Official Suns Free Agent/Trade/Transaction Thread

[JMac1]

1st off, have to say its good to see the Suns relevant again! As a Wolfies fan I don't trade Love until he forces the issue. However with the teams inconsistent play maybe you get Flip on a day he's not sure the current core will work and accepts a great offer before having to deal with Love forcing the issue.

Like the previous posters have said, if Love is traded really only the LAL 2015 is a high lotto pick. Flip liked Len just not as much as Zeller partially due to positional need.

If the Suns offered up Okafor expiring wiith Len & all 5 1sts they own, it could be hard to say no.
MN 2014 - If they don't trade Love its a 15-20 range
PHX 2014 - 18-25
Wash 2014 10-20
Indy 2014 - 28-32
LAL 2015 - possibly a top 10 but very hard to say with the Lakers. Things change quickly with that team & cap space.

Your basically trading an expiring for 1 top 5 pick in Len, a possible hgh lottery pick in 2015, & 3 1sts ranging from 10-30 in a pretty deep draft. While 5 1st's sounds like a lot it isnt nearly as crazy as it sounds. Im not sure Flip says yes but he doesnt hang up on you thats for sure.

Too many firsts!! They can have ours, Wash and Indy 2014 or Len minus our Wash pick. In 2015 they can have ours.

[carey]

Your basically trading an expiring for 1 top 5 pick in Len, a possible hgh lottery pick in 2015, & 3 1sts ranging from 10-30 in a pretty deep draft. While 5 1st's sounds like a lot it isnt nearly as crazy as it sounds. Im not sure Flip says yes but he doesnt hang up on you thats for sure.

It is crazy. No one is giving you that many picks for 18 months of Kevin Love without his word of re-signing. He's not giving that to anyone. He's itching to explore free agency.

[McD for MVP]

I wouldn't trade crap for Love without him agreeing to stay and neither would any GM in the league

[JDLAW]

I agree with Carey. Even if he wanted to come to Phoenix, I would not trade 5 firsts and Len for Love under any circumstances. I would not trade Len at all as I think he is going to be a very good player and I just am not inclined to trade young big men who were high draft choices. All I have to do is look at other big men that took 3-4 years to come into their own (the Lopez twins, Jordan, Vucevic, Bynum, etc…) and the impact they are have (or had in Bynum's case) on their teams and I can see Len as a big man that can man the center position for this team for 12-15 years.

Love is a very good offensive player and a very good rebounder, but he is a poor defensive player and his offensive efficiency (shooting percentages) is not all that wonderful. I might be blind, but I am just not seeing the great improvement in the Suns with Love in place of Frye and Morris that some of you see. Love needs 37 minutes a game and almost 19 shots a game to get his 25 points. This is 6 shots a game more than Bledsoe or Dragic who lead the Suns in number of shots a game at 13 shots per game. His shooting percentage is not as good as Frye's or Morris' at this time and he blocks about half of the shots as Frye. But when you consider the number of minute he needs to put up his impressive stats will come from both Frye and Morris' playing time, who are both better defensive players, I am not seeing how his presence in the line-up improves the Suns record as much as some of you anticipate. In fact, despite all of his great statistics, his team has yet to finish .500 and has never made the playoffs, so please do not talk about him being the key to a long playoff run.

The other things about Love that makes me uneasy is that he has only played one full season in his in his career - his rookie year. Every other year he has missed numerous games with injuries.

Overall, he would likely make the Suns a better team, just not as much as some of you are thinking and I would certainly not gut this team of all of its first round draft choices and add players for him and I would not give much of anything for him unless he was committed through an extension to be here for at least 4-5 years.

[carey]

I agree with Carey. Even if he wanted to come to Phoenix, I would not trade 5 firsts and Len for Love under any circumstances. I would not trade Len at all as I think he is going to be a very good player and I just am not inclined to trade young big men who were high draft choices. All I have to do is look at other big men that took 3-4 years to come into their own (the Lopez twins, Jordan, Vucevic, Bynum, etc…) and the impact they are have (or had in Bynum's case) on their teams and I can see Len as a big man that can man the center position for this team for 12-15 years.

Love is a very good offensive player and a very good rebounder, but he is a poor defensive player and his offensive efficiency (shooting percentages) is not all that wonderful. I might be blind, but I am just not seeing the great improvement in the Suns with Love in place of Frye and Morris that some of you see. Love needs 37 minutes a game and almost 19 shots a game to get his 25 points. This is 6 shots a game more than Bledsoe or Dragic who lead the Suns in number of shots a game at 13 shots per game. His shooting percentage is not as good as Frye's or Morris' at this time and he blocks about half of the shots as Frye. But when you consider the number of minute he needs to put up his impressive stats will come from both Frye and Morris' playing time, who are both better defensive players, I am not seeing how his presence in the line-up improves the Suns record as much as some of you anticipate. In fact, despite all of his great statistics, his team has yet to finish .500 and has never made the playoffs, so please do not talk about him being the key to a long playoff run.

The other things about Love that makes me uneasy is that he has only played one full season in his in his career - his rookie year. Every other year he has missed numerous games with injuries.

Overall, he would likely make the Suns a better team, just not as much as some of you are thinking and I would certainly not gut this team of all of its first round draft choices and add players for him and I would not give much of anything for him unless he was committed through an extension to be here for at least 4-5 years.

All great points. Again, this is why he's not worth what the Minnesota fans are suggesting. 5 firsts is crazy. I don't think any player has been traded for a haul like that. McDonough is an analytics guy. I think he is well aware of everything you said. He's also aware that Love is a good player that will improve this team if acquired. I'm sure he has a package in mind and won't be out-negotiated.

[SunsFanSSOL]

It's a huge stretch, but I found it interesting the NBA decided to drop the Lakers-Rockets game on ESPN Jan. 8th in favor of the Suns vs. Wolves

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1902 ... mberwolves

Do they know something about the Kevin Love trade rumors/suggestions that we don't?

[carey]

It's a huge stretch, but I found it interesting the NBA decided to drop the Lakers-Rockets game on ESPN Jan. 8th in favor of the Suns vs. Wolves

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1902 ... mberwolves

Do they know something about the Kevin Love trade rumors/suggestions that we don't?

Nope!

Even with the Lakers sucking like a Hoover I would assume the Howard v. Lakers matchup would be better for television than the Suns vs. Wolves. However, I'll take a national t.v. game for any reason. We only have a few.

[Ring_Wanted]

Kevin Love is not perfect, his defense very weak, but I wouldn't hesitate to move Len and all the 2014 and 2015 draft but one pick for him (which would be required by the CBA), of course, if he agrees to sign an extension, which is not a given considering the Lakers. Still, getting an all NBA talent on a playoff roster, in the west, that fits him like a glove is not an opportunity that comes every year. I wouldn't let it go.

You say 'don't gut the team', ok, but you need to give to get. Besides, what do you plan to do with all the players and picks? You can't play everybody. Do you let go players that have been proving to be perfect for this system like Tucker or Frye? The Morrii?

'Trading up' is a nice concept but you need somebody to trade down. If you had a top8 pick this year, would you trade down with the Suns? I wouldn't.

At some point you need to take the next step, either 'cost free' through FAgency or by turning quantity into quality. I value picks and rookies as much as anybody, but I am also aware that usually what you get from the picks at our projected range is role players, plus the variance in form of higher caliber/bust.

If I would be left with Bledsoe, Goran, PJ, Love, Miles, the Morrii and one from Len/Archie plus one 1stR in 2014 or 15, I'd be ecstatic. It would be exactly the opposite to what happened to NY when they got Melo, who is the cautionary tale when you trade for a star.

[DirtyDez]

You can nitpick any star in this league if you wanted to but McD has been consistently stating the need for a star using our assets. Yes Love doesn't play D but he's putting up Barkley numbers and is the best rebounder in the league. Frye and Morris are solid but limited and we'd be keeping at least one of them anyway most likely. This team doesn't really have anyone who can score and pass from the post. K-Love makes us arguably the best scoring/rebounding team in the league but if they're asking too much we can go after him in FA.

[McD for MVP]

I've come to the conclusion that the Morris twins value is going to continue to skyrocket. I absolutely think Love will ask to be traded if the Wolves miss the playoffs. Twins + Lakers pick + our pick + Ind pick + Wiz pick + Min pick on draft day could look like a good trade. I think the Morri will be very sought after

[Ryu]

I've come to the conclusion that the Morris twins value is going to continue to skyrocket. I absolutely think Love will ask to be traded if the Wolves miss the playoffs. Twins + Lakers pick + our pick + Ind pick + Wiz pick + Min pick on draft day could look like a good trade. I think the Morri will be very sought after

Yeah, draft day trade looks more realistic than during-the-season one. However, if we trade Morris twins I`d insist on keeping one pick from upcoming draft (ours or Wizz) to draft small forward (James Young should be available, imho).

[Qwigglez]

Everyone keeps saying an 18-month rental in Love, but realistically, why wouldn't he stay with the team if we were able to keep our core together?
Okafor/Len/Goodwin plus 4 or 5 First I would do just because we'd have a title contender now and for years to come.
We could use Frye as a backup center, and even have a super spread offense with Frye and Love in the lineup. That's a hard team to match up with.
Would the Suns be able to offer Hayward a contract, if we traded for Love, and keep Bledsoe?

[Safety Pickle]

Everyone keeps saying an 18-month rental in Love, but realistically, why wouldn't he stay with the team if we were able to keep our core together?
Okafor/Len/Goodwin plus 4 or 5 First I would do just because we'd have a title contender now and for years to come.
We could use Frye as a backup center, and even have a super spread offense with Frye and Love in the lineup. That's a hard team to match up with.
Would the Suns be able to offer Hayward a contract, if we traded for Love, and keep Bledsoe?

We also would give up an amazing amount of points in the paint.

I want Love just as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure that lineup would work for more than short stretches/specific situations