Alex Len Signs with Atlanta

[Hoop Head]

Len has agreed to a 2 year deal to sign with the Hawks for $8.5 million over 2 seasons. So he's officially gone.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[Carolinacacti]

Good for Len, I think the Suns would have signed him if old man Chandler was not here.

 

[Phrazbit]

Good for Len, I think the Suns would have signed him if old man Chandler was not here.

I doubt it. Len probably wants to so somewhere where he has a chance for real playing time and I think the Suns came to the conclusion that he's a 2nd or 3rd string player for a while now.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think there is still a chance Len could develop into something really worthwhile.

 

[Ronin]

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-fr...alizing-2-year-8-5m-deal-hawks-214258153.html

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm glad Len got the deal. I'm wondering if the 2nd year is guaranteed.

 

[Hoop Head]

There was no reason to keep Len. I'm glad he left and is trying to do something on his own. I wish him luck in doing that also. If he even wanted to return that would show a lack of desire, IMO. At his age he shouldn't be content signing somewhere to be a backup and that's all he would be doing if he stayed in Phoenix after we drafted Ayton.

Whether he gets better or not, I don't know but I wouldn't bet on him improving much. I do hope he has a decent career though. Dudley sent out a tweet about him having the chance to show he's better than some people think and maybe he is, who knows. I doubt we'll regret letting him go.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[JCSunsfan]

There was no reason to keep Len. I'm glad he left and is trying to do something on his own. I wish him luck in doing that also. If he even wanted to return that would show a lack of desire, IMO. At his age he shouldn't be content signing somewhere to be a backup and that's all he would be doing if he stayed in Phoenix after we drafted Ayton.

Whether he gets better or not, I don't know but I wouldn't bet on him improving much. I do hope he has a decent career though. Dudley sent out a tweet about him having the chance to show he's better than some people think and maybe he is, who knows. I doubt we'll regret letting him go.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

The worst thing for Alex Len's career was the signing of Tyson Chandler.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The worst thing for Alex Len's career was the signing of Tyson Chandler.

Maybe a tossup with the hiring of Earl?

 

[Hoop Head]

The worst thing for Alex Len's career was the signing of Tyson Chandler.

That's a possibility. I always found it odd that he never was with the team when they would work out together during the offseason. Maybe that's not his personality? It's fine that he didn't, they weren't mandatory, but as a young player it didn't seem like he took the initiative to work with them and improve like other young players did. Even Goodwin was working out with some of the guys that got together but Len didn't. So during each offseason he was just sort of doing his own thing. I know last offseason he said he went back to Maryland and worked with his college coaches and while that's good, if it helps him, there really weren't signs that it did help. It's not like Chandler was an iron man playing in every game. Len had the chance to prove himself and perhaps Chandler set the bar a little higher but Len never reached that level here.

 

[GatorAZ]

@pokerface

 

[Phrazbit]

The worst thing for Alex Len's career was the signing of Tyson Chandler.

I vehemently disagree. Len's trajectory never changed. The worst thing for Len's career is that he has bad hands and bad instincts. Chandler has nothing to do with those issues. Len still got plenty of playing time and he never did anything to prove himself worthy of more. He actually had career highs in points, rebounds and was given a lot of chances on offense during Chandler's first season but he only proved that less is more when it comes to letting Len be a part of the offense. Chandler has missed a ton of playing time over his time in Phoenix, Len has spent long stretches of the last few seasons with the center position sitting there for him if he showed the talent to take it.

He's simply not a good player.

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

Good riddance.

 

[SirStefan32]

I wish him well.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I wish him well.

Ditto.

 

[Errntknght]

I'm happy for Len to have a shot in a new setting. He played his best under Triano, basically playing within his limitations and I think matured a bit. Surprised that Atlanta signed for over 8 mil/2yr.

 

[Covert Rain]

Good for Len. Glad he could get another shot but he didn't show much if anything at all. He really wasn't making progress and his ceiling is probably always going to be low. I think he can get a tad better but glad the Suns are moving on.

 

[Hoop Head]

I can't help but think we dodged a HUGE bullet by not signing him to an extension when he was eligible 2 years ago. I looked at that thread recently about doing just that and the majority were in favor of locking him down. That was after the crazy cap hike where guys like Plumlee got $12 million a year and Mozgov got $17-18 million a year. The lowest amount annually discussed though was about $8 million a year. He just signed for 2 full seasons for that amount. He didn't really show improvement from that point forward though. That was in between his 3rd and 4th season.


Here's the link if anyone wants to take a look. I'm embarrassed about how confident I was that he'd get a large offer as a restricted free agent. I wasn't alone but I'll only call out my own stupidity in that situation.

https://www.arizonasportsfans.com/forum/threads/extension-for-alex-len.238371/

 

[Phrazbit]

I doubt the bullet was close enough to dodge. I don't think the team ever had serious extension conversations with him. He was flat out terrible in the season prior, arguably the worst player on a bad team. I don't think they were going to slightly consider an 8 figure extension until he'd shown he could be a decent starter and at that point he was a below lousy reserve.

This last year was his best season by far... which shows that the bar had been set pretty low.

Those big contracts that Plumlee and Mozgov got were given out by some baaaaad GMs and they quickly became albatross deals. Both players have already been traded, twice each, in salary dumps... ironically, the most recent involving each other.

 

[Hoop Head]

Those big contracts that Plumlee and Mozgov got were given out by some baaaaad GMs and they quickly became albatross deals. Both players have already been traded, twice each, in salary dumps... ironically, the most recent involving each other.

Actually they just missed being traded for each other. Both were traded for Dwight Howard though, which is really something else. How far Dwight has fallen if no joke. When a team would rather pay the deals of Plumlee or Mozgov to get Dwight Howard out of their locker room, there's a problem.

Mozgov is now on the Magic, traded in a deal for Biyombo, and Plumlee is in Atlanta. He was dealt for Howard last offseason and Mosgov was traded to Charlotte for Dwight, who went to the Nets this offseason. Mosgov was then traded for Biyombo moving him from Charlotte to Orlando.

 

[Phrazbit]

Actually they just missed being traded for each other. Both were traded for Dwight Howard though, which is really something else. How far Dwight has fallen if no joke. When a team would rather pay the deals of Plumlee or Mozgov to get Dwight Howard out of their locker room, there's a problem.

Mozgov is now on the Magic, traded in a deal for Biyombo, and Plumlee is in Atlanta. He was dealt for Howard last offseason and Mosgov was traded to Charlotte for Dwight, who went to the Nets this offseason. Mosgov was then traded for Biyombo moving him from Charlotte to Orlando.

Oh yeah, Biyombo, the other guy in the triumvirate of crazy big contracts from that summer.

Or as I also like to call him: Mo Bamba v1.0.

 

[95pro]

Good for Len. I met him on NAU campus back when Goodwin was still around. Nice guy. Hopefully he makes the best out of this situation.

 

[Mainstreet]

I found this about the Len contract. It appears both years are guaranteed.

The deal, first reported by Yahoo Sports, will be fully guaranteed. The Hawks have not announced the deal. It likely won’t be made official until after the agreed-upon three-team trade with the Thunder and 76ers is completed that includes Dennis Schroder and Carmelo Anthony.

It seems like the going price for the Suns to pay for a center was $2.6 million (76ers receive $1 million and Holmes receives $1.6 million).

https://www.ajc.com/sports/basketball/hawks-sign-center-alex-len/lEUiwlSp9ElL1fHN9CwlEO/

 

[leclerc]

Good luck Len. Hope you put it together and have a long career! Always seemed like a good guy.

 

[sunsfan88]

The worst thing for Alex Len's career was the signing of Tyson Chandler.

Chandler was supposed to mentor him and help him develop his game further but it just never happened.

I remember initially, Chandler was in awe of how talented Len was and always made comments like “I don’t even think he knows how good he is yet”.