Dragic regretting his decision to leave PHX?

[garrick]

Sorry to beat a dead horse but Dragic is running into the same issues he had last season and seems to have lost confidence and is playing poorly as a result.

If he were still on the team it's possible he would never have regained the form that he had in 2013-2014 so I guess in the end it was a good thing we were able to trade him for assets.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/12/14/dwyane-wade-to-goran-dragic-shoot-the-ball/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

“Shoot the (expletive) ball,” Wade recalled telling Dragic in the third quarter of the Heat‘s 100-97 win over Memphis.

He continued, “It’s simple. We want him to be aggressive. I know what he was seeing. You get out of rhythm sometimes, but I still want him to be aggressive. When I’m penetrating and I kick to him, be ready to shoot. He needs to hear that we want him to be aggressive and shoot the ball at the right times. When he’s off the ball, he becomes a scorer. It’s my job. We’ve got a great relationship, and I can talk to him that way.”

The play that set Wade off came with 6:50 left in the third. Wade drove and passed to an open Dragic in the right corner, but Dragic declined the 3-pointer and gave it to Luol Deng on the wing.

“He turned it down and threw it to Lu and we got a bad shot,” Wade said. “I felt like he needed to shoot. Shoot the (expletive) ball. I told him that because we need him to do that. He’s a very good shooter. He needs to have that mentality.”

[bwgood77]

Sorry to beat a dead horse but Dragic is running into the same issues he had last season and seems to have lost confidence and is playing poorly as a result.

If he were still on the team it's possible he would never have regained the form that he had in 2013-2014 so I guess in the end it was a good thing we were able to trade him for assets.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/12/14/dwyane-wade-to-goran-dragic-shoot-the-ball/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

“Shoot the (expletive) ball,” Wade recalled telling Dragic in the third quarter of the Heat‘s 100-97 win over Memphis.

He continued, “It’s simple. We want him to be aggressive. I know what he was seeing. You get out of rhythm sometimes, but I still want him to be aggressive. When I’m penetrating and I kick to him, be ready to shoot. He needs to hear that we want him to be aggressive and shoot the ball at the right times. When he’s off the ball, he becomes a scorer. It’s my job. We’ve got a great relationship, and I can talk to him that way.”

The play that set Wade off came with 6:50 left in the third. Wade drove and passed to an open Dragic in the right corner, but Dragic declined the 3-pointer and gave it to Luol Deng on the wing.

“He turned it down and threw it to Lu and we got a bad shot,” Wade said. “I felt like he needed to shoot. Shoot the (expletive) ball. I told him that because we need him to do that. He’s a very good shooter. He needs to have that mentality.”

I think he may wish they never had signed Thomas, let Frye go, or perhaps even signed Bledsoe, and stayed, but given the circumstances, and where he is now, and long term job security I doubt he is regretting that $90 million contract.

[garrick]

I think he would have gotten a contract somewhat close to 90 million either from the Suns or from another team.

It's not like Miami was the only team looking for a talented PG in free agency.

[Qwigglez]

But in Florida, income is tax-free right? So that right there saves him a ton of frickin money.

[kennydorglas]

I'm glad he's gone.

[Revived]

$90 million in a no income tax state with amazing weather?

Not to mention he gets to play with 2 future HOFers and his team is well above .500 despite his struggles.

Yea I'm sure he cries himself to sleep every night. Bet he uses $100 bills to wipe the tears as well.

[bwgood77]

I think he would have gotten a contract somewhat close to 90 million either from the Suns or from another team.

It's not like Miami was the only team looking for a talented PG in free agency.

Would you rather have him than Knight?

[garrick]

I think he would have gotten a contract somewhat close to 90 million either from the Suns or from another team.

It's not like Miami was the only team looking for a talented PG in free agency.

Would you rather have him than Knight?

That's a tough one.

I think Dragic would be a better fit next to Bledsoe than Knight but yeah at the end of the day he didn't want to be here anymore no matter what the Suns organization did for him he would still have been disgruntled.

[Fo-Real]

Knight is a better fit, don't have to tell him to shoot. lol

[RaisingArizona]

Mentally weak. He's robbing the Heat with that contract.

[RaisingArizona]

$90 million in a no income tax state with amazing weather?

Not to mention he gets to play with 2 future HOFers and his team is well above .500 despite his struggles.

Yea I'm sure he cries himself to sleep every night. Bet he uses $100 bills to wipe the tears as well.

I doubt that's very sanitary.

[GMATCallahan]

I think he would have gotten a contract somewhat close to 90 million either from the Suns or from another team.

It's not like Miami was the only team looking for a talented PG in free agency.

Would you rather have him than Knight?

... no, personally, because Knight is over five years younger. The Suns are not ready to win at a high rate right now and possibly for the foreseeable future, but Knight's age—he just turned twenty-four earlier this month—creates a greater window. I would rather have him from ages twenty-four through twenty-eight than Dragic from ages twenty-nine through thirty-three.

Additionally, while Dragic still possesses good speed and quickness, Knight is elite in that regard. In the fourth quarter of the win at Chicago last week, Jimmy Butler—one of the best and most athletic defenders in the NBA (he currently ranks second in Defensive Real Plus-Minus among shooting guards)—just could not stay in front of Knight, either off ball-screens or in isolation. That kind of quickness is a real weapon, and although Knight is still working on his consistency, he has greater room to grow than Dragic, who peaked two years ago.

[rsavaj]

I think he would have gotten a contract somewhat close to 90 million either from the Suns or from another team.

It's not like Miami was the only team looking for a talented PG in free agency.

Would you rather have him than Knight?

... no, personally, because Knight is over five years younger. The Suns are not ready to win at a high rate right now and possibly for the foreseeable future, but Knight's age—he just turned twenty-four earlier this month—creates a greater window. I would rather have him from ages twenty-four through twenty-eight than Dragic from ages twenty-nine through thirty-three.

Additionally, while Dragic still possesses good speed and quickness, Knight is elite in that regard. In the fourth quarter of the win at Chicago last week, Jimmy Butler—one of the best and most athletic defenders in the NBA (he currently ranks second in Defensive Real Plus-Minus among shooting guards)—just could not stay in front of Knight, either off ball-screens or in isolation. That kind of quickness is a real weapon, and although Knight is still working on his consistency, he has greater room to grow than Dragic, who peaked two years ago.

Every time you post it's like spotting a unicorn. Please post here more often! I've always valued your insight, dating back 10 years ago to the ESPN days.

[TeamTragic]

Sorry to beat a dead horse but Dragic is running into the same issues he had last season and seems to have lost confidence and is playing poorly as a result.

If he were still on the team it's possible he would never have regained the form that he had in 2013-2014 so I guess in the end it was a good thing we were able to trade him for assets.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/12/14/dwyane-wade-to-goran-dragic-shoot-the-ball/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

“Shoot the (expletive) ball,” Wade recalled telling Dragic in the third quarter of the Heat‘s 100-97 win over Memphis.

He continued, “It’s simple. We want him to be aggressive. I know what he was seeing. You get out of rhythm sometimes, but I still want him to be aggressive. When I’m penetrating and I kick to him, be ready to shoot. He needs to hear that we want him to be aggressive and shoot the ball at the right times. When he’s off the ball, he becomes a scorer. It’s my job. We’ve got a great relationship, and I can talk to him that way.”

The play that set Wade off came with 6:50 left in the third. Wade drove and passed to an open Dragic in the right corner, but Dragic declined the 3-pointer and gave it to Luol Deng on the wing.

“He turned it down and threw it to Lu and we got a bad shot,” Wade said. “I felt like he needed to shoot. Shoot the (expletive) ball. I told him that because we need him to do that. He’s a very good shooter. He needs to have that mentality.”

I think he may wish they never had signed Thomas, let Frye go, or perhaps even signed Bledsoe, and stayed, but given the circumstances, and where he is now, and long term job security I doubt he is regretting that $90 million contract.

Of course bwgood is going to justify Dragic and his cry baby-esque attitude/mental weakness. Have fun in Miami Gogi

[GMATCallahan]

I think he would have gotten a contract somewhat close to 90 million either from the Suns or from another team.

It's not like Miami was the only team looking for a talented PG in free agency.

Would you rather have him than Knight?

That's a tough one.

I think Dragic would be a better fit next to Bledsoe than Knight but yeah at the end of the day he didn't want to be here anymore no matter what the Suns organization did for him he would still have been disgruntled.

Although I can see what you may be getting at, Knight is somewhat less of a point guard than Dragic and more of a natural three-point shooter.

Multiple point guards can play together—as I have noted in the past, for instance, the Suns went 35-8 (.814) in the last 43 regular season games where Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson played together, and K.J. played at least 30 minutes—but it helps if those point guards are terrific passers. That way, the ball will move more, it will not stick too much, and terrific passers tend to see the whole game and be less selfish.

None of the "point guards" that the Suns have featured since Steve Nash have constituted terrific passers, so if one them, such as Knight, is more of a "guard" than a "point guard," there may be better harmony and synchronicity.

[rsavaj]

Sorry to beat a dead horse but Dragic is running into the same issues he had last season and seems to have lost confidence and is playing poorly as a result.

If he were still on the team it's possible he would never have regained the form that he had in 2013-2014 so I guess in the end it was a good thing we were able to trade him for assets.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/12/14/dwyane-wade-to-goran-dragic-shoot-the-ball/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

“Shoot the (expletive) ball,” Wade recalled telling Dragic in the third quarter of the Heat‘s 100-97 win over Memphis.

I think he may wish they never had signed Thomas, let Frye go, or perhaps even signed Bledsoe, and stayed, but given the circumstances, and where he is now, and long term job security I doubt he is regretting that $90 million contract.

Of course bwgood is going to try and justify Dragic and his cry baby-esque attitude/mental weakness. Have fun in Miami

Everybody has their own opinions; singling bwgood out for no reason(other than "HE'S A DRAGIC FAN!") is pretty lame and borders on baiting, man. Enjoy a glass of calm-down juice.

[aIvin adams]

None of the "point guards" that the Suns have featured since Steve Nash have constituted terrific passers, so if one them, such as Knight, is more of a "guard" than a "point guard," there may be better harmony and synchronicity.

bledsoe has been a better passer than i thought he could be, but it's not enough so far. i think that teams with deep backcourt rotations successfully press and trap our ballhandlers more often than usual.

[GMATCallahan]

That said, even terrific passers can be very ambitious and ultimately possess their own agendas for their careers. The Suns' plan, circa 1997 and 1998, was to eventually start Steve Nash and Jason Kidd in the same back-court, with Nash defending the opposing point guard and Kidd defending the opposing shooting guard. Thus, although Phoenix had offered Nash to Vancouver in exchange for the fourth pick in the 1997 draft, the Suns refused to trade him to Cleveland a few months later as part of the proposed three-team Antonio McDyess trade, holding out until the Cavaliers accepted shooting guard Wesley Person instead of Nash. Likewise, in May 1998, Phoenix essentially convinced Kevin Johnson that there was no more room for him because Nash needed more playing time—"rightfully so," in K.J.'s view. Already, during the second half of the '97-'98 season, Nash had started 9 games, plus the Suns' final playoff game. He scored 24 points in Phoenix's third-to-last regular season game that year and then led the team in assists in the Suns' final regular season game and their final playoff game.

http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/boxscore.htm?yr=1997&b=19980415&tm=PHO

http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/boxscore.htm?yr=1997&b=19980419&tm=HOU

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199804290SAS.html

Nash, however, did not want to continue playing in Kidd's shadow; he wanted to run his own team as the clear-cut point guard and unquestioned floor leader. Thus, as he entered the final season of his three-year rookie contract, he surprised the Suns by refusing to ink a contract extension with Phoenix, making matters clear by June 1998 that he would not return after his deal expired and that he instead sought a trade. Again, the Suns offered Nash to Vancouver for the Grizzlies' top pick (second overall this time), and again Vancouver refused. (Had the inept Stu Jackson accepted either offer, the Grizzlies might still be in Vancouver.) On draft night, Phoenix traded Nash to Dallas for the Mavericks' first-round pick the following year, in 1999. Phoenix would use that selection, which turned out to be the ninth overall, to pluck Shawn Marion. But after shedding Wesley Person, Kevin Johnson, and Steve Nash in nine months' time, the Suns had gone from possessing the deepest back-court in the NBA to the shallowest, reduced to shifting between CBA-level backup point guards behind Jason Kidd while Rex Chapman broke down and struggled at shooting guard.

And the Nash saga is relevant for a particular reason: he and Goran Dragic share the same agent, Bill Duffy. Certain agents guide certain types of players in certain directions (see Scott Boras in baseball), and point guards tend to want the ball in their hands as much as possible. If what happened with Nash in 1998 offers any indication, there is a good chance that Dragic would have departed in free agency last summer no matter what—possibly even if Phoenix had never signed Isaiah Thomas.

The irony is that because Dragic landed in Miami, where Dwyane Wade has always essentially been a "combo guard" who handles the ball a lot in the middle of the floor, Dragic's situation is not that dissimilar to what he was not enjoying in Phoenix. But, hey, at least he is the "point guard of the Miami Heat"!

Labels and status, labels and status, labels and status ...

[GMATCallahan]

None of the "point guards" that the Suns have featured since Steve Nash have constituted terrific passers, so if one them, such as Knight, is more of a "guard" than a "point guard," there may be better harmony and synchronicity.

bledsoe has been a better passer than i thought he could be, but it's not enough so far. i think that teams with deep backcourt rotations successfully press and trap our ballhandlers more often than usual.

Bledsoe has improved many aspects of his offensive game this year, including his passing, but his assists-to-turnover ratio remains problematic, and he was starting from so far back that even great improvement will only get him so far. What the Suns need, I believe, is an outstanding front-court passer to balance the relative deficiencies of the guards.

[TeamTragic]

I think he may wish they never had signed Thomas, let Frye go, or perhaps even signed Bledsoe, and stayed, but given the circumstances, and where he is now, and long term job security I doubt he is regretting that $90 million contract.

Of course bwgood is going to justify Dragic and his cry baby-esque attitude/mental weakness. Have fun in Miami Gogi

Everybody has their own opinions; singling bwgood out for no reason(other than "HE'S A DRAGIC FAN!") is pretty lame and borders on baiting, man. Enjoy a glass of calm-down juice.

How about we move on from a player that is no longer on this team? I already enjoyed my glass of calm-down juice when I registered for this username