DRAGIC SIGNED!!!

[suns12345]

I'm actually going to be really unhappy if this happens. He's not a stunner as a shooter and he's going to be eating minutes better given to DJ Strawberry for defensive purposes while Diaw and/or Hill command the ball.

thats not right. dragic is also a great defender and combine that with the fact he can run the offense, then i would much rather him having the minutes than DJ

[TXSun]

topic should read "DRAGIC NOT SIGNED"!!! why would someone post such thing? this is stupid really it is.

[blackjays]

Just because you made this thread he won't be signed lol.

[suns12345]

wasnt there meant to be a decision by the end of the week. its the end of the week now. this is so slow and annoying!!!!!!!

[b-ball forever]

Well I like Dragic for sure, but if the report is true and we're gonna dish out 2 mil per for a 2nd rounder, that's a bit much. I mean that's the sorta bucks top 5 draft picks make.

I f it goes down and he winds playing like he did at the eurobasket last year, then I wudn't mind the extra money spent one bit tho.
Can't be any worse then Banks at 5 mil per, that's for sure

[nevetsov]

I think we'll all have to try and understand that we wouldn't be paying Dragic $2m, we'd be paying him ~500k and $1.5m to Tau.

[garrick]

If the Suns are going to pay 2 million to get Dragic one wonders why they could not have grabbed one of the earlier second round picks by offering some cash?

[WTFsunsFTW]

If the Suns are going to pay 2 million to get Dragic one wonders why they could not have grabbed one of the earlier second round picks by offering some cash?

I have no idea what you are asking here. They had stated Dragic was their only focus after Lopez. If fact, if Lopez was taken by 15, Kerr said they were going to take dragic with the first round pick. And they DID offer cash for an earlier second round pick, nobody budged until the spurs.

This whole question is full of failure.

[walkingart]

Maybe they could have offered more money for an earlier pick and not sweated it out, but I am assuming that they knew Tau was going to take them to the cleaners with a buyout.


Could you imagine the uproar if we had payed $2M for a pick and then payed Dragic $2M after paying Tau 500K. I am sure we would all be flipping out about not using the MLE.

[tsherkin]

thats not right. dragic is also a great defender and combine that with the fact he can run the offense, then i would much rather him having the minutes than DJ

I haven't heard or read anything to suggest he'll be a noteworthy defender at the NBA level. Could be a decent threat in the passing lanes with his anticipation and arm length but has weak fundamentals defensively.

Personally, since there are other ball-handlers on the team, I'd rather have DJ's defense and his presence as a transition threat than a lot of minutes for Dragic. I mean, DJ should be taking minutes to spell Raja as well, so Dragic should obviously get SOME run, but I'm not hyper-enthused by him. He's lasted to the 45th pick for a reason.

[rsavaj]

thats not right. dragic is also a great defender and combine that with the fact he can run the offense, then i would much rather him having the minutes than DJ

I haven't heard or read anything to suggest he'll be a noteworthy defender at the NBA level. Could be a decent threat in the passing lanes with his anticipation and arm length but has weak fundamentals defensively.

Personally, since there are other ball-handlers on the team, I'd rather have DJ's defense and his presence as a transition threat than a lot of minutes for Dragic. I mean, DJ should be taking minutes to spell Raja as well, so Dragic should obviously get SOME run, but I'm not hyper-enthused by him. He's lasted to the 45th pick for a reason.

+1. I was more high on Koponen and Rodriguez as PG prospects.

[SunsFever]

i've seen both play.. i would be way more excited about dragic than kaponen. Its gonna be great. if dragic works hard every day i really think he could become our pg of the future. he is more .. (ahem) feisty on defense that nash. then pair him with dj with the second unit and you have a good defensive (if not proven ) backcourt.

look, the important thing is not to expect too much too soon. this is a move that will pay dividends 2-3 yrs in the future and he's still VERY young... still an excelent signing

[Go7enKs]

He's lasted to the 45th pick for a reason.

Yeah, one reason: everyboy expected him to have NO buyout this season and a tough 1.5m$ buyout the next one.

Also don't put too many wight on draft positions, Manu Ginobili anyone?

[garrick]

If the Suns are going to pay 2 million to get Dragic one wonders why they could not have grabbed one of the earlier second round picks by offering some cash?

I have no idea what you are asking here. They had stated Dragic was their only focus after Lopez. If fact, if Lopez was taken by 15, Kerr said they were going to take dragic with the first round pick. And they DID offer cash for an earlier second round pick, nobody budged until the spurs.

This whole question is full of failure.

Don't believe everything the front office tells you, I'm sure the Suns would have considered other players besides Dragic but I think drafting as low as they did Dragic was the only choice at that point.
I honestly think Kerr is lying when they said that after Lopez, Dragic was the ONLY focus. There were plenty of good players available after Lopez.

My point was how come they couldn't have traded up in the second round without giving up 500k for a second round pick?
Do teams value second round picks that much?

Secondly how come no other team values Dragic as much as the Suns? I really hope Kerr made the right choice on this one.

[tsherkin]

+1. I was more high on Koponen and Rodriguez as PG prospects.

Yeah, I was higher on Petteri and Rodriguez as well.

i've seen both play.. i would be way more excited about dragic than kaponen. Its gonna be great. if dragic works hard every day i really think he could become our pg of the future. he is more .. (ahem) feisty on defense that nash. then pair him with dj with the second unit and you have a good defensive (if not proven ) backcourt.

The possibility is there, he's at least a little more athletic than Nash and, at best, noticeably so than even a younger Nash and that will of course change his disposition defensively, which could be huge. He looks good in transition. Not so much in the halfcourt, though.

As SunsFever notes, the guy's young and expectations should be low; he's a second-round pick.

Yeah, one reason: everyboy expected him to have NO buyout this season and a tough 1.5m$ buyout the next one.

Also don't put too many wight on draft positions, Manu Ginobili anyone?

There's some truth to that; you get your Gilbert Arenas', your Carlos Boozers your Michael Redds from time to time but by and large, the second round is a place of pure chance. Manu's selection, too, came from a time where international players were still struggling to get recognition and when the Spurs were the primary force behind the infusion of Euroleague players into the NBA (aside from the previous imports of guys like Divac, Sabonis, Petrovic and Dirk).

The problem with that assessment is that the scouting of European players has advanced and we know some key things that limit Dragic, things that make him seem less than palatable.

The most significant difference between him and Nash is that he's a weak shooter, not one of the best shooters in NBA history. He has a crappy mid-range game and not much of an NBA 3ball, which means he's going to struggle to get respect in the pick-and-roll the Suns use so much and won't be a kickout threat when Shaq's on the floor, which dramatically deflates his value and will hurt his playmaking ability in the halfcourt.

He can run and push all he likes but if he's doing that, it'd better be on a second unit without Shaq, Hill or DJ, because he's going to need a couple of three-ball snipers to cover for his deficiency.