Grade the Suns Offseason

bigfoot · Post #1 » by **bigfoot** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 6:07 pm

Drafting Warren and Ennis
Picking up Isiah Thomas
Resigning Tucker
Picking up Tolliver
Resigning Bledsoe
Extending the Morri
Picking up Zoran

What's your grade for the Front Office?

I'm giving them an A. Didn't overpay. Let's our young guys develop. If they could have gotten Lebron then it would be an A+

spanishninja · Post #2 » by **spanishninja** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:00 pm

no votes for C+ eh? none of us works at nba.com I guess.

Post #3 » by **Miklo** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:06 pm

B+, because I felt like all the moves we made were individually good moves, but what brings it down for me is that we have way more invested in our backcourt than in paint presence. If the FO turns around and has a trade in their back pocket that clears up this overstock of talented guards which clarifies their strategy all along, then my grade goes up to a solid A at least.

Jdiddy701 · Post #4 » by **Jdiddy701** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:26 pm

B+. Would have been a D without Bledsoe. We have a bright future now.

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bigfoot · Post #5 » by **bigfoot** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:31 pm

Miklo wrote:B+, because I felt like all the moves we made were individually good moves, but what brings it down for me is that we have way more invested in our backcourt than in paint presence. If the FO turns around and has a trade in their back pocket that clears up this overstock of talented guards which clarifies their strategy all along, then my grade goes up to a solid A at least.

Unfortunately fundamentally sound bigs just aren't available anymore. I don't see a Duncan or Barkley on the horizon. The college game has turned into 3pt fest and just doesn't manufacture quality big men anymore. We have three young ones, Len, Plumlee, and Kief. I like to see how they progress this year before we bring anyone else in. Besides which "disgruntled big man" is out there for the taking??

Post #6 » by **bwgood77** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:35 pm

Free agency is B-/C+. Thomas is a nice value signing, but he wasn't terribly necessary. I am very happy we have him and we should never really have much of a dropoff in guard player, even if we have to deal with injuries to starters on occasion.

But replacing Frye with Tolliver is a downgrade. Signing our own guys for reasonable to slight possible overpays can't really amount to anything more than a C. So since the Thomas signing probably has more impact than the Frye/Tolliver downgrade, it ends up at somewhere around a B-/C+. Losing Frye could possibly impact Dragic's game quite a bit though, so it might be worse than we think, but I have confidence Hornacek will make it work.

But I chose B due to the draft. I wasn't terribly happy about the Ennis pick (C-), even though I thought he had become underrated by the time of the draft, but at the time I thought there might be better fits. I love the Warren pick though...I give that pick an A+, and I also like the Bogdan pick.

Part of the reason I am really happy about it though is because we have had some horrendous offseasons like 2010 that it's almost a relief when anything doesn't go terribly wrong.

aIvin adams · Post #7 » by **aIvin adams** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:53 pm

TheSunGod · Post #8 » by **TheSunGod** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:16 pm

Definitely a solid B. In terms of the draft, I'm happy with what McD hauled in (mainly drafting Warren) except I'm still wondering what will become of Ennis. Free Agency wise, I'd said it was so-so. Adding Thomas was definitely a surprise. I'm definitely excited to see how the season goes.

Post #9 » by **lilfishi22** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:25 pm

If I consider what we could've realistically done and what we did do: It's an A or B+. I LOVE that we added and kept a number of guys on very, very good deals (Morri/IT/PJ) and it's great we brought Bledsoe back. Bledsoe is a bit of an overpay but for premier, young talent, it is what it is.

The only thing I irked me was missing out on Spencer Hawes. He was the perfect replacement for Frye with his rebounding and 3pt shooting. He also signed with LA for chump change.

wheezy · Post #10 » by **wheezy** » Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:49 pm

aIvin adams wrote:A

Would you go as far as saying it was an easy A?

I voted A, even though it seems like there won't be enough minutes to go around. Inking Bledsoe and Keef long term has been great, and Dragic signing here next summer seems like an inevitability now.

Sunsdeuce · Post #11 » by **Sunsdeuce** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 12:59 am

To me an A involves adding an all-star. But all in all, solid offseason. A solid B(+) for solid (re)signings. Had we signed a legit big would have been an easy A.

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MrMiyagi · Post #12 » by **MrMiyagi** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 1:41 am

Would've been an A if we drafted Kyle Anderson instead of Bogdan Bogdanovic

JDLAW · Post #13 » by **JDLAW** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 1:43 am

spanishninja wrote:no votes for C+ eh? none of us works at nba.com I guess.

Idiots

Post #14 » by **bwgood77** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 1:57 am

Sunsdeuce wrote:To me an A involves adding an all-star. But all in all, solid offseason. A solid B(+) for solid (re)signings. Had we signed a legit big would have been an easy A.
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Funny you give it a better grade than me, when you constantly seem to talk negatively about not signing bigs, and I defend our offseason.

I think B is a solid grade, but an A doesn't seem to be deserved unless you do something crazy good.

Honestly I think the best move McD has made is hiring Hornacek and I credit him with turning the players and chemistry into what it's become. The wrong coach with unproven players and everyone so down on the team could have turned at MUCH differently.

The Bledsoe trade was a great move too, but that wasn't really his concoction, so it's hard to give him full credit.

Most of the other moves were kind of no brainers as some predicted the trades to Indy and Washington for first rounders. I predicted the Indy trade for Green but didn't consider Plumlee, so that was another very nice insistence of McD.

I'm still pretty pissed Pop won coach of the year over Hornacek. I think Hornacek FAR exceeded expectations more than Pop. Is he a better coach? Not right now. Was he a better rookie coach with FAR less talent? Without a doubt.

Marz11 · Post #15 » by **Marz11** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:13 am

I say B. Maybe my expectations were too high in terms of getting a good forward/centre through free agency or trade, but to me it still seems like a huge gap.

All the signings are fine I guess, even though we have way too many guards now. To the point where a player like Archie may not get the time he needs to develop or for the coaches to find out whether he is capable of developing.

The other down point is the loss of Frye, who I think this team will miss hugely both on and off the court. It means that Plumlee and Len are the only options at the 5, which terrifies me. Even when Frye wasn't hitting his shots, he still spread the floor and created space for Goran and the other guards.

Biggest positives are IT and TJ Warren, who I think will be great in Hornacek's system.

Moochthemonkey · Post #16 » by **Moochthemonkey** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:08 am

C+ or a B-

+/- Lots of depth, but as we all know the FO neglected finding a legitimate big player. This is somewhat forgivable considering Len was just drafted last year.
-Frye was replaced with another stretch big, but he plays even worse defense and is a below average rebounder. Tolliver likely won't even see minutes.
+ Solid signings overall on fair (but not all particularly great) deals...I like how the team core is kept intact so the team chemistry will continue to strengthen, which is something the Suns haven't done for a few seasons now
- The Suns will be very fun to watch, which is more important than anything IMO but I still don't see as being a playoff team, hence the "C" rating. And while the roster is overall solid, there won't be much room to play Goodwin and Warren, but atleast they are still young...
+/- Still lots of assets in terms of young players and draft picks, dating back from last offseason, even before when Nash was traded. It is still uncertain how the drafted players will pan out (if at all for the Suns) or if they are traded for legitimate talent in the future. At the end of the day though, it's not like much value was given for the picks/players attained, although the Suns would have a better future & past season if the Gortat for Ennis (essentially) swap wasn't made...

I gave the Babby Blanks Beasley offseason a C+ as well, which is insufferably silly in hindsight. Comparatively speaking I think B- would be a fair grade for this offseason.

LukasBMW · Post #17 » by **LukasBMW** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:15 am

A+ only if we land Lebron

A only if we had landed an additional superstar

A- for keeping our future superstar for a reasonable contract, signing 3 key players from last year to reasonable contracts, signing the bargain of the off season, and all but ensuring our best player re-signs by inking his brother.

It was obviously the front offices plan to either acquire a superstar or resign all our guys to fair deals and see if they keep improving rather then sign iffy players to super sized deals.

A-

Post #18 » by **TASTIC** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:10 am

B+

Bledsoe is on a nice deal if we keep him AND if we want to deal him eventually - ie it isn't an albatross if he gives us 70-75 games per year.

Zoran was cheap/hopefully is a massive assist to re-signing Goran

Markieff is a good contract, Mook is overpaying I think - I'd prefer him to get same as PJ in $ and length.

Tucker...I'm torn on, I love the intangibles and hustle but HATED his DUI and the contract isn't great for a guy who has more than likely reached his ceiling as a 9 and 6 guy.

I'm slightly perturbed that we now have a combined 8yrs and $35m ahead of Warren at SF.

Plumlee needs to hit his goddamn FTs at a higher clip, if he can't then his minutes will never go above 25 per.

I loved the Thomas signing and still do, he's going to be a gun off the bench leading our 2nd unit - we're going to bury some teams when he, Green and Warren get out in the open.

We still need ONE more PF/C - preferably a vet who can be a voice like Frye was, we're still missing that guy. I really think Milsap is the guy we need - but with Kieff signed long-term now he looks like the starting PF for a few years.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Suns make a run at DeAndre Jordan this off-season - already great chemistry with Bledsoe and perfect defensive C for this team.

Kyler Murray · Post #19 » by **Kyler Murray** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 12:17 pm

MrMiyagi wrote:Would've been an A if we drafted Kyle Anderson instead of Bogdan Bogdanovic

We'll see in 5 years who you prefer to have from these 2.

Wannabe MEP · Post #20 » by **Wannabe MEP** » Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:20 pm

TASTIC wrote:Plumlee needs to hit his goddamn FTs at a higher clip, if he can't then his minutes will never go above 25 per.

TASTIC wrote:Wouldn't surprise me if the Suns make a run at DeAndre Jordan this off-season - already great chemistry with Bledsoe and perfect defensive C for this team.

If we're talking DeAndre Jordan as a Plumlee replacement, it won't fix the free throw problem (Plumlee 56.6% career; Jordan 42.5% career).

Jordan is the better play right now, but I think Plumlee is gonna continue to grow into a DeAndre-type player...with less hype and a lower price-tag. Right now we got Plumlee for $10 million less than Jordan.

Grade our off season by the front office