Barkley6 wrote:BobbieL wrote:Barkley6 wrote:Something I just remembered in terms of Torrey Craig....he was a target for the Suns this last offseason. He obviously chose Milwaukee over us, but I think that likely had to do with the perceived trajectory of each team. Milwaukee was an early favorite to come out of the East (pre-Harden to Brooklyn), and Craig had gotten to the conference finals the previous year with Denver. He was clearly looking to go to a contending team.
The Suns were projected by a lot to be a 6th or 7th seed, and no one thought we'd be this good.
I think those factors will play a large role in whether or not Craig comes back. We wanted him this offseason, and even when his play in Milwaukee was bad/limited, we were still high on him. Coupled with the fact that he is clearly looking to be on a winning/contending team, I think we have a pretty good shot of retaining him. I think he's a perfect candidate for the BAE as I've stated before, since we don't have his Bird rights, but a minimum deal likely won't get it done with the way he's performed for us. Additionally, I think we'd like to have him for two seasons, that way we don't have to worry about possibly re-signing him next offseason when we are also trying to extend Mikal and DA.
Its not just Torrey Craig -- is other free agents that will see the Suns getting better. Especially if CP3 comes back for a few years. The Suns could be that team for veteran minimum guys to pick to have a chance to win
I do like Craig a lot. Think he is the type of player teams that win always have.
Fully agree. I'm not sure who it would be that would come, but I definitely think that guys might choose the Phoenix lifestyle over say, the Milwaukee or Philadelphia lifestyle, all things being equal.
A guy that intrigues me a little is DeMar DeRozan. He's 32, has made a boatload of money and hasn't really won much in his career. 6 playoff seasons out of 12, only has been out of the second round once. He probably wouldn't play for the minimum, but the MLE? MAYBE if our vets can sell him on this being his best chance to win a ring.
Another possibility in the probably won't happen category would be Derrick Rose. He would play for the MLE (made $7.5m last season), and might be sold on the chance to win, (7 first round exits in 10 playoff seasons), a warm weather city, and the opportunity to play with some top end young talent.
a more realistic target would be a guy like Carmelo Anthony, particularly since Portland seems to be ready to make some serious changes. Would come in and be a good quality PF option and someone that can easily get hot from the bench.
Would you take Derozan or Anthony over Saric? Because I surely would! But then it becomes a question of our salary flexibility, In which we'd of course need to move Sarics' salary and potentially create a small bit more flexibility such an upgrade. I wonder which teams might be willing to absorb Saric into their cap in exchange for a smaller cheaper contract, expiring contract or draft assets perhaps?
I know that Philly has really had interest in Saric for their backup center role. I wonder if we could initiate a 3 team trade, Wherein Saric goes to Philly, Philly sends some asset or draft compensation to San Antonio, And then we get back Derozan, etc?
Or since Portland is looking to maybe retool, Perhaps we could still swap out Saric with Carmelo??? Also, For what it's worth, I think Derozan would be hugely impactful in a fast paced " Run 'n' Gun style fast break offense!
In fact, I believe that we'd be super dominant/ unstoppable with Derozan at the 4 in a fast paced uptempo offense!
