Alex Len...LET HIM GO!

[BC867]

I'd be okay with starting Len only because it would be a sly tanking move and should help lose games at an even further rapid pace.

And where has that philosophy gotten us for the past half decade?

This phrase has come up regularly for the Suns front office -- Ignorance (stupidity, insanity) is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

And I agree with the majority of posts in this thread that Alex Len is not our starting Center of the future. Unless the plan is a continued long period of tanking. Which unfortunately I think it will be under $arver.

 

[Cheesebeef]

And where has that philosophy gotten us for the past half decade?

This phrase has come up regularly for the Suns front office -- Ignorance (stupidity, insanity) is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

And I agree with the majority of posts in this thread that Alex Len is not our starting Center of the future. Unless the plan is a continued long period of tanking. Which unfortunately I think it will be under $arver.

are you kidding? this team only tried to tank one year... and couldn't even get that right, somehow winning 48 games. For the last half decade they've CONSISTENTLY made idiotic moves to try and get that oh-so-important-for-reasons-beyond-me 8 seed.

I swear, sometimes I think you watch basketball in a parallel universe than the rest of us.

 

[BC867]

are you kidding? this team only tried to tank one year... and couldn't even get that right, somehow winning 48 games. For the last half decade they've CONSISTENTLY made idiotic moves to try and get that oh-so-important-for-reasons-beyond-me 8 seed.

I swear, sometimes I think you watch basketball in a parallel universe than the rest of us.

OK, I mis-stated it. The Suns have done nothing smart to advance beyond mediocrity. That is even worse than tanking. In this universe. :}

 

[sunsfan88]

And where has that philosophy gotten us for the past half decade?

I don't think the Suns have actually tried to tank for many seasons. I can't think of more than one maybe two in the past half decade.

You look at top 10 players in the league today and it's LeBron, KD, Steph, Harden, Westbrook, Davis, Kawhi, CP3, George and Cousins. Only 3 of those players were drafted outside top 5 so basically a 70% chance (in the sample size of the top 10 players in the league) that in order to get a player who will likely be a top player, you'd need a top 5 pick or for a player to switch teams via free agency. Of course I'm talking about just current players.

 

[GatorAZ]

Alex Len is really tall. That's all I got.

Hell no on paying him to play at a level we haven't seen in four years.

 

[Mainstreet]

The following are Ryan McDonough's resultant first round draft picks as the Suns GM.

2013 Alex Len
2013 Archie Goodwin
2014 TJ Warren
2014 Tyler Ennis
2014 Bogdan Bogdanovic
2015 Devin Booker
2016 Dragan Bender
2016 Marquese Chriss (via trade with Kings)

Devin Booker is a solid if not a spectacular pick but there are question marks about some others and only time will tell about Bender and Chriss.

Trading the Lakers pick for Brandon Knight ranks as a bad trade in my book.

I think the pressure is starting to build on the Suns GM.

 

[Phrazbit]

The following are Ryan McDonough's resultant first round draft picks as the Suns GM.

2013 Alex Len
2013 Archie Goodwin
2014 TJ Warren
2014 Tyler Ennis
2014 Bogdan Bogdanovic
2015 Devin Booker
2016 Dragan Bender
2016 Marquese Chriss (via trade with Kings)

Devin Booker is a solid if not a spectacular pick but there are question marks about some others and only time will tell about Bender and Chriss.

Trading the Lakers pick for Brandon Knight ranks as a bad trade in my book.

I think the pressure is starting to build on the Suns GM.

As unimpressed as I am by Len's play, it needs to be noted that the 2013 draft was hoooooorrrendous. Archie's career has been typical for a end of 1st round pick, Warren has been solid for his draft slot, Ennis busted, Bogdan was a draft n stash, Booker was one of the best picks by any GM in years and Bender and Chriss, the jury is still out but at the date of the draft most draft pundits gave it rave reviews.

I honestly have no issues with his draft preference, IMO it is well above the league's par and it blows the franchise's recent draft history out of the water.

 

[Mainstreet]

As unimpressed as I am by Len's play, it needs to be noted that the 2013 draft was hoooooorrrendous. Archie's career has been typical for a end of 1st round pick, Warren has been solid for his draft slot, Ennis busted, Bogdan was a draft n stash, Booker was one of the best picks by any GM in years and Bender and Chriss, the jury is still out but at the date of the draft most draft pundits gave it rave reviews.

I honestly have no issues with his draft preference, IMO it is well above the league's par and it blows the franchise's recent draft history out of the water.

I agree the draft is a tossup but McDonough needs more of his draft picks to hit. The trading of the Lakers pick and an All-Star in IT has to hurt.

All I'm saying is McDonough needs to right the Suns ship soon as the pressure to win and make the playoffs builds.

A good draft in 2017 and adding a quality free agent could help.

 

[Chaplin]

I agree the draft is a tossup but McDonough needs more of his draft picks to hit. The trading of the Lakers pick and an All-Star in IT has to hurt.

All I'm saying is McDonough needs to right the Suns ship soon as the pressure to win and make the playoffs builds.

A good draft in 2017 and adding a quality free agent could help.

IT wasn't an all-star at the time we had him, and there is nothing that would prove that he would have been with us.

 

[Phrazbit]

I agree the draft is a tossup but McDonough needs more of his draft picks to hit. The trading of the Lakers pick and an All-Star in IT has to hurt.

All I'm saying is McDonough needs to right the Suns ship soon as the pressure to win and make the playoffs builds.

A good draft in 2017 and adding a quality free agent could help.

Well, he can't create a prospect out of thin air. Where the Suns have picked he has done far better than the teams drafting right around him, and half his picks are teenagers still or just turned 20. At worst his draft record is an incomplete, if judged by the Suns draft slots then he has done extremely well.

The IT trade was a bad move, a knee jerk move, I hope he learned from it. However, there is not a snow balls chance in hell that Thomas ever sniffs an All-Star team if he was still in the Western Conference.

 

[Mainstreet]

IT wasn't an all-star at the time we had him, and there is nothing that would prove that he would have been with us.

Simply said, IT is an All-Star player. All he needed was an opportunity to excel. I'm not stuck on the All-Star label though. I'm just pointing out the Suns traded away a very good player for a late first round draft pick. It was a mistake especially with Goran leaving at virtually the same time. He would have had an opportunity to further show his skills for the Suns.

 

[Mainstreet]

The IT trade was a bad move, a knee jerk move, I hope he learned from it. However, there is not a snow balls chance in hell that Thomas ever sniffs an All-Star team if he was still in the Western Conference.

It's hard for any guard to make the All-Star team in the West. I was pointing out IT is an All-Star level player. The Suns traded a very good player for a late first round draft pick. Nothing can change this.

 

[Cheesebeef]

OK, I mis-stated it. The Suns have done nothing smart to advance beyond mediocrity. That is even worse than tanking. In this universe. :}

Agreed. Nothing is worse in sports than being in purgatory.

 

[JCSunsfan]

In 42 games for the Suns IT averaged 15 pts on .426% shooting. It was obvious that he was sowing discontent in the locker room. Yes, it was a bad trade for what he has become in Boston, but hindsight makes everyone a master GM.

 

[Cheesebeef]

In 42 games for the Suns IT averaged 15 pts on .426% shooting. It was obvious that he was sowing discontent in the locker room. Yes, it was a bad trade for what he has become in Boston, but hindsight makes everyone a master GM.

I'm sorry, but when you trade a guy who was the previous 6th man of the year who's gone on to become an All-Star AND a lottery pick and all you have to show for it is a guy on a 70 million dollar contract that you can't GIVE away, you've crapped the bed in an ugly way.

 

[Phrazbit]

For all the belly aching about us not tanking correctly... we've got the 2nd worst record in the league, and we're not catching the Nets, they were ran by Billy King, its a level of bad we can't contend with.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm sorry, but when you trade a guy who was the previous 6th man of the year who's gone on to become an All-Star AND a lottery pick and all you have to show for it is a guy on a 70 million dollar contract that you can't GIVE away, you've crapped the bed in an ugly way.

I'm confused, of whom do you speak?

 

[AzStevenCal]

AFAIC, we basically traded Alex Oriakhi and a potentially very valuable draft pick for a fairly useless player. Bad deal, end of story IMO.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm sorry, but when you trade a guy who was the previous 6th man of the year who's gone on to become an All-Star AND a lottery pick and all you have to show for it is a guy on a 70 million dollar contract that you can't GIVE away, you've crapped the bed in an ugly way.

Also I think some forget IT was a pretty good player while he was with Sacramento.

To give some credit to the Suns in the first place, they virtually stole Thomas in a trade with the Kings.

Deepening a point-guard position of strength, the Suns agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with Sacramento that will bring Thomas to Phoenix on a four-year, $27 million deal in exchange for the rights to 2013 second-round pick Alex Oriakhi and a trade exception.

Too bad they traded him again so quickly.

I think Danny Ainge may have had some influence on this trade because Ryan McDonough (IMO) got the short end of the stick in only getting a late first round pick for IT from the Celtics.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...-trade-deal-for-kings-isaiah-thomas/12552165/

 

[Mainstreet]

AFAIC, we basically traded Alex Oriakhi and a potentially very valuable draft pick for a fairly useless player. Bad deal, end of story IMO.

I missed the very valuable draft pick part.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I missed the very valuable draft pick part.

No, I was just lumping it all together. What we spent to get him and the fiasco that led to Brandon Knight. The original deal to get him was just Oriakhi and the trade exception it created.

 

[sunsfan88]

IT wasn't an all-star at the time we had him, and there is nothing that would prove that he would have been with us.

It's his job to know that. He's supposed to use all the data and he fact that he sees IT in person at the practice gym to see his work ethic and determine how much he can advance his game.

That's like saying OKC wasnt dumb for trading away Harden since Harden wasn't an All Star with OKC during that time.

 

[Mainstreet]

No, I was just lumping it all together. What we spent to get him and the fiasco that led to Brandon Knight. The original deal to get him was just Oriakhi and the trade exception it created.

I realized it moments after shutting my computer down.

 

[JCSunsfan]

No one on this board complained much at all about trading IT at the time if the trade. Many were relieved because fans on this board had been calling for an IT trade for a while. Posters were much more concerned about the Laker pick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Phrazbit]

No one on this board complained much at all about trading IT at the time if the trade. Many were relieved because fans on this board had been calling for an IT trade for a while. Posters were much more concerned about the Laker pick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I recall a few people thinking we'd have to lump an asset with Thomas just to be rid of him.