doclinkin wrote:nate33 wrote:DCZards wrote:I doubt the validity of the claim that Halliburton was only willing to play for Sacramento.
I’ve only seen one (maybe two) articles saying that...with absolutely no one backing that up, other than Haliburton’s agent.
If the story was true I believe it would have more legs.
Yeah. Draft him anyhow. What's he gonna do? Not sign?
Yeah I've had this argument. It's nonsense. Usually there is some scuttlebutt about this sort of thing during the draft process. ESPECIALLY in this year when we had many months before the actual draft. It is common that we hear such and such a person didn't not want to work out for a particular team or they tanked the workout etc. I have a feeling this is one reason why the Wizards commonly don't even work out the guys they draft. They don't want to prejudice the coaching staff etc over a guy they have analyzed before workouts. In the case of Haliburton, this only came out after the draft. And while the reporters who had the story are credible guys, the source seems to be the player's agent, only. It sounds like a load of happy talk for an agent trying to look good after his client slipped. Tyrese, when quoted, seemed to be putting a happy spin on it but he did seem a bit pissed:
On using being drafted No. 12 as fuel...
"Obviously I gotta find stuff to get me going. Obviously, some stuff that happened tonight that I'm not gonna forget anytime soon and I'm excited to kind of attack those things. Like I said, the teams that picked other guys, that's what they want for their organization, and it's a business. I'm not gonna complain, man, I'm in a perfect spot for me so I'm on cloud nine, I'm good."
The rest, saying we were not gonna get him because he was dead set on going to Sacramento. Come on man. That's some nonsense.
I was wrong -- these quotes from Haliburton do make it hard to believe his agent was telling teams to pass on him.
Plus it seems like two highest value picks in the draft were Haliburton & Tillman. At the very least, we should have been able to get one of them.
Either take Hali #9 or else acquire Sac'to's # 12 & #35 for our #9.
In this case, if the Suns still take Jalen Smith, we get one of Vassell or Deni at #12. If the Suns take Deni, then SA still takes Vassell. We can still do well by taking either Precious or Saddiq Bey.
Or maybe we have a backup deal with Dallas & move that #12 for their #18 & #31. We get Saddiq Bey & Tillman.
& someone at #35.