JDLAW wrote:Yeah, it was necessary and no he does not have a point. There is no need to panic and make a bad trade for Gortat because some message board posters perceive his value declining and act like 13 year old girls who panic because the Justin Bieber concert has been announced and mom and dad have not rushed out to get tickets.
There are a lot of reasons that a trade has not been made, but the primary one is likely that there is no offer out there that Suns like and they will not make a bad deal just to make one. Sometimes it is better to take the space of having a free agent walk as opposed to take on bad players on bad deals or bad players on rookie contracts just to pay them to see if they can be "developed." If there is a deal to be made that the Suns want it will be made if not and Gortat wants to walk so be it.
As to him changing his tune, it really has not changed. Living in Phoenix and following this team closely since its inception in 1968, I'll give you a couple of observations. Gortat has never told any of the local press here that he wants out and has never told Suns mgt he wants out. The only article I saw where he mentioned anything about leaving was a bad translation of a Polish press article.
Last year he and other players were frustrated by what was going on with the team - lame duck head coach, followed by incompetent coach, departure of two favored assistant, mercurial line up changes and players, players getting playing time without earning it, etc... . The atmosphere around the team was as toxic and fractured as there has ever been in the history of the franchise. The only that other Suns team that came close was the 1987 drug scandal team where several Suns were indicted (Edwards, Humphries and a scrub named Gondrazick) partly on grand jury testimony of Walter Davis. Davis had immunity to rat out his teammates. Vanos died in an off-season plane crash outside of Detroit. Everyone was panicking. The Suns went into the next season with new ownership and most of the same players. The toxic environment improved, the tainted players were cleared from their legal issues and then the Suns executed a number of trades that helped turn around the team. Edwards and Bedford went to the Pistons, Humphries to the Bucks Nance and Sanders to the Cavs. The Suns let Davis walk at the end of the year without compensation. The point is you do not make stupid trades out of panic.
If Gortat's outlook has changed at all, its because the Suns new management and coaches have improved the atmosphere and management has embraced Gortat. McDonough had stated that he would like Gortat, Frye and Dragic all to be part of the next great Suns team. I take him at his word about wanting to be here.
Damn man, it's going to be nice to see a seasoned Suns fan like you post around here. Cool to here pre-90's stories.
I don't post much on here but I do lurk a lot and post on another board a lot more frequently. I'll def be here more to read what you have to say.
You don't have to answer if you don't want but how old are you? I only ask because I have mostly seen fans in their 20's post. Maybe once have I seen someone in their 40's (that I've been told at least). It's really cool to be able to mingle with fans who are more familiar with the 70's and 80's Suns teams as well.
