Trade & Free Agency Ideas & Discussion 2

[Moochthemonkey]

Would he take a discount to play here?

Or does he only want the Suns because we're the only good weather/West coast team besides Clippers that has cap space for him plus he likes the women in Arizona?

I'm not joking but I honestly think the reputation for women in Arizona is playing a huge role in Blake wanting to play here. He's not a family guy like the LeBron or CP3 or anything like that so it makes plenty of sense.

what's this reputation? might need to move

There doesn't have to be a reputation. If you've ever been to a night club in Scottsdale your jaw drops. I had friends from college in from LA once and they were like "Wow, I always thought LA was the place where you would see this...."...there was more to it than that. I can't imagine going to one of those places if you are a guy like Griffin. They have VIP rooms I got into on occasion and I'm sure he's seen it all.

But I'm sure they have that in Miami too and NY. He mentioned Toronto...I'm kind of surprised he didn't mention Miami.

ASU Tempe campus too...it's distracting

[bwgood77]

First off - love this idea of Blake Griffin if healthy. Especially if he reached out

Two - I don't mind Millsap but as long as its 3 year deal - maximum

Three - this idea about getting the young guys minutes. To me, earn your damn minutes. The Suns have so much youth on the team - Booker, Bender,Chriss and Josh willjus be hitting their prime when Blake rolls off after 4 years

Kevin Pelton says the Suns are $2m shy after releasing Barbosa (I think) and renouncing Len and Williams. My guess, don't renounce Williams too early but maybe trade TJ Warren; see what market there is for Knight.

If Morey can do what he did in Houston and other team work the c - Ryan McD can find $2m for Blake.

With an S&T - anybody willing to put Bledsoe/Warren to the Clippers to get in done

I think if you sign Blake you need Bledsoe but there might be some veterans on the market you can also get

Why not Bledsoe, Warren and a pick for Griffin and Patrick Beverly.

I don't think you trade away key pieces when you are bringing a guy like Griffin in. They would likely want Bledsoe and Warren to play with him.

[Revived]

If you believe there is a new style of NBA positionless play then static, immobile centers like Chandler are archaic and he needs to be traded.

I don't think the Suns are as down on Len as this board is. Sure, they didn't give him an extension, but if he develops as Suns hope he becomes a rim protecting, rebounding C who can stretch the floor (a tiny bit) with an outside shot, that for now, he can't seem to find.

I don't think we should give up on Len quite yet unless he gets a huge offer from someone this summer.

I don't know if they are down on him or not...I imagine they are probably not exactly high on him, but I'd wait out RFA and if he doesn't get an offer, either give him a small deal slightly above the QO or let him play on that...but we should get rid of Chandler.

I kind of think we will keep Chandler and I'm not sure there will be much of a market for him. We really just need to dump Knight and we'd be fine with the cap.

For me the question is, is it worth dumping Knight with an asset like Warren or one of the Miami picks just to sign Blake Griffin?

To me, it's not. I wouldn't take Griffin even if it didn't cost us any assets but I definitely wouldn't take Griffin if it cost us an asset.

[kennydorglas]

Tyson Chandler's contract is tradeable. The moment we put him in the table, there'll be offer for him (I guess even good ones lol)
Our biggest challenge would be Knight.

[Fo-Real]

Dumping Knight and Dudley somehow saves us 22 mil, not to mention we can waive Barbosa and save like 3.5 mil. So, more than 25 million dollars!

[Qwigglez]

There doesn't have to be a reputation. If you've ever been to a night club in Scottsdale your jaw drops. I had friends from college in from LA once and they were like "Wow, I always thought LA was the place where you would see this...."...there was more to it than that. I can't imagine going to one of those places if you are a guy like Griffin. They have VIP rooms I got into on occasion and I'm sure he's seen it all.

But I'm sure they have that in Miami too and NY. He mentioned Toronto...I'm kind of surprised he didn't mention Miami.

The thing with those places (Miami at least, never partied in NY) is they are extremely overpacked and the quality to quantity ratio isn't very high. The amount of people in Scottsdale is vastly smaller in comparison but the quality of eye candy is amazing. I'm sure his brother has told him all about it. So shout out to our old regime for signing Taylor Griffin, this could have played a pivotal part in us getting Blake.

[BobbieL]

Easier said than done, but if we could dump Knight and Chandler this would be a no brainer (if the med staff sign off on it).

Bledsoe, Ulis, James
Booker, Barbosa, Reed
Warren, Jackson, Jones JR
Griffin, Bender, Dudley
Len, Chriss, Williams

Millsap and Peters as 2way.

Actually, I think I dump Len and keep Chandler. With Blake, you need a big rebounder and probably not as much offense. So I think Chandler/Griffin works better than Len/Griffin. Granted, if that's how you get Blake because you can get Len for lower dollars, that's one thing. But from what I have seen of Len - I would feel better with Chandler

If we could actually dump Chandler, I think Len is a better fit due to rim protection. Blake averages .4 blocks per 36. He has never averaged a block a game, even before playing with DeAndre.

Plus Len would probably be cheaper....and younger.

The big thing is, we really need to get rid of Knight. If we HAVE to get rid of Knight to sign Blake, I wonder what kind of picks we would be willing to give up to get rid of him? Considering we gave up two firsts to dump a reasonable Kurt Thomas contract, and GS gave up two firsts to dump a couple contracts to Utah to sign Iggy, you'd think we'd have to give up quite a bit.

But we really need to clear that cap space out if we sign him.

I can go either way on signing Blake.

My biggest concern is health. He has missed 68 games the last two years, 83, in the last 3, is out until December, and is older and more injury prone than when we walked away from Amare. That's a little scary to be stuck to him if he ends up just always being injured.

I wonder if he would pass our medical exam.

Good point about Len. But with Chandler - you might have to take back an asset. With Len its renounce the deal and you are done, $12m of cap space, boom!

Knight is trickier . Gambo says he will not be back - but who knows if that is true or what information or trade they have in store

I don't think the Bledsoe to the Clippers works in an S&T because Bled is going out to meet Blake. I think with that, you want Bledsoe on your team.

Hmm - maybe Dudley has a market out there. Not sure who.

Knight, Knight Knight -

I would do Knight, Warren, and picks for something --just don't know what. Wonder if the Nets would do knight, warren and the Miami pick next year for Nicholson. Granted, they have Russell and Lin. But they didn't tender KJ McDaniel

[ATTL]

If we get Blake Griffin this is 2004 summer all over again.

Back then we had... Joe Johnson (23 years old), Amare Stoudemire (22 years old), Shawn Marion (26 years old), and Leandro Barbosa (22 years old). We signed a injury prone 30 year old Steve Nash.


We have Booker (20 years old), Bender (19 years old), Chriss (20 years old), Warren (24 years old), Jackson (20 years old), Bledsoe (27 years old). We sign a injury prone 28 year old Blake Griffin.

I am really really liking this idea.

Quick, someone dig up the posts from summer of 04.

Majority of people here didnt think he was much of, if not any upgrade over marbury.
I was thinking we could compete with the kings for the top of the pacific division.

A lot of people thought we had a shot at getting Kobe and McGrady on the same team.

[Revived]

Would he take a discount to play here?

Or does he only want the Suns because we're the only good weather/West coast team besides Clippers that has cap space for him plus he likes the women in Arizona?

I'm not joking but I honestly think the reputation for women in Arizona is playing a huge role in Blake wanting to play here. He's not a family guy like the LeBron or CP3 or anything like that so it makes plenty of sense.

what's this reputation? might need to move

There doesn't have to be a reputation. If you've ever been to a night club in Scottsdale your jaw drops. I had friends from college in from LA once and they were like "Wow, I always thought LA was the place where you would see this...."...there was more to it than that. I can't imagine going to one of those places if you are a guy like Griffin. They have VIP rooms I got into on occasion and I'm sure he's seen it all.

But I'm sure they have that in Miami too and NY. He mentioned Toronto...I'm kind of surprised he didn't mention Miami.

Yeah I mean there's a reason Rob Gronkowski of the Patriots loves Arizona so much and speaks so glowingly about it. I've seen him give Arizona more love than Boston in most of the interviews I've seen of his and I watch a lot of his interviews cause he's one of my favorite athletes.

I've always said I think he would go to the Cardinals if he were to ever leave the Pats.

Anyway back on topic...

[BobbieL]

Dumping Knight and Dudley somehow saves us 22 mil, not to mention we can waive Barbosa and save like 3.5 mil. So, more than 25 million dollars!

There has to be a taker though - who is just going to take on 10m or 12m bucks

I can see Dudley being moved but actually - probably would want him

Knight - who knows

Chandler - who is taking his contract for nothing.

[Qwigglez]

Majority of people here didnt think he was much of, if not any upgrade over marbury.
I was thinking we could compete with the kings for the top of the pacific division.

A lot of people thought we had a shot at getting Kobe and McGrady on the same team.

I was barely in HS back then, but I remember being very disappointed we got Nash and not Kobe/T-Mac. I didn't watch too much basketball outside of the Suns, and didn't have access to the internet back then so I actually didn't even know how good of a player Nash was.

[BobbieL]

Tyson Chandler's contract is tradeable. The moment we put him in the table, there'll be offer for him (I guess even good ones lol)
Our biggest challenge would be Knight.

Per Kevin Pelton, the Suns need about $2m bucks if they renounce all free agents, waive Barbosa and push out the cap hit over 3 years. So the Suns don't need much

I think its better to move Knight and not renounce Williams as his cap hold is only like 1.5m

so by my math, that is 3.5m they need

Knight or Chandler going out - under 8m coming in - that might work

[Qwigglez]

Tyson Chandler's contract is tradeable. The moment we put him in the table, there'll be offer for him (I guess even good ones lol)
Our biggest challenge would be Knight.

Per Kevin Pelton, the Suns need about $2m bucks if they renounce all free agents, waive Barbosa and push out the cap hit over 3 years. So the Suns don't need much

I think its better to move Knight and not renounce Williams as his cap hold is only like 1.5m

so by my math, that is 3.5m they need

Knight or Chandler going out - under 8m coming in - that might work

We'd have to wait until Griffin signs on the bottom line and then I could see us trading Knight to possibly the Pelicans as they need shooting in the worse way. Hopefully only have to add the Toronto 2nd rounder, which may be in the 40's depending on if Lowry leaves or not.

[bwgood77]

Here is the updated cap sheet. For the pacific division you have to go to the Western Conference tab at the bottom, click on that sheet, and scroll to the right.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T2Eg_zvqNqQD_5TpE4Ns6xhElatXdLpYG1roZtRLyvE/edit?usp=sharing

[Cutter]

Time to jump over to a Clippers forum to see what they are saying about Blake's visit to Suns.

[thamadkant]

This is more of a reality than what people think... he's not the same BG from his early 20's but he doesn't have to be that guy. He reminds me so much of Charles Barkley when he came over in a trade

or McDyess...


And we know what happened there.

He's body structure and ability is more like Barkley... if he does come over, I imagine Tyson will have a big impact on him..

Barkley was way better than Griffin... I mean young Barkley was more athletic than Griffin is. Barkley is a way better rebounder and defender and that isnt saying much. offensively Barkley is a tier above, more complete. Griffin is equal passer as Barkley... only thing Griffin is being 6'9... but as said earlier Barkley was the better defender at 6'6.



McDyess was actually the better shot blocker, but Griffin had him beat in passing and dribbling.

[Scutt]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

thank god

You're at least the third person to reply to those tweets with "Thank God"

Our front office really loves to say one thing and do another. It's mind boggling

[DirtyDez]

Here is the updated cap sheet. For the pacific division you have to go to the Western Conference tab at the bottom, click on that sheet, and scroll to the right.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T2Eg_zvqNqQD_5TpE4Ns6xhElatXdLpYG1roZtRLyvE/edit?usp=sharing

Is that including JJ cap hold?

[Qwigglez]

Slide on over to the Suns already!

[bwgood77]

Whatever team signs him should look to James Harden’s career for inspiration: Make Griffin the full-time point guard and let him play with the ball in his hands the entire game. Positional designations have become increasingly meaningless in recent years, but who brings the ball up the floor and initiates the offense still matters. Harden isn’t the only nontraditional point guard who has thrived as his team’s lead ball handler. After starting his career as a small forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo became one of the best players in the NBA when the Bucks gave him full control of the offense. Harden and Giannis don’t need anyone else setting them up. They are at their best when they are creators rather than finishers; the threat of their offense opens up the game for everyone else.

Blake is one of the best passers, 6-foot-9 or taller, in NBA history. He is one of six current players his height to have a season with an assist rate higher than 25 percent, and one of only 13 players to ever do it. There have just not been many basketball players with his combination of size, speed, and ballhandling and passing ability before, and the best way to utilize him is to have him be the player throwing alley-oops, not catching them. Not only would using Blake as a point guard make him a better player, it would give his team more flexibility when it comes to the types of lineups he could be used in and the players he could be put around.

One possible solution would be to play him as a small-ball 5, à la Draymond Green, but his below-average wingspan (6-foot-11) puts a clear ceiling on his ability to protect the rim, and even with his incredible leaping ability, he has never averaged a block a game. Using Griffin as a point forward would allow his team to forgo a traditional point guard, creating room in the lineup for another multipositional defender who could stretch the defense as a spot-up shooter, while still keeping a rim-protecting 5 on the floor next to him.

https://theringer.com/2017-nba-free-agency-blake-griffin-point-guard-eeae6cd3b18d

If we sign him HE should be our point, and we need to have a rim protector next to him. We also need floor spreaders. It's too bad we don't have more good shooters or a solid rim protector outside of Len, but Griffin would be best with the ball in his hands.