2014 Official FA Thread 2

[rsavaj]

The Suns' first full day of free-agency negotiations covered many bases, including the early stages of following up on their desire to retain three of last season's starters — restricted free agents Eric Bledsoe and P.J. Tucker, perhaps before they can sign an offer sheet with another team on July 10, and unrestricted free agent Channing Frye.

A good sign for Bledsoe's return perhaps flashed Monday night when an in-season photo of Bledsoe biting his Suns uniform during a game was posted on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. It was deleted minutes later.

Talks with Bledsoe's agent, Rich Paul, will be kept separate from inquiries regarding James, who is Bledsoe's friend and is also represented by Paul. The links still could help the Suns at least get a conversation about their grandiose idea of adding James and another free-agency star, like Carmelo Anthony or Chris Bosh, while keeping Bledsoe and Goran Dragic.

Frye, Bledsoe and Tucker and/or their agents talked to the Suns in the first 24 hours of free agency.
The Suns would have the ability to match any offer sheet that Bledsoe, arguably the top restricted free agent, or Tucker sign on July 10 or later.

The Suns also have made contact with or been contacted by at least 12 other free agents. That includes unrestricted free agents Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza, Luol Deng, Spencer Hawes, Danny Granger, Ed Davis, Marvin Williams and Josh McRoberts and restricted free agents Gordon Hayward, Chandler Parsons, Isaiah Thomas and Patrick Patterson. That does not necessarily mean the Suns are interested in all of them.

Of those players, only Gasol (33) and Granger (31) are in their 30s and only Patterson, Davis and Granger were not regular starters. Hayward (24), whose early Utah years were developed by then-Jazz assistant and present Suns coach Jeff Hornacek, is the youngest at 24, but Utah intends to match any offer. Davis, Parsons, Patterson and Thomas are all 25.

Thomas (20.3 points and 6.3 assists per game) and Gasol (17.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game) have eye-popping numbers but their value and style or role might not fit into the Suns' system or roster. Big men like Hawes and McRoberts could shoot the 3-pointer in the Suns' system while Ariza is a wing who has been prolific on 3s in his career and is coming off a career-best 40.7 percent 3-point-shooting season for Washington.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /11959299/

Thanks for the link. Nice to see Coro list who we've been in contact with in one place.

[DRK]

To expand what gaspar posted...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/484332444032585729[/tweet]


More and more free agents getting picked up makes me believe it will be harder for the Heat to get a significant upgrade besides the big three, which makes it more likely that Lebron leaves IMO.

Welp. Bledsoe's getting max

[JMac1]

tastic, still here? everything fine??

ha, yeah mate - was at work when I wrote that so had to hop off straight after posting!

OT: I know it is kind of morbid, but how do you know when a poster has died? If he isn't a mod or personal friends with someone on the board, then they just die and stop posting. No one would know to acknowledge him and bid him an appropriate farewell, kinda like we do when a player leaves the Suns. Kinda sad, because I like you guys.

Funny how a sports teams create an automatic bond with people you have never met before.

[Qwigglez]

Really? I think that's a fair offer for Bradley and was thinking it would make it easier for us to give Bledsoe a 5 year deal worth 70mil maybe (14mil per year) at most.

[DRK]

tastic, still here? everything fine??

ha, yeah mate - was at work when I wrote that so had to hop off straight after posting!

OT: I know it is kind of morbid, but how do you know when a poster has died? If he isn't a mod or personal friends with someone on the board, then they just die and stop posting. No one would know to acknowledge him and bid him an appropriate farewell, kinda like we do when a player leaves the Suns. Kinda sad, because I like you guys.

Funny how a sports teams create an automatic bond with people you have never met before.

: : : : : : :

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF4CWCXirZ8[/youtube]

[Revived]

God I love Lion King.

[Revived]

If Bradley is getting $8M/yr then yea I think Bledsoe is gonna command around $12M/yr even despite his severe knee issues.

[TASTIC]

tastic, still here? everything fine??

ha, yeah mate - was at work when I wrote that so had to hop off straight after posting!

OT: I know it is kind of morbid, but how do you know when a poster has died? If he isn't a mod or personal friends with someone on the board, then they just die and stop posting. No one would know to acknowledge him and bid him an appropriate farewell, kinda like we do when a player leaves the Suns. Kinda sad, because I like you guys.

Funny how a sports teams create an automatic bond with people you have never met before.

Yeah I get what you mean - there's been a couple of Mods pass away since I've been on here, very sad.

You don't necessarily know them but you 'know them' through the bond as you say.

I'm mates with a few guys on here outside of RealGM - mainly the guys from the epic Suns trip in 2009 - but I use to live with a buddy in Toronto too (coldbyfletch, a Magic fan unfortunately).

Short answer is, we don't know...

[bwgood77]

To expand what gaspar posted...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/484332444032585729[/tweet]


More and more free agents getting picked up makes me believe it will be harder for the Heat to get a significant upgrade besides the big three, which makes it more likely that Lebron leaves IMO.

Welp. Bledsoe's getting max

As we mentioned in posts a page back or two, not one team as expressed interest in him (at least not that the media has reported) since free agency started, where just about every other player has been linked. Lowry had Miami after him, and maybe Houston. But Houston would have only dumped Lin and cleared out cap space for a commitment. They would never do it for a RFA.

You still have the lingering Lakers but I don't buy that they commit big money for 4 years unless they absolutely strike out on everyone else, which I suppose is possible.

The only other teams that seem likely they might pursue him because he's a need are Dallas and Milwaukee, but neither can or would offer more than 10 or so, so they probably won't even bother. I guess Dallas could if they dump Felton, strike out with others and Dirk takes a pretty big paycut, but it's pretty unlikely.

One wildcard I guess I should mention that just occurred to me is Detroit. IF they happen to lose Monroe. They have Jennings, but we know they've thrown around crazy money before at positions they already have people.

For reasons we've talked about a few times, I don't think Orlando gets in the mix, though they could use a vet pg (but also just dumped Nelson). They will probably just get a cheaper vet pg somewhere if they feel they need one.

If you don't want to insult him, you possibly offer him 12 if he doesn't get or accept any offers. But no need to start there. Offer 4/44 and if you want, let them talk you up to 4/46 or 4/48. No pg who has started only half a season has gotten NEARLY that amount of money. All the guys like Lawson, Curry, Lowry, Holiday, had started multiple seasons before getting that type of money.

[bwgood77]

Really? I think that's a fair offer for Bradley and was thinking it would make it easier for us to give Bledsoe a 5 year deal worth 70mil maybe (14mil per year) at most.

That's a little absurd for a guy who's started half a year and has injury problems.

[Revived]

Who gets paid more this summer? Stephenson or Bledsoe?

Stephenson plays SG, a position that the NBA isn't very deep in. Has behavior issues.

Bledsoe plays PG, a position that the NBA is very deep in. Has injury issues.

About the same age for both guys.

[bwgood77]

Who gets paid more this summer? Stephenson or Bledsoe?

Stephenson plays SG, a position that the NBA isn't very deep in. Has behavior issues.

Bledsoe plays PG, a position that the NBA is very deep in. Has injury issues.

About the same age for both guys.

Stephenson. League is flush full of point guards. Not nearly as many really good 2 guards. They both should get in the 40s, though Stephenson may be over 5 years if he stays in Indy.

Although, on second thought....

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/484363024375885824[/tweet]

Then again, a lot of people here seem to think the Suns will just automatically pay Bledsoe a huge deal even if he doesn't have a market and is restricted, so I guess they could be right.

[RunDogGun]

Really? I think that's a fair offer for Bradley and was thinking it would make it easier for us to give Bledsoe a 5 year deal worth 70mil maybe (14mil per year) at most.

That's a little absurd for a guy who's started half a year and has injury problems.

For a minute there I thought you were talking about Bledsoe.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Who gets paid more this summer? Stephenson or Bledsoe?

Stephenson plays SG, a position that the NBA isn't very deep in. Has behavior issues.

Bledsoe plays PG, a position that the NBA is very deep in. Has injury issues.

About the same age for both guys.

Stephenson. League is flush full of point guards. Not nearly as many really good 2 guards.

Stephenson would be getting a true max deal if he wasn't a complete lunatic. Dude has some major red flags that are driving down his price tag. I could see the Lakers make a run at him if they strike out on their top targets.

[Kerrsed]

Who gets paid more this summer? Stephenson or Bledsoe?

Stephenson plays SG, a position that the NBA isn't very deep in. Has behavior issues.

Bledsoe plays PG, a position that the NBA is very deep in. Has injury issues.

About the same age for both guys.

Bledsoe. He has more all around game. Sephenson can score and play some D, but Bledsow can also assist and grab rebounds. The position also really doesnt matter as you can play Bled at SG.

[bwgood77]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/484379027306594304[/tweet]

[Split T]

Who gets paid more this summer? Stephenson or Bledsoe?

Stephenson plays SG, a position that the NBA isn't very deep in. Has behavior issues.

Bledsoe plays PG, a position that the NBA is very deep in. Has injury issues.

About the same age for both guys.

Bledsoe. He has more all around game. Sephenson can score and play some D, but Bledsow can also assist and grab rebounds. The position also really doesnt matter as you can play Bled at SG.

I think Bledsoe gets paid more but mostly cuz he is not a loose cannon. Stephenson's got a little too much Ron arrest in him. Stephenson did average 7 boards and nearly 5 assists a game last year. He'd actually be perfect for us at the 3 if he wasn't a head case.

[Kerrsed]

Lance Stephenson and the Pacers have reached an "impasse" in contract negotiations, as Stephenson isn't ready to accept the team's five-year, $44 million offer.

"Lance and his representatives aren't sure they're going to be able to reach an agreement with the Pacers," a source told ESPN's Chris Broussard. The two sides have mutual interest and Indiana hosted Stephenson at a local theater on Tuesday, where they screened a movie about his life as part of their pitch, but so far the 23-year-old SG is holding out for more money -- with Jodie Meeks already landing a three-year, $19 million deal in free agency, it's a reasonable stance. Stephenson has also drawn interest from the Lakers, Bulls and Hornets.

[PassWarden]

Ben Gordon signed with the Magic.

Even signings like this, have to bode well for Phoenix. These are all guys who would actually improve Miami's roster.

[PassWarden]

Ok... off topic but how the hell do I embed a tweet?