill 1-year extension Suns gave Grant Hill.

I know others can't see this, but I can see Nash leading the bench team as back-up PG. I think Nash has his ego in check enough to be willing to lead the bench unit, especially if we land a Russell Westbrook or Stephen Curry (my preference) as our young starting PG of the future.