Season speculation, free agency, and trade ideas: #ValleyBoyz rise up

[WeekapaugGroove]

Regarding the news that the Grizz and Jazz might still discuss a Conley deal, I think the Jazz blew their chance at that. Rubio will no longer be under contract and Exum has further proved himself an injury prone bust. Memphis has Valanciunas now who will accept his PO this summer so they shouldn't really be interested in Favors. Just don't see anything realistic that Utah can offer other than pure salary relief.

That's all Rubio would have been for them if traded at the deadline though since he was an impending UFA. The exum injury does hurt because I think Memphis wanted him and now maybe won't. The heart of a conley deal was always going to be picks so that's still in play and Utah can get under the cap enough to absorb most of his contract saving Memphis money.

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[Crives]

Regarding the news that the Grizz and Jazz might still discuss a Conley deal, I think the Jazz blew their chance at that. Rubio will no longer be under contract and Exum has further proved himself an injury prone bust. Memphis has Valanciunas now who will accept his PO this summer so they shouldn't really be interested in Favors. Just don't see anything realistic that Utah can offer other than pure salary relief.

That's all Rubio would have been for them if traded at the deadline though since he was an impending UFA. The exum injury does hurt because I think Memphis wanted him and now maybe won't. The heart of a conley deal was always going to be picks so that's still in play and Utah can get under the cap enough to absorb most of his contract saving Memphis money.

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If Utah has cap maybe they try to replace Rubio with Collison

[WeekapaugGroove]

Regarding the news that the Grizz and Jazz might still discuss a Conley deal, I think the Jazz blew their chance at that. Rubio will no longer be under contract and Exum has further proved himself an injury prone bust. Memphis has Valanciunas now who will accept his PO this summer so they shouldn't really be interested in Favors. Just don't see anything realistic that Utah can offer other than pure salary relief.

That's all Rubio would have been for them if traded at the deadline though since he was an impending UFA. The exum injury does hurt because I think Memphis wanted him and now maybe won't. The heart of a conley deal was always going to be picks so that's still in play and Utah can get under the cap enough to absorb most of his contract saving Memphis money.

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If Utah has cap maybe they try to replace Rubio with Collison

Yeah I could see that. He's a better fit for their needs. One or both of Joseph or collision will be out of Indi as they have holiday needing more run and will have to spend elsewhere.

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[WeekapaugGroove]

Some of Memphis plan with Conley probably hinges on if their pick conveys to Boston this year. If it does then I expect a full tear down and they will aim for picks to rebuild. But if it doesn't they might try to grab a real player or two and try to at least win enough not to give a great pick to the Celtics.

That horrible awful future pick for Jeff green trade Memphis made is a cautionary reminder that trading future picks is a dangerous business to get into.

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[bwgood77]

Some of Memphis plan with Conley probably hinges on if their pick conveys to Boston this year. If it does then I expect a full tear down and they will aim for picks to rebuild. But if it doesn't they might try to grab a real player or two and try to at least win enough not to give a great pick to the Celtics.

That horrible awful future pick for Jeff green trade Memphis made is a cautionary reminder that trading future picks is a dangerous business to get into.

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They may trade Conley and would like a pick or two for him but small market teams can't usually afford full tear downs to rebuild. They need to try and remain competitive too. I think very few teams really want to follow the tank strategy, particularly with the new lotto odds.

[bwgood77]

Rankings in twitter thread. Towns #s are insane...his points, rebs, asts are crazy enough, but the most impressive part is his shooting splits...3pt%

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[WeekapaugGroove]

Some of Memphis plan with Conley probably hinges on if their pick conveys to Boston this year. If it does then I expect a full tear down and they will aim for picks to rebuild. But if it doesn't they might try to grab a real player or two and try to at least win enough not to give a great pick to the Celtics.

That horrible awful future pick for Jeff green trade Memphis made is a cautionary reminder that trading future picks is a dangerous business to get into.

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They may trade Conley and would like a pick or two for him but small market teams can't usually afford full tear downs to rebuild. They need to try and remain competitive too. I think very few teams really want to follow the tank strategy, particularly with the new lotto odds.

Sure every team wants to try and do that. Accomplishing it is the hard part especially out West. And really as much as it hurts to really tear it down it's not like winning 35 games does much good for fan interest either.

The fact they are hell bent on trying to get that pick to convey this year tells me if it did they are ready for a long painful rebuild.

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[bwgood77]

Some of Memphis plan with Conley probably hinges on if their pick conveys to Boston this year. If it does then I expect a full tear down and they will aim for picks to rebuild. But if it doesn't they might try to grab a real player or two and try to at least win enough not to give a great pick to the Celtics.

That horrible awful future pick for Jeff green trade Memphis made is a cautionary reminder that trading future picks is a dangerous business to get into.

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They may trade Conley and would like a pick or two for him but small market teams can't usually afford full tear downs to rebuild. They need to try and remain competitive too. I think very few teams really want to follow the tank strategy, particularly with the new lotto odds.

Sure every team wants to try and do that. Accomplishing it is the hard part especially out West. And really as much as it hurts to really tear it down it's not like winning 35 games does much good for fan interest either.

The fact they are hell bent on trying to get that pick to convey this year tells me if it did they are ready for a long painful rebuild.

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It's just that it's a weak draft and the protections go down. With the lotto going forward you don't want that pick to be unprotected at some point or very lightly protected. Though the west should get interesting. I guess unless you are really tough, you are probably a lottery team. Hopefully guys like AD, Kawhi, Butler, KD, Kyrie go or stay east....and Zion if we don't get him.

[WeekapaugGroove]

They may trade Conley and would like a pick or two for him but small market teams can't usually afford full tear downs to rebuild. They need to try and remain competitive too. I think very few teams really want to follow the tank strategy, particularly with the new lotto odds.

Sure every team wants to try and do that. Accomplishing it is the hard part especially out West. And really as much as it hurts to really tear it down it's not like winning 35 games does much good for fan interest either.

The fact they are hell bent on trying to get that pick to convey this year tells me if it did they are ready for a long painful rebuild.

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It's just that it's a weak draft and the protections go down. With the lotto going forward you don't want that pick to be unprotected at some point or very lightly protected. Though the west should get interesting. I guess unless you are really tough, you are probably a lottery team. Hopefully guys like AD, Kawhi, Butler, KD, Kyrie go or stay east....and Zion if we don't get him.

Yeah I get why they want it to convey for multiple reasons.

My greater point was the idea that a small market can't strip it down and bottom out. I just don't think it really matters much in fan support if you win 20 games or 38 games at the start of a rebuild. It matters more when you're like the suns and have been to the depths of bad and need to start seeing signs of hope with young guys. But when you first drop out of the playoffs fan support is going to drop either way.

Look at those years the suns continued to finish like 9th or 10th out west. I don't feel like the vibe here was great and attendance dropped too.

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[bwgood77]

Sure every team wants to try and do that. Accomplishing it is the hard part especially out West. And really as much as it hurts to really tear it down it's not like winning 35 games does much good for fan interest either.

The fact they are hell bent on trying to get that pick to convey this year tells me if it did they are ready for a long painful rebuild.

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It's just that it's a weak draft and the protections go down. With the lotto going forward you don't want that pick to be unprotected at some point or very lightly protected. Though the west should get interesting. I guess unless you are really tough, you are probably a lottery team. Hopefully guys like AD, Kawhi, Butler, KD, Kyrie go or stay east....and Zion if we don't get him.

Yeah I get why they want it to convey for multiple reasons.

My greater point was the idea that a small market can't strip it down and bottom out. I just don't think it really matters much in fan support if you win 20 games or 38 games at the start of a rebuild. It matters more when you're like the suns and have been to the depths of bad and need to start seeing signs of hope with young guys. But when you first drop out of the playoffs fan support is going to drop either way.

Look at those years the suns continued to finish like 9th or 10th out west. I don't feel like the vibe here was great and attendance dropped too.

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I think it does matter a lot to a lot of fans (winning 20 vs 38) because even when you win 38, you are usually competitive almost every night (the Kings will probably win around that this year while we will win around 20). Our fans have been beyond pissed most of the season as we head towards around 20 wins while the Kings fans are pretty stoked. I think we'd be stoked too to win 38 or so.

If you have hope for the playoffs for much of the season and a team that is fun to watch, I think there is a lot more excitement from the fans. I mean the Clippers really retooled and I think that's the path most teams would like to take and I think most fans would prefer it that way than hoping for the lottery (though I know there is the contingent of hard core fans who want to tank for a few years...like the Bucks fans did with their billboards and stuff and the Sixers fans embraced it).

[bwgood77]

Maybe​ Dragan​ Bender knows​ something​ the​ rest​ of us​ don’t.​ Or​ maybe​ he’s​ just​ hopeful. Whatever the reason, Bender​ sounds​ a lot like​​ a guy who wants, and possibly even expects, to keep playing for the Phoenix Suns beyond this season.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said before the Suns left on a trip to Houston and New Orleans, where he was in the starting lineup for the eighth and ninth games in a row. “It’s a long summer for us. We’re not going to the playoffs, so definitely I will get some rest and get back in a mindset to workout and get ready for next season.”

With the Suns? “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s definitely a couple of months ahead of me, so I’m not thinking about that right now. I’m trying to finish the season strong and think about that. For sure, I think this is an option to be here. We’ll see. That’s in the future, and right now I’m just trying to finish strong.”

A lot more beef in the middle....and closes with..

“But luckily we got out of that and started winning and everybody is back on track now. This is a great bunch of guys. We added Kelly and we add Tyler, guys who fit in perfectly with us, you know, open-court players. We as a group, we function well.

“It’s definitely fun to be around these guys and get into practice, go up and down against each other and it translates to the games.”

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but Bender would kind of like to stick around for more of it. “Oh, definitely,” he said.

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[WeekapaugGroove]

It's just that it's a weak draft and the protections go down. With the lotto going forward you don't want that pick to be unprotected at some point or very lightly protected. Though the west should get interesting. I guess unless you are really tough, you are probably a lottery team. Hopefully guys like AD, Kawhi, Butler, KD, Kyrie go or stay east....and Zion if we don't get him.

Yeah I get why they want it to convey for multiple reasons.

My greater point was the idea that a small market can't strip it down and bottom out. I just don't think it really matters much in fan support if you win 20 games or 38 games at the start of a rebuild. It matters more when you're like the suns and have been to the depths of bad and need to start seeing signs of hope with young guys. But when you first drop out of the playoffs fan support is going to drop either way.

Look at those years the suns continued to finish like 9th or 10th out west. I don't feel like the vibe here was great and attendance dropped too.

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I think it does matter a lot to a lot of fans (winning 20 vs 38) because even when you win 38, you are usually competitive almost every night (the Kings will probably win around that this year while we will win around 20). Our fans have been beyond pissed most of the season as we head towards around 20 wins while the Kings fans are pretty stoked. I think we'd be stoked too to win 38 or so.

If you have hope for the playoffs for much of the season and a team that is fun to watch, I think there is a lot more excitement from the fans. I mean the Clippers really retooled and I think that's the path most teams would like to take and I think most fans would prefer it that way than hoping for the lottery (though I know there is the contingent of hard core fans who want to tank for a few years...like the Bucks fans did with their billboards and stuff and the Sixers fans embraced it).

But the kings are in a much different spot than the griz. They went through the pain and now are starting to see the uptick. What the clippers are doing is the exception vs the rule and if they don't land Leonard this summer I wonder if we'll see some regression next year.

I might just be jaded on this subject because both my favorite teams the bucks and suns spent years chasing mediocrity and a worthless 8 seed with no real hope to get substantially better.

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[lilfishi22]

Maybe​ Dragan​ Bender knows​ something​ the​ rest​ of us​ don’t.​ Or​ maybe​ he’s​ just​ hopeful. Whatever the reason, Bender​ sounds​ a lot like​​ a guy who wants, and possibly even expects, to keep playing for the Phoenix Suns beyond this season.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said before the Suns left on a trip to Houston and New Orleans, where he was in the starting lineup for the eighth and ninth games in a row. “It’s a long summer for us. We’re not going to the playoffs, so definitely I will get some rest and get back in a mindset to workout and get ready for next season.”

With the Suns? “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s definitely a couple of months ahead of me, so I’m not thinking about that right now. I’m trying to finish the season strong and think about that. For sure, I think this is an option to be here. We’ll see. That’s in the future, and right now I’m just trying to finish strong.”

A lot more beef in the middle....and closes with..

“But luckily we got out of that and started winning and everybody is back on track now. This is a great bunch of guys. We added Kelly and we add Tyler, guys who fit in perfectly with us, you know, open-court players. We as a group, we function well.

“It’s definitely fun to be around these guys and get into practice, go up and down against each other and it translates to the games.”

Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but Bender would kind of like to stick around for more of it. “Oh, definitely,” he said.

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Interesting and surprisingly positive attitude for a guy who's opportunities with the Suns hasn't exactly been plentiful (often due to his own poor play). Makes me think that perhaps the market for him is probably smaller than expected and with the Suns having a need for a 4, there *may* be more opportunities with the Suns going forward, even if it's coming off the bench should the Suns get a starting 4.

[Fo-Real]

Maybe they spoke to him before declining his option. Explained he would not be worth like 10 mil but would be worth like 3-4 and he agreed?

[bwgood77]

Interesting and surprisingly positive attitude for a guy who's opportunities with the Suns hasn't exactly been plentiful (often due to his own poor play). Makes me think that perhaps the market for him is probably smaller than expected and with the Suns having a need for a 4, there *may* be more opportunities with the Suns going forward, even if it's coming off the bench should the Suns get a starting 4.

Well he wouldn't know the market yet since teams are not allowed to talk to people until July 1st. I think there is a good chance he has some teams that want to talk to him. But I've always thought he might be the type who might stay, maybe even for a little less money if we wanted him.

[Waylay13]

Here is a question for all of you; what if the Suns don't make any major moves this summer? We come away with Ja Morant and back up power forward. With the growth we have shown of late and the defense being built into this team what would be possible for the Suns next year? Can they play .500% ball and maybe make the playoffs?

[lilfishi22]

Interesting and surprisingly positive attitude for a guy who's opportunities with the Suns hasn't exactly been plentiful (often due to his own poor play). Makes me think that perhaps the market for him is probably smaller than expected and with the Suns having a need for a 4, there *may* be more opportunities with the Suns going forward, even if it's coming off the bench should the Suns get a starting 4.

Well he wouldn't know the market yet since teams are not allowed to talk to people until July 1st. I think there is a good chance he has some teams that want to talk to him. But I've always thought he might be the type who might stay, maybe even for a little less money if we wanted him.

Of course he would know for sure but he can very easily gauge his market via his agent. Agents talk, we all now that.

I don't doubt that there would be some teams that might be interested but it probably isn't a big contingent.

[bwgood77]

Interesting and surprisingly positive attitude for a guy who's opportunities with the Suns hasn't exactly been plentiful (often due to his own poor play). Makes me think that perhaps the market for him is probably smaller than expected and with the Suns having a need for a 4, there *may* be more opportunities with the Suns going forward, even if it's coming off the bench should the Suns get a starting 4.

Well he wouldn't know the market yet since teams are not allowed to talk to people until July 1st. I think there is a good chance he has some teams that want to talk to him. But I've always thought he might be the type who might stay, maybe even for a little less money if we wanted him.

Of course he would know for sure but he can very easily gauge his market via his agent. Agents talk, we all now that.

I don't doubt that there would be some teams that might be interested but it probably isn't a big contingent.

You think his agent is calling up other teams already seeing if they have interest?

[lilfishi22]

Well he wouldn't know the market yet since teams are not allowed to talk to people until July 1st. I think there is a good chance he has some teams that want to talk to him. But I've always thought he might be the type who might stay, maybe even for a little less money if we wanted him.

Of course he would know for sure but he can very easily gauge his market via his agent. Agents talk, we all now that.

I don't doubt that there would be some teams that might be interested but it probably isn't a big contingent.

You think his agent is calling up other teams already seeing if they have interest?

I'll just say that it's probably a lot easier to know if Team X has interest in Bender or not than you think. It's an agents job to gauge their clients market value in free agency well ahead of time and if they don't know until July 1st as you presume then they aren't doing their job.

[bwgood77]

Of course he would know for sure but he can very easily gauge his market via his agent. Agents talk, we all now that.

I don't doubt that there would be some teams that might be interested but it probably isn't a big contingent.

You think his agent is calling up other teams already seeing if they have interest?

I'll just say that it's probably a lot easier to know if Team X has interest in Bender or not than you think. It's an agents job to gauge their clients market value in free agency well ahead of time and if they don't know until July 1st as you presume then they aren't doing their job.

I doubt many teams want to show their hands on guys they hope to get for value. Now with the big names I'm sure they might say something but at the same time they can get in big trouble or fined if it comes out.

I think his agent might be able to find out if a team would maybe like to meet with him in July, however he is probably so far down the pecking order of free agents, I don't think many teams would be saying much to his agent yet. I figure he will have interest from a number of teams but even I don't imagine they have said much to his agent yet.