Chad Ford not a fan of the summer Suns

[scoutmasterdave]

Well, he actually doesn't mention anything about the summer league team, rather deriding the Suns for how they've managed the draft and the cap the last three years. He says they threw way too much money at Banks, and shouldn't have traded out of the draft three times in a row, as they now have expensive veterans (KT, Banks) instead of cheap, rookie-contract players (Iggy, Deng).

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=2528122&CMP=ILC-INHEAD

 

[SunsTzu]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

... 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]

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]

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.


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.

 

[hcsilla]

From what I've seen Blatche is nothing like Hunter. He looked more like a raw KG/Bosh type too me.

I would rather say Lamar Odom as Blatche's NBA comparison.

 

[SunsTzu]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[George O'Brien]

The Warriors have a lot of young bigs. Just not that one.