2014 Official FA Thread 3: The Hunt For LeBron Continues...

[lilfishi22]

Did the Lakers officially offer a max contract to Melo?

NVM. I just saw WT reporting that Lakers did extend a max offer to Melo.


Melo and Kobe on the same team equals a hot mess!

That's fantastic news. Ensures mediocrity and lowers their chance of bringing in Durant. Please let him go NY!

[PhxSunsFan1234]

The Heat are somewhat hampered by the fact that their own marquee free agents -- James, Bosh and Dwyane Wade -- are not locked in to deals, but sources told ESPN.com that Miami has aggressively pursued cost-effective shooters such as Anthony Morrow and Alan Anderson to come to South Beach, along with Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol.

Morrow and Anderson are the answers to save the Heat?

Gasol/Bosh = weakest frontcourt ever possibly.

Bosh would be amazing to play 4.

Love reminds me a lot of Barkley in a way. He was on a crappy team, with crappy management and crappy coaches. He's never going to be a #1 option, but my god i'll take a 24/13 6'10 PF who can shoot the 3 ball as my second option. Hell.

How the hell would you stop a team with Bledsoe/Dragic/Love/LeBron. Impossible.

[Revived]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/484885825444777990[/tweet]

How?

[Barkley6]

I'd prefer Bosh if it were up to me.

Eric Bledsoe/Tyler Ennis
Goran Dragic/Archie Goodwin
Lebron James/TJ Warren
Chris Bosh/Markieff Morris
Miles Plumlee/Alex Len

That is a damn good lineup, one that would carry us very far indeed.

What happen to Green and Marcus Morris in this scenario? If they are not around we have ZERO shooting off the bench. In fact, in those lineups, only Dragic is a consistent and proven threat from 3.

[aIvin adams]

How?

we're cool now

i mean again

[nevetsov]

It would help if Bosh took something starting around 17-18m...

Bledsoe-Ennis
Dragic-Green
Tucker-LBJ
LBJ-Bosh
Bosh-Plumlee

Yuk, no way do I want to commit ~$40m per to LBJ and Bosh, that's how you end up with depth issues. Plus, you can't justify paying 4 players $10-20m per each, there's only one ball and one or two won't live up to their deals.

Give me Frye at $7m and $10m in my pocket, rather than Bosh at $17m. I'll put that $10m towards keeping Dragic and the bench together next year... So we don't end up like Miami.

[Barkley6]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/484885825444777990[/tweet]

How?

Because we maintain serious flexibility and still have a competitive roster, along with a ton of draft choices.

Difference being Post LBJ, we've now been earmarked as a potential landing spot for top tier free agents. So when Summer of 2015 rolls around and we're likely a playoff team, who has just added young talent through the draft and oh yeah, also has money to spend.....Agents will be lining up to meet with McD.

[Sunsdeuce]

How?

we're cool now

i mean again

Exactly


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[kennydorglas]

I can't believe that we're really in.
Still a very improbable move, but i'm sure we'll do our best next week.
GO McD, bring Colangelo with u.

[Barkley6]

It would help if Bosh took something starting around 17-18m...

Bledsoe-Ennis
Dragic-Green
Tucker-LBJ
LBJ-Bosh
Bosh-Plumlee

Yuk, no way do I want to commit ~$40m per to LBJ and Bosh, that's how you end up with depth issues. Plus, you can't justify paying 4 players $10-20m per each, there's only one ball and one or two won't live up to their deals.

Give me Frye at $7m and $10m in my pocket, rather than Bosh at $17m. I'll put that $10m towards keeping Dragic and the bench together next year... So we don't end up like Miami.

That's a high number for Bosh. By all accounts the Suns have approximately $38m to spend (JD...Can you confirm if the $38m takes into account the cap hold for Frye?) . Lebron carves out $21m, meaning we have $17 left. Bosh can come for $15 (more than the Heat are offering). Gives us $2m to play with still, or we bring back Tucker and only go around $3-4m over the cap.

[JMac1]

Sarver: "I admit it Rich, I messed up bad in the past and I want to make amends to myself, the city of Phoenix, my family, and the Shaolin Temple. I am prepared......no, no......I will spend every last dime I have to win multiple titles; that I promise you; money is no object. After Lebron comes aboard, the city of Phoenix will embody its namesake and rise from the ashes. The King may ordain the player of his choosing to aid him and his little brother Eric in reaching the pinnacle that the Suns' organization and the city of Phoenix have desired for over forty years. I am sure he is willing to cement his place on basketball's Mt. Rushmore by doing something no other player has ever done in the annals of the NBA.......leading the Phoenix Suns to a NBA championship. I know he is willing to accept this challenge and once he accomplishes this monumental feat, then and only then will he be truly the KING!"

Rich: "Gulp!"

[bwgood77]

I'd prefer Bosh if it were up to me.

Eric Bledsoe/Tyler Ennis
Goran Dragic/Archie Goodwin
Lebron James/TJ Warren
Chris Bosh/Markieff Morris
Miles Plumlee/Alex Len

That is a damn good lineup, one that would carry us very far indeed.

What happen to Green and Marcus Morris in this scenario? If they are not around we have ZERO shooting off the bench. In fact, in those lineups, only Dragic is a consistent and proven threat from 3.

If we sign two big name guys, we'd have to get rid of them. If we signed LeBron and Melo to max's, we'd also have to get rid of Kieff or Len as well.

[letsgosuns]

Once again, the Suns are the only team in the league that can offer Lebron a full max and give whichever player he wants to pair with (Carmelo, Bosh, Love) a full max as well without dismantling the team. There is no team out there like that. None. He basically has to say would I rather play with Wade, Bosh, and a bunch of players taking massive pay cuts or Bledsoe, Dragic, Plumlee, and one of Carmelo, Bosh, or Love. I personally think Bosh is the way to go because you need a real power forward instead of Carmelo or Lebron playing out of position. However, if Lebron chooses Carmelo to come to Phoenix, obviously I am more than fine with that.

Now Bosh is not looking for a max contract like Carmelo. He could theoretically sign for about 5 million dollars less per year than what Carmelo wants. If that is the case, the Suns would only have to shed a total of about 5 million to make the contracts work for everyone. They could trade the Morris Brothers and have enough. Look at this potential lineup:

Bledsoe/Ennis
Dragic/Green/Goodwin
Lebron/Warren/Green (can play backup sf too)
Bosh/Someone
Plumlee/Len

The Suns could also go over the cap with either the mini-mid level or full mid-level exception to bring in additional players. I am not sure which mid-level exception they would have this year. Regardless, they can get veterans to back up the forward spots and/or another veteran center with that money.

The starting lineup would be amazing and you would still have pure youthful talent to back them up. There are also many options of who the Suns could add with the extra money. The possibilities are endless.

[aIvin adams]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard/status/484854112568483840[/tweet]

Cue the "multiple sources" meme.

[nevetsov]

It would help if Bosh took something starting around 17-18m...

Bledsoe-Ennis
Dragic-Green
Tucker-LBJ
LBJ-Bosh
Bosh-Plumlee

Yuk, no way do I want to commit ~$40m per to LBJ and Bosh, that's how you end up with depth issues. Plus, you can't justify paying 4 players $10-20m per each, there's only one ball and one or two won't live up to their deals.

Give me Frye at $7m and $10m in my pocket, rather than Bosh at $17m. I'll put that $10m towards keeping Dragic and the bench together next year... So we don't end up like Miami.

That's a high number for Bosh. By all accounts the Suns have approximately $38m to spend (JD...Can you confirm if the $38m takes into account the cap hold for Frye?) . Lebron carves out $21m, meaning we have $17 left. Bosh can come for $15 (more than the Heat are offering). Gives us $2m to play with still, or we bring back Tucker and only go around $3-4m over the cap.

That might work for one year, but what happens next year when Dragic commands a raise of ~$7m per, and we have pretty much our entire bench (Green, Kieff, Marcus) expiring? Even if we go up to the tax line/ into the tax to retain some of them, we'll have a bunch of holes on our team, with a bench comprised essentially of rooks and second year players.

And FYI, if Bron leaves, Miami will up their offer to Bosh, because they will have more to spend. I expect they will give him his $16m per/4 to retain him in South Beach. Wade will get $12-13m per.

[RaisingArizona]

I think we need to hold onto Kief. Perfect 6th man.

[PhxSunsFan1234]

Can someone explain salary cap situation in 2015 off-season if we don't land a big FA (Bosh, Melo, James, Love). We re-sign Frye ($4-5 million per year), sign Bledsoe to similar Lowry contarct ($12-$13 million) and at the end of the year we give Goran similar deal. Do we have any cap space left for a big FA next year? Or is it go all in right now?

[sunsbum]

Sarver: "I admit it Rich, I messed up bad in the past and I want to make amends to myself, the city of Phoenix, my family, and the Shaolin Temple. I am prepared......no, no......I will spend every last dime I have to win multiple titles; that I promise you; money is no object. After Lebron comes aboard, the city of Phoenix will embody its namesake and rise from the ashes. The King may ordain the player of his choosing to aid him and his little brother Eric in reaching the pinnacle that the Suns' organization and the city of Phoenix have desired for over forty years. I am sure he is willing to cement his place on basketball's Mt. Rushmore by doing something no other player has ever done in the annals of the NBA.......leading the Phoenix Suns to a NBA championship. I know he is willing to accept this challenge and once he accomplishes this monumental feat, then and only then will he be truly the KING!"

Rich: "Gulp!"

Poor sarver, I truly believe he's always had good intentions for the suns. He says he doesn't care what fans think of him but he does. I think he's been a great owner that has tried for better or for worse to keep the suns competitive.

[PhxSunsFan1234]

It would help if Bosh took something starting around 17-18m...

Bledsoe-Ennis
Dragic-Green
Tucker-LBJ
LBJ-Bosh
Bosh-Plumlee

Yuk, no way do I want to commit ~$40m per to LBJ and Bosh, that's how you end up with depth issues. Plus, you can't justify paying 4 players $10-20m per each, there's only one ball and one or two won't live up to their deals.

Give me Frye at $7m and $10m in my pocket, rather than Bosh at $17m. I'll put that $10m towards keeping Dragic and the bench together next year... So we don't end up like Miami.

Uhh....you do realize Bosh was one of their most important players besides LeBron, right. He took the backseat and never complained. He defended, he rebounded and although his game went more outside than it should have, he was a huge reason for their success. You'd be crazy to take Frye over Bosh.

Just cause Bosh didn't drop 22/12 every night doesn't mean he's not worth the money. Put him on a crappy team again like in Toronto back in the day, and he'd still put up the numbers.

You don't just pay a player to score the ball. You pay a player who does everything on the court. Defend, rebound, shoot, etc.

Frye over Bosh? WTF is wrong with people these days.

[PhxSunsFan13]

Does anyone have a photoshopped photo of LeBron in a Suns uni?