2014 Official Suns Free Agent/Trade/Transaction Thread

[INFORMER-93]

It seems that I m in the minority when it comes to this 2 PG issue, and I m willing to re-evaluate. (Although I still think that we would be in big trouble guarding a 6'6, 200+ pounds traditional SG)

I told you I was not a believer when first met this idea, but it's working perfectly, and it's getting only better. Indeed, Bledsoe's lenght and strenght is what allows us to get away with it on D. If/when we make the playoffs, we'll see what happens under real pressure, but I am a believer. Bledsoe is a keeper even at the max, and Goran should have untouchable status as well and a nice contract waiting for him after next season.

It's interesting to see you so won over, R_W. And I'm not saying you're wrong to feel that way.

I was never fundamentally opposed to running two point guards at once, but I was skeptical on how successful a Dragic/Bledsoe backcourt could be. But it has worked well. I still would like to see that tandem, and really the whole Suns team, over the course of 82 games before I am on board with them and it as much as you seem to be.

Bledsoe has been really good. But I still have a problem with paying a really good player great player money. It may come down to weighing the disadvantages of matching a max offer (that will probably come from the Lakers) against the damage done by letting him walk.

One thing that has bothered me is that he hasn't been nearly as good defensively as he was advertised to be. And Sports Illustrated had a good article detailing how Bledsoe led lineups have not been as good as Dragic led lineups.

[Cutter]

While on the subject of Bledsoe and possible RFA offers, a hypothetical.......

Bulls believe Rose is broken and will not return to elite form. Instead of Amnestying Boozer they amnesty Rose. Bulls then extend a large offer to Bledoe, which McD believes is too large and he decides not to match. McD then executes a S&T with Chicago.

Suns trade Eric Bledsoe

Bulls trade Nikola Mirotic, salary filler, future pick(s)

Bulls get their mini-lebron to replace Rose and go in a new direction.

Suns get their PF of the future in Mirotic who is tearing it up in the elite European league playing for Real Madrid. This kid 23 and is the real deal. If interested, I encourage you to look him up on line to read up on his stats.

[Wannabe MEP]

Bledsoe has been really good. But I still have a problem with paying a really good player great player money. It may come down to weighing the disadvantages of matching a max offer (that will probably come from the Lakers) against the damage done by letting him walk.

One thing that has bothered me is that he hasn't been nearly as good defensively as he was advertised to be. And Sports Illustrated had a good article detailing how Bledsoe led lineups have not been as good as Dragic led lineups.

I really like what we've got going, and I've long been a fan of two PGs (see: Jarrett Jack and Stephen Curry in the playoffs last season). Also, we easily have the money to pay Bledsoe, and I'm just not sure where else it would go -- I fear overpaid "upgrades" a la Childress/Warrick/Beasley that would ultimately hurt what we have going and take minutes from young, developing players.

But the data for Bledsoe is just not that impressive thus far. I like him, I want him on this team, but it's hard to fathom a massive contract. We're actually 6.7 points per possession worse with him on the court. That's probably largely circumstantial...but still. It's hard to give him all that much credit for the success of this team when we're playing slightly losing basketball when he plays (-0.9), and winning basketball when he sits (+5.8).

[INFORMER-93]

The Bulls aren't giving up on Rose. They'll let him make his come back and keep the team relatively in tact. Mirotic is their insurance policy.

[Cutter]

The Bulls aren't giving up on Rose. They'll let him make his come back and keep the team relatively in tact. Mirotic is their insurance policy.

Chicago owes Rose $17-21M per over the next 4 years. With that amnesty sitting in their back pocket, it's going to be awful tempting to use it if he continues to have injuries or under performs his contract year after year.

I agree that it would be a huge event if they were to amnesty him, and not very likely.

[QuickLikeTheo]

The Bulls aren't giving up on Rose. They'll let him make his come back and keep the team relatively in tact. Mirotic is their insurance policy.

Chicago owes Rose $17-21M per over the next 4 years. With that amnesty sitting in their back pocket, it's going to be awful tempting to use it if he continues to have injuries or under performs his contract year after year.

I agree that it would be a huge event if they were to amnesty him, and not very likely.

0% chance the bulls amnesty rose

[Ring_Wanted]

It's interesting to see you so won over, R_W. And I'm not saying you're wrong to feel that way.

I was never fundamentally opposed to running two point guards at once, but I was skeptical on how successful a Dragic/Bledsoe backcourt could be. But it has worked well. I still would like to see that tandem, and really the whole Suns team, over the course of 82 games before I am on board with them and it as much as you seem to be.

Bledsoe has been really good. But I still have a problem with paying a really good player great player money. It may come down to weighing the disadvantages of matching a max offer (that will probably come from the Lakers) against the damage done by letting him walk.

One thing that has bothered me is that he hasn't been nearly as good defensively as he was advertised to be. And Sports Illustrated had a good article detailing how Bledsoe led lineups have not been as good as Dragic led lineups.

I must be getting soft INF haha.

I know Bledsoe has not lived up to the defensive monster reputation he had leaving aside puntual moments (have been pointing it since the begining), and that the team plays better with Goran (which in my case was just an 'eye impression' that seems to be corroborated by data) but I think Bledsoe has done enough to make me match the max if the other option is letting him go for nothing.

At the time the trade went down I would have never ever said that, but after watching the team play this well so far, if nothing changes drastically, I think the difference between what he is worth and what he will make won't be substantial enough to let him go. For free at least.

[sunsbum]

If we match bledsoe for the max then surely dragic asks for the max, plumlee is due soon which will probably be in the 7-9 million dollar range. Next up are the Morris brothers who will get 5 - 7 million a year each. Is bledsoe worth losing our bench depth over? Can we afford to add to our team with two max point guards?

[Ryu]

If we match bledsoe for the max then surely dragic asks for the max, plumlee is due soon which will probably be in the 7-9 million dollar range. Next up are the Morris brothers who will get 5 - 7 million a year each. Is bledsoe worth losing our bench depth over? Can we afford to add to our team with two max point guards?

I believe Dragic would accept 4/40 as his next deal to stay in PHX which is a fair deal for both sides.

Plums is on a cheap rookie deal for two more years after this one.

[carey]

If we match bledsoe for the max then surely dragic asks for the max, plumlee is due soon which will probably be in the 7-9 million dollar range. Next up are the Morris brothers who will get 5 - 7 million a year each. Is bledsoe worth losing our bench depth over? Can we afford to add to our team with two max point guards?

We've done something horribly wrong if we give the Morris brothers $7M a year each. Like I said in the Morris thread down below, we're in a good position bargaining wise with them. Not a lot of teams will have the roster space & cap room to add both of them. If they want to stick together they better re-up here and do it at a discount.

[carey]

Chicago owes Rose $17-21M per over the next 4 years. With that amnesty sitting in their back pocket, it's going to be awful tempting to use it if he continues to have injuries or under performs his contract year after year.

I agree that it would be a huge event if they were to amnesty him, and not very likely.

Rose isn't eligible to be amnestied. You have to have been on your current contract before the lockout year. Rose's first year on that 5 year mega max extension was 2012.

[sunsbum]

If we match bledsoe for the max then surely dragic asks for the max, plumlee is due soon which will probably be in the 7-9 million dollar range. Next up are the Morris brothers who will get 5 - 7 million a year each. Is bledsoe worth losing our bench depth over? Can we afford to add to our team with two max point guards?

We've done something horribly wrong if we give the Morris brothers $7M a year each. Like I said in the Morris thread down below, we're in a good position bargaining wise with them. Not a lot of teams will have the roster space & cap room to add both of them. If they want to stick together they better re-up here and do it at a discount.

You are right but then again we have our own Channing Frye making 7 a year and IMO the morri have a bit of a higher ceiling than Frye. But as someone said above I think they will give us a little bit of a discount to continue to play together.

One thing I was thinking about earlier is we (as fake gms) have struggled to find a decent package for getting Love here.
I believe that bledsoe right now is more of a luxury than a necessity to this team especially the way Goran has stepped up his game.
Usually I try not to get caught up in crazy trades but I feel like this one makes sense for both sides and allows us to keep our depth and some of our picks.

What do you feel about
Bledsoe/2 firsts/okafor
Or
Bledsoe/first/Len/okafor

In turn we are now able to be a player in the Gordon Hayward sweepstakes as well.

I that's a lot of things to fall in place but from a trade standpoint it seems fair for both sides.

[carey]

If we match bledsoe for the max then surely dragic asks for the max, plumlee is due soon which will probably be in the 7-9 million dollar range. Next up are the Morris brothers who will get 5 - 7 million a year each. Is bledsoe worth losing our bench depth over? Can we afford to add to our team with two max point guards?

We've done something horribly wrong if we give the Morris brothers $7M a year each. Like I said in the Morris thread down below, we're in a good position bargaining wise with them. Not a lot of teams will have the roster space & cap room to add both of them. If they want to stick together they better re-up here and do it at a discount.

You are right but then again we have our own Channing Frye making 7 a year and IMO the morri have a bit of a higher ceiling than Frye. But as someone said above I think they will give us a little bit of a discount to continue to play together.

One thing I was thinking about earlier is we (as fake gms) have struggled to find a decent package for getting Love here.
I believe that bledsoe right now is more of a luxury than a necessity to this team especially the way Goran has stepped up his game.
Usually I try not to get caught up in crazy trades but I feel like this one makes sense for both sides and allows us to keep our depth and some of our picks.

What do you feel about
Bledsoe/2 firsts/okafor
Or
Bledsoe/first/Len/okafor

In turn we are now able to be a player in the Gordon Hayward sweepstakes as well.

I that's a lot of things to fall in place but from a trade standpoint it seems fair for both sides.

Yes. I'll be completely honest. I like this 2 PG system, it's certainly playing dividends, but if I had to choose between Bledsoe and Dragić, I'm sticking with my man Goran. In fact, I hope he retires a Sun & we talk about him like we talk about Nash, KJ, Majerle, etc.

The thing is, you can't predict chemistry and we sure seem to have it right now. Love is not quite a prima-donna (hasn't requested a trade to my knowledge), but he's vocal when he doesn't get his touches. I'm worried that he may not fit personality wise. That's a worry with anyone you trade for or sign though.

A line-up of Dragic-Hayward-Tucker/Green-Love-Plumlee with a bench of Goodwin-Green/Tucker-Morris-Morris-Len and a couple of draft picks would be a really solid team.

However, the Wolves made one serious error during the Kahn years that has been covered ad nauseam. Instead of giving the 5 year mega-max to Love they saved it for Rubio and gave Love the 4 year max with an opt-out after 3 years. The same deal Lebron used to bolt to Miami. I feel liked they are locked into Rubio for better or for worse. However, they haven't extended him yet. They could conceivably dump him and go with Bledsoe but it would be a total reversal of their current plan.

[Ring_Wanted]

Yes. I'll be completely honest. I like this 2 PG system, it's certainly playing dividends, but if I had to choose between Bledsoe and Dragić, I'm sticking with my man Goran. In fact, I hope he retires a Sun & we talk about him like we talk about Nash, KJ, Majerle, etc.

He he he he. ć.

[Barkley_34]

Big NO for trade Bledsoe, Dragig or Pumlee. This young core is amazing and they have chemistry. If we offer for Kevin Love dont sell your farm man. Love has only 18 months and he goes to fa. Never do that!

[JMac1]

I'm off of the Bledsoe train as well. Bledsoe has the talent over Goran, but Goran has the Alpha male mentality. Goran has played tuff the last two games, I mean with a mean look in his eyes...I love it! Bledsoe on the other hand has been very pedestrian with his play and attitude. He took a backseat last night......I didn't like that. Most players really give it to their old team. In short, Bled isn't worth max, but do you lose him for nothing like Ring Wanted stated.

Dare, I say a Goran/Hayward back court would be better than the current. But the problem is we have a stud PG on the court at ALL times which is the reason I believe we are soooo good! It is a tough call.

[Frank Lee]

Talks of Bynum back to DramaTown .... love it. A bigger stage to implode on. But, then something like this will happen....

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=mm7yd8b

[Ring_Wanted]

We've done something horribly wrong if we give the Morris brothers $7M a year each.

Agreed.

[RaisingArizona]

I'm off of the Bledsoe train as well. Bledsoe has the talent over Goran, but Goran has the Alpha male mentality. Goran has played tuff the last two games, I mean with a mean look in his eyes...I love it! Bledsoe on the other hand has been very pedestrian with his play and attitude. He took a backseat last night......I didn't like that. Most players really give it to their old team. In short, Bled isn't worth max, but do you lose him for nothing like Ring Wanted stated.

Dare, I say a Goran/Hayward back court would be better than the current. But the problem is we have a stud PG on the court at ALL times which is the reason I believe we are soooo good! It is a tough call.

You don't mess with a good thing. Match whatever offer Bled gets and keep our best strength( backcourt) in tact. I'm so g888damn tired of hearing about Hayward.

[Cutter]

One thing really helping Goran beast is having Bledsoe handling the ball taking the pressure off. Without Bledsoe or similar type player handling the ball, teams will just double team Goran reducing his effectiveness. Bledsoe is a great backcourt mate for Goran, he just isn't worth anywhere near a max contract.