July 1st calls (Free Agent Signings)

[ASUCHRIS]

Why get rid of Knight at this point? Considering his age and salary, he's practically a bargain! Just wait until you see some of the ridiculous deals given out.

 

[Folster]

The Suns would be wise to sit out this free agency period. Maybe see what slips through the cracks after these other teams blow their wad.

These contracts are insane when compared to other sports. It wasn't too long ago that Barkley was making 4 million a year.

This tv money bubble is going to burst sooner or later.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Why get rid of Knight at this point? Considering his age and salary, he's practically a bargain! Just wait until you see some of the ridiculous deals given out.

if he would agree to be a sixth man, vine johnson type guy, I'd be all for it. I just don't want his ass grousing when (and this should be WHEN not if) Booker's starting.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

if he would agree to be a sixth man, vine johnson type guy, I'd be all for it. I just don't want his ass grousing when (and this should be WHEN not if) Booker's starting.

Yeah, hopefully he won't be a problem. The fact that he's working out with Bledsoe and the young guys is a good sign.

While he may not love the role, it makes the most sense for the team. More importantly, he should get starter like minutes anyway, and will have a chance to be the primary scorer with the 2nd unit.

 

[hsandhu]

if he would agree to be a sixth man, vine johnson type guy, I'd be all for it. I just don't want his ass grousing when (and this should be WHEN not if) Booker's starting.

Yep, and a starting lineup with bledsoe, knight, booker will be a total mess. When he doesn't have the ball knight will just be watching, and it takes touches from booker.

I want warren starting at 3, he's got a very good catch and shoot mid range shot. Can give us 16-17 points starting.

 

[slinslin]

maybe now the last ones will understand that paying Bledsoe and Knight a combined 26M$ per season is a total non-issue even if Knight plays 30 minutes off the bench as the 6th man subbing for either Bledsoe or Booker.

Even Tyson Chandler is a bargain compared to what Mozgov got.

 

[GatorAZ]

So Luke Walton isn't planning on playing small ball anymore I suppose...

 

[slinslin]

Noah 4/72 ------ 4.3 pts, 8.8 reb, 1.0 blk, .383 FG% (!!!) in 21.9 mpg
Mozgov 4/64 --- 6.3 pts, 4.4 reb, 0.8 blk, .565 FG% in 17.4 mpg
Tyson 3/39 ----- 7.2 pts, 8.7 reb, 0.7 blk, .583 FG% in 24.5 mpg

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[Hoop Head]

I can't wait to see how Lakers fans spin the Mosgov signing. They were talking about signing Durant and Whiteside a week ago and now paid Mosgov $16 million a year. I wish we still had that pick but it's not quite as bad knowing we managed to bring in 2 really good top prospects this season. With signings like that though they're looking at another season with a ton of pingpong balls.

 

[hcsilla]

Mozgov's new contract is ridicoulus even by the new standards.

I thought that they will spend their money more effectively than last summer but almost 30 mil. of their cap room is already eaten up and they made zero progress.

Comically, the Knight-trade looks even better now since the Lakers now have a decent chance of getting another top3 pick.

 

[hcsilla]

I can't wait to see how Lakers fans spin the Mosgov signing. They were talking about signing Durant and Whiteside a week ago and now paid Mosgov $16 million a year.

Not only that but they didn't even reach to Whiteside and Horford (obviously not to Durant).

 

[slinslin]

They get props for the Jordan Crawford signing but it only looks good relative to the new contracts in my opinion.

Crawford is not a player I would want to have on my team.

 

[Hoop Head]

Players will get paid more and bad contracts will look even worse under the new cap, especially in the first year or two while people get used to seeing the contracts being offered but I've seen Laker fans trying to spin it by saying $16 million annually that Mozgov got is equal to $10 million under the old salary cap, which may have some truth to it but with how the game is moving more towards small ball I doubt many teams were even considering offering him $10 million a year this offseason. He isn't coming off a great postseason run either, which gets a lot of players overpaid every year. He barely saw the floor in the playoffs behind Thompson and Channing Frye. If he signed for $10 million this offseason I think it would be bad but somewhat forgivable given the huge amount of money being thrown around with the new cap. Agreeing to 4 year and $65 million deal within the first hour or so of free agency though, before they met with other players, centers or otherwise, makes it that much worse. I wonder if LA will ever wise up and fire Kupchak, their fans are so delusional they don't think he's a problem though. At least I haven't seen anything calling for him to be fired, they all usually back up the horrible moves he's made.

With the market price being set though with that awful Mozgov deal, and other centers like Noah, Howard, and Whiteside all most likely getting somewhere around $20 million annually, I think Chandler's deal (with 3 years and almost $40 million left) should be easy to move. They should be able to get something of value in return, I'd think. Unless he's made it known he wants out though I'd rather they hold onto him for a while. He's a quality veteran voice in the locker room and he's a better mentor for Len than anyone else the team has. The Suns need to hire a quality big man coach, they've needed to since they drafted Len but even more now that they have Len, Bender, and Chriss. Len showed a lot of improvement last season with Chandler here, definitely more than he did in the 2 years where he didn't have a quality big to mentor him here. I don't know how much Chandler helped him vs him improving with experience but I doubt Chandler's presence was a negative in his development. If Tyson is ok sticking around and helping the young guys for another season then that's probably best for all involved. It just depends on if he's ok with that role as I don't think we'll be competitive this year, maybe as a 7th or 8th seed but that would require everyone to be healthy and everyone buying into their roles plus improvement from Booker, Warren, Len, and either Chriss or Bender being impactful in some way.

 

[Mainstreet]

When the Suns guaranteed the rest of PJ Tuckers contract, it had to be one of the easiest moves they are going to make in free agency. The final year of his contract pays only $5.3 million.

 

[Mainstreet]

Arizona Sports indicates the Suns are interested in Derrick Williams and Cole Aldrich. They are not going to blow anyone away but I think both fit with the Suns and what they are trying to do. I especially like Aldrich for center depth.

http://arizonasports.com/story/719816/suns-interested-former-arizona-derrick-williams/

 

[Hoop Head]

Arizona Sports indicates the Suns are interested in Derrick Williams and Cole Aldrich. They are not going to blow anyone away but I think both fit with the Suns and what they are trying to do. I especially like Aldrich for center depth.

http://arizonasports.com/story/719816/suns-interested-former-arizona-derrick-williams/

I've seen people question or dislike signing Aldrich but provided they don't spend much, less than $5 million a year, it's not a bad move considering how fragile both Chandler and Len have been. I can see the argument in retaining Leuer instead of pursuing Aldrich but I don't know if Leuer has interest in returning to be the 5th big, 3 string C & PF. He looked like a good acquisition at the beginning of the year but he was one of the only players to play worse under Watson compared to his time under Hornacek. I think Teletovic would be a better option to hang onto as a bench PF or even a temporary starter. He's instant offense off the bench and can stretch the offense a lot more than Leuer can.

 

[Chaplin]

Mirza just signed with the Bucks. 3y/30m

 

[hcsilla]

I hope that we can sign Dudley (for less).

 

[leclerc]

Yeah bring back Dudley. We need to see some awesome dunks.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Yeah bring back Dudley. We need to see some awesome dunks.

I'll bring the milk if you'll bring the donuts. That's about the only dunking you can expect from chubby Duds at this stage of his career. I'd love to see him back in Phoenix but not as a player.

 

[Covert Rain]

I'll bring the milk if you'll bring the donuts. That's about the only dunking you can expect from chubby Duds at this stage of his career. I'd love to see him back in Phoenix but not as a player.

I will have to look it up. I don't recall the last time I have actually seen him.

 

[Mainstreet]

Mirza just signed with the Bucks. 3y/30m

The price was right. I'm guessing the Suns are shopping for bigger fish or something different. Also Mirza is more of a backup PF which the youngsters will likely occupy.

 

[Ronin]

Sounding like Dudley is headed to Utah.....at least for a second meeting with the Jazz.

 

[TJ]

Arizona Sports indicates the Suns are interested in Derrick Williams and Cole Aldrich. They are not going to blow anyone away but I think both fit with the Suns and what they are trying to do. I especially like Aldrich for center depth.

http://arizonasports.com/story/719816/suns-interested-former-arizona-derrick-williams/

Should I rehash what I said last season about why Derrick Williams isn't a good signing?

There's a reason his lesser-talented, former college teammate Solomon Hill is getting $12+mil/season and D-Will wont

 

[sunsfan88]

Arizona Sports indicates the Suns are interested in Derrick Williams and Cole Aldrich. They are not going to blow anyone away but I think both fit with the Suns and what they are trying to do. I especially like Aldrich for center depth.

http://arizonasports.com/story/719816/suns-interested-former-arizona-derrick-williams/

I hope the Suns aren't stupid enough to sign Derrick Williams. He's a tweener who has no place in the NBA. Giving him even $3M is too much, I'd rather one of rookies get his minutes.

Aldrich would be interesting for the right price.