Completely unsurprising news: our FO is really dysfunctional

[rsavaj]

Some great(ly alarming) posts by Seth over at Bright Side with some pretty scary insight into the FO:

The Suns GM was convinced that Zabian Dowdell was a better player than Dragic and that influenced Goran’s confidence. Also, Goran screwed around a bit and got a little cocky. He learned a lesson that season about how hard he needs to work.
...
This is based on a collection of discussions with people in the organization over the past many months…not w/ Goran
...
Sarver did the Dragic deal while negotiating w/ Nash’s agent (who’s also Dragic’s agent). I also was told that Sarver did the Scola deal himself.

Blanks, I was told, didn’t like Dragic at all and was behind getting rid of him.

Basically, from what I gather — and by all means this isn’t gospel as much as something like informed rumor — there’s kind of two camps. The Sarver / Gentry camp who were in favor of bringing Diaw back and believed in Goran and the Babby / Blanks camp.

Babby is clueless on basketball talent eval but hired Blanks so he’s sticking w/ him. Blanks wanted no part of Diaw or Dragic and may or may not have been opposed to Scola b/c he took minutes from Morris who Blanks drafted and is in “golden child” status.

You can find right and wrong w/ both sides. It’s not totally black and white IMHO.

Blanks was clearly wrong about Dragic but do you blame him for not wanting Diaw back even though Nash and Gentry did?

And Morris, I think anyway, is a very solid pick and will continue to improve. I like him a lot. Is it wrong to not want Scola blocking his development even though Scola was available at a good price and in the short term is a better player?

These things aren’t clear.

I do believe, however, that Sarver will be forced to back a choice since Babby, Blanks and Gentry are all on expiring contracts.

I don’t see Gentry and Blanks both staying. Maybe Babby dumps Blanks and stays along w/ Gentry? Maybe Sarver backs Babby fully and Gentry goes and Blanks stays?

I dunno how that will play out.

I would guess (GUESS) that Gentry stays and Blanks goes. But we’ll see.

Plus, you guys should read the article. It's one of the best that Bright Side has ever produced, and that's saying a lot. : http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2012/ ... a-year-ago

[Kerrsed]

I think BOTH Gentry and Blanks are gone at the end of the season. I still am in the camp that believe that Sarver wants Thunder Dan to take over as head coach (also what a little bird told me) and Blanks is gone to help break up the anti-Sarver decision tandem.

As for who is wrong or right, its like the Republicans and Democrats. Neither has it 100% right. I think Sarver was right on wanting to keep Dragic, but feel he was wrong in wanting Diaw back. I also feel Babby was right in not wanting Scola as it does stunt Morris's growth by taking away valuable experience and game minutes.

[RunDogGun]

I think BOTH Gentry and Blanks are gone at the end of the season. I still am in the camp that believe that Sarver wants Thunder Dan to take over as head coach (also what a little bird told me) and Blanks is gone to help break up the anti-Sarver decision tandem.

As for who is wrong or right, its like the Republicans and Democrats. Neither has it 100% right. I think Sarver was right on wanting to keep Dragic, but feel he was wrong in wanting Diaw back. I also feel Babby was right in not wanting Scola as it does stunt Morris's growth by taking away valuable experience and game minutes.

However, it seems like Morris is like West and KT in the idea that they get tons of calls against them, many are ticky tack calls, and some are just lazy fouls. So in a way, Morris (and some refs) limit his time on the court, just as much as Scola would.

[Sun Scorched]

The Scola argument is a non-issue. He's the better player at this point in time and his contract is an incredible value. I think some are forgetting we got him for free. Additionally, I think most of you are underestimating the positive impact that Scola will have on Dragic.

I honestly view the Scola/Gortat frontcourt as one of the most underrated in the league. It screams steady production. Scola will be a 18/8 guy and Gortat a 15/10 - that's an efficient 33/18 from your 2 starters. Then you have Markieff and JO at 16 mpg each.

Only obviously better front courts currently:
LAL - Gasol/Howard
MIN - Love/Pekovic
ATL - Smith/Horford
MIA - LeBron/Bosh (if you think it counts)
UTA - Milsap/Jefferson

[nashchill]

I've never been a big Gentry fan, but I wouldn't necessarily fire him - Gentry is a mediocre coach at best, and the team we have now is basically a treadmill team, so...he fits. Blanks is a reactionary guy, signing Warrick like a damn fool and doing all kinds of ineffective moves.

[RaisingArizona]

In other news, bears take giant sh*ts in the woods.

[lilfishi22]

Let me just say this first before anything, I think the front office (as a whole, without saying who did what) did a good job this off season. Whatever they agreed on, I think they made solid decisions on who to bring back and who to bring in.

GM's and owners have differences in philosphies all the time and the perceieved dysfuntionality of our front office as a whole may be overblown or read into too much. That said, if it is indeed true, then it is absolutely ridiculous that B&B disliked Dragic enough to want to get rid of him and actually thought Dowdell (who I like) is better than Dragic. If this is the vibe around the front office then Sarver/Gentry could not have fully endorsed the drafting of Marshall who B&B must see as the Nash repalcement, not Dragic.

I'm certainly not completely siding with Sarver just because he made a good decision for once but I do feel his "direction" (Scola/Dragic) is a lot more in line with what I want to see for our future whereas I haven't been too impressed with guys B&B have recently brought in (Beasley/Morris/Marshall).

[DRK]

Scola isnt blocking anyone's development....

Morris still gets his playing time coming off the bench. The addtion of Scola can only be a good thing for Morris - learning from Scola's experience and having to guard a quality player like Scola every practise.

For what it's worth, Morris was not ready to start this season. Morris would benefit greatly from one more year off the bench, rather than getting his confidence killed by a trial by fire.

[EB2]

Who was running our team in the off-season. We had a great off-season...I think.We gained many assets while remaining somewhat competitive in the West.

[JDLAW]

No offense, but I do not see how Seth Pollack's blog proves anything. He does not claim to have talked to anyone that is making decisions in the Suns front office and he generously inserts his "analysis/opinion" into the blog. But even if what he writes is accurate, it does not establish the Suns front office is dysfunctional.

If I lay out the facts of a lawsuit for 3 of my colleagues and ask for their opinions, I will get three opinions that are different from my own. The same is true for 4 basketball men running a team. Sarver, Babby Blanks and Gentry are going to have different opinions on players and they are each going to have different considerations and motivations in forming their opinions and approaches to players. I would be very worried if they did not.

Take for example, Dragic. When he was traded, he was playing poorly and exhibiting immaturity that likely made some believe he was not the point guard of the future. I recall Babby actually making that comment. When it was clear that Nash was not coming back, the Suns drafted Marshall as their point guard of the future, but they realized he was not ready to run an NBA team that had playoffs as a goal. Telfair was not a full time started, so they needed a veteran. Some in the FO favored another UNC alum Felton - he was older and more of a true stop gap. Some in the FO favored Dragic a fan favorite, who is younger and has a higher up side than Felton. The difference is Dragic is not a stop gap. Each camp has its pluses and minuses. I like the way it came out.

As for Scola, his acquisition was likely not a commentary on Morris so much as it is a recognition that the Suns needed a veteran or two on what was otherwise a young leaderless roster.

I do not see the FO as dysfunctional at all.

[sunskerr]

The big thing for the FO was just to acquire good young talent and talent that will help transition us past the Nash era. Pretty much all the acquisitions can pitch in and do that. We had a good, aggressive offseason (about as good an offseason you can have after losing your best player), and we didn't put all our eggs in either the draft nor the next offseason. We got the talent while we could because you can't just target one year, otherwise you could get burned in the draft lottery(and/or pick a bust) or you get burned like all the other teams did in 2010 when they didn't sign Lebron.

[Fo-Real]

I've never been a big Gentry fan, but I wouldn't necessarily fire him - Gentry is a mediocre coach at best, and the team we have now is basically a treadmill team, so...he fits. Blanks is a reactionary guy, signing Warrick like a damn fool and doing all kinds of ineffective moves.

Blanks did not sign Warrick, that was done during the period that we didnt really have a GM by Sarver with some influence of Babby, who also enticed us to take his client JOSH FRIGGIN CHILDRESS!!!! The current front office has done a steller job with the what has been available and have stayed the course that they said they would navigate, and have set us up to have the possiblilty to be relevant shortly if things fall in place. I also dont see any other available coach out there who could connect with the guys we have and get more out of them then Gentry right now. Everybody gets a contract offer, but Sarver will again ask all of them to take a pay cut, and all will leave offended..... Maybe not Gentry, he knows he aint getting another head coaching job, so he stays.