Chad Ford not a fan of the summer Suns

scoutmasterdave

Board Certified Suns Fan
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Posts
933
Reaction score
0
Location
Mesa, AZ

SunsTzu

ASFN Lifer
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Posts
4,866
Reaction score
1,674
Chad Ford spends so much time hyping draft prospects that he probably takes it personal when a team doesn't have any regard for glowing reports he and others give(deserving or not) on marginal prospects. There was no one drafted when the Suns picked last year that would have helped as much as KT(I'd really like to have Petro though, besides the Suns were pretty much backed into including that pick). I do think the not holding onto the pick in '04 looks bad in retrospect and had the Suns waited till draft night too see who fell I'm sure they would have taken Igoudala(who they had rated as the 3rd best prospect iirc), but again what the Suns got for that pick turned into KT who was a huge pick up for the Suns last year.

Edit- Also the pg in the draft may have been much cheaper than Banks, but I don't see how anyone could argue they'd help the team more than Banks for their title run.
 

Joe Mama

Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
May 14, 2002
Posts
9,501
Reaction score
964
Location
Gilbert, AZ
I wanted the Phoenix Suns to draft Marcus Williams, but even though he's much less expensive I don't think he would have helped as much as I believe Banks will. Williams is probably a better distributor, but that's about it. I'd rather have banks in every other facet of the game.

Joe
 

George O'Brien

ASFN Icon
Joined
Nov 22, 2003
Posts
10,297
Reaction score
0
Location
Sun City
The basic truth about the Suns this year is that they are focused on winning NOW. None of the draft prospects were likely to help. I'm not wildly enthusiastic about loading up on vet minimum guys, but championship contenders usually prefer guys who won't make mistakes under pressure.

I won't reinterate about Banks except to say I think he was the best option available and looks like a better fit than even Mike James.
 

thegrahamcrackr

Registered User
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Posts
6,168
Reaction score
0
Location
Scottsdale, Az
Everyone on this board pretty much agrees that the Chicago deal was a bad one - and the Suns shouldn't have committed to it until their guys were definitely off the board (they had assumed both Deng and Iggy would have been gone).

The need to sign Q is there, but like Joe pointed out - we could have just dumped Zarko 5 months earlier in order to free up that money.


Last year was nothing big, but I will tell you that the Suns will regret not taking Andray Blatche. After watching him half a dozen times or so - you can just see that this guy could be something really special. Had he not been shot last year (and subsequently got more practice and maybe some PT) - more people would be on his bandwagon by now. He has all of the tools, and he is just learning the game now...
 

Joe Mama

Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
May 14, 2002
Posts
9,501
Reaction score
964
Location
Gilbert, AZ
thegrahamcrackr said:
Last year was nothing big, but I will tell you that the Suns will regret not taking Andray Blatche. After watching him half a dozen times or so - you can just see that this guy could be something really special. Had he not been shot last year (and subsequently got more practice and maybe some PT) - more people would be on his bandwagon by now. He has all of the tools, and he is just learning the game now...

Okay, I just have to remind everybody how much I loved him last year. I was not so a fan of Francisco Garcia, who hasn't done squat for Sacramento, but Blatche was my guy.

Joe
 

Mainstreet

Cruisin' Mainstreet
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Posts
120,536
Reaction score
61,143
thegrahamcrackr said:
... Last year was nothing big, but I will tell you that the Suns will regret not taking Andray Blatche. After watching him half a dozen times or so - you can just see that this guy could be something really special. Had he not been shot last year (and subsequently got more practice and maybe some PT) - more people would be on his bandwagon by now. He has all of the tools, and he is just learning the game now...

I have not been following the career of Andray Blatche that closely, but from what I am aware, he is an up and comer. Perhaps the Suns could still get him for one of their three first round picks next year in a sign and trade using the TE. Some article I read seemed to insinuate he might be on the market.

Maybe he's already been moved. I don't know. Also maybe D'Antoni might view him as a Steven Hunter type player. I wish I had a better handle on it.
 

SunsTzu

ASFN Lifer
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Posts
4,866
Reaction score
1,674
From what I've seen Blatche is nothing like Hunter. He looked more like a raw KG/Bosh type too me. Petro was the guy I wanted(and still do actually) but I liked Blatche and Ersan Ilyasova too.
 

F-Dog

lurker
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
Posts
3,637
Reaction score
0
Location
Tucson
I was a Blatche fan too, IIRC. Maybe, if he never makes it in the league, we can all agree not to mention our previous enthusiasm for him. :D


Anyway, the killer move for the Suns was in 2004; in 2005, they were trying to dig their way out, adding a pick to exchange a really bad contract for a (merely) bad contract.

It was inexcusable that the Suns traded the #27 for cash this year, but the reason Ford is pissy is because the Suns are refusing to play his game. In Ford's world, all the teams are supposed to spend lots of time and energy developing obscure multi-year projects.
 

SunsTzu

ASFN Lifer
Joined
Aug 28, 2003
Posts
4,866
Reaction score
1,674
hcsilla said:
I would rather say Lamar Odom as Blatche's NBA comparison.

Fair enough, I only saw him play briefly a couple times and he looked to play bigger than Odom does but that was likely due to the level of competition. Certainly didn't look like Hunter though.
 

thegrahamcrackr

Registered User
Joined
Nov 19, 2002
Posts
6,168
Reaction score
0
Location
Scottsdale, Az
Mainstreet said:
I have not been following the career of Andray Blatche that closely, but from what I am aware, he is an up and comer. Perhaps the Suns could still get him for one of their three first round picks next year in a sign and trade using the TE. Some article I read seemed to insinuate he might be on the market.


Blatche is still under contract for the minimum, so we can't do a sign and trade right now.

Depending on what happens this season he might get a nice pay day. If his progression keeps up, I wouldn't mind the Suns going after him with part or all (depending on where he is development wise) of the MLE next summer. Odom is a nice comparison - he has a good handle for his size, and a pretty nice stroke from what I saw in Vegas. He just hasn't put all the tools together yet. A professional trainer (someone in the mold of Tim Grover, I realize trainer has a couple different meanings in sports) I was talking too said "He is so damn good, he doesn't know what to do with himself".


There was definitely a group of people high on Blatche during the draft. I remember liking him, and being really surprised he fell so far. I thought he was definitely a first rounder
 

Cheesebeef

ASFN IDOL
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2003
Posts
92,613
Reaction score
71,473
thegrahamcrackr said:
Blatche is still under contract for the minimum, so we can't do a sign and trade right now.

Depending on what happens this season he might get a nice pay day. If his progression keeps up, I wouldn't mind the Suns going after him with part or all (depending on where he is development wise) of the MLE next summer. Odom is a nice comparison - he has a good handle for his size, and a pretty nice stroke from what I saw in Vegas. He just hasn't put all the tools together yet. A professional trainer (someone in the mold of Tim Grover, I realize trainer has a couple different meanings in sports) I was talking too said "He is so damn good, he doesn't know what to do with himself".


There was definitely a group of people high on Blatche during the draft. I remember liking him, and being really surprised he fell so far. I thought he was definitely a first rounder

you can add me to that list also - he was the guy I wanted as well.
 

Gaddabout

Plucky Comic Relief
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Posts
16,043
Reaction score
11
Location
Gilbert
Chad Ford has less understanding of the Suns than we do, and I think there's an element of "I can't believe they don't take my advice" mentality to all the major NBA writers. In so many ways, they're worse than the fans.

Doesn't mean they're not on the money on occasion, though. If the Suns don't win a championship this year, they're going to be feeling the heat of those vet salaries for a few years.
 

Mainstreet

Cruisin' Mainstreet
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Posts
120,536
Reaction score
61,143
thegrahamcrackr said:
Blatche is still under contract for the minimum, so we can't do a sign and trade right now.

Depending on what happens this season he might get a nice pay day. If his progression keeps up, I wouldn't mind the Suns going after him with part or all (depending on where he is development wise) of the MLE next summer. Odom is a nice comparison - he has a good handle for his size, and a pretty nice stroke from what I saw in Vegas. He just hasn't put all the tools together yet. A professional trainer (someone in the mold of Tim Grover, I realize trainer has a couple different meanings in sports) I was talking too said "He is so damn good, he doesn't know what to do with himself".

By bad. I should have used the word trade not sign and trade.

Anyway, I read somewhere that a team (Golden State?) might want to move him. It sounds like the writer of the blurp I read didn't know what he was talking about.

Edit: Correction. I believe the Wizards have him.
 
Last edited:

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
559,252
Posts
5,462,323
Members
6,337
Latest member
rattle
Top