Most important free agent player to bring back next year

[bwgood77]

We may have wanted him, but had other targets that were priorities that maybe we didn't land and by the time those played out he had signed with Sacramento.

He signed pretty late. We signed Damian Jones, Galloway and Moore to deals a few days before Kaminsky signed. Our roster was full I'm pretty sure by the time he signed with them.

You're right. I wonder if maybe thought he could get more than the minimum, and then waited too long.

He wasn't too popular...no fans wanted him back..he played poorly down the stretch, mostly because he was thrust into a starting C role for a while...which was too much. He played well early similar to his current role. I think that was forgotten.

But Jones liking Jones for some reason made no sense...some of his picks/signings have been head scratching, particularly Jerome and Jones, but drafting Smith over Haliburton given our needs. But, to be clear, I like Jalen Smith for our future 4/5 backup, particularly post Crowder and maybe Saric....though I won't be surprised if Saric is here for a long time.

IV Point Play felt like Crowder may be the guy on the trading block if we decide to make some sort of trade to maybe upgrade our team, but I am not sure what trade that could be, and I kind of doubt it, given his playoff experience...I wouldn't mess up a good thing given our 15-3 record over the last 19...a 69 game win pace...what do we really need to change?...not much, if anything.

[Barkley6]

He signed pretty late. We signed Damian Jones, Galloway and Moore to deals a few days before Kaminsky signed. Our roster was full I'm pretty sure by the time he signed with them.

You're right. I wonder if maybe thought he could get more than the minimum, and then waited too long.

He wasn't too popular...no fans wanted him back..he played poorly down the stretch, mostly because he was thrust into a starting C role for a while...which was too much. He played well early similar to his current role. I think that was forgotten.

But Jones liking Jones for some reason made no sense...some of his picks/signings have been head scratching, particularly Jerome and Jones, but drafting Smith over Haliburton given our needs. But, to be clear, I like Jalen Smith for our future 4/5 backup, particularly post Crowder and maybe Saric....though I won't be surprised if Saric is here for a long time.

IV Point Play felt like Crowder may be the guy on the trading block if we decide to make some sort of trade to maybe upgrade our team, but I am not sure what trade that could be, and I kind of doubt it, given his playoff experience...I wouldn't mess up a good thing given our 15-3 record over the last 19...a 69 game win pace...what do we really need to change?...not much, if anything.

I think jury is still out on Jerome. In the 4 games he's played for OKC, the numbers look good (haven't actually watched him play), but 9ppg and 3apg on 50% shooting and 36% 3pt isn't bad for a second year backup PG.

Jones was a weird one, considering most people thought he'd be overseas. My thinking is they wanted a big athletic body for Ayton to practice against, because beating up on Saric and Stix wasn't going to do much for his development.

I just can't see us trading Crowder. He was our top FA target and we sold him on PHX even though he was hesitant at first. I think it would make a lot of guys around the league start to side-eye Phoenix if in consecutive years they dealt their top FA signing (Rubio and then Crowder).

[bwgood77]

You're right. I wonder if maybe thought he could get more than the minimum, and then waited too long.

He wasn't too popular...no fans wanted him back..he played poorly down the stretch, mostly because he was thrust into a starting C role for a while...which was too much. He played well early similar to his current role. I think that was forgotten.

But Jones liking Jones for some reason made no sense...some of his picks/signings have been head scratching, particularly Jerome and Jones, but drafting Smith over Haliburton given our needs. But, to be clear, I like Jalen Smith for our future 4/5 backup, particularly post Crowder and maybe Saric....though I won't be surprised if Saric is here for a long time.

IV Point Play felt like Crowder may be the guy on the trading block if we decide to make some sort of trade to maybe upgrade our team, but I am not sure what trade that could be, and I kind of doubt it, given his playoff experience...I wouldn't mess up a good thing given our 15-3 record over the last 19...a 69 game win pace...what do we really need to change?...not much, if anything.

I think jury is still out on Jerome. In the 4 games he's played for OKC, the numbers look good (haven't actually watched him play), but 9ppg and 3apg on 50% shooting and 36% 3pt isn't bad for a second year backup PG.

Jones was a weird one, considering most people thought he'd be overseas. My thinking is they wanted a big athletic body for Ayton to practice against, because beating up on Saric and Stix wasn't going to do much for his development.

I just can't see us trading Crowder. He was our top FA target and we sold him on PHX even though he was hesitant at first. I think it would make a lot of guys around the league start to side-eye Phoenix if in consecutive years they dealt their top FA signing (Rubio and then Crowder).

I don't think we'd trade Crowder either...no reason to. But IF they see some player that would raise our ceiling I think we'd trade him before Saric or Cam.

[starbosa10]

At first I thought Cam Payne would consume most if not all of our MLE... but if we finish the season as a top seed... don’t we become a top FA destination again? We might want to start considering names we could attract with our full MLE.

BTW I believe we have early bird rights for Cam Payne... anyone know what the biggest EB contract we could give Payne without using our MLE?

This would be ideal for me. A strong run this season could entice a good player here on the MLE

[Qwigglez]

I prefer Nader most. Backup PG's won't be too difficult to come by, and I'm not sure Payne would thrive anywhere but the Suns. Moore and Galloway are nice pieces but I don't see other teams offering them significant money, they are more bench pieces. Nader is definitely the only one I see getting significant value in the open market.

[Frank Lee]

[lilfishi22]

For me, it's gotta be Cam Payne. Continuity is underrated, he knows the system, knows the guys and plays well. Unfortunately, he may just be the most expensive player to retain on that list.

[TouchPassDario]

For me, it's gotta be Cam Payne. Continuity is underrated, he knows the system, knows the guys and plays well. Unfortunately, he may just be the most expensive player to retain on that list.

Guessing he would be less than full MLE

[Keith_myath]

None of those players are irreplaceable.

Gun to my head, though, it's Tank. He's a culture guy and culture is underappreciated.

[lilfishi22]

None of those players are irreplaceable.

Gun to my head, though, it's Tank. He's a culture guy and culture is underappreciated.

No one is irreplaceable but I prefer to look at how difficult their impact would be to replace. Cam Payne's impact, abilities and value on the court would be the hardest to replace imo

That being said, with us being a higher caliber team than we've been in over a decade, I think we'll also have more higher caliber guys looking to our way and becoming possibly available than ever too. So while I say Cam is hard to replace, that was on the basis of the Suns not being much of FA destination because we've been bad. Now that we're good, it's a different story. Maybe we could get someone like a Derrick Rose on a 3yr MLE deal

[irish22022]

None of those players are irreplaceable.

Gun to my head, though, it's Tank. He's a culture guy and culture is underappreciated.

No one is irreplaceable but I prefer to look at how difficult their impact would be to replace. Cam Payne's impact, abilities and value on the court would be the hardest to replace imo

That being said, with us being a higher caliber team than we've been in over a decade, I think we'll also have more higher caliber guys looking to our way and becoming possibly available than ever too. So while I say Cam is hard to replace, that was on the basis of the Suns not being much of FA destination because we've been bad. Now that we're good, it's a different story. Maybe we could get someone like a Derrick Rose on a 3yr MLE deal

I also think backing up an aging CP3 will be an attractive situation for a lot of backup PGs. He'll be on minutes restrictions, PHX plays bench guys a lot, not to mention the mentorship. I like Cam Payne, but I think we can keep him for 5 million a year to be honest. Rose is a great call if not. Frankly, our free agents will likely all want to stay here now which is another thing. We'll get some family deals I have a feeling.

[Revived]

I remember how we always struggled to find good capable PGs during the prime Steve Nash era. We went through a bunch of complete garbage back then until Dragic finally breaking through in 2010.

To me it’s easy decision to say Cam Payne especially with how successful he is in the Suns system and with the players here.

[lilfishi22]

None of those players are irreplaceable.

Gun to my head, though, it's Tank. He's a culture guy and culture is underappreciated.

No one is irreplaceable but I prefer to look at how difficult their impact would be to replace. Cam Payne's impact, abilities and value on the court would be the hardest to replace imo

That being said, with us being a higher caliber team than we've been in over a decade, I think we'll also have more higher caliber guys looking to our way and becoming possibly available than ever too. So while I say Cam is hard to replace, that was on the basis of the Suns not being much of FA destination because we've been bad. Now that we're good, it's a different story. Maybe we could get someone like a Derrick Rose on a 3yr MLE deal

I also think backing up an aging CP3 will be an attractive situation for a lot of backup PGs. He'll be on minutes restrictions, PHX plays bench guys a lot, not to mention the mentorship. I like Cam Payne, but I think we can keep him for 5 million a year to be honest. Rose is a great call if not. Frankly, our free agents will likely all want to stay here now which is another thing. We'll get some family deals I have a feeling.

That and playing with the new generation all-star in Booker who's on the cusp of being an all-NBA talent, good young players in Ayton, Cam and Bridges and a solid coach who is well respected throughout the league. We have a lot going for us and talent that previously wouldn't consider us may not just look our way but take a pay cut to play for the Suns.

I think our first priority is to retain Cam because of familiarity, continuity and talent at that position. Rose is a guy at his stage in his career where he should find a good team to join and play a real role in winning.

[bwgood77]

None of those players are irreplaceable.

Gun to my head, though, it's Tank. He's a culture guy and culture is underappreciated.

No one is irreplaceable but I prefer to look at how difficult their impact would be to replace. Cam Payne's impact, abilities and value on the court would be the hardest to replace imo

That being said, with us being a higher caliber team than we've been in over a decade, I think we'll also have more higher caliber guys looking to our way and becoming possibly available than ever too. So while I say Cam is hard to replace, that was on the basis of the Suns not being much of FA destination because we've been bad. Now that we're good, it's a different story. Maybe we could get someone like a Derrick Rose on a 3yr MLE deal

Derrick Rose is not that good and is on the downside of his career.

Payne may theoretically be easily to replace, but I think he will be cheaper than a replacement, likely has more upside than most, and we have had trouble getting PGs.

But the main thing is we already basically have replacements on our roster for everyone but Payne. We have depth everywhere else...even if Jalen Smith is part of it (as far as Frank goes).

Anyway, I can't imagine Cam would be any more then 2/$15 anyway and likely more in the range irish said. Most teams out there already have 2-3 PGs and/or are rebuilding and probably wouldn't want to spend much money on a guy they likely don't view as a long term starter.

[Barkley6]

Curious as to what everyone thinks we should sign Payne, and maybe Nader and Kaminsky for this offseason. I'm fairly confident Kaminsky will accept a minimum deal to stay, but the other two I'm not sure exactly where their number will land. We are definitely a better team with both Nader and Payne, so I'll be interested to see what you guys think they're worth.

[TouchPassDario]

Payne 4/30
Nader 3/15

[Walt_Uoob]

Payne 4/30
Nader 3/15

Seems too high to me. 4/20 and 3/10 would be nice raises for both of them.

[bwgood77]

Payne 4/30
Nader 3/15

Seems too high to me. 4/20 and 3/10 would be nice raises for both of them.

I was thinking 3/15 for Payne and maybe a Carter type contract for Nader. I would have given Carter the minimum though. I doubt he'd have suitors and don't think he has trade value...I see people throwing him into trades like he could net us Khem Birch or something.

We may just do 1 year deals for maybe a little more with a second year team option...so we can assess our cap space when re-signing Bridges and Ayton and seeing what CP3 will do and if he stays, sign him. We may not want extra $10 million on the books for sure for these guys because we will be up against the cap.

Payne is important though depending on Ty-Shon's development and what we do in the draft, but I'd definitely keep him. I don't see much of a market for him.