2014 Official FA Thread

[INFORMER-93]

why would pau agree to this? why would the lakers take on an expiring contract (when they dont have to, and any asset they receive is anything to crow about) just to do the other team a favor? and why do you think other teams would overpay for gasol?

Gasol would agree to it in order to get paid.

The Lakers would take on expiring contracts of players they would want so that they can field a competitive team in the 2014-15 season while maintaining their cap space for the 2015 offseason.

And I didn't say anything about any team overpaying Gasol.

[SDC]

why would pau agree to this? why would the lakers take on an expiring contract (when they dont have to, and any asset they receive is anything to crow about) just to do the other team a favor? and why do you think other teams would overpay for gasol?

Gasol would agree to it in order to get paid.

The Lakers would take on expiring contracts of players they would want so that they can field a competitive team in the 2014-15 season while maintaining their cap space for the 2015 offseason.

And I didn't say anything about any team overpaying Gasol.

ah, so the lakers going to do this favor for the other team and gasol for basically (less than) nothing in return? got it.

(unlike the botched lakers suns deal where they could have saved money).

[INFORMER-93]

ah, so the lakers going to do this favor for the other team and gasol for basically nothing in return? got it.

I explained why the Lakers would do it.

[jcsunsfan]

ah, so the lakers going to do this favor for the other team and gasol for basically nothing in return? got it.

I explained why the Lakers would do it.

HOpefully the Lakers will do as you said, which means that they would be treading water for 2014-15 in order to go big into free agency in the summer of 2015. That would bode well for the draft pick we hold.

[JDLAW]

There's a huge difference between Metta World Peace and Pau Gasol. MWP is barely a NBA player anymore. Gasol puts up 17/10. Regardless of the savings, you don't dump a player as good as Gasol for nothing, unless you're in a financially desperate situation, which the Lakers were not.

Secondly, there a number of ways the offseason can play out for Gasol and the Lakers. They don't have to renounce his Bird rights until a free agent is ready to sign on the dotted line. Until then, they can hold on to his rights, giving them the option to either resign him or sign and trade him.

You have not told us anything that we already did not know.

Your original post would suggest otherwise. Either you didn't know, didn't understand, or just chose to ignore it.

I simply chose to comment on the most likely scenario. You still have not addressed the fact that the Lakers are most likely to rescind his Bird rights to acquire roster flexibility and have lost out on substantial financial benefit apparently because of "pride".

[dgwdum]

You have not told us anything that we already did not know.

Your original post would suggest otherwise. Either you didn't know, didn't understand, or just chose to ignore it.

I simply chose to comment on the most likely scenario. You still have not addressed the fact that the Lakers are most likely to rescind his Bird rights to acquire roster flexibility and have lost out on substantial financial benefit apparently because of "pride".

As a laker fan who offers a laker point of view. I can tell you that the lakers did the right thing.

Is gasol worth a mid first rounder or 2 low firsts along with cap relief? No he isnt. I have no problem admitting that.

However had the lakers just given gasol away to put money in their pockets without receiving any asset, the damage that would have been greater than the potential savings. The fan and media backlash wouldn't have been worth it.

Jim buss and mitch Kupchak are getting ripped apart as it is and this would have added to the unfair perception they have right now.

Look at it this way, if you are a free agent and you see the lakers giving away players to save money and making bad trades (nash&howard) why would you sign with them?

And for the suns management it works out great. They already got 4 picks from the nash trade and now they get gasol for free.

Another way to see things is like this. Who gets the better deal in 2 scenarios. 1- the suns get gasol for okafors expiring deal only or 2- the lakers trade gasol for okafor and the pacers pick? Which team comes out far better than the other in each scenario. I doubt many suns fans would have been really upset if scenario 2 had taken place.

Also you guys undervalue gasol way too much, hes still a top 5 post player on offense. His combination of size and skills are better than most of the Pf who made the allstar game. He can score inside and outside and makes plays for others.Defensively he sucks, I know. But is he that much worse defensively than any of the guys who play pf for you at the moment?

Like I said, I wouldn't have given up a good pick or 2 bad ones for gasol considering his age, contract and defense. However for the pacers pick that would have been a steal. Considering that the suns gm is going to have cap space this summer and will be looking to make trades what better way to get upcoming FAs attention than a good playoff run.

But thats just my opinion obviously.

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[DirtyDez]

Surprised the Suns are getting some Lebron love on the GB. With that said...

Bledsoe/Twins most of our picks in 3-way resulting in Love to PHX. Channing opts-out and re-signs lowers in 2015 cap hit and let Tucker go. Sign Lebron.

Dragic/Ish (minimum)
Green/Goodwin
Lebron/rookie/vet-min guy
Love/Frye
Plumlee/Len

Just woke up!

[Ryu]

So, you would give Bledsoe, twins and 4/5 firsts for Kevin Love?

Love is good but not that good.

[DirtyDez]

So, you would give Bledsoe, twins and 4/5 firsts for Kevin Love?

Love is good but not that good.

If it were to close the deal on Lebron I'd throw in a kidney as well.

[Gorilla Warfare]

So, you would give Bledsoe, twins and 4/5 firsts for Kevin Love?

Love is good but not that good.

If it were to close the deal on Lebron I'd throw in a kidney as well.

LeBron wouldn't join the Suns without Bledsoe. Bledsoe is literally the only chance we have at LeBron.

[DirtyDez]

So, you would give Bledsoe, twins and 4/5 firsts for Kevin Love?

Love is good but not that good.

If it were to close the deal on Lebron I'd throw in a kidney as well.

LeBron wouldn't join the Suns without Bledsoe. Bledsoe is literally the only chance we have at LeBron.

The best possible Suns team is our only chance to get Lebron.

[SunsFanSSOL]

The fact Kevin Love has never been on a winning team in the NBA or led his team to the playoffs, heavily stat-pads on a bad team like the Wolves, plays no D, and will bolt for the Lakers in 2 years is concerning. The most I would give up are the Twins, Len and some firsts. No way I give up Bledsoe, the twins and 4 first rounders.

[JMac1]

The fact Kevin Love has never been on a winning team in the NBA or led his team to the playoffs, heavily stat-pads on a bad team like the Wolves, plays no D, and will bolt for the Lakers in 2 years is concerning. The most I would give up are the Twins, Len and some firsts. No way I give up Bledsoe, the twins and 4 first rounders.

F-Love..... He aint coming here. Try James....then Hayward....then Gay for a good salary. Develop Len and Archie.....

[carey]

Love is the perfect fit here. He doesn't need the ball in his hands a lot to score. His rebounding would be a huge improvement. We have two rim protectors that would erase some of his mistakes on defense. He's somewhat available. The possibility that he would gut us of assets to leave after one season like Howard did to L.A. is the big sticking point for me. I've been saying for well over a year that the Suns should wait until 2015 and try to sign him as a free agent. At the time I didn't think it would be a certainty that Goran would opt out of his deal after year 3, but he's definitely going to be doing that. He's probably the most underpaid player not playing under a rookie deal in the league.

So what do we do this Summer knowing we'd need to have enough room to offer Love a giant deal & resign Goran in 2015? In terms of cap dollars it would mean not spending very much. There's still a lot of moving parts though. Does Frye opt out? Do we re-sign Tucker to a multiyear contract? How many picks are we keeping this Summer? I think for the next two months I'm not going to attempt to answer these questions and instead I'm going to just enjoy the team's push for the playoffs.

[bwgood77]

Lets see what Love says around the next trade deadline. We will have a lot more trading pieces then. If he sounds willing to re-sign with Phx (and remember, we could sign him for much more than anyone else if we trade for him), then I'd be willing to roll the dice. However, I'm starting to think that if Kief keeps getting better, he could be our PF for the future.

I think the LeBron thing is a pipedream for one, and for two, he doesn't really fit the team. Do you really want to take the ball out of Dragic's hands? Bledsoe and him already share ball handling duties. LeBron isn't going to play off the ball. I just think Love fits in much better. The fact he hasn't won doesn't mean a lot to me. I believe in Hornacek and him putting Love into the position to succeed.

Our best bet might be going after lower tier players that McD and Hornacek have scouted and feel they could thrive in our system. If he can get what he has out of Green and Plumlee, imagine what he could do with players people think our pretty good?

For all we know, we nail a couple of draft picks and improve from within. Guys like McDermott and Payne could slide because they are older, but they are the types of guys who could probably step right in and contribute immediately with some of the things we can use.

[carey]

Hehe, that's kind of a weird argument. Of course you take the ball out of Dragic's hands if it's for LeBron.

[DirtyDez]

Love is the perfect fit here. He doesn't need the ball in his hands a lot to score. His rebounding would be a huge improvement. We have two rim protectors that would erase some of his mistakes on defense. He's somewhat available. The possibility that he would gut us of assets to leave after one season like Howard did to L.A. is the big sticking point for me. I've been saying for well over a year that the Suns should wait until 2015 and try to sign him as a free agent. At the time I didn't think it would be a certainty that Goran would opt out of his deal after year 3, but he's definitely going to be doing that. He's probably the most underpaid player not playing under a rookie deal in the league.

So what do we do this Summer knowing we'd need to have enough room to offer Love a giant deal & resign Goran in 2015? In terms of cap dollars it would mean not spending very much. There's still a lot of moving parts though. Does Frye opt out? Do we re-sign Tucker to a multiyear contract? How many picks are we keeping this Summer? I think for the next two months I'm not going to attempt to answer these questions and instead I'm going to just enjoy the team's push for the playoffs.

Yeah Love would be great here but people like to nitpick. There's 1 perfect player in the league so everyone has flaws. Aquiring him for Bledsoe would allow the Suns to lock up Dragic/Love.

McD showed he's a creative dude having already orchestrated the Reddick-to-Clipps deal...

[bwgood77]

Hehe, that's kind of a weird argument. Of course you take the ball out of Dragic's hands if it's for LeBron.

Well of course you do, but Dragic and Bledsoe are not the type of players LeBron should be surrounded by to maximize him. LeBron is basically a point forward.

I can understand if people want to move along from Dragic and/or Bledsoe, and of course doing that for LeBron I guess gives them a good argument.

Honestly I'm pretty tired of LeBron. As good as he is, I'm not sure I want him on the Suns. I like being the young up and coming team.

[Frank Lee]

I am just tired of Lebron talk. He's not leaving. Its Miami. Did you see his crib on his commercials? Nothing like that in Phnx is available. Plus it is hot as balz in the desert. You really think he wants to play with Bledsoe that bad... because if he did, he would simply 'arrange' it for Bled to go to South Beach.

I'd think a Bled for Bosh deal is more likely than Lebron as a Sun



Any FAs available for this yr ?

[letsgosuns]

One of the biggest things the Suns have going for them is their speed and athleticism. They have several very athletic players in Green, Bledsoe, Plumlee, and even Dragic to an extent. Ish Smith is also incredibly fast. And as many people have seen in glimpses, Archie Goodwin is extremely athletic. That is a big reason why the Suns have been successful since it is hard for other teams to match up with their athleticism.

Kevin Love does not fit the description of an athletic player. I do not think he fits what the Suns want to do. I think he is a great rebounder and has great stats, but every time I see him play, he looks slow and shoots mostly jump shots. A perfect example was the all-star game. He was totally outclassed athletically by the rest of the players. It was sad to watch honestly. Because of that, I would rather the Suns look elsewhere. I have no interest in building around and giving max money to a power forward who is slow and barely jumps and does not dominate inside. They already have an outside shooting big man in Frye and they do not need another one. (By the way, I am not saying Frye is near Love's level, just saying they both shoot a lot jumpers for big guys).

Another thing, is Kevin Love even a good defender? The main thing holding back the Suns since they have been a franchise is that they have never been a great defensive team. No defense = no championship. From what everyone says, Love is not a good defender. So why would I give up the farm for a power forward who is slow, does not dominate inside, shoots mostly jump shots, is not a good defender, and might leave in free agency anyway?

I certainly would not give up Len and/or Goodwin for him. No chance. I mean emphatically no chance. Len is a legitimate, skilled 7'1" center who is only 20 years old and has the most potential of any young center the Suns have ever had. If anybody says they would trade a guy like that during his rookie year, they are crazy. You give a guy like that years to develop before you consider trading him. I would never trade a potential dominating center for a power forward. Dominant centers win titles far more often than dominant power forwards do. I also think Goodwin has enormous potential as well. Look at what he did last night after not playing in a game for a very long time. He is only 19. You do not trade two guys who are 20 and 19 who could be great players for anything less than a true superstar.

Kevin Love may have phenomenal stats, but I have watched him play, and I do not even understand how he gets his stats. I definitely do not consider him a superstar to build around. That is reserved for players like James and Durant. I do not think Love is near their level. Not even close. The only pieces I would consider trading for Love are the Morris brothers, Frye, and a couple of picks. Otherwise I pass on him. I would much rather try to find an athletic player out there who can be a dominant defender. Defense wins championships. Maybe it is time the Suns figure that out and pass on a power forward who does not play any.