Marc Stein: Suns go for Hedo

[slinslin]

Phoenix Suns: Signing Okur was Part II of the Suns' Plan A after Phoenix secured a verbal commitment from Dallas point guard Steve Nash on a six-year, $66 million deal. The Suns, sources said, are readying an offer to Spurs swingman Hedo Turkoglu with some of their leftover cap space.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?id=1834831

Looks like Gambo was right. I would have preferred Quentin Richardson however. (Guess Richardson doesn't want to be a backup here and dreams of playing with his buddy Miles again)

Hedo, Casey, Leandro and Nash would give us 4 of the top 20 3-point shooters from last season. (Wes Person, Brian Cardinal, Anthony Peeler and Fred Hoiberg still on the market)

Maybe Hedo could help recruit Vlade cheap.

 

[scotsman13]

i think the suns are really working on opening up the middle for amare. if teams double or triple down on amare, he will be able to pass it to a great 3pt shooter. also if any team tries to run a zone agianst us we will have the ability to shot them out of the game.

 

[elindholm]

They're going to pay Turkoglu $5-6 million per year to come off the bench? Seems unlikely.

Yet another piece of evidence suggesting that Marion is being moved for a center. But who?

 

[carey]

I keep thinking the same thing. I think it's going to be someone young and athletic. Don't shoot me, but I'm thinking it's going to be something like Chandler + filler or Swift + filler or maybe even Harrington + filler.

 

[slinslin]

Yet another piece of evidence suggesting that Marion is being moved for a center. But who?

Marion could be traded for Carter and Johnson for a Center.

 

[elindholm]

If Johnson can fetch a center, why bother trading Marion for Carter? Turkoglu and Marion could guard the SF/SG positions as well as Turkoglu and Carter could.

 

[slinslin]

Because Marion and Turkoglu combined can't create as much offense as Carter.

I think it is a lot more realistic to get a center for Johnson than Marion. How many centers come close to Marion just in terms of salary?

 

[cepstrum]

Because Marion and Turkoglu combined can't create as much offense as Carter.

I think it is a lot more realistic to get a center for Johnson than Marion. How many centers come close to Marion just in terms of salary?

As good as marion is, by himself he cant fetch a good center. We would have to take on a bad contract. For example to get dalembert, we would probably have to take on eric snows contract. Even then im not sure that the sixers would do it. Dalembert is their future.

If youre talking about a player like chandler on the other hand, there is no way i would trade marion for him. chandler = channing frye

 

[elindholm]

Because Marion and Turkoglu combined can't create as much offense as Carter.

When Carter is healthy enough to play, which is rarely. The Suns already dodged the McGrady bullet (to borrow Yuma's terminology) -- why up the ante by gambling on Carter?

I think it is a lot more realistic to get a center for Johnson than Marion. How many centers come close to Marion just in terms of salary?

See my SAC/LAL/PHO trade thread.

But seriously, what kind of decent center can be had for Johnson's salary? None, unless you count guys on their rookie contracts, who their teams won't trade. A decent young center on a rookie contract is worth much, much more than Johnson.

 

[George O'Brien]

Does EVERY free agent rumor mean the Suns are planning to move Marion?

It is equally plausible that it means that the Suns hope to move Zarko to backup PF and/or move Casey. If the Suns had Hedo, it could mean the Suns could send Casey to San Antonio to complete the Barbosa trade - thus freeing up their draft pick to be used in another deal.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

In the insider article, Nash's agent said part of the team's presentation was asking Nash what other FAs he thought they should look at. Perhaps this was partly his idea.

Anyways, if the Suns sign Hedo, I would assume some sort of trade is in the works. It just doesn't make sense otherwise. Also, didn't Hedo start in SA most of last season? Why would he want to move to the bench??

 

[George O'Brien]

In the insider article, Nash's agent said part of the team's presentation was asking Nash what other FAs he thought they should look at. Perhaps this was partly his idea.

Anyways, if the Suns sign Hedo, I would assume some sort of trade is in the works. It just doesn't make sense otherwise. Also, didn't Hedo start in SA most of last season? Why would he want to move to the bench??

Maybe he would start and JJ would come off the bench. In any case, we don't really know how serious their pursuit is. It makes sense to talk to every talented free agent on the hope that a quality player might be available for a reasonable price. This is just a "best available player" strategy and may not be any more complicated than that.

 

[F-Dog]

I'll just assume for now that this is the Suns and/or Turkoglu's agent trying to drive his price up.


Turkoglu is a puzzle--all the pieces are there for him to be an All-Star, but for some reason he can't get them to fit together. I don't see Turkoglu displacing Joe Johnson or Shawn Marion.

If the Suns did sign him to a deal, it would spell trouble for Casey Jacobsen or possibly Zarko, but I'm not sure Hedo would be an upgrade over those guys, either. The Spurs already discovered that Turkoglu isn't effective off the bench.

 

[cepstrum]

If the Suns did sign him to a deal, it would spell trouble for Casey Jacobsen or possibly Zarko, but I'm not sure Hedo would be an upgrade over those guys, either. The Spurs already discovered that Turkoglu isn't effective off the bench.

Well I tend to disagree there. I think Turk is more valuable than Casey and the Zarko after the fortson incident. Now if Zarko comes back to his original form, then that's a different story, but thats a big if. He had descent averages last year in only 25 mins of playing time and if he can backup marion or jj so that they dont have toplay 40+ then im happy. Of course this is assuming we dont overpay. The real question is what about our center position though.

 

[SweetD]

Hedo would be a great piece to this team. He is playoff tested and would be a good piece coming off the bench. I wouldn't give him a starters pay and if we trade Marion he could fill the hole for a few starts.

 

[JCSunsfan]

If we are really going after Turko, we might be considering a trade with Marion.

Sign and trade for x
Chandler
Ratliff

???

 

[George O'Brien]

If we are really going after Turko, we might be considering a trade with Marion.

Sign and trade for x
Chandler
Ratliff

???

Consider how?

Chandler is an underperforming PF with a bad back. He has a rookie contract, so the only way the Bulls let him go is if the Suns take one of the innumerable bad contracts they want to unload. By the time you are done, you end up with giving up a former all star for an underproducer and a stiff.

Ratliff is not going to be traded for a small forward. The Blazers are loaded with small forwards and really benefited from having a quality shot blocker. Ratliff is not going to be traded for Marion. Get over it.

 

[SweetD]

I don't see the Suns trading Marion anymore. Hedo will be for depth and nothing more. Marion will be starting next year for the Suns.

 

[Brett10S]

I say NO to Turkey-glue

 

[George O'Brien]

Supposedly Hedo has been approached by the Hawks. If so, his price will be extremely unreasonable.

 

[SweetD]

Supposedly Hedo has been approached by the Hawks. If so, his price will be extremely unreasonable.

??? Maybe he has been on playoff teams and might not want to go to a team that has no bright future.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

i think the suns are really working on opening up the middle for amare. if teams double or triple down on amare, he will be able to pass it to a great 3pt shooter. also if any team tries to run a zone agianst us we will have the ability to shot them out of the game.

that's the old rockets offense with hakeem in the middle and mad max, kenny the jet, and clyde the glide or sam cassell bombing from outside.

 

[George O'Brien]

that's the old rockets offense with hakeem in the middle and mad max, kenny the jet, and clyde the glide or sam cassell bombing from outside.

The Rockets did win two championships with that approach.

The only reason I would have any interest in Hedo is that he turned into a pretty good defender at SG. Apparently a lot of guards don't like shooting over at 6'10" guy all the time.

I might note that Hedo did not have a reputation for being able to play defense when he was with the Kings. Perhaps there is hope for Zarko yet.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The Rockets did win two championships with that approach.

The only reason I would have any interest in Hedo is that he turned into a pretty good defender at SG. Apparently a lot of guards don't like shooting over at 6'10" guy all the time.

I might note that Hedo did not have a reputation for being able to play defense when he was with the Kings. Perhaps there is hope for Zarko yet.

The Rockets also had Hakeem - who turned into one of the best Centers of all time and evolved into a superb passer - they also had guys who could stick big shots - Nash has never shown that ability and Hedo is a softy at the end of games as well.

The Rockets worked so well because they had assassins on the outside - Cassell and Horry have proven to be two of the most clutch shooters of all time and Mad Max never feared taking the big shot - we so far have shown to have none of the above and Amare is going to have to get a hell of a lot better with the ball passing from out down low - not to mention strengthing the rest of his game - defensively - to get to the level of Hakeem - I think he can get there - but it's still gonna take some time.

I'm honestly at a loss as to what this team can do to really improve themselves to the point of being a contender - maybe I just need to sit back and wait because everything revolve around Amare being transcendant - I hope that happens - it would be fun to watch.

 

[PhxGametime]

Hedo started 44 games last year - on a Suns team, Hedo could play the 2, 3, and 4

Skillball