RunDogGun wrote:Neither of us were there, though, so saying Sarver had little impact on the first deal of his ownership seems silly to me. Everyone likes to give the Deng pick trade on Sarver, when he didn't take over the team until a week later.
We really haven't had cap money to spend on big named FAs, a fact that seems to escape many. Wasn't Hill a good player, and FA?
The Suns had quite a few times where they had money since 2010. Here are some of the moves. They spent it on bringing Dragic back. They spent it on Hakim Warrick, Josh Childress (who they amnestied), and traded for Turkoglu's horrid contract. Remember when the Suns signed Eric Gordon to a max offer sheet that the Pelicans matched? They spent money on Michael Beasley. They won the bid for Luis Scola. So many bad moves. Not one of those guys was a premier free agent. This past offseason when they had max money available they lost out on all the free agents they went after. None of them were interested in coming to Phoenix. Gambo said the Suns were really looking into trying to sign Pau Gasol and he was not interested. They finished the offseason with Anthony Tolliver and Isaiah Thomas as the big free agent acquisitions.
Yes Hill ended up being a good player for the organization but he was hardly a marquee signing. He signed for under 2 million per year. He had just come off a 7 year max contract with the Magic and was considered one of the biggest busts of all time because he was injured nearly every year. Plus this is the main reason he signed with the Suns that year: [But Babby said Hill, who has never been past the first round of the playoffs, stuck with his first priority: To play for a winner. “Grant wants to win a championship,” Babby said. “In the end, he felt Phoenix gives him the best chance.”]
http://www.nba.com/suns/news/tribune_hill_070711.html Hill came to the Suns because the Suns were an elite team as this quote from the same story suggests, "The Suns could start him at small forward, joining center Amaré Stoudemire and power forward Shawn Marion up front with the backcourt of Steve Nash and Raja Bell. Add in Leandro Barbosa, Boris Diaw (the other starter possibility) and Kurt Thomas, and Phoenix’s eight-man rotation would be their strongest in the (coach Mike) D’Antoni era." Hill wanted to play with Steve Nash as many other players around the league did and compete for a championship.
Who do the Suns have now that would attract a big time free agent? That is why I said what I said earlier. The Suns have a very unattractive situation and besides money and weather, what do they have to offer? You got Archie Goodwin coming out now and criticizing the coach. You got all the Morris brothers' problems including this updated story coming out tonight about their alleged assault. Bottom line is that right now you got three bad starters who are mediocre at best, a few young guys with potential, and one point guard who either plays great or looks awful. There was also the case of Dragic saying he does not trust the organization anymore and that they lied to him. Thomas said during the season this is not what the Suns told him would happen when he signed with them. You had Tolliver saying after he was traded that he felt like he never got a chance to show anyone what he could do because he hardly ever played. Goodwin has complained a couple of times this year. Plumlee privately asked for a trade off the team. Pure negativity.
There is so much going against the organization now and it is really unfortunate. That is why I say I have a hard time seeing any marquee free agent coming here. Players want to sign with teams on the upswing. The Suns have taken a step back this year. They really have not done anything in five years. The last elite team this organization had was put together in 2004 by Colangelo. Colangelo drafted Marion, Amare, traded two fan favorites for Joe Johnson, traded for Barbosa on draft night, and signed Nash over a few year period. It does not happen overnight, but the Suns have now been on the wrong side of the playoff race for five years. That is virtually unprecedented for this organization. The worst part is I do not see them making the playoffs anytime soon either. Another year of no playoffs next year would be the worst drought in franchise history. This is not a shining moment for this team.
