Official Free Agent Thread: What to do with our cap space

[Qwigglez]

Nice to see Eric Bledsoe staying in Phoenix for the offseason and spending time with the front office. He was also at LA Fitness a couple hours ago. Lol imagine playing him in person.


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I'm surprised to hear this. Which LA Fitness? Back in the day I played basketball against Mo Pete at the LA Fitness in the Biltmore area. My buddy also told me he played against Ben Gordon there too once (2009). Last I checked (last summer) that court was all messed up though. They had some kind of lump in the middle of the court.

[nevetsov]

Can we upgrade the starting PF spot (a genuine upgrade), if we keep the Morri?

There was a thread on the trade board talking about how the Rockets' priority this offseason should be to upgrade their PG spot with more of a playmaker/shooter. While I don't necessarily agree, Knight is essentially the next level version of Beverley IMO.

I'd certainly swap Knight for D-Mo - they'd get their upgrade and still have Terrence Jones/ Josh Smith (FA)/ Capella to man the PF spot.

If we could expand it to include the Morrii for say Beverley, I'd do that too, because I'm of the opinion Bev would be a perfect 3&D PG complement off the bench next to Archie and his slashing.

Unsure if salaries can be/ need to be matched with the impending cap rise though. Rox don't really have any filler.

[King4Day]

Can we upgrade the starting PF spot (a genuine upgrade), if we keep the Morri?

There was a thread on the trade board talking about how the Rockets' priority this offseason should be to upgrade their PG spot with more of a playmaker/shooter. While I don't necessarily agree, Knight is essentially the next level version of Beverley IMO.

I'd certainly swap Knight for D-Mo - they'd get their upgrade and still have Terrence Jones/ Josh Smith (FA)/ Capella to man the PF spot.

If we could expand it to include the Morrii for say Beverley, I'd do that too, because I'm of the opinion Bev would be a perfect 3&D PG complement off the bench next to Archie and his slashing.

Unsure if salaries can be/ need to be matched with the impending cap rise though. Rox don't really have any filler.

That trade might put the Rockets over the top. Morris combined with Howard would be great for them. Defense would take a hit though.

[bwgood77]

Can we upgrade the starting PF spot (a genuine upgrade), if we keep the Morri?

There was a thread on the trade board talking about how the Rockets' priority this offseason should be to upgrade their PG spot with more of a playmaker/shooter. While I don't necessarily agree, Knight is essentially the next level version of Beverley IMO.

I'd certainly swap Knight for D-Mo - they'd get their upgrade and still have Terrence Jones/ Josh Smith (FA)/ Capella to man the PF spot.

If we could expand it to include the Morrii for say Beverley, I'd do that too, because I'm of the opinion Bev would be a perfect 3&D PG complement off the bench next to Archie and his slashing.

Unsure if salaries can be/ need to be matched with the impending cap rise though. Rox don't really have any filler.

That trade might put the Rockets over the top. Morris combined with Howard would be great for them. Defense would take a hit though.

Their gameplan due to Morey's analytics is to only take shots at the rim or shoot 3s. Zero midrange shots, so I doubt the twins would be too popular unless they shot better from 3.

I wouldn't trade Knight for D-Mo. Not that we could anyway.

[RaisingArizona]

Sure, but these guys are never traded until they are in final years of contracts or unless you have a really good package. It would, at a minimum, probably have to include Knight (who we can't trade until mid season unless it was a S&T but I don't think you can do that with another player) or Bledsoe and in addition to those two, Len and probably a pick at least. They certainly don't need PFs. They have Thompson, Landry and Williams.

But even those packages are unlikely to do it. I don't mind people saying they'd love to trade for Cousins, but constant "We should trade X for Cousins" when it is extremely unlikely just becomes overkill. It would be nice to see more innovative trade ideas that would make sense based on a chemistry standpoint...one that makes sense for both teams. Top 10 players are VERY rarely traded unless they are saying they will leave, and it is near the end of their contract, or a team is up against the cap and going to hit the tax, and that is likely not to happen any more due to the rising cap.

I haven't even thought that far. Only commenting on Cousins on our team and how ridiculous it is to say we're replacing one problem (MoBros) with another.

Like I said, it's very unlikely we're even looking at trading for him or that he's even available but out of those 4 guys, he's most likely to leave his team.

And I'm commenting on your ridiculous statement that Cousins wouldn't be a problem just because he's a better player.

[letsgosuns]

Cousins puts up monster stats. Sometimes even crazy stats. However, outside of that, I do not view him as a winner, a good teammate, or someone that exudes championship qualities. Worst of all, the Kings have not improved one bit since they got him. Look at their records since he has been on the team starting with the 2010-11 season: 24-58, 22-44, 28-54, 28-54, 29-53. A five game improvement in five years. The Kings have never even won at least 30 games with him. I understand he has not had great talent around him but he still has had good players like Isaiah Thomas, Rudy Gay, and some young guys.

If you put Lebron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, or Steph Curry on the Kings instead of Cousins, I am gonna take a wild guess and say they should be able to win at least 30 games once in five years. I could care less about the Western Conference being tougher. Those guys I mentioned are all true superstars and can elevate the players around them. When has Cousins ever made players around him better? That is what the best players in the league do. Nash was the best at it. So you guys can dream about Cousins all you want but if the Suns hypothetically ever got him, they would have to give up so much for him that they would be no better than the Kings are right now anyway. Who wants that? I do not.

[thamadkant]

Judging Cousins by Kings win ratio is not right.

That franchise is a mess... Absolute mess.

Last year is a great evidence of how messed up they were.

Finally playing competitive and a coach that gets to control Cousins and they fire him.

Suns fans are proposing trades with Kings because they are an absolute Mess of a franchise.

If Cousins was on a team like the Thunder, Spurs etc. No one woul even dream of trying to trade for him.

But since Kings are a messy team, with the owner wanting an entertaining team over fit, their is a chance to trade with them.

George Karl... If he doesn't click with Cousins, will be the trigger. I think Karl can convince the FO to cash out on him for assets. Or if the FO can get a kings ransom now, I'm sure they'll consider.

Sadly Suns alone doesn't have the assets... It'll take a 3rd team.

[Fo-Real]

How much does a 30yo vet like Brandon Bass get this summer, and from who? For that matter what will guys like Tyson Chandler and Amare get... and where?

[Jdiddy701]

Have we talked about Jeff Hornecek and the Iowa coaching position? I see him leaving. Also, makes sense why Eric Bledsoe was with Sarver yesterday. Keepin him in the loop with what's going on. I think Hornacek is waiting to see if he got the job of not. Just speculating here.


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[thamadkant]

What have you heard around the arena JDiddy?

Horny in Iowa?

[Jdiddy701]

What have you heard around the arena JDiddy?

Horny in Iowa?

Nothing at all! Very rare I hear something nowadays. Just my two cents reading Coro's article and around the news. I think it's obvious.


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[lilfishi22]

Sure, but these guys are never traded until they are in final years of contracts or unless you have a really good package. It would, at a minimum, probably have to include Knight (who we can't trade until mid season unless it was a S&T but I don't think you can do that with another player) or Bledsoe and in addition to those two, Len and probably a pick at least. They certainly don't need PFs. They have Thompson, Landry and Williams.

But even those packages are unlikely to do it. I don't mind people saying they'd love to trade for Cousins, but constant "We should trade X for Cousins" when it is extremely unlikely just becomes overkill. It would be nice to see more innovative trade ideas that would make sense based on a chemistry standpoint...one that makes sense for both teams. Top 10 players are VERY rarely traded unless they are saying they will leave, and it is near the end of their contract, or a team is up against the cap and going to hit the tax, and that is likely not to happen any more due to the rising cap.

I haven't even thought that far. Only commenting on Cousins on our team and how ridiculous it is to say we're replacing one problem (MoBros) with another.

Like I said, it's very unlikely we're even looking at trading for him or that he's even available but out of those 4 guys, he's most likely to leave his team.

And I'm commenting on your ridiculous statement that Cousins wouldn't be a problem just because he's a better player.

But your assertion that all he's going to bring is similar headache is completely overshadowed by the fact that he has a significantly bigger impact on the game than the MoBros combined.

[bwgood77]

Cousins puts up monster stats. Sometimes even crazy stats. However, outside of that, I do not view him as a winner, a good teammate, or someone that exudes championship qualities. Worst of all, the Kings have not improved one bit since they got him. Look at their records since he has been on the team starting with the 2010-11 season: 24-58, 22-44, 28-54, 28-54, 29-53. A five game improvement in five years. The Kings have never even won at least 30 games with him. I understand he has not had great talent around him but he still has had good players like Isaiah Thomas, Rudy Gay, and some young guys.

If you put Lebron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, or Steph Curry on the Kings instead of Cousins, I am gonna take a wild guess and say they should be able to win at least 30 games once in five years. I could care less about the Western Conference being tougher. Those guys I mentioned are all true superstars and can elevate the players around them. When has Cousins ever made players around him better? That is what the best players in the league do. Nash was the best at it. So you guys can dream about Cousins all you want but if the Suns hypothetically ever got him, they would have to give up so much for him that they would be no better than the Kings are right now anyway. Who wants that? I do not.

The thing is, LeBron is one of the greatest players ever, and probably Durant as well, and possibly the others...the west is so tough, and they have solid plans or multiple stars to maximize effectiveness. I think if Cousins was playing with Westbrook, surrounded with good 3 pt shooters (and not PFs like Landry, Thompson and Williams) and experienced SGs (not yet McLemore and Stauskas) or a good PG, not ball dominant shooting a ton like IT, or a third tier pg like Collison, he would seem MUCH better. Plus, they are also a rebuilding team. What is Cousins who dominates the middle going to do with a couple of interior PF's, a couple of 1st and 2nd year players, and a subpar PG. How high can he elevate those guys in the brutal west...even a team like Dallas who is a fringe team but guys with tons of nba experience, and the best stretch 4 in the league to play with Chandler, and thenmost of those teams have potential stars in their prime.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Reason they could be struggling for wins is that Cousins gets a lot of volume, 18 FGs a game for only 102 Offensive Rating and 47% 2 point FG. If that was a gaurd you'd be questioning if he was a chucker (Monta Ellis - nearly exact same stats), but because he's a big you assume he's effecient.

[King4Day]

If we need a new coach, who does everyone expect us to push for? Someone young?

[King4Day]

I really hope we blow this whole thing up. I don't believe our currently players will grow to make us compete. We need a high pick or two and go from there. We haven't made the playoffs in 5 years and it'll be a few more at the current rate.

I agree with Barkley that no free agent will be itching to come here. The Dragic fiasco didn't help.

[lilfishi22]

I really hope we blow this whole thing up. I don't believe our currently players will grow to make us compete. We need a high pick or two and go from there. We haven't made the playoffs in 5 years and it'll be a few more at the current rate.

I agree with Barkley that no free agent will be itching to come here. The Dragic fiasco didn't help.

A high pick would take us further from the playoffs and there's no guarantee it'll pan out.

[Frank Lee]

Well, one thing for certain... Sarver will have to address the attendance dilemma. Cant sell $h!t and call it shoe polish.

[STEV13]

Read somewhere that we've just tapped Earl Watson as an Assistant Coach. Good hire, I guess?

[jcsunsfan]

Cousins puts up monster stats. Sometimes even crazy stats. However, outside of that, I do not view him as a winner, a good teammate, or someone that exudes championship qualities. Worst of all, the Kings have not improved one bit since they got him. Look at their records since he has been on the team starting with the 2010-11 season: 24-58, 22-44, 28-54, 28-54, 29-53. A five game improvement in five years. The Kings have never even won at least 30 games with him. I understand he has not had great talent around him but he still has had good players like Isaiah Thomas, Rudy Gay, and some young guys.

If you put Lebron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, or Steph Curry on the Kings instead of Cousins, I am gonna take a wild guess and say they should be able to win at least 30 games once in five years. I could care less about the Western Conference being tougher. Those guys I mentioned are all true superstars and can elevate the players around them. When has Cousins ever made players around him better? That is what the best players in the league do. Nash was the best at it. So you guys can dream about Cousins all you want but if the Suns hypothetically ever got him, they would have to give up so much for him that they would be no better than the Kings are right now anyway. Who wants that? I do not.

Isnt that pretty much everything that everyone said about Zack Randolph before he went to Memphis. Cousins maturity is lacking, but once it comes, he will dominate, and win, consistently, if he has any kind of team around him.