RealGM

The Suns have had a very active offseason thus far, so I created this poll get a sense of how this board fells the FO performed.

1) Traded Steve Nash to the hated LA Lakers for picks and trade exception. The picks were 2013 1st, 2015 1st, 2013 2nd, and 2014 2nd. A tough decision by the FO to trade to a division rival, but this trade seemed to get the Suns the most in return, plus honor Nash's request to remain close to his children.

2) Made a Max offer to Eric Gordon to be the Suns SG of the future. Injury prone but very talented EJ stated to the media that his "heart is in Phoenix". Ultimately Hornets matched the Suns offer but Babby showed some moxy in going after this top RFA talent.

3) Drafted pass first PG Kendall Marshall with the #13 pick in the draft. Very mixed reaction from the board on draft night, with most fans taking a wait-and-see approach to this pick. Marshall definitely has some work to do on his jump shot and needs to be a much more aggressive scorer. If he can improve in these areas while remaining a pass first PG he could develop into a very good PG.

4) Suns signed 2 young high potential players to good contracts.
Michael Beasley - former #2 pick in the draft signed to a 3 year $18M contract. Will this be the place EasyBeas finally lives up to his talent? Can he become this teams go-to scorer?

Goran Dragic - The Dragon was outright ballin' at the end of last season and the Suns brought our boy home to lead the home team at PG. A reasonable 4 year $28M contract with another $5M (I think) in incentives.

5) In a surprise move Suns won the bid to get Luis Scola off of waivers after he was amnestied by Houston. Scola is a baller and has been the starting PF for Houston for several years. He is a great locker room guy and vet leader. If he can average 16/7 he will be a super pick-up for the Suns for a very reasonable $4,148,510. Excellent pick up by the Suns.

6) Sarver opened his wallet and amnestied Josh Childress.

7) Traded Robin Lopez and Hakim Warrick to NO in a 3 way deal. Suns received Wes Johnson and protected 1st from Minnesota. Johnson is a former #4 pick that has been a bust so far, but this could be the place where he finally breaks out.

8) Draft picks: over the next 3 years Suns have something like 6 1sts and 3 2nds. Granted outside of the Suns own 1st round picks most others will be low picks. Suns could use these picks to move up in the draft.

9) Suns just signed Jermaine O'Neal to a very reasonable 1 year deal, and signed several other players to non-guaranteed contracts to fill out the roster.



So overall what grade do you give to the moves made by the Suns FO so far?

Just a short answer: The moves by themselves are no-brainers but alltogether I seems like that they don't have a clear direction (which isn't bad for the first year either). For example drafting Marshall but signing Dragic to a four year deal. Sign Beasley but claim Scola off waivers. I'm beating a dead horse but I also don't like how the handled the G-Hill situation.

In a nutshell: B: Great job gaining assets while keeping future flexibility considering we needed a change. Might as well got an A if we brought Gordon to the valley.

Given their circumstances, they turned lemons into lemonade at every step. The FO knows they will lose millions in ticket sales if they tank a season, and it's against the Valley's tradition of "really good most of the time." They must put a competitive product on the floor, and we have a lot of potential with a lot of flexibility.

My biggest concern is K Marshall and becoming a complete PG. Luckily, his biggest weaknesses are our specialties. I am excited to see how Majerle and Gentry mold him. Majerle will show him how to shoot, and Gentry will make him shoot or bench him.

Grade A.

.

I think our PG situation is exactly where we want it to be.

- Goran is a proven starter and will be for the duration of his 4 year contract.
- Kendall has a long way to go before he is a decent NBA player. He will likely use this year as a transition/ learning year while Bassy is the primary backup.
- Next year, Bassy is off the books and the expectation is that Marshall should be decent enough to run the bench unit.
- If by chance Marshall turns out to be more than a bench player by year 3, we have 2 starting calibre PGs on near expiring contracts with bird rights for both. Not a bad position to be in.

GrantHill wrote:Just a short answer: The moves by themselves are no-brainers but alltogether I seems like that they don't have a clear direction (which isn't bad for the first year either). For example drafting Marshall but signing Dragic to a four year deal. Sign Beasley but claim Scola off waivers. I'm beating a dead horse but I also don't like how the handled the G-Hill situation.

In a nutshell: B: Great job gaining assets while keeping future flexibility considering we needed a change. Might as well got an A if we brought Gordon to the valley.

Agreed. I think at this point, we have a fairly blank slate. We could go in a few directions depending on who on our team pans out and who doesn't.

I am still waiting to see wait happens with Brad Miller. One more draft pick would be icing

Grade: A-
I didn't think the front office had it in them to make such a remarkable offseason. It would have been an A+ if we were able to obtain Eric Gordon and drop Nash off to an Eastern Conference team instead of the Lakers.

Qwigglez wrote:Grade: A-
I didn't think the front office had it in them to make such a remarkable offseason. It would have been an A+ if we were able to obtain Eric Gordon and drop Nash off to an Eastern Conference team instead of the Lakers.

IMO, obtaining Steve Nash + Dwight Howard (while retaining Pau) and signing good role players like Jamison and Meeks is the only offseason that is deserving of an A+.

The Steve Nash trade to the LAKERS makes it a hard off-season to swallow.

Otherwise, good moves all around. No player is on a bad contract and everyone is an asset that can potentially be used to lure in a franchise type player. There is a lot of potential on this team. We are overall in a good position to rebuild; solid role players and 2-3 options that make us a viable team for free agency, we are young, and we are likely to have a decent enough position in the draft.

But the offseason wasn't exactly ideal. I feel we could have included Childress in a Nash deal somehow, and then we could use the amnesty clause to gamble on some other player down the line. We accumulated lots of draft picks: obviously we won't be able to sign all these players, and given the picks are likely to be late first round I'm concerned that the Suns may not be able to use these picks to trade for players of value.

Grade: B

A- if we acquired Gordon. A solid "A" if we managed to sign Gordon and resign NASH for the vet-minimum, which would make the Suns borderline contenders and have a bright future (and still 7-8$ in cap room for 2015?). Unfortunately the latter wasn't going to happen.

I voted "A".

I voted B. I was one of the ones wanting to draft Marshall if Lamb and Ross were off the board. I agreed 100% with the signings of Dragic and Beasley. I actually wanted to keep Lopez even for $5m but I really like that trade as well. In my eyes, the Suns would have gotten an A if they were able to get Gordon.

Other than that, I think the Suns are in a great position moving forward and this year will be about developing chemistry amongst the new guys. I'm really excited about this teams chances of being back in contention in about 3 seasons from now. Until then, it will be a fun team to watch.

I don't deduct points for the Suns inability to land one of the top 3 free agents this offseason.

I think they did an amazing job, were active and agressive, and put the team in a fantastic position.

"A"

Nash wanted to be in LA since his children are there and we didnt want to match what Lopez would have commanded as an rfa. Either could have simply walked like Amare did but we were able to s&t both and got picks, a prospect and were able to dump Warriks contract in the process. You cant do better than that realistically.

I think with Marshall we have to wait and see. I personally see him needing a couple years to really work on his shot and build his body. If he does develop an outside shot then that changes everything considering his rainman like playmaking ability.

I love Childress as a person but his contract was making him dead weight so I like the amnesty move.

And picking up Scola on SA's amnesty auction? Great move. Good enough to start but he wont exactly dominate so our draft position isnt exactly threatened. At just over 4 mil per for a savy vet I basically consider him a placeholder while we groom our young talent and continue to build.

The Brown and JO signings I like as well since they are both roleplayers on cheap short deals basically more placeholders. Again good enough to not get embarrassed but not good enough to threaten our draft position next year. Both solid moves.

Dragic was a great signing. We already have history with him and he has shown real improvement in Houston. Doesnt hurt that he already had Nash tutor him

Beasley isnt as clear. High ceiling with alot of talent. Still very young so we will need time to see how and if he matures and develops. He hasnt been the brightest off the court (think McGee on the court) but hopefully he grows up a bit a takes his game to the next level in Phoenix. Any way you look at it, at 3 years 18 million the gamble is worth taking.

I wasnt heartbroken when NO matched Gordon as pretty much everyone expected them to.

I have to admit I have been very impressed with the front offices steady stream of savy moves this offseason.
"A"

Graded "A".

I agree with the lack of a clear direction, but see that as a good thing, and part of the "flexible future" structure. We have valuable assets, and a lot of room to shape our future into any direction that seems to fit what management wants/what being succesful means (except one that includes defending as a major part of it, one can argue).

we went from having no future to having a very good (potentially) future. Tons of flexibility. Tons of assets. Much younger. Excellent job. I do not think they could have done any better. voted "B"
Because "A"'s are reserved for amazing like if we landed to top FA. We cannot and will not have "direction" until we have a star or dominant leader. Until then though, we are exactly where we want to be.

Hey Guys Raptor fan here,

I would honestly rate it a B at best and a realistic C+, hear me out here.
Your team has some players with their potential through the roof, but some key pieces on your team are such a risk i feel (beasley,johnson,marshall). Scola is solid you know what you will get from him, but he is old and will hit his decline very soon, and who knows about gortat without nash, what did he do in orlando without a good PG though he was only a backup.

Im ranting now but my point is phoenix made a bunch of moves this summer but not all of them make complete sense and im wondering how it will turn out, only positive i see is all the draft picks turning into what houston did via 12,14,16 kind of deal. Other then that good luck fellas your in a for a ride

TheChosen1ne wrote:Hey Guys Raptor fan here,

I would honestly rate it a B at best and a realistic C+, hear me out here.
Your team has some players with their potential through the roof, but some key pieces on your team are such a risk i feel (beasley,johnson,marshall).

Not really a risk given their contracts, age, and "potential through the roof" which will always make them tradeable if need be.

who knows about gortat without nash, what did he do in orlando without a good PG though he was only a backup.

More than likely his scoring will drop off, but that's okay considering our upgraded scoring options. If Gortat continues to grab 10+ rpg and play solid defense then his points are a plus.

Gortat has proven that he can score even above his average without Nash numerous times now. I don't think it's a far stretch to think he can continue to average at least fifteen points a game with Goran.

As for the other guys, I would agree that they aren't total allstars, but they do have that potential, and all on decent contracts that aren't cap busters. Frye is the only remaining contract from the bad summer of 2010, and if he can produce near what he did last year, he can earn that contract.

I still think it was a great offseason, leaving us with tons of options, multiple picks, and youth with potential.

Now if we could have demoted Gentry and picked up a real head coach, I think we could have received an A+.

I don't think Phoenix had much to work with to begin in the first place. Next summer will be bigger, and hopefully Suns can attract some free agents.

Celtic fan here, gave you guys a B.

Dragic/Marshall/Telfair
Johnson/Brown
Beasley/Dudley
Scola/Morris
Gortat/Frye/O'Neal


I like the Marshall draft pick. Don't like the big contract to Dragic. For 2 years okay but his deal will shadow Marshall in 3 years. Wes Johnson will be a good pickup. Between Beas & Wes you got the prove em wrong wing combo. You guys still need some shooting from 3range. Marshall & Johnson can't shoot. I like not too many long contracts & did a solid favor for Nash which is respected everywhere.

3 Years with some lotto picks, you guys will be in playoffs again.