Grading the Suns trade deadline moves

[HooverDam]

Welp the trade deadline has come and gone, with not much excitement here in Phoenix or anywhere for that matter.

How do you feel the Suns did at the trade deadline? Were you one of the (weird) people hoping they'd add someone like Josh Smith? Were you thrilled w/ the tiny moves they made?

I personally am a bit disappointed. Its hard for me to believe that there isn't a contender out there who didn't want Gortat and/or Dudley. Now obviously, its hard for us to entirely judge trades that didn't happen, because we don't know what was offered. I really would've liked to have seen Dudley and Gortat moved though, in exchange for some combination of draft picks, expiring contracts and players on rookie contracts. Moving them also would've meant a few more ping pong balls for this upcoming draft lottery.

Sure would've been nice if they could've gone to Houston or Portland too, to help keep the Lakers away from that 8 seed.

So what grade would you give the Suns deadline moves? I'd say a C. Nothing exciting, but nothing to get upset about. Saving $200K in the Telfair trade doesn't really effect any of us as fans. Getting Marcus Morris, a lottery pick, for just a 2nd rounder was a good.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I'll give them an A simply for not doing anything incredibly stupid like trading future assets for Josh Smith. the fact that they got Morris and a 2nd for Telfair is gravy.

 

[Errntknght]

What cheese said

 

[HooverDam]

I'll give them an A simply for not doing anything incredibly stupid like trading future assets for Josh Smith.

Its sad to me that our expectations are now so low that not doing something horribly stupid is enough to give an excellent grade.

 

[Gaddabout]

Its sad to me that our expectations are now so low that not doing something horribly stupid is enough to give an excellent grade.

Remember when Rubick's Cubes first game out, and the more you tried to solve it the worse you would make it?

That's the Suns front office in a nut shell.

 

[Phrazbit]

I'll give em a C. They didnt screw anything up, they did good by Telfair. The Morris trade is... interesting. But at the same time I cant believe they couldnt find a home for Jermaine O'Neal. Keeping him is pointless. Maybe they will be able to work a waiver wire deal for him down the road.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'll give em a C. They didnt screw anything up, they did good by Telfair. The Morris trade is... interesting. But at the same time I cant believe they couldnt find a home for Jermaine O'Neal. Keeping him is pointless. Maybe they will be able to work a waiver wire deal for him down the road.

I think the Suns wanted to acquire young assets on the cheap without paying a lot of additional salary, keep their draft picks while still not messing up the ping pong balls. So in this regard I think they did fairly well. As Cheesebeef said, I did not want the Suns to do something stupid.

After the season, I expect them to be more active prior to the draft to improve the team and move some existing pieces. I've heard it said several times prior to the trading deadline, Jermaine O'Neal did not want to be traded. I view this, if true, as a positive versus likely return.

 

[overseascardfan]

I'll give em a C. They didnt screw anything up, they did good by Telfair. The Morris trade is... interesting. But at the same time I cant believe they couldnt find a home for Jermaine O'Neal. Keeping him is pointless. Maybe they will be able to work a waiver wire deal for him down the road.

I think PHX couldn't find a home for O'Neal because teams figure why give up a pick when PHX will most likely cut him and they can get him for nothing. Case in point the pick PHX got for Telfair is a protected 2nd rounder, why would you put protection on a 2nd round pick? I guess teams value 2nd rounders these days.

I give PHX an A because they got a nice piece in Morris and didn't take garbage for Gortat and Dudley or overspend for Josh Smith. Conspiracy theory, PHX tried to get Smith so that when Howard is a FA this summer he could join his best friend and old HS teammate if the Suns got Smith to sign long term.

 

[95pro]

what if gortat walks for nothing? or is his contract up until next season?

 

[Mainstreet]

what if gortat walks for nothing? or is his contract up until next season?

The Suns need to move Gortat in the off season maybe in a trade package. My guess is the Suns did not get any quality trade offers for him.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think PHX couldn't find a home for O'Neal because teams figure why give up a pick when PHX will most likely cut him and they can get him for nothing.

I think this why the Suns were smart to waive Zeller early in the day in case there were any takers for O'Neal. They would know the Suns were not going to buy him out per rumors. IMO, some playoff team is going to regret not making a trade offer for him. He could be a nice depth player up front in the playoffs.

 

[HooverDam]

what if gortat walks for nothing? or is his contract up until next season?

his contract expires after next year. Which hopefully will make him an even more appealing trade option during the summer/next year.

 

[Mainstreet]

his contract expires after next year. Which hopefully will make him an even more appealing trade option during the summer/next year.

As I understand it Gortat will be an unrestricted in 2014-15 so unless the Suns get lucky in doing a Steve Nash like trade, they may be best to trade him this summer. The Hawks difficulties in trying to move Josh Smith may be an example of waiting too late. Gortat's value is more than an expiring contract.

 

[PhxGametime]

I would've only be interested Millsap and J Smith in Trade/Extend deal but sometime yesterday or even day before I read Josh wasn't eligible for that by Atlanta's news site. Plus I wouldn't of wanted to Trade Gortat for a forward...

Extend deal would've meant they wouldn't of had worried about either leaving after summer but most importantly those deals would've been cheaper lol at least I read that extensions have slight raises and are for only 3 years??

 

[PhxGametime]

I have a feeling the Suns are going after Eric Gordon deal in summer and using their Pick on a SG or G/F - due to injury concerns but also that the 5 of the best Prospects are wings.

McLemore, Shabazz, Porter, Oladipo, Goodwin, and then you could even throw Smart in there at combo guard. Noel being in that class as a big but I haven't seen enough of Len and Zeller kind of would be risky??

 

[Neo]

I bumped the grade from a C to a C+ because it is actually kind of amusing that we now have twins on the team. Extra credit for whimsy.

We added a bench player who will struggle to get playing time and lost a bench player who was not getting any playing time.

They didn't make the team measurably better, but saved 200K and managed to not screw anything up.

 

[overseascardfan]

I have a feeling the Suns are going after Eric Gordon deal in summer and using their Pick on a SG or G/F - due to injury concerns but also that the 5 of the best Prospects are wings.

McLemore, Shabazz, Porter, Oladipo, Goodwin, and then you could even throw Smart in there at combo guard. Noel being in that class as a big but I haven't seen enough of Len and Zeller kind of would be risky??

Rumor has it that Gordon was very available but no one wanted him according to sources. I think his contract is proving to be a bad one and PHX dodged a bullet when NO matched.

If they are going to pay max money go after Howard otherwise build with the draft, a big like Noel, Zeller or Len and a swingman are very much attainable in this draft.

 

[jagu]

A+ They didn't do anything stupid like trade for Al Jefferson or Josh Smith.

 

[Neo]

A+ They didn't do anything stupid like trade for Al Jefferson or Josh Smith.

Is that the standard now? If they don't act like complete morons then it is an A+? So when it comes time for the Draft, do we give the front office an A+ if the remember to draft a basketball player rather than a shortstop?

 

[JCSunsfan]

A+ They didn't do anything stupid like trade for Al Jefferson or Josh Smith.

I gave them a b+ for the same reason. Its not sad, really. Its great self discipline to resist pressure and not make a bad deal just to make a deal.

Babby is on a contract year and he did not do something desperate just to keep his job. Ticket sales are waning and Sarver did not force it, just to sell tickets. Most predicted that they would sacrifice the long term for the sake of short term goals.

Credit when credit due. My respect for Babby has increased significantly.

 

[jagu]

Is that the standard now? If they don't act like complete morons then it is an A+? So when it comes time for the Draft, do we give the front office an A+ if the remember to draft a basketball player rather than a shortstop?

Nailed it.

It is my standard unfortunately.

 

[leclerc]

I concur and rate it a B for keeping their cool and doing good by Bassy.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Is that the standard now? If they don't act like complete morons then it is an A+? So when it comes time for the Draft, do we give the front office an A+ if the remember to draft a basketball player rather than a shortstop?

Well, given that there was no move to be made that would significantly improve this team, I think it's reasonable to give them a perfect grade for not overrreaching. And I don't even mean that as a knock on their ability to improve this roster. I think the natural thing for a front office to do when things look this bad is to make moves for the sake of making moves and I applaud their willingness to stand mostly pat.

Steve