Bright Side on our roster and cap space

[rsavaj]

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2013/ ... n-and-next

[rsavaj]

Our rotation is really quite odd right now.

Currently:

Dragic/Marshall
Dudley/Wes
Tucker/Beas
Scola/Markieff
Gortat/O'Neal

Haddadi's not going to play, but presumably, we want to find minutes for Marcus....where can we put him? He can play SF or PF, but Beas and his brother already have those spots down.

The logjam gets even worse when Frye comes back next season.

[lilfishi22]

It's too bad there isn't much talent in that logjam either....

[rsavaj]

It's too bad there isn't much talent in that logjam either....

Quite unfortunate.

My desired solution would be to waive Beasley using the stretch provision to free up some cap space. Marcus slides into his role as the backup 3.

Not sure what we do when Frye comes back....I have a hunch(totally unfounded) that we may try to package Scola and another player for a good wing. Or heck...I could even see them trading Scola and Dudley to Atlanta in a Smith sign and trade this summer. Just spitballing.

[lazfa199]

The suns need to get rid of one of the Morris brothers in the off season. It should be Marcus considering he sees himself as a small forward.

This is just going to be failed marketing ploy. Get to mediocre players who are backups at the same position = increase in ticket sales?

[Sunsaholic]

Put tucker at the 2 and start Beasley. Now before I get protesters, this would be for this season only and we are tanking anyways. Expect Scola to be gone next year as well, and then there is the draft, possible Eric Gordon trade, and possible Josh Smith signing. The Morris twins can make a great combo of role players in the future on a good team. I say keep them both.

[RunDogGun]

We are not tanking. People need to stop saying that we are losing games on purpose, or need to find out what "tanking" means. We haven't found any sort of rhythm, guys are shooting terribly, and we've had tons of stupid line ups.

Anyone who thinks we should lose games on purpose need to stop watching basketball. There is no need to breed a losing culture, that takes decades to get out of, and the way players leave teams, we won't be able to keep our upcoming stars (if we actually can draft well).

[7Insomniac]

O'Neal isn't coming back next year. He'll either retire, or sign with a better team. That should free up a spot for Frye as the backup center.

I wouldn't bring back Tucker, he's just not very good.

It should be easier to get rid of Brown and Beasley since they're expiring. (Beasley's 2014 is partially guaranteed.)

There should be plenty of room for players next year.

Dragic/Marshall
Draft pick/???
Dudley/Morris
Scola/Morris
Gortat/Frye

We could always draft a big man and trade one of Gortat/Scola. There aren't many options in terms of all-star talent on the free agent market. So, we should save our flexibility until one becomes available. There will be a bunch of great players in 2014 free agency.

[RunDogGun]

Why the f*ck should we get rid of Tucker? He is by far our best defender, and he is playing for peanuts.

[WallabyPie]

The suns need to get rid of one of the Morris brothers in the off season. It should be Marcus considering he sees himself as a small forward.

This is just going to be failed marketing ploy. Get to mediocre players who are backups at the same position = increase in ticket sales?

lol someone is mad because his boy Beasley will see less playing time

[Sunsaholic]

We are not tanking. People need to stop saying that we are losing games on purpose, or need to find out what "tanking" means. We haven't found any sort of rhythm, guys are shooting terribly, and we've had tons of stupid line ups.

Anyone who thinks we should lose games on purpose need to stop watching basketball. There is no need to breed a losing culture, that takes decades to get out of, and the way players leave teams, we won't be able to keep our upcoming stars (if we actually can draft well).

Then what exactly is your plan? How are we supposed to get a winning culture ever from now on without tanking? Or would you rather get the 9th pick every year and never draft a player worth a damn because superstars are only drafted in the top 3. I want superstars. I want Andrew Wiggins. If you want Jared Dudley then power to you.

[asudevil]

i dont HATE our position looking towards the future. could it have turned out differently than what happened, and us getting ourselves in a MUCH BETTER one? hell yeah. but we didnt make it worse, so something can be said about that.

all in all we traded:
Telfair - opened up room for Marshall to get experience. Telfair would have been gone after this season anyways = +
2013 2nd - higher 2nd rounders CAN have value = -

for

Morris - he's a decently cheap 2nd year player. he and his brother might work out well 1+1=4? possibly = ++
2014 2nd - the kings are going to be bad which is a given. the raptors are always an unknown when it comes to how good they'll be. so, where will they pick? = + (POSSIBLY ++)

i honestly cant complain about what we DID do. what we DIDN'T do is a whole other story.

Right now, with what we have, we will be around $49mil in committed contracts next season (factoring our First/LA Lotto (possibly)), which gives us roughly $12mil to spend. that's not a whole lot on a player who can turn us around. that's not a whole lot, which is BAD.

This offseason there will be a few teams with cap space, and if those teams are in the Dwight/Smith/Ellis/whomever sweepstakes and miss out, Scola might be a viable alternative for relatively cheap. 2years and $9+mil is a deal for him. we COULD offload him without taking on any salary, and MAYBE netting a pick in the process.

Frye MIGHT not come back. and while i'd NEVER hope that he doesnt (because that would mean he has a serious heart condition), if he must retire, then that saves another $6.5mil.

Brown wont be back, but i'm not sure on his buyout.

so IF the salary cap is $60mil and Scola/Frye/Brown are gone we could have almost $22mil or so to spend, and a terrible roster

Dragic/Marshall
?/Tucker
Dudley/Morris
Beasley/Morris
Gortat/?

Dragic/Gortat are the only ones who have any business starting, and while i LOVE Dudley, he really is just an excellent bench player on a good team. and both Morris' are unknowns at the moment. the problem is that this team has a bunch of role players and no cap space to go after 2 much needed star power players this offseason (and the semi stars who are available want to be payed as stars).

IMO we need to face the fact that where we are left at, we can get better in the short term, and the expense of the long term when it comes to the FA market. Signing any semi stars will lead us in the perpetual 6-8 seed for the foreseeable future.

the other problem is that a lot of teams still have their amnesty, and they'd rather use it to eat a couple years of a bad contract rather than sacrifice a lotto pick. i can only think of one team that MIGHT sacrifice a lotto pick so that we'd eat a bad contract (OKC) at the expense of Gortat. other than that, most teams have positioned themselves to be able to ride things out.

the best case scenario IMO is to pray for the draft. we've got

2x 2013 First
1x 2013 Second
2x 2014 First
2x 2014 2nd
2x 2015 First
1x 2015 2nd

if we can land 1 star this offseason and then hopefully 1 and maybe 2 the following deeper draft then we'll be in an OKC position with more cap space.

the chances are slim, but:
a.) at this point i'd rather play the odds
b.) i hope this franchise is banking on those same odds
c.) i dont want to be a fringe team for the next 5 years due to bad decisions.

[phrazbit]

Our rotation is really quite odd right now.

Currently:

Dragic/Marshall
Dudley/Wes
Tucker/Beas
Scola/Markieff
Gortat/O'Neal

Haddadi's not going to play, but presumably, we want to find minutes for Marcus....where can we put him? He can play SF or PF, but Beas and his brother already have those spots down.

The logjam gets even worse when Frye comes back next season.

I would bet Wes Johnson will go back to getting zero minutes, Beasley will probably see his PT chopped in half and Scola will probably lose a bit of PT too.

As for next year, O'Neal will be gone, Scola will probably be gone too... and if Lance Blanks gets fired then I bet we will also get rid of Beasley. We will probably discuss extension terms with Gortat and depending on how that goes he could get shipped also.

Basically... I'd expect a ton of roster turnover. Dragic, Tucker, Marshall, and the Morrises are strong bets to be here in November... everyone else is a tossup.

[DirtyDez]

This team is not tanking. Once they kept JO you knew it. All he will do is win us 2-3 more games with his defense and rebounding. Also, if we were tanking Scola would've never been signed. Wed be right there with Charlotte had we not signed him. Robert Sarver is not a basketball guy and it's been evident from the beginning.

Next year we will make a splash and overpay for a player that will take us from bad to mediocre and our cap will be maxed out.

[Moochthemonkey]

We are not tanking. People need to stop saying that we are losing games on purpose, or need to find out what "tanking" means. We haven't found any sort of rhythm, guys are shooting terribly, and we've had tons of stupid line ups.

Anyone who thinks we should lose games on purpose need to stop watching basketball. There is no need to breed a losing culture, that takes decades to get out of, and the way players leave teams, we won't be able to keep our upcoming stars (if we actually can draft well).

Then what exactly is your plan? How are we supposed to get a winning culture ever from now on without tanking? Or would you rather get the 9th pick every year and never draft a player worth a damn because superstars are only drafted in the top 3. I want superstars. I want Andrew Wiggins. If you want Jared Dudley then power to you.

I could once again write many paragraphs on while I feel views like yours are wrong on so many levels, 1.) from a standpoint of how unlikely such a path is to yield any success, and 2.) from how having such a plan is just plain damaging to the NBA. and no, playing youth/rebuilding is not the same as losing on purpose, although the results usually go hand in hand. For the sake of brevity I'll keep it short and just say there are few teams each year that can actually legitimately win a championship, should all 20-25 other teams tank? And whether or not they do, would you quit your job because it gives you a better chance of winning a lottery?

The draft system is designed to compensate teams that actually try hard, but SUCK. when you have teams try to suck on purpose it ruins the system; why should anyone be rewarded for trying to fail. if there was a way to prove a team was tanking, they should be stripped of their draft pick, simple.

[thamadkant]

There are certain exceptions when I think Suns should "purposely" tank...

They have 4 more games against Rockets... and if those 4 games are crucial for Lakers to miss out on the playoffs... I'd definitely rest the Suns better players after 1 quarter or 1 half and give the bench a run... and coach enough to ensure they play hard but allow Rockets the win.

A 14th pick or a 28th pick in the 1st round can be the difference in obtaining a key rookie or a key piece in a trade.

But other than that... yup definitely on board with "development" of youth.

Players rarely tank, they all are competitive... and the NBA definitely needs to institute a limit to these "consistent" tankers.... Bobcats are tanking, Magic too.... trading away key players for nothing is "tanking" in my book.... unfortunately NBA loop hole of "team cutting down salary" is a viable excuse....

sad...

[BobbieL]

This just proves the Morris trade made ZERO sense. ZERO sense.

A waste of $2m of cap space. Team option. Probably have to use it or look stupid for trading for the guy

Idiots

[WallabyPie]

This just proves the Morris trade made ZERO sense. ZERO sense.

A waste of $2m of cap space. Team option. Probably have to use it or look stupid for trading for the guy

Idiots

You can't be serious

[Frank Lee]

This just proves the Morris trade made ZERO sense. ZERO sense.

A waste of $2m of cap space. Team option. Probably have to use it or look stupid for trading for the guy

Yours truly,
the Idiots

You can't be serious

There... I corrected his post.

So the front office parlayed Telfair and a 2013 second for Morris and a 2014 second ? We should be adding 2 more rooks to this team as is this yr. No need to overload the crib with babies.

Why the diaper rash over this ? Its a tiny deal with very low risk.

[Qwigglez]

I think the Suns are in a very good position. We have far more valuable contracts now than a year ago.
I'm betting the Suns front office is looking at putting together a nice package of players to a team for an all-star over the summer. I can't really say what player... but I think that's the overall idea. Along with making a great draft pick (or two), and then probably signing a free agent.
Just spitballing as well... but what if the Suns did this. A S&T with the Hawks for Josh Smith, the Hawks will get Michael Beasley. They basically have all the cap space in the world, they'll probably sign Al Jefferson to pair with Horford.
Then we could trade Gortat + fillers for Eric Gordon when that becomes available. Sign Dwight Howard.
Dragic/Gordon/Shabazz/Smith/Howard
Marshall/Dudley/Morris/Morris/Frye


I think this team would be "fun" for Howard to be on, and he'll quit his emotional act once he is setup in Phoenix.