2014 Official FA Thread

[MrMiyagi]

I don't understand the Hayward love. He's shooting 29 % and 13 % from 3 in his last 5 games while only averaging 10 ppg, including a horrible 3-17 shooting performance against a bottom feeder team in the Sixers. Definitely don't want to pay him anywhere near the max. Rudy, on the other hand is interesting. If he is willing to sign a reasonable contact, I would love to have him here. He's been lighting it up with Sacramento and he's had some great seasons in Memphis. He's got a negative reputation because of his performance in Toronto and his contract, but that won't be an issue here.

I don't want to pay him the max either, but I do want him on this team. I don't think he's a bad player, I just think he's playing the role of #1 on a bad team and he's struggling with it. Last year he had Al Jefferson and Millsap drawing attention to give him open looks. I think Dragic and Bledsoe getting to the rim will provide him with similar opportunities with the Suns.

[bwgood77]

No way we go after Gay. I doubt he opts out anyway. Hayward will be matched, so not sure why we keep talking about him.

Regarding Hayward, a sign and trade could be arranged. And even if Utah intends to match any offer, it wouldn't prevent Phoenix from still putting that to the test and signing him to an offer sheet. Both Batum and Hibbert signed offer sheets with other teams. And I don't think it is a certainty that the Suns wouldn't pursue Gay, if he opted out.

I'd be pretty shocked if we went after Gay. I think he'd be stupid to opt out of $19 million. I don't think he is going to get nearly that much per year on his next contract. I know it's nice to lock in a longer contract, but I doubt his value goes down that much next year in free agency, so why not take the $19 million while you can?

Sure we could work out a sign and trade with Utah, but again, why would they do it? For who? He fits in with their team perfectly. They don't need another position, they can afford a max, because they have nice contracts and rookie contracts and expiring contracts. It's not like that even puts them near the tax line or anything. They'd be crazy not too match. I think we'd be much crazier to match a Bledsoe max since we already have a pg who is our best player, who may demand close to a max. But Utah, in a position of need, what possible reason would they have NOT to match?

Neither of those guys are worth the max, and the teams probably would rather not pay them, but Utah is probably in a better position to do so, and it isn't doubling up two similar players.

Utah also has a WAY less chance to sign free agents than we do, so they'd be dumb not to lock in the ones they CAN get.

[toucansma]

No way we go after Gay. I doubt he opts out anyway. Hayward will be matched, so not sure why we keep talking about him.

Regarding Hayward, a sign and trade could be arranged. And even if Utah intends to match any offer, it wouldn't prevent Phoenix from still putting that to the test and signing him to an offer sheet. Both Batum and Hibbert signed offer sheets with other teams. And I don't think it is a certainty that the Suns wouldn't pursue Gay, if he opted out.

I am not being funny when I say this, but at this point does Rudy Gay really bring more to the Suns than Gerald Green (create his own shot maybe?). I am not saying Gerald Green is great or even good, but I don't see what Rudy brings at the moment. Their Per 36s I don't think are too far off. I don't think this team should stand pat with Gerald, it just seems like a lot of money for not a whole lot more production.

[bwgood77]

Would u guys sign gay for 4/40 player option 3rd year? That probably won't get it done but maybe it would

No, because it kills our cap space for 2015 when we can go for Love or perhaps others. I'd keep our cap space and see if we can swing a deal for Love during the next trade deadline, and let the young guys develop and see what we have next year.

I just don't really want Gay at what he will cost. I'd rather address the 3 in the draft with possibly McDermott or Hood or something. I don't think McD will spend a lot of money unless it is a real top tier guy like Love or Bosh.

[DirtyDez]

Rather than overpay on the Hayward/Gay-types I like your idea of targeting a SF in the draft and maybe re-signing Tucker for cheap. Obviously nobody is trading out of the top-5 but we could probably sneak into the top-10 with all our assets. Athletic wings that come to mind like Hood & Young.

[Ring_Wanted]

I'd consider Rudy Gay if he opts out as long as he took a deal in the Monta Ellis mold, but if he did, opting out makes little sense for him.

Despite how crazy it sounds, I'd probably want him more if he didn't use his PO, since it could be a way to 'delay' the max cape space for 2015, with some tweaks.

In my opinion he shouldn't replace Gerald Green. Ideally we'd use him more at PF, so it would probably be Frye, Kieff and to a lesser extent PJ Tucker the ones who would see their minutes reduced, and I'd be ok with it since we'd be addressing one of our biggest needs.

Hayward, well, his %s are not pretty but his game sure is, and he'd make a terrific trio with Bledsoe and Goran. Getting him out of Utah would cost a ton tho, be it in terms of money, assets or both. Anyway, right now there are too many question marks to determine if he'd be the right investment, but the interest should be obvious from Phoenix.

[MrMiyagi]

Rather than overpay on the Hayward/Gay-types I like your idea of targeting a SF in the draft and maybe re-signing Tucker for cheap. Obviously nobody is trading out of the top-5 but we could probably sneak into the top-10 with all our assets. Athletic wings that come to mind like Hood & Young.

I agree with this course of action if we have to overpay for Hayward (not a fan of signing Rudy). But I'm still irrationally clinging to the idea we can get Hayward on a good deal.

I think bringing back PJ is a must. I love what he brings to our team, but he needs to come off of the bench. That's where I think he'll be able to make the biggest impact.

[Ryu]

Small forward who can be an upgrade for our team and who should come a whole lot cheaper than Hayward and Gay is Trevor Ariza. I wouldn`t be surprised if McD target him in free agency. He is athletic, long for his position, solid defender, good shooter (40% for 3), plays within system...

And, as fellow posters above me already said, SF is a position I`d address first in the upcoming draft. There are a lot of interesting options (Hood, McDermott, Warren, Young, Grant...).

[JMac1]

No, because it kills our cap space for 2015 when we can go for Love or perhaps others. I'd keep our cap space and see if we can swing a deal for Love during the next trade deadline, and let the young guys develop and see what we have next year.

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Small forward who can be an upgrade for our team and who should come a whole lot cheaper than Hayward and Gay is Trevor Ariza. I wouldn`t be surprised if McD target him in free agency. He is athletic, long for his position, solid defender, good shooter (40% for 3), plays within system

Because Doug and Wolf just sold me on Love this AM as I was driving to school. Dragic, Bledsoe and Love

Don't do anything to jeopardize our cap space unless it is after Love or James has dissed us. I don't think Minny would let him walk, but just think if he did? We could keep all of our assests!!

Draft night it all goes down. Len, Minny pick back, Washington, Phoenix 2014 and Phoenix 2015

[bwgood77]

Good call on Trevor Ariza. He'd be a perfect three in our system. Still not sure he's a huge upgrade from what we have, but he is an upgrade. I wouldn't break the bank for him, but I'd much rather pay him a reasonable salary than give Hayward a monster contract. 40% three pt shooter, long, athletic, good D.

I'd be ok with keeping our cap space, but I'd much rather go after Ariza at reasonable money than pay a ton of money for Gay, Deng, Hayward, Melo.

Again, I do think standing pat, saving cap space for potentially getting Love or even Millsap next summer might be the better bet.

If we keep Frye, and Morris keeps getting better, a premier center and rim protector might be another consideration. Plumlee might be better as a backup long term. Also of course depends on how quickly or if Len develops.

[Ryu]

Good call on Trevor Ariza. He'd be a perfect three in our system. Still not sure he's a huge upgrade from what we have, but he is an upgrade. I wouldn't break the bank for him, but I'd much rather pay him a reasonable salary than give Hayward a monster contract. 40% three pt shooter, long, athletic, good D.

I'd be ok with keeping our cap space, but I'd much rather go after Ariza at reasonable money than pay a ton of money for Gay, Deng, Hayward, Melo.

Again, I do think standing pat, saving cap space for potentially getting Love or even Millsap next summer might be the better bet.

If we keep Frye, and Morris keeps getting better, a premier center and rim protector might be another consideration. Plumlee might be better as a backup long term. Also of course depends on how quickly or if Len develops.

Trying to lure LeBron here should be a plan A, but I am torn between signing Ariza (7-8 mil, 3/4 years, probably) and simply drafting a SF this June as a plan B.

[bwgood77]

Good call on Trevor Ariza. He'd be a perfect three in our system. Still not sure he's a huge upgrade from what we have, but he is an upgrade. I wouldn't break the bank for him, but I'd much rather pay him a reasonable salary than give Hayward a monster contract. 40% three pt shooter, long, athletic, good D.

I'd be ok with keeping our cap space, but I'd much rather go after Ariza at reasonable money than pay a ton of money for Gay, Deng, Hayward, Melo.

Again, I do think standing pat, saving cap space for potentially getting Love or even Millsap next summer might be the better bet.

If we keep Frye, and Morris keeps getting better, a premier center and rim protector might be another consideration. Plumlee might be better as a backup long term. Also of course depends on how quickly or if Len develops.

Trying to lure LeBron here should be a plan A, but I am torn between signing Ariza (7-8 mil, 3/4 years, probably) and simply drafting a SF this June as a plan B.

I think regardless, we should draft a sf and a pf with two of our picks, preferably a sf first. I'd love to get McDermott or Hood with our first pick. Not sure if they will be there with the Washington pick unless they are the 8th seed. Should be there if we happen to miss the playoffs.

If we make the playoffs, with our pick in the 21-23 range, I'd go with Adreian Payne or Kyle Anderson. If we somehow miss out on the small forwards on our first pick, and go PF (I noticed Clint Capela has moved up to 20 on Ford's big board and has had monster games overseas as of late), then maybe with the second pick we go Mario Hezonja or Sam Dekker at SF. I also noticed Bogdan Bogdanovic has moved into the first round on Ford's big board at 30.

Bogdanovic has been on fire this season. He plays for Partizan in Serbia and in his last game he dropped 32 points on Cibona. He's a fearless scorer who can knock down shots from anywhere on the floor. Plus, his ballhandling and court vision suggest he might be able to play some point in the NBA. With so many teams possessing multiple picks in this draft, a few international guys such as him are going to sneak into the first round.

[In2ition]

Personally, I think we should go with best player available. Then you make a decision on whether or not you need to do the draft and stash on players or not.

This particular topic seems to be for the Draft thread, but as it comes to draft picks, I think they will be used in a big trade this summer. Just a hunch. One big trade (hoping for Love) and one big FA (hoping LeBron), then go fro the title for the next five years or so.

[INFORMER-93]

Trying to lure LeBron here should be a plan A, but I am torn between signing Ariza (7-8 mil, 3/4 years, probably) and simply drafting a SF this June as a plan B.

Wait, you want to give Ariza $7-8 million a year?!

[bigfoot]

Plan A:

Sign Bledsoe
Sign any one of LeBron, Bosh, Melo, or Dirk
Draft well

Plan B:

Wait until 2015 FA period

[Qwigglez]

Agreed. I don't think Ariza would be much of an improvement and it would be a lateral move keeping us in mediocrity. Go for LeBron/Melo or even Gay. I'd like to see what the price is for Monroe too.

[SunsFanSSOL]

Caron Butler is about to be bought out, it would be funny if he ended up back here.

[rsavaj]

Solid bit by Zach Lowe:

1. Teams more than ever want to make sure they are in a position for sustained, long-term success. Everyone wants to win a title, but savvy front offices understand how difficult that is and view Mavs-ian long-term very goodness, or even just Hawks-ian goodness, as a desirable outcome. Dallas under the old CBA spent its way to 50 wins every season. Under a new CBA that cripples tax teams, the path to sustainable success comes via the melding of veteran players, draft picks, and salary flexibility.

2. On the flip side, teams understand they need a top-20 player or two to win a title, and they are going to be careful about trading any asset for a player below that level. A phrase I’ve heard constantly over the last six months: “Player X is just a guy.” Seriously, “just a guy” is happening around the NBA in a way “fetch” never could. Front-office types apply it as a mild insult to a pretty good player making something like $6 million to $10 million per year.

The implication is that you can get 80 percent of that player’s production on something close to a minimum salary, making it silly to give up anything of real value — gobs of money, a single first-round pick — for such a player. This was what frightened the players’ union during the lockout — the marginalization of the midlevel guy. It hasn’t yet happened on a massive scale in free agency, where the sheer number of teams with at least $10 million in cap room means plenty of “pretty good” veterans will still get fatty contracts. And these players have real value when plopped onto the right roster. Disregarding them completely is dangerous; not everyone can have a superstar — otherwise they wouldn’t be special.

But the prices for the “pretty good” in free agency are coming down a bit, and more teams see trading for those kinds of players as a fool’s errand.

http://grantland.com/features/the-post-deadline-nba/

[SunsFanSSOL]

Some writers from LibertyBallers, a Sixers blog on SBNation say we have interest in Granger.

[bigfoot]

Solid bit by Zach Lowe:

1. Teams more than ever want to make sure they are in a position for sustained, long-term success. Everyone wants to win a title, but savvy front offices understand how difficult that is and view Mavs-ian long-term very goodness, or even just Hawks-ian goodness, as a desirable outcome. Dallas under the old CBA spent its way to 50 wins every season. Under a new CBA that cripples tax teams, the path to sustainable success comes via the melding of veteran players, draft picks, and salary flexibility.

2. On the flip side, teams understand they need a top-20 player or two to win a title, and they are going to be careful about trading any asset for a player below that level. A phrase I’ve heard constantly over the last six months: “Player X is just a guy.” Seriously, “just a guy” is happening around the NBA in a way “fetch” never could. Front-office types apply it as a mild insult to a pretty good player making something like $6 million to $10 million per year.

The implication is that you can get 80 percent of that player’s production on something close to a minimum salary, making it silly to give up anything of real value — gobs of money, a single first-round pick — for such a player. This was what frightened the players’ union during the lockout — the marginalization of the midlevel guy. It hasn’t yet happened on a massive scale in free agency, where the sheer number of teams with at least $10 million in cap room means plenty of “pretty good” veterans will still get fatty contracts. And these players have real value when plopped onto the right roster. Disregarding them completely is dangerous; not everyone can have a superstar — otherwise they wouldn’t be special.

But the prices for the “pretty good” in free agency are coming down a bit, and more teams see trading for those kinds of players as a fool’s errand.

http://grantland.com/features/the-post-deadline-nba/

Exactly the reason why we need to pay for an superstar caliber player this summer. LeBron, Melo, Dirk, and Bosh will get you 20/10 almost every night. The first three are definitely top 10 players. Bosh would be if he didn't defer to Wade and Lebron. Any top ten player (assuming we keep Bledsoe and Dragic) will push us into the elite status and help us get calls from the refs which we really need.