Phoenix Suns History Lesson (Robert Sarver 04-Present)

[Mainstreet]

Ownership GROUP does not make personal moves plan and simple. It is the GM's role to deal with picks/players. Name me one team that has not sold off picks that were in the 20's. Heck we got two great players over the years in Dragic and Barbosa for teams "selling their picks" Outside of Rondo (D'Antoni) what other "sold" pick would have been worth keeping?

Deng (Colagelo) was a hand shake deal that went south before the draft, Rudi Fernandez, Nate Robinson??? outside of that we have kept or the picks have are out of the league.

Would you prefer it be like before with backcourt 2000 for three more years?

Sarver is the controlling owner. Do you think he has allowed the Suns FO to make decisions without major influence? The use of the term "group" does not detract from his telling the Suns FO and GM what to do. Ask Bryan Colangelo and Steve Kerr.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Of course $arver is cheap. Being over the cap doesn't mean squat on this account.

When you sell draft picks, you are cheap.

People don't realize that $arver is an idiot when it comes to money (par for the course with him being a banker) and he defaults to 'cutting costs'.

So he sells a pick, trades a way a player to not pay luxury tax. Which shows his cheapness.

Then he realizes his error that he screwed his team, so he goes oh excrement, and overpays for someone else.

Many of the examples are of him trading picks and players to get under a luxury tax, realizing we sucked, then trading more picks, players, signing anyone with a pulse, being over the luxury tax, so trading away more players and picks, realizing we suck, trading more picks, players, and signing anyone with a pulse. This has been what we've done under $arver. Rinse. Repeat. Wait for another year to do the same.

He's wishy washy. He destroyed the team for supposed 'savings', then blew the savings because he realized he made an error. Only to go back to 'savings' mode, only to realize he made another error. So he destroyed the team even more. Each time he went through this idiotic process he left the cupboard less stocked. We lucked into Gortat and Dudley. Made a decent pick of Morris. But that's really it. Nash/Hill aren't long term plans, and both might not be here this year.

I called it the entire way, and also said it was a possibility when he took over as he was a new owner that was going to have to learn how to be an owner. I hoped he wouldn't hurt the Suns that much. My worst fears weren't horrible enough to compare to what he has done. It was unfathomable to me that anyone could be as clueless as $arver has been.

Had he just spent a few million up front to keep his talent and draft the guys that were there, we'd probably of won multiple championships. Even if we didn't. We'd have a ton of talent, had many good runs, and be loaded with talent still.

In the end in his short term quest to save money, he ended up destroying his revenue base and quality of product. He can't even sniff Sterling's jockstrap. He both destroys the team AND can't make money. At least Sterling made money. Colangelo left him the most talent and stockpiled draft picks a team could possibly have and $arver fiddled his way until we're where we are.

One way to look at cheapness is total amount spent. Another is the way he went about spending that money. His incompetence shows that he tried to be cheap, didn't save any money, and destroyed the team in the process. The motivating factor for all these decisions, was money. He's cheap AND incompetent and that's why the Suns have spent that much money.

he's penny-wise and pound-foolish... and that's just with personnel decisions.

let's not even get started on how he treated team employees, slashing salaries for the people behind the scenes and asking Kerr to take a pay-CUT after we got back to the WCF.

 

[SweetD]

he's penny-wise and pound-foolish... and that's just with personnel decisions.

let's not even get started on how he treated team employees, slashing salaries for the people behind the scenes and asking Kerr to take a pay-CUT after we got back to the WCF.

LOL did you work for the Suns? FYI it was Kerr that was doing the cost cutting, including the team shop and other employee related areas. All organziations were making cuts back then, there was this thing called the economy that isn't doing so well. I can tell you 100% that Kerr was not liked by "Suns Personel"

So Kerr was a good GM that deserved to stay around? Shaq & Porter?

 

[SweetD]

Lakers are even "cutting cost" ... If Saver was the money grubbing and "peeny-wise" owner we would carry the min amount of salary and take money from other teams. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39163/why-would-lakers-ever-cut-costs

Just google NBA cut cost and you can find many team that had to make cost cutting moves not just on the basketball court.

http://www.oregonlive.com/nba/index.ssf/2009/10/nba_teams_shrink_rosters_assis.html

 

[Cheesebeef]

LOL did you work for the Suns? FYI it was Kerr that was doing the cost cutting, including the team shop and other employee related areas.

dude... it was WIDELY reported that Kerr left because Sarver was treating the staff like crap. and kerr... the decider of basketball decisions... was somehow involved in the team shop? That idea doesn't hold any water whatsoever.

All organziations were making cuts back then, there was this thing called the economy that isn't doing so well. I can tell you 100% that Kerr was not liked by "Suns Personel"

the team JUST got to the WCF. Asking your GM/staff to take pay cuts after the team just had huge year and made bank of playoff games is insulting. Arguing otherwise is silly. And I can tell you 100% that Sarver is pretty universally loathed by Suns personnel.

So Kerr was a good GM that deserved to stay around? Shaq & Porter?

Shaq and Porter were bad decisions... but apparently (and again, this was WIDELY reported) Sarver was the one who intitiated talks with the Heat owner to make that deal. As far as Porter, horrific hire, but likely one handicapped by Sarver pulling the purse strings and limiting Kerr's options to actually bring in someone worth some money. Or do you think it's coincidence that the notoriously cheap Sarver found the cheapest coach money could buy?

And even after all of that disaster (much of it Sarver's doing IMO), Kerr STILL put together a team that made the WCF. He got J Rich, Dudley, Dragic, Sweet Lou, all of which were very good deals/pick-ups. Those were Kerr moves. Arguing that he should have taken a pay-cut or shouldn't have been kept around after a season where we were 2 games away from the Finals doesn't make any sense.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

LOL did you work for the Suns? FYI it was Kerr that was doing the cost cutting, including the team shop and other employee related areas. All organziations were making cuts back then, there was this thing called the economy that isn't doing so well. I can tell you 100% that Kerr was not liked by "Suns Personel"

Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff? It's not possible that you could be more wrong.

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/PaulCoro/87062/sort_D

 

[SweetD]

For one I get my information directly from people with in the organization, not just Kerr's media release to Corro. Not just one person, multiple. I have been doing business with the Suns/Dbacks for over 10 years. Colangelo and Sarver I can tell you both cut cost in places and made decisions based on business not just basketball.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

For one I get my information directly from people with in the organization, not just Kerr's media release to Corro. Not just one person, multiple. I have been doing business with the Suns/Dbacks for over 10 years. Colangelo and Sarver I can tell you both cut cost in places and made decisions based on business not just basketball.

Ah, the ol mystery contact...always a good one. Definitely seems more likely that the front office that got stiffed by Sarver would be partial to him, not the man who led the front office to success, and what should have been raises for everyone.

I like your story better though.

 

[SweetD]

Actualy he keeps the majorty of the Colagelo's organziation together. I just can't come out and give people's names man. I keep the majority of the stuff to myself, Colangelo did well for this organization and Arizona. But he was more of a businessman and focused on money than Sarver has ever been.

This organization has made some bad moves, but some people on here act like we are a team that has sucked from years.

Maybe because I have been working out of the home office, with my kidos on summer break that I just have had too much time on my hands.

 

[sunsfan88]

I completely forgot that Grant Hill did play under D'Antoni for a season.

 

[CardsFan88]

Ownership GROUP does not make personal moves plan and simple, Saver went along to help get Nash and learned from the JJ deal to stay out of it. It is the GM's role, to deal with picks/players. Name me one team that has not sold off picks that were in the 20's. Heck we got two good players over the years in Dragic and Barbosa for teams "selling their picks" Outside of Rondo (D'Antoni) what other "sold" pick would have been worth keeping?

Deng (Colagelo) was a hand shake deal that went south before the draft and before Sarver, Rudi Fernandez, Nate Robinson??? outside of that we have kept our picks or they are out of the league.

Would you prefer it be like before with backcourt 2000 for three more years?

Deng/AI
Rondo
Ibaka
David Lee
Nate Robinson
Fernandez

Hell if you could have Deng/Rondo/Ibaka/Lee on your team right now instead of Dudley/Gortat....would you take it? But since Gortat was originally a 2nd round pick why couldn't we include him as someone we should of had as well? So Dudley/Gortat or Gortat/Deng or AI/Rondo/Ibaka/Lee/Fernandez...and Robinson during those other years.

Ownership definitely was pulling the strings. Sell this pick. Get rid of that contract at all costs of other players/picks. Directed from ownership.

The GM listens to the owner, or he risks no longer being the GM. The owner told the GM to avoid luxury tax. GM avoided luxury tax. If it took 1 or 2 first round picks to be given away, so be it.

We are the only team that TRADES AWAY expiring contracts....NOT FOR picks....but GIVE UP picks...to save money. Seriously. What other people give UP picks to give away an expiring contract? Well that's Googs for you. Who was almost worth his money until some under performing big man undercut him at practice and blew out both knees worse than Adrian Peterson.

$arver didn't want to pony up for JJ not once, but hell I even forget now, but was either 2 or THREE times since we COULD have given him a deal the 2nd or 3rd time it would have been a max deal. But $arver thought he knew better being a banker and all. Considering he's wasted probably double JJ's contract since being a fool with JJ all those times, the JJ move was the utmost idiocy.

Then again when ALL of his $$$ moves were made he would realized we sucked, so he would make MORE moves to slightly rectify the situation for the then present, but at the expense of LATER. SO he told his GM to get players and overpay to do it. We did. Give up picks. Give up other players. Whatever.

We'd sign guys to ridiculous contracts in a poor attempt to compensate for guys we lost for a pittance. How many guys that we gave or traded away are we going to re-sign or trade for? Granted if we wanted to, sure. But it sure makes the deals where we sent them away look even worse.

I can't stress how much the moves we made weren't GM 'trying to win and get the best players'. It was moves dictated, by $arver saying do something, anything, and our GM did what they did. Find a way to dump salary. Find some stiff to overpay for in FA. Overpay in a trade. So on and so forth.

Colangelo built a winner. $arver only knows how to tear one down. Once he's out of bricks to tear down, I can only imagine what we may be like.

That said, things MIGHT have cooled down a bit from this idiotic thinking. But somehow long term, I doubt it.

Yes selling your picks IS idiotic. Rondo is all I need to make my point, but there were plenty more. We needed a PG that year, who did we get instead? A guy that we eventually traded a pick to get rid of his contract. A rookie supposedly wouldn't of been played...even though rookies with talent DID play...see barbosa....amare...and it would have been RONDO. Because Rondo rocked his rookie year.

Barbosa was a pick we bought. We gave up a future 1st round pick. So no, San Antonio didn't 'sell' us a pick. They also won championships, so even if they had wanted to sell us one, after winning as many championships as they did, while being the wrong move, they were champions...the fans got their reward.

Unless you have the dream team, there is always room for a pick. If you would rather not pick a guy, then trade it like SA. Funny enough, lots of our sold picks weren't the 28th overall pick like Barbosa who was a trade. Some were low. Many were in the early 20's. Yes good players can be found there, and were.

Goran Dragic wasn't a 1st round pick. It was a 2nd round pick...46th overall. Different story. Not to mention his ability to sign a contract was unknown due to europe's rules.

Nate Robinson was a guy we could have used, people forget he averaged 17 points a game one season. A season we could have used that extra pop off the bench. Over 10 for four consecutive seasons. Sorry, that's worth having on the team instead of selling. Not every pick has to be a Nash. But he was exactly the type of energy player we needed during those years.

So other players used by a pick the Suns used to own but got rid of because of some sort of move that WAS predicated by either selling a pick, trading a pick to get rid of a contract, or trading a pick to get a player to cover for the loss of a previous idiotic move.

David Lee
Luol Deng/AI (this was multiple people's fault specifically as they stated they didn't think AI would be available, but didn't wait...though the directions for Jerry WHEN he was transferring ownership, was to.....CUT COSTS...as $arver had already bought the team months earlier)

Thus again. Even when $arver was taking over, but hadn't officially been handed the reins, it was all about cutting costs because he told JC that was what he wanted. .

Sergio Rodriguez was a guy were loved. But Ca$h ruled out. So people were wrong. Though perhaps on a different team he would have made it. Remember he decided to go BACK to europe. Perhaps if he was here his career would have been different. Even then you take a chance on a guy you WANT. But $arver wanted money more. At least temporarily. Portland has been a horrible place for young players or players with injury concerns. Rodruigez might have fared differently here.

We're talking about 1st round picks here, thus from 2005-2011, there were only ~7 shots outside of other ones we picked up through other trades for us to either keep or sell.

There were also quite a few pieces of a puzzle we could of kept. Like say a Ben Wallace. But $$$ was a factor. So it isn't even just picks. We got rid of lots of players in trades that could of helped for a season or two.

$$$ is always a factor, not the quality of the team. Unless $arver freaks out and cause overcompensation.

It's very simple. A guy can be cheap and spend a hundred dollars on a dinner just for himself. Know how? He leaves no tip. People forget it's not the amount spent, once again it is HOW one spends it. What are the steps that are involved. Was was the scope of the process. Because if someone's food bill was 15, and they gave 25...well is that cheap? overall he spent 75 percent less. The devil is always in the details.

Sure he SPENT more. But only AFTER he realized his cost cutting screwed the team. Which makes him wishy washy and incompetent.

Colangelo did it much WISER. Sure some moves were bad. Sure McDyess screwed us...twice. But the way $arver does it is pure loony tunes. It's a plan Wile E Coyote would laugh at.

You can be cheap AND overspend. Sterling was just cheap. $arver has shown to be cheap where it counts, and overspend where it doesn't.

Colangelo wasn't cheap where it counts. At times he did overspend. At times he didn't spend all he could. But it wasn't like....cut costs....oh crap...do something....cut costs...oh crap...do something ANYTHING....cut costs....oh crap...do something. That's $arver. One bad decision has snowballed into dozens. Meanwhile wave the foam finger.

So again.
Robinson
Rondo
Lee
Fernandez
Rodriguez
Deng/AI
Serge Ibaka (yep)
Quincy Pondexter or maybe we'd gotten Jordan Crawford the next pick.
Last year's #23 Nikola Mirotic a euro stash that we really don't know what he'll be.

Most of these players were guys we wanted, or rumored to want. Others were guys that we were rumored to want that went a little later. Either way we traded guys we wanted/lost out on others that we wanted in just about every trade. Because of $$$.

I won't even bother with 2nd round picks, which is ok to sell from time to time. But when you aren't drafting 1st round picks, it becomes outright asinine to sell them. We did this too. Where we'd see a guy we were rumored to want, and we sold either his draft rights, or simply sold the pick. One of those picks was obviously Gortat.

Funny enough as much as people hate on Lopez, he's serviceable. If we'd kept the above, most people wouldn't have to hate on Lopez so much because he'd be one of MANY draft picks. If we drafted these guys...anyone know how much money we wouldn't of wasted on fa pickups that didn't work over the years?

The Joe Johnson thing was the ultiamte catalyst where losing this one player started the overcompensating ball rolling. Reaching for FA's. Then after overpaying. Ditching salary. Again only to find out...we suck or aren't competitive...so we overpay...then ditch salary. Well given the talent we had. The talent we needed. In both THOSE years AND now...having those players then and now would of have been great. Add in JJ being here, and well we easily could have foisted a championship or two. We didn't need to get rid of Marion. But $$$ was an issue, as well as respect. We got the most out of him, but something tells me while being diminished with Nash his numbers would have been higher.

I also used to know one of the workers there that saw $arver quite a lot. He wasn't impressed with $arver at all. Colangelo (while he ofc had his moments) knew how to treat people on a day to day basis. Not $arver. He was a much older fellow, a guy who in his later years, well that's what some old people notice, the way someone approaches and carries themselves around employees. Of course everyone makes bad impression with one person or another. But seeing how we've gotten to know him in regards to how the NBA people hate him and how he operates, let's just say ALL of this fits together. The way the team was directed. The way he is viewed within the NBA. The way he was viewed from the employees I've known or heard 2nd hand about.

$arver sullied the following processes...all for $$$ reasons.

Our draft picking.
Re-signing our own fa's.
Forcing trades to reduce salary.
Forcing trades to acquire somebody.
Signing questionable talent as we needed somebody.

When all this started at the time we were considered to have some of the best draft scouts, but of what use were they when we traded/sold our picks?

The only things good I can say about $arver?
He didn't threaten nor did he move the Suns.
Allowed the medical staff to continue thriving and get even better.

I can't come up with anything else.

But seriously you throw out there backcourt 2000? What does that have to do with anything. Hardaway was a bust. Though he did have SOME moments. But not for that salary. If memory serves correct that we were only in such a position to miss on Hardaway because McDyess screwed us....and Colangelo who in old school fashion gotten assurances the old fashioned way.

Jason Kidd had a pretty good career didn't he? Got a ring last year (not this past last year during this month). I always blame Joumanna the crazy witch with an ego the size of Mt. Everest and an imperfect person her husband was losing it for a second for that one. We got lucky that we were able to get Nash back. Of course with Starbury in between...who for the record conducted himself the best of his career while being here. Just wasn't a fit for our style.

Backcourt 2000 was a backup plan that was implemented perfectly. Just one of the people in that backcourt were wrong for us. Injuries played a role in that.

Backcourt 2000 is something $arver never could pull off. If he was even willing to spend like that. This year we're in the same position. Doesn't look like we're going to do it, but there MAY not be the talent to do that.

That said, $arver's best plans look like crap compared to Backcourt 2000. Colangelo got screwed quite a bit by injuries, and people's word. Robert Horry towel throw isn't something Colangelo could do much about, and yet it backfired so many times after that as well. $arver screws himself due to his utter lack of business acumen. After all he is a banker. He has things go his way, and screws them up anyway.

But it wasn't just draft picks. We lost out on so much. I would have loved Ben Wallace here. Because everything we did was done butt backwards. Sign guys at wrong times. Trade guys at wrong times. Etc. etc. etc. All done not because the GM thought this is where we should take the club, but because orders from on high were given, and the GM tried to make lemonade out of lemons. But with the deck stacked so against them, and plans changing on a whim, only to change again, then again, and again. Well we got the team our owner wanted. Every bit of it. Just wait until the run of bad luck actually happens. Imagine $arver coming from a deficit and everything going against him. So far we've only seen him on top of a money pile and golden rain drops filling his cup.

With that I'm just going to look forward to the draft.

 

[AsUdUdE]

Ownership GROUP does not make personal moves plan and simple, Saver went along to help get Nash and learned from the JJ deal to stay out of it. It is the GM's role, to deal with picks/players.

I can't take this, I think my head is about to explode.. To say that Sarver is not behind all of the worst moves not just in Suns history but league history is completely insane..

When the Suns traded KT AND 2 1ST ROUND picks to get rid of an expiring contract that they may very well have actually gotten an asset at the trade deadline was RIDICULOUS.. You talk about owners selling picks and what not but name me an owner in SPORTS that soo willingly gave up the future of a team to save money on an expiring deal.. That one alone proves the OWNERSHIP GROUP does make personal decisions for the team..

Then take into considertation that they Suns SOLD their future for 4 straight years virtually from 2004-2008.. Maybe an owner sells a pick or two if they have multiple first rounders, but when have you seen an owner PUNT the furture for half a decade?? AGAIN further proof SARVER has control over personal decisions, no one else is making these picks..

In the end, Sarver has ruined this team, even when he spends money it is poor form... Saying he is not cheap and has had no say/affect over suns personal decisions is short sided at the very least..

 

[CardsFan88]

ROFL I decided to look for a little more and see if I missed anything. Forgot Dejaun Blair, which I saw from this

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/136870/Visio-Suns_trade_history_04_-_09.pdf

Nice little flowchart they made.

 

[elindholm]

Sarver intended to match Johnson's maximum offer from Atlanta, and told him so. Johnson asked him not to. All of the stuff about Johnson being "disrespected" is just spin. He wanted to leave so that he could be the #1 player on a team. Sarver told him to prove his worth, Johnson did, Sarver said fine, here's your max money, and Johnson left anyway. Keeping him in Phoenix wasn't a viable option, because he never would have been happy, no matter how much money he was making.

 

[Mainstreet]

Sarver intended to match Johnson's maximum offer from Atlanta, and told him so. Johnson asked him not to. All of the stuff about Johnson being "disrespected" is just spin. He wanted to leave so that he could be the #1 player on a team. Sarver told him to prove his worth, Johnson did, Sarver said fine, here's your max money, and Johnson left anyway. Keeping him in Phoenix wasn't a viable option, because he never would have been happy, no matter how much money he was making.

The whole thing is Joe Johnson could have been extended for 55M and he would have accepted such an agreement from all reports. Then the Suns would have been confronted with the pleasant problem of trading Marion (while he still had considerable value) or Joe Johnson later on in a deal of their choosing if they could not afford both. Sarver made a major error in not extending Joe Johnson before he became a RFA. Essentially the Suns could have controlled their own destiny with Joe Johnson under contract. It's amazing to look back and see that the Suns had four stars on their team at one time with Nash, Marion, Johnson and Amare. Yes, I considered Johnson a young star before RFA.

 

[95pro]

its tought to say what happened exactly, we can only speculate and give our thoughts/opinions.

but i wonder if JJ is personally happy about the decision he made. if i was JJ, probably not. guy cost himself wins and most likely a chance at a long playoff career with what we had at the time.

 

[Mainstreet]

its tought to say what happened exactly, we can only speculate and give our thoughts/opinions.

but i wonder if JJ is personally happy about the decision he made. if i was JJ, probably not. guy cost himself wins and most likely a chance at a long playoff career with what we had at the time.

I think JJ made a smart decision under the circumstances. He wanted to be the star on an NBA team. He got this recognition in Atlanta. In Phoenix he was competing for recognition with Nash, Amare and Marion.

 

[95pro]

he has proven to himself,atlanta, and the NBA that he is over paid. he's not a superstar, a star yes, but for what he's getting paid you'd expect more.

but i guess he got his, and you can't blame him for that.

 

[TigToad]

Loul Deng, Nate Robinson, Rajon Rondo and Rudy Fernandez drafted over four years and all traded before they could play for the Suns. That makes me very sad.

 

[Joe Mama]

Actually Eric, the Phoenix Suns started off that following summer by offering Johnson something well under the maximum. That only pissed off JJ even more. It seems like we have relitigated the JJ situation about every six months, and I'm not even very active here during the season. In hindsight not extending JJ was a huge mistake. At that time I didn't have a problem with it though.

Joe Mama

 

[95pro]

i wasn't happy with what we did. we saw how important he was to us, especially after he broke his face, not having him active during that playoff run.

he had a shot at getting the extra 5mill he was seeking and a chance at winning a ton of games and a possibly a championship, that's what upsets me the most.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Actually Eric, the Phoenix Suns started off that following summer by offering Johnson something well under the maximum. That only pissed off JJ even more.

exactly. he offered him the 5 million more he was asking the previous season, which he had already completely shown he was worth more than. Bottom line, we low-balled in the summer of 2004 and then we tried to low-ball him again after he did what Sarver asked of him.

And even if he didn't want to stay here, you don't just let that player go. He or Marion were incredibly good tradable commodities at that time. You sing the player, see if it works on the court and if not, then you sell high on a young rising star. You don't just give him away for Diaw (who had showed nothing at that point and draft picks which were protected for entirely too long for a player of JJ's worth.

 

[elindholm]

Actually Eric, the Phoenix Suns started off that following summer by offering Johnson something well under the maximum. That only pissed off JJ even more. It seems like we have relitigated the JJ situation about every six months, and I'm not even very active here during the season. In hindsight not extending JJ was a huge mistake.

But it's still true, isn't it, that Sarver agreed to match Atlanta's offer? I just don't have a problem with how the Suns handled the Johnson case, and I don't think that they made a mistake by not extending him a year earlier. They needed that year to find out what Johnson was really made of. What they learned was that (a) yes, he was still improving, but (b) he had a personality issue that would have never allowed him to function well as a third (or heaven forbid fourth) option.

And what we're seeing in Atlanta is that if you bow to Johnson's ego, give him one of the biggest contracts in the league, while surrounding him with a supporting cast that is above-average in talent but not strong enough in personality to challenge his role as Team Leader, you get a 50-and-fade team that drowns in massive trade speculation in every offseason and before every trading deadline. No thank you.

The Suns got away from Johnson when they could. It was the right call. Ask Hawks fans how they feel about his leadership.

 

[Covert Rain]

Nice list of info. Great job but I think the fact the Suns have been around the CAP is a bit misleading. This doesn't tell the whole story with Sarver.

For example, the Suns have made moves to get under the luxury threshold. The Suns have made moves like selling picks because they didn't want the hit on the cap. The Suns have dumped players in bad trades to lighten the load on the salary cap.

I don't think anybody can make the argument that Sarver doesn't spend but IMO "cheap" moves he has made in the short term has led to bad moves later like overpaying for players out of desperation.

Is he willing to spend to the CAP really isn't the issue for me with Sarver. It's his immediate short sightedness that has manifested over and over again which has forced the teams hand in bad contracts or giving up too much in trades that is the issue. Couple that would a really bad front office that calls players like Lopez the future of the organization while mismanaging the draft is all part of the Sarver legacy.

 

[elindholm]

He or Marion were incredibly good tradable commodities at that time.

Marion was absurdly overpaid and everyone knew it. The Suns never got a decent offer for him.