Goran Dragic on the Suns:

[thamadkant]

Goran got paid millions.

Professionals complaining about coach/GM did this and did that. Just need to look at their pay cheques and think... They paid you millions. Just go along with what they are saying and when you leave, just shut up about it. It's business.

[AtheJ415]

Confirmed: Goran Tragic is an entitled crybaby. Nothing to see here folks, move along

This

[phrazbit]

Goran did us a favor. His cancerous, crybaby routine sparred us the misery of giving him 20+ million a year.

But hey, clearly the role was the entire reason for his struggles, I mean, did you see his shooting numbers go up an entire .001% in Miami! Or how about that one extra assist he averaged! And that doormat defense he played! Oh wait... he did that here too.

He rips the Suns despite that they actually DID ship Thomas off and did so in-spite of Thomas outplaying Goran by a wide margin.

Screw him.

[BobbieL]

After reading all of this - I am glad he is gone. Granted, they should have shipped he and Zoran for the best deal

That being said. He is not a team guy with these comments. I don't care if he is the nicest kid in the world - I am glad he is not on the team

He is not close to a max player.

Let him be somebody else's problem.

[SarcasticSun]

Goran did us a favor. His cancerous, crybaby routine sparred us the misery of giving him 20+ million a year.

But hey, clearly the role was the entire reason for his struggles, I mean, did you see his shooting numbers go up an entire .001% in Miami! Or how about that one extra assist he averaged! And that doormat defense he played! Oh wait... he did that here too.

He rips the Suns despite that they actually DID ship Thomas off and did so in-spite of Thomas outplaying Goran by a wide margin.

Screw him.

I agree that he saved us from giving him a ton of money. I just don't think he was the right fit for out team, he was older than every one else. I don't really hold any ill will towards him, we got a good enough deal for an expiring player and we didn't get locked into mediocrity by signing him. It's not like he's going to win any championships in Miami anyways. What a terrible thread though, OP is a Dragic fan trying to justify Dragic's actions to Suns fans, that is never going to work out, why post this?

[Wildlinger]

I agree that he saved us from giving him a ton of money. I just don't think he was the right fit for out team, he was older than every one else. I don't really hold any ill will towards him, we got a good enough deal for an expiring player and we didn't get locked into mediocrity by signing him. It's not like he's going to win any championships in Miami anyways. What a terrible thread though, OP is a Dragic fan trying to justify Dragic's actions to Suns fans, that is never going to work out, why post this?

Actually I’m a Suns a fan, just not a McDounough fan. He definitely should be a part of an NBA front office (he proved that with the Celtics already), just not in a position of a GM. I think this position requires a lot more than just blind asset gathering. I think that he severely lacks in certain "managerial" areas and this season proved that. Let’s hope he learns from that.

I was puzzled by the actions of the front office which knew that Dragic didn’t want to accept the role he was put in and that he was willing to leave, yet they did nothing. They put themselves in a position where they had to scramble and panic trade him, Thomas and the Lakers pick (on top of some solid assets which could get a better return as well). According to an ESPN article most GMs in the league said they would rather have the Lakers pick and Thomas - with his contract - than Knight at their disposal. So would I.

I can’t understand why Dragic wasn’t traded last summer or at the beginning of the season. Until the trade deadline nothing changed in the way Suns played. McDounough obviously didn’t see Dragic as a long term part of the team and apparently neither did Dragic who thought of himself as a point guard first. It was clear he didn’t want to play in the position the Suns wanted him to. McDonough and Dragic were in constant communication.

So why the hell not trade him. After last season his value was at an all time high. There were many reported offers and I’m sure many more unreported ones as well. Up until december or even january they could’ve traded him and get a great return,… and keep Thomas as well as the Lakers pick.

Let’s not be completely blinded by Dragic hatred up to the point of irrational thinking. McDonough made a lot of mistakes and he could have gotten a lot more for him. It seems that some people are completely blinded by Dragic hatred in their posts. Reading some of them it appears as Dragic is barely an NBA player any more. He was after all one of only 6 players in the league this season who scored at least 16 point on .5 FG% or better. 5 bigs (Davis, Griffin, Lopez, Vucevic, Favors) and Dragic as the only qualified guard over .5 FG%. And that’s playing out of position most of the season. Add assists and that group gets even smaller. Riley seems more than satisfied with what he saw from him after the All Star break. Dragic is still a very good point guard but he was never going to be an All NBA wing (or an All NBA off ball player) even though Hornacek and McDonough put him in that position.

My point is that we should be in a much better position this summer than we actually are. And blaming Dragic for that is ludicrous. Again, why not trade him earlier. That was what I wanted after the 1st month of this season. The Suns would get a great return, IT would get a lot more playing time so his return - when traded - would have been a great deal better as well. Especially since he wouldn’t be involved in a bad panic trade.

That is the main reason for my post as well, since it makes clear that the front office was well aware - as were some fans apparently - of Dragic’s willingness to leave this summer.

Yep, I’m a Suns fan, just not a big McDounough fan. Not a big fan of another summer looking forward to the 13th pick and not a big fan of another season without playoffs. I suffered through 12-13 season but at least we got Len out of it. I’m not a fan of mediocrity which truly is the worst position to be in.

I’ll try to be more positive in following posts but I wanted to provide some new information which I thought might be of some interest to the Suns fans.

[Miklo]

It's silly for the media to focus on creating drama like this. It seems like both parties should have handled things differently, but it's not really ever going to be clear what all went on behind closed doors.

I don't have any ill will towards Dragic either. He did a lot for the Suns and it just wasn't going to be the right fit for either at the price point he was going to command.

[phrazbit]

Trades generally don't happen at the start of the season and Thomas wasn't even eligible to be moved until mid-December, and right at that time the Suns went on a tear, so breaking up the team in the middle of a 14-3 run makes very little sense.

The best time to maximize value generally IS at the deadline. Thats when the market is at its peak, lots of teams are desperate to get better.

Dragic's complaints are baseless and ignorant to the way trades go down in the NBA. If the Suns promised to move Thomas then he should have expected it to go down towards the deadline, at which point they DID trade him... but at that point Dragic decided the bridge had been burnt, because he took barrel of gasoline and flamethrower to it.

Dragic is just trying to justify his selfish garbage. If this was all about his role and feeling wronged then he wouldn't have limited the trade options to NY, LA and Miami. He wanted a glamor destination, team, talent and fit were all low on his list, all those teams suck and all of them have ball hogs who will deprive him of actually running the offense.

[Frank Lee]

".......... Anybody that buys into our culture, does what it takes to win and sacrifices for the team, will be here, hopefully for a long time.The guys that are more worried about other things and their top priority is not winning basketball games, then we’ll get rid of them. We have no problem doing that.”


Culture ? perhaps McDuh should define that for us.


Didn't IT 'buy in" as well?


I dont trust this front office either. Goran may have cried rotten eggs but the yolk is on us.

[BobbieL]

I agree that he saved us from giving him a ton of money. I just don't think he was the right fit for out team, he was older than every one else. I don't really hold any ill will towards him, we got a good enough deal for an expiring player and we didn't get locked into mediocrity by signing him. It's not like he's going to win any championships in Miami anyways. What a terrible thread though, OP is a Dragic fan trying to justify Dragic's actions to Suns fans, that is never going to work out, why post this?

Actually I’m a Suns a fan, just not a McDounough fan. He definitely should be a part of an NBA front office (he proved that with the Celtics already), just not in a position of a GM. I think this position requires a lot more than just blind asset gathering. I think that he severely lacks in certain "managerial" areas and this season proved that. Let’s hope he learns from that.

I was puzzled by the actions of the front office which knew that Dragic didn’t want to accept the role he was put in and that he was willing to leave, yet they did nothing. They put themselves in a position where they had to scramble and panic trade him, Thomas and the Lakers pick (on top of some solid assets which could get a better return as well). According to an ESPN article most GMs in the league said they would rather have the Lakers pick and Thomas - with his contract - than Knight at their disposal. So would I.

I can’t understand why Dragic wasn’t traded last summer or at the beginning of the season. Until the trade deadline nothing changed in the way Suns played. McDounough obviously didn’t see Dragic as a long term part of the team and apparently neither did Dragic who thought of himself as a point guard first. It was clear he didn’t want to play in the position the Suns wanted him to. McDonough and Dragic were in constant communication.

So why the hell not trade him. After last season his value was at an all time high. There were many reported offers and I’m sure many more unreported ones as well. Up until december or even january they could’ve traded him and get a great return,… and keep Thomas as well as the Lakers pick.

Let’s not be completely blinded by Dragic hatred up to the point of irrational thinking. McDonough made a lot of mistakes and he could have gotten a lot more for him. It seems that some people are completely blinded by Dragic hatred in their posts. Reading some of them it appears as Dragic is barely an NBA player any more. He was after all one of only 6 players in the league this season who scored at least 16 point on .5 FG% or better. 5 bigs (Davis, Griffin, Lopez, Vucevic, Favors) and Dragic as the only qualified guard over .5 FG%. And that’s playing out of position most of the season. Add assists and that group gets even smaller. Riley seems more than satisfied with what he saw from him after the All Star break. Dragic is still a very good point guard but he was never going to be an All NBA wing (or an All NBA off ball player) even though Hornacek and McDonough put him in that position.

My point is that we should be in a much better position this summer than we actually are. And blaming Dragic for that is ludicrous. Again, why not trade him earlier. That was what I wanted after the 1st month of this season. The Suns would get a great return, IT would get a lot more playing time so his return - when traded - would have been a great deal better as well. Especially since he wouldn’t be involved in a bad panic trade.

That is the main reason for my post as well, since it makes clear that the front office was well aware - as were some fans apparently - of Dragic’s willingness to leave this summer.

Yep, I’m a Suns fan, just not a big McDounough fan. Not a big fan of another summer looking forward to the 13th pick and not a big fan of another season without playoffs. I suffered through 12-13 season but at least we got Len out of it. I’m not a fan of mediocrity which truly is the worst position to be in.

I’ll try to be more positive in following posts but I wanted to provide some new information which I thought might be of some interest to the Suns fans.

I agree that the front office made mistakes but Ryan McD is also making up for the suckage that was SArver and Blanks as GM. Those years put this organization behind

Secondly, acquiring assets is all Ryan could do. You have to keep getting guys and guys so that you can do like Houston and trade for James Harden when the opportunity presents itself.

I think this summer - it will present itself.

As for Goran - yes bringing in Thomas was stupid. But Goran was also never a max player in my opinion.

[lilfishi22]

Welcome to the board Wildlinger

It seems a lot of Suns fans are still hurt over whole the Dragic/Suns divorce spilled over. While much of the news isn't exactly new, I thought there was some interesting to read what he had to say after the season is over and he had time to collect his thoughts at home.

All I have to say on this matter is that I thought the Suns front office didn't handle the situation right from the beginning. What Dragic did by publicly demanding a trade F'd us but I don't believe he's the type of person to do that unless he's being pushed over the edge. The FO gave Goran assurances (an all-NBA player) that his role wouldn't change, it did. They told him they would trade IT so EB/Goran would go back to their old roles running the show, they didn't. After leading the team to a 48 win season, this is what the front office had in mind?

After this season, I've lost a fair bit of respect for McD.

[garrick]

Dragic should thank the Suns for giving him numerous chances like drafting him and continuing to play him when he was playing like hot garbage during the Terry Porter fiasco.
The Suns then got him back after trading him to Houston and let him be the full time starter, if he had gone to a contending team he would just be the backup PG.

Dragic is not a team leader and is just a very immature guy to be basically throwing a fit and continuing to talk bad about the Suns FO, he isn't a superstar that can dictate terms like LBJ or Durant so he should have just eaten humble pie and shut the hell up & played the role the FO asked him to play.

I'm glad he's gone and that the Suns didn't give him a max contract because he is undeserving of one.

[bwgood77]

In the end, it worked out well for everyone. We got two firsts for an expiring (very rare for non star players) and the fact he let it known he wanted out actually was a good thing since we didn't lose him for nothing. He could have said he would keep his options open and then just left, and we'd be really screwed like when McDyess left.

Lets hope McD can put together a team THIS summer that actually has chemistry instead of just signing whatever available player is left and promising him playing time, regardless of how it impacts team chemistry.

[Scutt]

Secondly, acquiring assets is all Ryan could do. You have to keep getting guys and guys so that you can do like Houston and trade for James Harden when the opportunity presents itself.

I think this summer - it will present itself.

What assets do the Suns have that will net them a franchise player? I think there are a lot of teams that can offer much better packages than us. Besides, what franchise players do you think are available right now?

[NaturalBuns]

Suns dodged a bullet with Dragic anyway.
If they kept him happy he would of just been overpaid

[Frank Lee]

we had a dynamic backcourt with Dragic and Bledsoe.... and McDuh greedily F-ed it up

case closed

[DRK]

we had a dynamic backcourt with Dragic and Bledsoe.... and McDuh greedily F-ed it up

case closed

Agreed. Dragic/ Bledsoe worked.

Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas didnt.

It was a stupid move to bring in Thomas from the start, and to make empty promises to your Best Player was just even more stupid.

[gaspar]

Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas worked alright for the Suns. It only didn't work for Dragic and his bloated ego.

[bwgood77]

Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas worked alright for the Suns. It only didn't work for Dragic and his bloated ego.

It is interesting to see that we were always better with 2 pgs on the floor than one (MUCH BETTER)....the 3 pg thing obviously wouldn't work in long stretches.

I think Bledsoe and Knight as a dual pg combo could be ok....neither is a true pg so they can complement each other to some extent. If Knight can hit 40% from 3 like a premier sg and handle pg duties at times that will work well. Defense is a little tougher, but Knight I'm guessing is better than Dragic or Thomas.

I know you didn't like Dragic. He's not the only one with a bloated ego. I mean, c'mon, look at the difference between the Dragic and Bledsoe free agency negotiations the years they eventually signed.

[phrazbit]

Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas worked alright for the Suns. It only didn't work for Dragic and his bloated ego.

It is interesting to see that we were always better with 2 pgs on the floor than one (MUCH BETTER)....the 3 pg thing obviously wouldn't work in long stretches.

I think Bledsoe and Knight as a dual pg combo could be ok....neither is a true pg so they can complement each other to some extent. If Knight can hit 40% from 3 like a premier sg and handle pg duties at times that will work well. Defense is a little tougher, but Knight I'm guessing is better than Dragic or Thomas.

I know you didn't like Dragic. He's not the only one with a bloated ego. I mean, c'mon, look at the difference between the Dragic and Bledsoe free agency negotiations the years they eventually signed.

I assume you're comparing Dragic signing with us in 2012 compared to Bledsoe's negotiations last year but don't see how those situations can be compared. The players were in totally different circumstances. And to his credit, despite it being a long drawn out process, Bledsoe kept his mouth shut and didn't say one ill word or attempt to force the issue, it was a long business transaction and he took it as such. Dragic meanwhile came over from Houston because they were not interesting in keeping him.

The more similar situation would be when Dragic came up for an extension (this year). He proceeded to be a cancer, take everything personally, take a giant dump in the press, then give the Suns a list of 3 terrible teams... but from rich cities, that he wanted to play for.