How much goodwill does McD have with you?

[lilfishi22]

I've never been one to rag on a GM if they haven't done anything spectacularly bad, like newsworthy bad but what happens if that GM has little to show in four seasons? It's been three years and seven months to the day (hired 7 May 2013) and we are no closer to a playoff spot or having a super talented core we can believe will be a future contender. Evaluating GM's is always difficult because they generally operate on a longer timeline than coaches and players and McD has "only" been around for four seasons but is it time to really evaluate where he stands?

I personally have been one of his biggest supporters since the beginning and always gave him a ton of leeway because 1. he was a rookie GM, 2. he got us Bledsoe for very little 3. put together a team which won 48 games. I bought into his plan of putting together a competitive team with attractive assets which, when the opportunity arose, would get us to the table when a star becomes available. We're now in our 4th season with McD, we've hired a rookie coach who's actual coaching is suspect to say the least, we have a two rookies playing the same position and two overpaid, high usage PG's who aren't PG's. On the bright side, our financial situation looks good, we have a Booker and a Warren and our rookies have shown some promise. In our 4th season with McD, are these positives enough?

Can McD turn this team, and his fortunes, around with one big trade or is moving a Brandon Knight or PJ Tucker still far too little and way too late for him? So how much goodwill does he still have with fans?

[bwgood77]

I feel like none of those options apply perfectly for me. I have quite a bit of patience and usually think you can't continue to just churn and burn too much, so I want to give him at least until the trade deadline.

But at a minimum, personally, I need Knight gone because I just have zero joy watching the Suns when he plays. None. It's predictably awful.

I have always liked Tucker enough, but I'd rather see him gone as well. If he's not gone by the deadline I will be ok, but I don't see a need to have him out there at any time ahead of Bender at this point. Bender shows he knows what he is doing enough to be out there even if he still has a lot to learn. Chriss and Ulis should be out there too. We just clear the roster jam and I would probably be ok watching them grow for now.

Hopefully draft a PG this summer. It is frustrating and hard to get excited for games, particularly with Warren out.

[DaleyBlind]

I like him a lot. But there is one move that pissed me off big time and still doe piss me off to this day, The trade for Knight...That move is going to stick with me like the Kurt Thomas trade has.

For me to get fully behind him right now, i wanna see us trade Knight/Tucker at the deadline.

[Scutt]

I find it hard to truly evaluate McD because I have a strong belief that Robert Sarver still has his hands in things. For example, I feel like when they traded Dragic and Thomas, it was probably Sarver who was pushing for Knight as we were still in the hunt for the playoffs. I also think Sarver wanted Watson as coach simply because he was cheap and the players liked him. I have nothing to base that on, but that is what my gut tells me.

I literally hate every move Mcd has made in terms of free agent signings. Signing Tolliver, Weems, Chandler, Knight,Price, Teletovic, Dudley, and Barbosa twice. In my eyes, everyone of these signings hurt us by either blocking younger players development or just being useless. I hated watching Gerald Green get tons of minutes. Everyone said we would trade him for an asset, yet it didn't happen and we got nothing for him. Same thing with Teletovic, those game winners of his cost us a top 3 pick, yet everyone said we would dump at the deadline, and Mcd just let him go and got nothing for him but a lower draft pick. I also really hate that we have kept PJ Tucker around all this time.

I do think he is has a pretty good eye for talent. Warren and Booker are exceeding expectations in terms of late lottery picks, and both look like solid prospects despite some flaws. The jury is still out on Bender and Chriss, but I really like what I have seen from Bender. I am also one of the few on here that is still a big fan of Alex Len. I think he is a serviceable starting center with plenty of upside.

I feel like every move we make in the right direction (embracing a rebuild and going young), is always counted by a short sighted move in an attempt to win a few games (all the veteran signings). I think the root of that problem will always be Robert Sarver, so changing GMs would just be starting all over again. I would like to see Mcd extended, and hopefully he can improve some of his flaws and put together a good young team with a smart coach. At the very least, having some continuity would be a nice change...

[Damkac]

I like him. He's not perfect but it could be much much worse.

Suns were in terrible state when he gain his job. Bad, old team with no future. Would you change this current roster for that team?
I'm glad he is trying to rebuild with youth and is not trying desperately to make the playoffs at all cost. Best case this would turn Suns into treadmill team, worst case it would turn them into Brooklyn Nets.
He made some stupid mistakes like the Knight trade. But he also made some awesome moves. Love Dudley but geting Bledsoe for him was a huge steal. He got 2 picks for expiring Dragic and lottery pick for kieff. Ironic that he got so little for the only player he traded that become All-Star (IT).
He is good at draft. Booker and Warren at the end of the lottery are big steals. Bender shows lots of promise, Chriss also has lot of potential and could be great player if he will work hard enough. Ulis should at least be nice backup pg and that's good for 2nd rounder. His only bad draft was his first one where most of the guys drafted early was busts and best players went out of lottery. You can say that half of the GMs in the league are idiots looking only at that draft. That include Utah GM, who drafted Trey Burke 18 spots ahead of Rudy Gobert.

I know people are tired of six years playoffs droughts but it started before McD took his job. It's not his fault that his predecessor lead this team to such bad state.
What you think he could do differently that would make Suns a playoffs team now? It's not like he didn't tried to get star. If Spurs wouldn't had much money that offseason, Aldridge would be Suns player now.
It's not that easy to turn terrible team into playoffs team in short time, especially if you try to get lot of young players with high potential. It would be easier if he would sell all his picks for veterans but I'm glad he didn't do this.

I'm only worried that he may sacrifice all the young talent he collected for short term improvement if he fears of losing his job. I hope Sarver finally has accepted the fact this team need to rebuild properly.

[RaisingArizona]

Mixed on everything. Some good, some bad. I hope something is brewing and he redeems himself here soon. I doubt he's in the good graces of Sarver so that may force a trade or two.

[RunDogGun]

I like him. When listening to his interviews, he seems to have smart well thought out ideas. Juggling players is always tough and often it comes down to how well a player works within the system. Since our system has been changing often during his time here, it's tough to gauge his proformance. I don't think we have overspent on any players, and with all the injuries we've had, we haven't had a full healthy roster. I like his draft picks, and I think only Len is overall underperforming at this time. I think he did a great job this last draft.

I would like to see Knight moved as well. At this point, he just isn't efficient enough as sixth man role for me. I think we could get similar results with LB and Ulis for a backup 1 and 2. Plus I would like to see what Bender can do as a point forward.

[m1chal]

Mixed feelings for me as well:

+ the Bledsoe trade,
+ getting rid of the Morris twins, one even got us a lottery pick,
+ good at drafting, gotta like our youth even if Len sometimes makes you curse inside
+ tries hard to trade for that Star-to-bring-us-to-the-Promised-Land, unsuccessfully, but sooner or later someone's gonna bite
+ acquiring IT for nothing,
+ trading Dragic for 2 picks
+ good at strategic planning, ie. contracts to EB, BK are decent from current salaries perspective

- the Gortat trade, a serviceable big man for pick #18 (Ennis) which later got dumped in the Knight trade,
- the Knight trade, OMG what was McD thinking...
- letting IT go for so little in return,
- general communication with the players. He seems to treat them like they were assets and nothing more, forgetting they are humans with emotions and all that troublesome baggage like attitude, ambitions etc.

The jury is still on hiring Watson although for such a young team I'd have gone with an experienced coach. I'm not sure I like Chandler and Barbs signings either but I can live with them.

One cannot forget this is McD's first GM job, he's expected to make mistakes being so inexperienced but it cannot be denied the talent is there. Another thing to consider is what part in McD's decisions Sarver plays.

I'd give him more time, to learn from his mistakes and wait for that star to come to Phx. Only then will I consider his mission accomplished.

I have a feeling if we let him go some other franchise is going to pick him up and he'll prove some bball management genius for them

[Tysons Elbow]

I am a fan. He inherited an absolute mess of a team and has done an admirable job with what he was given. I look at it this way... His job wasn't to build on what he had. His job was to tear it all down and get us to a new STARTING point. That's what he did.

He's tried to speed things up a few times, but that's where we essentially are right now. At a new starting point in the rebuild. So far he's stuck to most of the plan. There have been some bumps but we are pretty much where I think he envisioned we'd be at this point.

The only thing that has not happened to this point is the "trade for that disgruntled star" part of the plan. That's step 2. I just think we've been stuck on step 1 a little longer than he expected. Not really his fault though. The star has to be there to trade for.

I hope Sarver sees that and he gets his extension. We can't afford to start a whole new process again. It would be quite painful.


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[Calvin Klein]

Take the whole 2014-15 season out (what a complete mess) and I like him.

We are finally young and full of promising players. We should be patient now.

[darealjuice]

I voted the "I'm not sure what his plan is but GMs need more time."

He's done a great job turning his inherited roster into something that can be good in the future if our young players pan out. He has blemishes on his GM record such as that terrible Knight trade, signing Tyson Chandler to a large contract at the time before we knew that we had LMA, and how we handled Dragic after he had a very good year for us (not mad at the result, he is aging and doesn't fit our timeline, but it should have never gotten to the point where he was trashing our franchise publicly), but there's no Billy King, franchise destroying moves in there. There's definitely some wins on his board too, like drafting Booker late, bringing in Bledsoe for basically peanuts, producing 2 unprotected 1st rounders for an aging, disgruntled Dragic, somehow turning Markieff into a lottery pick, being aggressive in the draft by consolidating assets and pursuing both Bender and Chriss, and getting TJ Warren late in the lottery.

The issue is that he hasn't put together a team that can win for us yet, but that is going to take time, especially when half of our team is 18 to 23 years old. I like our direction, and I like most of what we have, but I need to see his plan start to come together and be relatively successful before I crown him as the GM that leads us to prosperity.

[MrMiyagi]

Currently more than Earl Watson. I think that's all that really matters, and I don't see either of them leaving anytime soon - and I'm totally fine with that. I think we're heading in a good direction.

EDIT: I will say that I think Knight needs to go, and Bledsoe too if only for the asset return. Given how loaded this point guard class is, might as well grab a guy who will be the same age as the rest of our squad. Lonzo Ball is looking like the kind of engine this squad needs, though Markelle Fultz is looking pretty damn good too. If we could get another lotto pick for Bledsoe, I think we could have enough leverage to ensure one of them, or if fortune favors us we'll get one of them plus another player.

[jcsunsfan]

We need a long term solution at GM. McD has what it takes to be a long term solution. I really do not see anyone else that is that much better except maybe Pop. Constant turnover is a bad thing in the front office.

[batsmasher]

I find it hard to truly evaluate McD because I have a strong belief that Robert Sarver still has his hands in things. For example, I feel like when they traded Dragic and Thomas, it was probably Sarver who was pushing for Knight as we were still in the hunt for the playoffs. I also think Sarver wanted Watson as coach simply because he was cheap and the players liked him. I have nothing to base that on, but that is what my gut tells me.

My gut tells me Sarver caused global warming. And created ISIS. And is the father of Brandon Knight.

I completely understand 7SOL Suns fans having major trust issues with Sarver but it is impossible to mount a case that he has been even a minor factor in moves made in the McD era.

[batsmasher]

I think generally we're on the right track. I like McD and I think he's quite an open and honest GM. He's just clearly not as prodigious a talent finder as we thought. Good drafter. Listens to all the other scouts/ people in the org to get a consensus. That may be his undoing though. Some of the big board orders that were murmured are head scratchers. Frank before Myles 2 years ago. Len #1 in 13.

I don't hate the Chandler signing. It makes a lot of sense to me. But the edges need polishing. The Marcus trade was stupid.

All in all I think he's still learning and he's made steady strides in understanding what it takes to be a GM. He' just clearly wasn't ready out of the box to be a great GM.

[JDJ26]

McD needs to stay. He is a good at drafting and for the most part the team doesn't have any bad contracts except for Knight and maybe Chandler.

[kennydorglas]

I think he needs more time but I agree that some of his draft boards are extremely concerning (minus 2014 when he wanted LaVine and Warren)

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I think he needs more time but I agree that some of his draft boards are extremely concerning (minus 2014 when he wanted LaVine and Warren)

Hey um... could you go ahead and show us some of these draft boards?

[Phystic]

I'm actually completely fine with him moving forward. He hasn't been perfect, but what GM has ? We can't really ask any more of his drafting prowess. Len, Warren, Booker, Chriss, Bender and Ulis have all shown to be as good or better than their draft position. And that's really all you can hope for with the draft being such a crapshoot these days.

As for free agency... Some of his free agent signings have been a bit peculiar but I think ownership and fans being fare-weather probably pushed him to pick up some guys we didn't totally need. Chandler, Dudley and Barbosa I'm totally fine with. They are all hard working guys that provide energy and leadership. I think all three were paid a bit more than what I would have preferred though. Resigning Tucker I was 100% in favor of. He falls in to the same category as the aforementioned Free Agent signings.

Addressing the teams direction, I think we all agree that Knight MUST go. It'll be hard because the kid has skills and his contract isn't terrible. Add that to the fact that it's hard for people to admit a mistake and I see why he's lasted as long as he has with us. But it's clear he doesn't fit. He's an ideal 6th man(similar to Barbosa actually) but there are better options. We need to move him for some sort of value though. I'm not in agreement with many on this board that he needs to go regardless of return. That just doesn't make any sense to me. After Knight, I think Tucker and Chandler are next on the list to be traded. Despite what I said earlier about liking Chandler, Dudley, Barbosa and Tucker I'd much rather see them moved and have our team go into a full youthful rebuild. I'm tired of our team half-assing it and trying to stay competitive while rebuilding. It doesn't work. Period. We need to drop the vets to open up time for our youth. If we can get some cheaper vets that can play the leader rolls at a cheaper price then grab them.But playing time needs to be given to Ulis, Booker, Warren, Chriss, Bender and Len. Enough screwing around. Even if the result is us absolutely bottoming out, that's fine. That gives us higher odds of a top pick. I'm not saying tank, I'm saying develop. Regardless of the result in the short term.

I'm completely fine with the job McD has done so far, as I said, it hasn't been perfect but it's been good.

[JDJ26]

The Suns are in a better spot compared to a lot of teams. Plus Sarver doesn't seem to be interfering or meddling as much.