BobbieL wrote:bwgood77 wrote:BobbieL wrote:
Suns need a PF and PG. I don't buy this thing about drafting Morant and rolling with he and Tyler. Tyler Johnson was a better option than what the Suns had but I still think he would be at his best, and the teams best as the first guard off the bench. He can play the 1 next to Booker, or the 2 next to a PG.
So, with that - the Suns might be able to get PF in the draft with either Zion or Clarke. That still leaves the Suns with 6m of cap space for a PG. Now, they might be able to get a McConnell or somebody cheaper but they need an UPGRADE and that may mean cap space.
Its going to have to be either Josh for a future pick - but thats selling low. OR TJ Warren. But with his injury - who know is they will get fair value. That being said - fair value, who cares. Its time to win. Can't be worried about getting value for the sake of value and not improving the team
I do know the Suns were improved with Oubre & Tyler and would have been nice to see how they meshed with Warren. That being said, its time to push and get some W's.
Griffin interviewing with the Pelicans. Suns have been very quiet.
Two words for Nichols , Mcgrady and Windbag
Bovine Excrement
There are only so many jobs out there. Now maybe the talent pool is small but if you are a guy and you pass on the Suns GM job as something better might come along - it may not.
I just think the Suns want Buk and Champ but want a mentor type guy, buffer more than a GM to take the team over.
I haven't been very negative about Sarver for some time, and these articles about his conduct haven't affected my views much because only the decisions matter. We stopped shortcutting the rebuild as soon as McD was hired, and obviously it's been the correct call. It's cost Sarver hugely in terms of ticket sale, but I'm confident it will pay out in the long term. All of the decisions that pissed me off - the disgusting 2004-2007 drafts, not extending JJ (against Colangelo's advice), trading Kurt Thomas, Turkoglu/Childress/Warrick, and drafting pudgy players instead of athletes (Kendall Marshall and Markieff Morris) - are too far back in the longterm mirror for me to be mad about anymore.
IMO, the most crucial thing for the owner is to maintain a patient and long-term perspective, with the goal of maximizing the number of championships the team wins over the long-term. I don't care about goats **** or hollering over the phone. I'm confident that the most meaningful mistakes were McDonough's, and fortunately, we haven't totally bombed, since at least we got the big hits with Booker and Ayton, and we've collected some promising (if to date disappointing) young players in the process as well. What's important is that Sarver CORRECTLY approved the tank, avoided huge long-term contracts, and prioritized the draft. Now, it looks like we're executing a PATIENT SWITCH to competing with the promising young core we've assembled.
It will be easy for the haters to hate as long as we're losing. When we start winning, we should stay near the top for a long time with this group, and no one will care about Sarver's reputation. Nor, then, should Sarver. GET THEM CHAMPIONSHIPS, ROBERT!!!
So to the point... it's hard to evaluate GM talent. There are very few people in this league with a record of consistent, proven success. It's basically Jerry West, Jerry Colangelo, Greg Popovich, now Danny Ainge and Bob Myer, as well as Sean Ford, who has also quickly developed a strong track record. Trajan Langdon looks like the hot guy right now, but McDonough was there for a minute following Ainge's success in Boston. It's just hard to know whether a guy has the eye. From what I've read, Sarver's might actually be better than McDonough's, and if that's the case, I have a really hard time blaming Sarver when any expert would tell the owner to TRUST YOUR PEOPLE on draft night.
I like what I've seen from Jones and Bukstein and what I've heard from James Jones in interviews. Of course, James has the luxury of inheriting a team on the rise, and he's able to speak the truth: that we like our guys and intend to improve, primarily, internally. McD, OTOH, was IMO constantly in the position of having to tank without appearing to tank, in order to accommodate to some extent the players on our roster whom we were holding, essentially, as commodities: Bledsoe, the Morris twins, Dragic, IT, Tucker, and even Green, Chandler and Knight (before they lost all their potential value). That strategy had a half-life from the outset, because these guys were going to figure out that this team was tanking eventually, and that they had no future here. I always thought McD had to talk out of both sides of his mouth to make the stealth tank work. JJ doesn't have to, so he's not. And he's saying the right things.
So I could care less about who becomes GM, as long as it's not a guy like Paxson or McHale, both of whom have pretty crap track records, or DAVID GRIFFIN, whose track record is FREAKING TERRIBLE. I do not want the VP who advocated drafting Anthony Bennett #1, the GM who traded two Cavs future firsts for Timofey Mozgov and then signed him to one of the league's worst contracts, and who signed Tristan Thompson and JR Smith to those massive contracts. What are his accomplishments, aside from being there when LeBron James decided to gift the team with his presence?
Instead of acquiring a GM, why not find a way to promote both James Jones and Trevor Bukstein, and invest in filling out the front office to their satisfaction? Certainly there must be some experienced people willing to take a pay bump in order to provide some assistance who don't need to be made general manager.
I'd of course go with Trajan Langdon if we didn't already have Jones and Bukstein. Would Bukstein stick around as assistant GM if Jones were made President? Would Jones be happy with any position other than GM?
All we need to do is not screw up this offseason. Don't trade low on JJ. Don't get killed on a TJ trade or the Oubre extension. Don't screw up the draft, either by punting or selecting RJ Barrett. Keep your cap flexibility, because the free agent tide may soon turn your way. It's easy. Just STAY THE F***ING COURSE!!!
true post ping pong balls it reverts to record to fill in
