*MERGED* Done Deal. Goodbye Jrich/Hedo/Clark

[DRK]

Yes, but we already have Jared Dudley who is supposed to be Bell 2.0.

Sorry guys. DOn't mind me. I am just sad to see Earl Clark go, as every since he was drafted, I have been an avid follower of him. everytime he hit the court, I cheered for him, and every time he got a DNP, he was sasd for him. He basically was the played I focused most on during games.

I also miss Clark's versatility on defence to play the 3,4 and 5.

[AJ15]

with his new number

[swe_suns]

Lakers have size but man if we want to have size and defense in our starting lineup we could do this

Nash
Pietrus
Frye
Gortat
Lopez

Nash on Fisher
Pietrus on Kobe
Frye on Artest/Odom
Gortat on Gasol
Lopez on Bynum

Nash/Pietrus/Frye deadly 3pt shooters, Gortat can play the PnR with Nash and hopefully one of Gortat and Lopez can knock down the midrange shot and I don't see how that lineup won't be ridiculously successfull. It should kill every team on the boards.

[DRK]

with his new number

It looks like Carter just finished having a good, long weeping session.

[grumpysaddle]

Lakers have size but man if we want to have size and defense in our starting lineup we could do this

Nash
Pietrus
Frye
Gortat
Lopez

Nash on Fisher
Pietrus on Kobe
Frye on Artest/Odom
Gortat on Gasol
Lopez on Bynum

Nash/Pietrus/Frye deadly 3pt shooters, Gortat can play the PnR with Nash and hopefully one of Gortat and Lopez can knock down the midrange shot and I don't see how that lineup won't be ridiculously successfull. It should kill every team on the boards.

No way Frye can cover Artest/Odom very successfully. Well... Artest maybe since he doesn't understand the triangle offense at all. But still... Frye isn't quick enough for SF.

[Frank Lee]

.

I know many are not embracing this deal, so I advise re-reading this excellent summary post from the Great and Powerful OZ

I don't see how any Suns fan could not like this trade. Say what you want about our tough schedule, but this was just a poorly assembled team playing ugly ball and there was no way we were going anywhere/making the playoffs.

Up until the last half of this past season, Suns fans rightfully hated J-Rich, as he didn't fit well with the team and was forcing everything on offense while providing nothing else. Something happened near the end of last season, he finally clicked with the team and has been playing great since. While replacing him with Carter could possibly make the team worse- once again, we were going nowhere without making a trade. J-Rich was playing for a contract, as he had stated in several interviews, and we were going to lose him regardless in the offseason or have to overpay to keep him around.

That part of the trade I consider a wash. If we get worse? Great, a better lottery pick than we were going to get with Richardson. If we get better? I don't think trading JRich for Carter straight up would get us into the playoffs, but if it does, that's great too. That all cancels out to me, which leads us to the meat of the trade:

Turkoglu/Clark for Gortat/Pietrus/pick/monies. If we had done this trade straight up, everyone on this board would be dancing naked in the streets. We got rid of the worthless slug Turkoglu and get back what this team has needed desperately: more size and more defense in Gortat and Pietrus. This part of the trade should satisfy people wanting to win now, and should elate people wanting to cut money and build for the future.

We lost a little bit of offense from the whole trade and gained a **** ton of defense. That's something we could afford, considering we're #1 in points scored as well as #1 in points given up.

J-Rich was a pretty unique piece; a huge expiring contract that could also help transform a near-contenting team into contender status. For that reason alone he had a much greater trade value than actual value to our team. Babby did a great job of using that trade value. I can't think of a better overall deal that wouldn't hurt us much in the present, yet help us out so much in the future.

At least we will not be subject to incessant drivel of Earl Clark love anymore.


Other unmentioned bonus's will be the evacuation of various 'starved-for-anything-positive-to-flaunt' Raptor fans along with the local Turkey Shoot contest. Actually, I do not think this deal goes down without Hedu. JRich for VC is not enough of an upgrade to justify the other pieces. Face it, Clark was just a body.

It was the Magic's desire for Hedu that brought us Gortat/Pietrus, plus a 1st and cash to boot.

If you adopt that thinking, then you have to give credit to the Babster and Bobster for turning Barbo into a positive asset. If they are able to parlay another decent young player from this ie. AR, JThompson, or?.... then may be we can put to rest much of this negative animosity towards the future of this team. This is good start for Blanks as Gortat adds another good young player, reasonably inked for 3+ yrs. I like Pietrus too.

Jesus, not another damn Iggy/Brand post.

Yeah..... and to think, we could be discussing TWill.


PS...Good to read about VC's elation to play with Nash, but I'd still move him for the beast that is Zack, as suggested, if we can not get a youngster PF with our picks.

[swe_suns]

if there was any doubt about gortat fitting in our system, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_zXUyzg ... re=related

[swe_suns]

Lakers have size but man if we want to have size and defense in our starting lineup we could do this

Nash
Pietrus
Frye
Gortat
Lopez

Nash on Fisher
Pietrus on Kobe
Frye on Artest/Odom
Gortat on Gasol
Lopez on Bynum

Nash/Pietrus/Frye deadly 3pt shooters, Gortat can play the PnR with Nash and hopefully one of Gortat and Lopez can knock down the midrange shot and I don't see how that lineup won't be ridiculously successfull. It should kill every team on the boards.

No way Frye can cover Artest/Odom very successfully. Well... Artest maybe since he doesn't understand the triangle offense at all. But still... Frye isn't quick enough for SF.

It's still fine, just put in Hill on SF who is a good rebounder and have Nash/Pietrus/Hill/Gortat/Frye or even Nash/Pietrus/Dudley/Gortat/Frye with 4 excellent 3pt shooters and at least 3 great defenders.

[lilfishi22]

Quite happy with the trade. Didn't like that we had to give up JRich to dump Hedo but we do gain a fair bit of financial flexibility with Carter being a $4m buy out which isn't as nice as jRich's expiring but considering that jRich wants another big deal which we wouldn't have given him, it all works out. I do like the guys coming in and I think Carter will flourish in our system. There was a lot of pressure put on VC to be that number 2 guy not in terms of putting points up, but in creating everything himself. Next to Nash he'll still be a scorer, he just won't have that pressure of needing to create his own shot every time. And to anyone who thinks Carter NEEDS the ball in his hands all the time and won't fit with Nash because he couldn't fit with Jameer Nelson, that's just BS. VC played some great ball next to Kidd in NJ so there shouldn't be any issues.

Pietrus is a nice throw in. I've lost a lot of love for the guy since he became almost exclusively a 3PT shooter. His 6FTA this season is kind of worrying considering he was suppose to be a slasher of sorts. Either way, he's on a decent contract, very good defender and can score a little bit so he'll be a good addition to the team. The only issue is trying to work out playing time since we still have the problem with being too stacked at the 3 spot with Hill, Dudley, JChill and Pietrus. Pietrus can play the 2 so he'll see some minutes there.

Gortat is a player I've liked for a while. Pretty mobile, excellent defender, great rebounder and while he lacks offense in the post, he's a capable and athletic PnR guy. He's probably my favourite player coming in from the trade.

The pick would give us another trade asset we could use to package with one of the wings to help clear 3 spot. I don't see us keeping it.

I think overall I probably would give this trade an A-. I definitely thought we could do better with JRich's expiring and losing him is tough for our team. But considering we were going nowhere as is and with Hedo's deal in the books for another 4 seasons, it just didn't make sense to sit on our hands and let Nash wither away on a .500 ball club. The trade does add some long term salary guys (Pietrus/Gortat) but they are reasonable and they should fit the system. VC's deal is basically an expiring and we could move him to improve the team. I think losing JRich will be very tough but with Hedo seemingly giving us nothing other than "a dagger 3 with 35s left against the lakers" (lol) it made sense to make this move. I think we're a better team after this trade with better rebounding and defense but I still don't think we're a top seed yet. However, I do think that the chances of being a surprise team that goes deep in the playoffs is significantly higher than it was pre-trade. So I'm not saying we're deep playoff team good yet, but we have the potential to be that good if we make another move to get us a proper PF.

[DRK]

if there was any doubt about gortat fitting in our system, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_zXUyzg ... re=related

I can just imagine our bench doing those hammar movements whenever Gortat dunks it.

[visions]

Sad to see J-Rich go. I didn't like the trade that brought him to PHX and some of his bonehead plays in his first season with the Suns made me dislike him even more....but boy did he win me over in the last 12 months. Apart from his recent slump, the guy has been amazing.

I hope Carter is traded. He has talent but is no winner. If we keep him he'll probably put up solid numbers playing alongside Nash but I can't see him bringing the same emotion and intensity as J-Rich or J-Rich's predecessor Raja.

I really like the additons of Pietrius and Gortat for all the same reasons as everyone else and also especially since we get rid of Hedo who was a bad fit before the season even started.

We still need a real PF though. Nash is the master of the p 'n r and he desperately needs someone who is both athletic and has good hands to play it with. I was hoping Warrick would be that guy since he's certainly atheletic but he's just too soft and blows so many easy layups (not to mention some easy dunks). Then we have Frye who is possibly the softest big in the league and would rather shoot 3's than attack the basket.

Bring in a decent PF by trading Carter+pick(s) and suddenly this team is looking like a dark horse in the West.

[JMac1]

.
It was the Magic's desire for Hedu that brought us Gortat/Pietrus, plus a 1st and cash to boot.

If you adopt that thinking, then you have to give credit to the Babster and Bobster for turning Barbo into a positive asset. If they are able to parlay another decent young player from this ie. AR, JThompson, or?.... then may be we can put to rest much of this negative animosity towards the future of this team. This is good start for Blanks as Gortat adds another good young player, reasonably inked for 3+ yrs. I like Pietrus too.

I got my LOL realgm smilie on hold for the trash talking Raps' fans

[lilfishi22]

if there was any doubt about gortat fitting in our system, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_zXUyzg ... re=related

I can just imagine our bench doing those hammar movements whenever Gortat dunks it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDDDJvd3bQY

[Kingsforlife]

GORTAT!!!!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWOGuEVmXZw[/youtube]

[asubennett]

Watching that video has me so excited to watch him in the pick and roll. What a night and day difference between him and Lopez. I hope we start Gortat at PF.

[Moochiefried]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hb1cBBcV1g&feature=fvw[/youtube]

[Cutter]

people said Jefferson would be a bad fit and not to go after him with the amare trade, me being one of them... now the Jazz are laughing all the way to the playoffs. A dominant big pf. will fit in no matter what. Zack fits the bill for the playoffs. He would earn his pay against during the slow grind it out playoffs. Get Zack.... I dont care if you think his attitude stinks... he is HUGE... REBOUNDS..... POSTS UP AND SCORES..... CONTROLS THE LANE ON OFENSE AND DEFENSE!! You have to be able to play more than one way, this is why in the past we had great records in the regular season, and faltered in the post season. With Zack being an expiring it is a no brainer.... Vince+Warrick+orlando 1st for Zack Randolph, puts us into the picture in the West..... Cant you see that????

Amen Fo.

[YFZblu]

[Calvin Klein]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON2zSuacy6c&NR=1[/youtube]

at least we could see a little bit of this

[asian]

i don't like the trade, turk is bad fit for the suns and gortat is a good acquisition but giving up j-rich (our go to guy scorer) and earl clark (has as much upside as anyone outside of Griffin, curry and tyreke in 09 draft) for an old, washed up carter and pietrus (a spot up 3pt shooter who can't create his own shot and has pretty much reached his potential as a player) is a definite no-no.