Offseason Thread 6: The Not So Mexican Stand-off Continues

[RaisingArizona]

It's the JJ/Amare situation all over again. Trade him ASAP. Don't want anyone here that doesn't want to be here. Use that money to resign Dragic and Mo Bros.

[carey]

Revised Bucks offer:

Kris Middleton, Ersan Ilyasova and the 2017 lotto protected first Bucks just got from the Clippers for Bledsoe signed to 4/$63 deal.

Ask anyone here, I'm the most realistic trade proposer on these boards probably and I think that trade is total dog doo.

You seem to think we underrate him as a player because we drew a line in the sand over how much we think he should sign for. We are quite aware of how good of a player he is. We aren't going to take Middleton, an overpaid Ily, and a pick outside the lotto in 3 years. You can't honestly believe that's fair market value.

If you're intent on us taking Middleton you're also going to have to give us a pick that will be unprotected (or very minimally protected like top 3), one of Henson / Knight, and no Ily. We're both far enough under the cap where the salaries shouldn't be an issue but I'd have to look to make certain and I don't feel like it.

[KLEON]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ScottHoward42/status/508036249312296961[/tweet]

WIN!

[kingstyyyle]

Revised Bucks offer:

Kris Middleton, Ersan Ilyasova and the 2017 lotto protected first Bucks just got from the Clippers for Bledsoe signed to 4/$63 deal.

WTF your 2nd offer is worse than the 1st! GTFO

[thamadkant]

The rate Zoran is playing I would play him over Archie. Sign him! Dragic would take less if that happens. And he would extend ASAP.


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Zoran hasnt proven a minute against NBA competition.

SMH at Dragic fanboyism in here.

Suns DONT need any more guards.. they need Small forwards or big men who can score inside.

[asudevil]

Yeah I can see Bledsoe taking the QO and then Phoenix shipping him to Cleveland. And then when Cleveland comes to Phoenix next season.. that game will be very ugly.

Bledsoe, Kryie and Lebron will kill us. Bledsoe will talk trash to the crowd. I can see it now..
I always said Bledsoe would be playing with Lebron next season but didn't expect it to be in Cleveland.

This isn't possible. If Bled takes his QO then any team he's traded to basically loses his rights. So in order to resign him to a max or even a high dollar contract they need to be under the cap. Cleveland doesn't have that.

The only option if Bled wants money and wants Cleveland is a sign and trade. Waiters and Thompson or Varajo for Bledsoe with something else included maybe.

[BurningHeart]

The rate Zoran is playing I would play him over Archie. Sign him! Dragic would take less if that happens. And he would extend ASAP.


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Zoran hasnt proven a minute against NBA competition.

SMH at Dragic fanboyism in here.

Suns DONT need any more guards.. they need Small forwards or big men who can score inside.

Yeah how dare we like the very similar brother of a player we adore, who plays his heart out night after night, and who actually wants to be here.

Bring him in. Can't hurt. And it'd be a gesture of good will to Goran----the guy who, you know, we should be doing everything for to make sure he knows Phoenix is his team and to encourage him even further to remain a Sun for life.

[thamadkant]

The rate Zoran is playing I would play him over Archie. Sign him! Dragic would take less if that happens. And he would extend ASAP.


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Zoran hasnt proven a minute against NBA competition.

SMH at Dragic fanboyism in here.

Suns DONT need any more guards.. they need Small forwards or big men who can score inside.

Yeah how dare we like the very similar brother of a player we adore, who plays his heart out night after night, and who actually wants to be here.

Bring him in. Can't hurt. And it'd be a gesture of good will to Goran----the guy who, you know, we should be doing everything for to make sure he knows Phoenix is his team and to encourage him even further to remain a Sun for life.

How dare me call a spade a spade.
There are many people here with their tongue on Dragic's nuts.

He is a darn good player and proud to have him wear the purple and orange and all.

at least some here admit they are fanboys and don't try to hide it, I'm a Goodwin fanboy and and pray every day he breaks out to be a star player, I admit that. Probably will be a Bogdan Bogdanovic fanboy too… soon.


Suns have 5 guards who can play PG/SG… now and for the future.
Goran Dragic
Eric Bledsoe (as of today, he is still a sun)
Archie Goodwin
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Isaiah Thomas


Suns need a better player than Tucker to mingle with the top 8 out west…. or an inside scorer who can work well with the 5-6 guards the Suns have…

You can't play 5 guards on the court and be a good team...

[Bogyo]

For what its worth:
I just watched the Simmons podcast with Jalen (and Jacoby). Jalen said that Bledsoe + pieces for Irving might be a scenario to look at which I d be happy about generaly - depending on the extra pieces. It might make some sense for Cleveland becouse they seem to have defensive issues at guard (on paper as we havent seen them play yet), and becouse Kyrie is a fairly ball dominant player - not too useful with LeBron and Love.

Although Jalen said look for this as the season evolves, so I don't think he thought about Bledsoes QO and the fact that this trade would be fairly impossible after that - or he thought that Bledsoe will take a deal here, and then we throw in guys to make salaries match, but they didnt specify.

Anyways I d be happy with something like: Bled+Green (or a cpl heavily protected picks) for Irving.

[Qwigglez]

I like watch Irving play in isolation, but his game hasn't translated to wins even in the weak Eastern Conference I believe they should have played better than they had. Anyway, if we are to trade Bledsoe to Cleveland I'd rather try and get a big for em, so maybe Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson. Though, if the Cavs were offering up Irving, I'd see about a three team trade where we get Horford from the Hawks and Irving goes there.

[GrantHill]

Revised Bucks offer:

Kris Middleton, Ersan Ilyasova and the 2017 lotto protected first Bucks just got from the Clippers for Bledsoe signed to 4/$63 deal.

[RunDogGun]

The rate Zoran is playing I would play him over Archie. Sign him! Dragic would take less if that happens. And he would extend ASAP.


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Zoran hasnt proven a minute against NBA competition.

SMH at Dragic fanboyism in here.

Suns DONT need any more guards.. they need Small forwards or big men who can score inside.

Can't hurt to bring him in at the fifteenth spot. Teams rarely keep that many, so it wouldn't hurt us much. We need to get to the min salary anyway, and he would be a great practice player, and a positive for Goran. Plus it gives us room to make trades that may concern other guards that teams covet. And we could always move Green to SF, so we don't need another one of those like you said.

Saying that in no way means I'm a fanboy. Using a term like that to justify yourself seems Mad to me.

[Saberestar]

By Monday, there still will be three weeks remaining until the Suns depart for training camp in Flagstaff, but a roll call would garner nearly the same result this week.

Twelve of the 13 Suns under contract are expected to be at US Airways Center for weekday voluntary workouts. The other, Goran Dragic, is in Spain being a national hero in leading Slovenia to a World Cup quarterfinal matchup Tuesday against the United States.
The problem is that the player tally should be at 14.
Eric Bledsoe's whereabouts never have included Phoenix since the end of the regular season in April. Bledsoe has not even been close with his recent locales. He mostly has been training and with his family in his hometown of Birmingham. He popped into Atlanta a week ago for a party and workout with college buddy John Wall. He spent some of last week in Cleveland for a workout with LeBron James that was marked by James prodding the Suns with a "PHX break bread" Instagram post regarding Bledsoe, his fellow Klutch Sports Group client.

Contract resolution with Bledsoe has seemed even more distant this summer. There has been no apparent movement since early July posturing that the Suns were willing to give Bledsoe a four-year, $48 million contract and that Bledsoe's camp expected a five-year contract worth about $80 million. Bledsoe has not spoken with Suns staff since the season ended. Talks with his representation have been limited and unproductive. He also has not signed another team's offer sheet, which the Suns were expected to match to keep him if he did.

The Suns outmaneuvered the league to acquire Bledsoe last summer when he was the league's most highly sought piece on the trade block because of his potential. He lived up to it last season with the Suns, albeit for only 43 appearances in part because of a recurrence of a right knee issue that required its second surgery.

His performance and promise was enough for the Suns to want to keep Bledsoe, who has been unrevealing about whether he sought a long-term Suns future ever since the parties failed to negotiate a contract extension in October.
The stalemate has led to the strong possibility that Bledsoe accepts a one-year, $3.73 million qualifying offer with the Suns by the Oct. 1 deadline. It is a predetermined salary slot that the NBA collective bargaining agreement requires teams to offer an upcoming restricted free agent if they want to have rights to match any other team's offer sheet and retain the player. With the salary based on Bledsoe's rookie contract, the qualifying offer is rarely used for successful players but Greg Monroe accepted his $5.5 million qualifying offer with Detroit on Friday and Kevin Seraphin, who has the same agent (Rich Paul) as Bledsoe, took a $3.8 million qualifying offer earlier this summer to stay with Washington.

For Bledsoe, the qualifying offer is far below his value by any account. He essentially would be buying his freedom because he would become an unrestricted free agent in July, when teams like the Los Angeles Lakers could pursue him. The Suns could offer him more money than other teams at that point but they also will be facing free agency with Dragic, who likely will pass on a $7.5 million 2015-16 salary to become an unrestricted free agent.
A qualifying offer still allows Bledsoe to be traded by February but only with his approval and it would be difficult for a team to do so, knowing he would be a free agent months later.

The Suns began to seek or listen to sign-and-trade options for Bledsoe last month but their priority remains to sign Bledsoe to a multi-year contract. The Suns likely would be willing to increase their offer if they had a chance to negotiate, even though they have no market competition for the restricted free agent.
In the third month of free agency, many teams are unable to pursue a high-priced free agent because of salary-cap restrictions with settled rosters. Other teams are unlikely to pursue Bledsoe because they are either settled at his position in a point guard-rich league or they remain unsure about his value due to his knee history and his small sample size as a starter.

James has seen enough. After working out with Bledsoe in Cleveland on Friday, James and Bledsoe posted the same photo of the two of them at the Cavaliers facility. James' attached comment included what appeared to be advice for the Suns to pay Bledsoe, who was a Kentucky player when he became friends with James.

The post for James' 6.8 million Instagram followers read, "Great work today lil bro @ebled2 (Bledsoe's Instagram account)!! Future All-Star in this league in no time. PHX break bread. #Klutch #Work #GymRats #StriveForGreatness."

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /15221867/

[deb]

Can't hurt to bring him in at the fifteenth spot. Teams rarely keep that many, so it wouldn't hurt us much. We need to get to the min salary anyway, and he would be a great practice player, and a positive for Goran. Plus it gives us room to make trades that may concern other guards that teams covet. And we could always move Green to SF, so we don't need another one of those like you said.

Saying that in no way means I'm a fanboy. Using a term like that to justify yourself seems Mad to me.

I remember Zoran saying in an interview that he doesn't want to come to the NBA just because he's Goran's brother. If he ever makes it to the NBA, he wants it to be because he's good enough, on his own merit. So he probably isn't all that interested in Phoenix, where he would always be known as Dragic jr.
He also signed a new multi-year contract with Unicaja, although he has a buyout clause, reported to be around 1 million dollars.

Also he is really more of aguard-forward and can play against smaller sfs in the league...

[King4Day]

James has seen enough. After working out with Bledsoe in Cleveland on Friday, James and Bledsoe posted the same photo of the two of them at the Cavaliers facility. James' attached comment included what appeared to be advice for the Suns to pay Bledsoe, who was a Kentucky player when he became friends with James.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /15221867/

James also thought Napier was the best PG in last years draft... This is why he plays the game and doesn't run a team.
I realize EB has the potential but LeBron isn't an idiot. Deep down he has to understand why the Suns aren't risking the next 5 years at full value for him.

Someone said it best recently about Rich Paul putting it in EB's head that he's a max player. Bledsoe believes it and we can't get them to budge.

[Frank Lee]

So Monroe signs his QO....

Risky, and so far, hasn't been logically and profitably substantiated..... but ... it shows the importance about these Ego-lead-assclowns of being in the upper tier (maxland) contract wise when BlingThinging with their peers.

More power to them, but it is certain to back fire on more than one.

[Sunsdeuce]

Good read:
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/break ... 05026.html

"In the ongoing stalemate between Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns, each side has a good case. And that's the problem.

By now, you've seen the simple instagram post from LeBron James imploring the Phoenix Suns to be reasonable, sit down and talk it over to get his buddy a new contract. Poor Eric Bledsoe is still without an NBA contract, and LeBron feels badly for him.

That's what LeBron meant, right? By using the term "break bread", he simply meant that Bledsoe and the Suns should sit down for a meal and talk it over like adults to come to a mutual agreement? Nope, can't be that. The Suns have been requesting such a meeting all summer.

Or, did he mean that the Suns should "break bread" by sharing a little bit of their wealth with his buddy Eric? Nope, can't be that. The Suns offered $48 million of their wealth already. I think that counts as a little bit.........."



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[Scutt]

Bring him in. Can't hurt. And it'd be a gesture of good will to Goran----the guy who, you know, we should be doing everything for to make sure he knows Phoenix is his team and to encourage him even further to remain a Sun for life.

I disagree, I think it makes our team look foolish. Why ignore the positions the Suns need help at and bring in ANOTHER guard? To me that would be a move that reeks of wanting to up ticket sales and attendance, not build a contender. The Suns have already shown they like getting less talented siblings and pairing up brothers, and I think the Mori are enough for this Suns team.

I would rather go with a 20 year old Archie Goodwin, who is long and athletic, over a 25 year old Zoron, who is a less skilled version of his brother. Seriously, Zoron is nowhere near the playmaker or ball handler that Goran is. He has a few crafty moves like his brother, and he seems to have improved his shooting, but he a tweener who is too slow to be a true point guard and not long enough to guard the 2 spot.

I don't think it is wise to waste capspace and stunt Goodwins growth, all for the sake of making Goran Dragic happy. He is a great player, but some of you guys are acting like he is a cornerstone franchise piece that is untradeable and he is not.

[Christine-In-AZ]

You guys are taking this waaaaaaaaaaay to personal. Its a contract negotiation, Bledsoe has done what all clients should do in his spot... keep his mouth shut and let his agent handle it. Unfortunately his agent is a dope, but Bledsoe has been professional thus far. He has not ripped the team, he has not gotten in trouble, he has stayed in shape. Even his "free agency against me" quote his detractors love is taken out of context.

If he were to sign a QO and the the Suns sunk him on the depth chart to spite him then the Suns are screwing themselves. It would be a total waste of what would be a super cheap asset, and a pathetic, vindictive hatchet job that would absolutely destroy our reputation with players around the league.

+1

[phrazbit]

Pretty sure Zoran has a contract in Europe and I doubt he'd leave unless his NBA contract was guaranteed, not as a 15th man.