Mid season report. Suns to playoff. Make a deal for Pau.

[Sci Fi]

Amazing season. Everyone is down because of the Bledsoe injury but there's no reason to be. Barbosa is just what was needed. Regardless if Bledsoe returns or not, this team will playoff. Obviously, they're better with Bledsoe but who knows what will happen.

I know that McDonough has said that the strategy is to proceed to acquire young players that fit the plan. The problem with that is that this team is a lot better than expected (yes Ryan you were wrong) and has almost the necessary pieces here already. Great coach and a borderline star in Dragic (currently my 28th ranked player) Len could be that stopper in the middle (likely will be but obviously not this year). Pau has been playing excellent basketball now that he's healthy. Use some of those assets and go get him. Give him the magic Nelson treatment and this team could contend for a WC title THIS YEAR.

Enjoy the rest of the season.

 

[Chaplin]

No. A thousand times no.

There is no viable reason to go for Pau Gasol and his expensive contract. First, he is NOT going to get us a Western Conference title THIS YEAR. Why would you even think that? Secondly, he's too old for this team. By the time we get to the point where we ARE Western Conference title contenders, he will be gone or on his last legs.

The problem is that you have gotten too greedy. Yes, we have a nice record. Yes, we are better than everyone thought. But our best this season, even with Pau Gasol, is a 2nd round ouster. And that's being generous. Pau Gasol does not make us a contender this year, let alone in future years.

 

[Sunburn]

According to 82games.com, Pau Gasol is on average being out-produced by his opponent at both the PF and C positions.

 

[desertdawg]

El no.

 

[Gaddabout]

Salary-cap freedom is >>>>> than any big salary the Suns can land right now. There are no Barkleys to be had. Patience, padawan.

 

[Sci Fi]

Padawan. lol.

 

[Chaz]

Don't give up assets and cap room for rentals.

Besides I would rather give Len the minutes.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Salary-cap freedom is >>>>> than any big salary the Suns can land right now. There are no Barkleys to be had. Patience, padawan.

bingo. gotta build like the Pacers/Blazers. That requires picks, patience and time...all three of which we seem to have right now.

 

[Covert Rain]

Salary-cap freedom is >>>>> than any big salary the Suns can land right now. There are no Barkleys to be had. Patience, padawan.

+1

 

[ASUCHRIS]

bingo. gotta build like the Pacers/Blazers. That requires picks, patience and time...all three of which we seem to have right now.

Yep. It would be one thing if interesting players were available. It's a bunch of guys that are older and overpaid, or young, and going to be overpaid. No thanks.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Not interested in Pau in any way. This is the time to develop Len and Plumlee. Making the playoffs is secondary to our long term development goals. If we can develop for the long term AND make the playoffs, that's just fine. No need to tank. But we must do that while developing our younger prospects. If you take a guy #5, you better make room for him to develop or you have no real plan.

 

[Sci Fi]

Disappointing answers I must say. To the 5 of you concerned with cap space, don't worry. Pau is a FA after this year. Whether he stays or not would be dependent on how things went. Essentially, the Suns would be paying to rent him for the remainder of the year, have him help this year for the playoffs, give him a chance to see the bright future here and how the Suns can help him and then decide a plan moving forward.

There are a lot of questions one would want to have answered about the Suns before proceeding with any plan but here are 3 that I think most people aren't asking, or aren't at least answering properly. The first is "Why are the Suns winning?", the second is "How good is this team really?" and the third is "Just how good are the Suns young players?". The future course of action will be largely dependent on the answer to these questions for what I think are obvious reasons.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Disappointing answers I must say. To the 5 of you concerned with cap space, don't worry. Pau is a FA after this year. Whether he stays or not would be dependent on how things went. Essentially, the Suns would be paying to rent him for the remainder of the year, have him help this year for the playoffs, give him a chance to see the bright future here and how the Suns can help him and then decide a plan moving forward.

I'm not concerned about cap space. i'm concerned about giving up assets for a renta-player who at best might help us win 1 round in the playoffs before leaving.

 

[Sci Fi]

He doesn't have to leave if things go well.

 

[SirStefan32]

He doesn't have to leave if things go well.

I would say that if you are a young, rebuilding team, a 34 year-old center in the twilight of his career is not a logical choice.

I would rather develop Len, Plumlee, and the Mossis twins. let them play, learn about winning and losing.

 

[HooverDam]

If Bledsoe never got hurt and the Suns were pushing for 1st place in their division, maybe you bring in Pau (so long as the cost isn't too high). Now thought? That'd be silly. Just let it ride at this point, the Suns are either an 8 seed that gets bumped in Rd 1 after maybe winning a game or two, or narrowly miss the playoffs and pick in the 10-15 range.

 

[Sci Fi]

I would say that if you are a young, rebuilding team, a 34 year-old center in the twilight of his career is not a logical choice.

I would rather develop Len, Plumlee, and the Mossis twins. let them play, learn about winning and losing.

To decide how to proceed one must first know where they are. Based on how I answer the 3 questions I offered, I'd say you're not being logical. How do you answer them?

 

[elindholm]

The first is "Why are the Suns winning?"

Well, they aren't anymore (4-6 over last ten), but when they were winning, it was because some players were overachieving, they were catching other teams unprepared, and Hornacek had them exerting a lot of mental energy on the defensive end.

the second is "How good is this team really?"

Even with Bledsoe this is a low-seed playoff team at best.

and the third is "Just how good are the Suns young players?".

It depends on what you mean by "young." The Suns have a handful of players who aren't all that "young" by NBA standards but who are relatively inexperienced, giving the illusion that they have greater potential than they probably do. Dragic is 27. Green turns 28 in a few days. Tucker is 29.

The rotation players who are 25 or younger are Bledsoe, the Morrises, Plumlee, and maybe eventually Len and/or Goodwin. Of those, Bledsoe has the most promise, but he has already shown a susceptibility to injury and the Suns may not decide to afford keeping him anyway. Markieff Morris is looking like a solid backup, but Marcus Morris is clearly disposable -- there are dozens of players out there who can offer what he does. Plumlee is an unknown; he does some things very well but is a long way from being a consistent impact player.

The future course of action will be largely dependent on the answer to these questions for what I think are obvious reasons.

I think it's equally obvious that bringing in Pau Gasol to win possibly two or three more playoff games this season would be counterproductive.

The future course of action for this team is the same as it was this summer: Tread water and wait for a star to fall into their laps. The fact that the current roster has defied expectations, and proved to be mediocre rather than horrible, interferes with that plan, since it reduces the likelihood of getting major help in the upcoming draft. But the basic course remains the same.

The Suns have not assembled a budding contender out of thin air; instead, they've managed to patch together a roster that can compete on most nights. That is in itself an accomplishment, but it doesn't change the long-term outlook.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think it's equally obvious that bringing in Pau Gasol to win possibly two or three more playoff games this season would be counterproductive.

The future course of action for this team is the same as it was this summer: Tread water and wait for a star to fall into their laps. The fact that the current roster has defied expectations, and proved to be mediocre rather than horrible, interferes with that plan, since it reduces the likelihood of getting major help in the upcoming draft. But the basic course remains the same.

The Suns have not assembled a budding contender out of thin air; instead, they've managed to patch together a roster that can compete on most nights. That is in itself an accomplishment, but it doesn't change the long-term outlook.

I would change that to "stockpile young talent and picks, develop the young talent that they have, and look for an opportunity to add a star-level younger player (or two)"

Its for guaranteed sure that Pau Gasol does NOT put them into a position to compete for a WC championship. In fact, given what they Lakers might want in return, a trade for Gasol might actually make the Suns worse in the present AND the future.

 

[SirStefan32]

To decide how to proceed one must first know where they are. Based on how I answer the 3 questions I offered, I'd say you're not being logical. How do you answer them?

I pretty much agree with Eric, with the exception of his evaluation of Plumlee. I think Plumlee is better than Eric thinks he is, but outside of that, he's spot-on.

 

[BC867]

If got Paul Gasol (Paul with no "l" -- Noel) to join Dionte Christmas, Steve Albert could have a field day.

Oops, I just did it myself!

Never mind.

BTW, I agree that obtaining Pau Gasol would be a shortsighted investment on our part.

 

[Sci Fi]

The problem that you all have is that the Suns are a lot better than you realize. You also don't truly understand what's making this team win (and yes they are still winning). Keep watching. You'll see. I won't waste my time trying to convince you.

 

[BC867]

The problem that you all have is that the Suns are a lot better than you realize. You also don't truly understand what's making this team win (and yes they are still winning). Keep watching. You'll see. I won't waste my time trying to convince you.

That is not accurate. The Suns are 4-6 in their last ten games and are likely to make 4-7 after tonight's game vs. the Pacers.

Also, the Suns are 16-8 with Bledsoe and 7-9 without him . . . and we are without him. Not having a strong "2" guard starting with Dragic (whether a tweener like Bledsoe or a deadly outside shot) makes us a below-.500 team.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, but realistically the team has not been "winning", using .500 as a benchmark.

 

[elindholm]

You also don't truly understand what's making this team win (and yes they are still winning). Keep watching. You'll see. I won't waste my time trying to convince you.

Good luck in the real world, sport. You'll need it.

 

[Errntknght]

The problem that you all have is that the Suns are a lot better than you realize. You also don't truly understand what's making this team win (and yes they are still winning). Keep watching. You'll see. I won't waste my time trying to convince you.

Basically, the Suns are now losing close games and earlier we were winning them. The primary reason for that is earlier opponents were underestimating us and now they are not. Its often enough to be better than other teams think you are in order to beat them - if they are not vastly better.

Interestingly, the analysis via my offensive efficiency rating has been projecting the Suns as a middle of the pack team steadily - the low point for the projection thus far has been 36 wins and the high point 42 wins. Based on the last ten games alone the projection is 38 wins. Its been slipping slowly since Bled went down - less so than I expected, however. In truth, its not so much that the Suns OE rating has fallen as that the rest of league has been gone up while we stood pat. Looking over the roster for the last ten games, Dragic and PJ, always strong, are up a bit, the Morri, Frye, Green and Plumlee have lost ground and the bit players have improved across the board - Goodwin, Len, Ish, and Christmas.

Defensively, we showed a drop when Eric was first injured, but since then we've climbed back to almost where we were before. So the stats say though in watching they still don't seem as good to me.

Stats geek that I am, I'm going to believe what they are telling me - as constituted we are not going to make the playoffs. We may not even have the best record among the non-playoff teams so we might draft as high as 12th. My projections say that Dal, Den, Mem and, believe it or not, Minnesota finish above us. New Orleans has Davis back now so they might go on a run and Sacramento is coming on. Even Utah doesn't seem totally inept of late.

According to the people that follow college ball, Wiggins and others may not be as great as they were being projected but that the draft seems to deeper than heretofore believed so drafting 12-14 might net us a very good player and McD might find a gem later - assuming we have more than just Indy's pick. If Washington manages to hang on we could get the 15-16th pick from them, IIRC.