salmons or banks?/Toronto's Trade for Salmons Hitting Snag?

[Joe Mama]

From what I can tell, the problem was not the per year amount (although they offered what they could) but the length of Hunter's contract. That hasn't changed. The Suns simply didn't want to make that kind of committment.

it was both. They did not have Bird rights for Steven Hunter, so they could not offer him more than the LLE. Remember that they had given Bell almost the entire mid-level exception.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

it was both. They did not have Bird rights for Steven Hunter, so they could not offer him more than the LLE. Remember that they had given Bell almost the entire mid-level exception.

Joe Mama

However, they could have offered a five year deal and only offered two.

 

[JCSunsfan]

JCSunsfan, "He got reg season playing time. He got very little burn in the playoffs. He was injured (broken something in his hand) toward the end of the season but it was kept quiet."

Just to keep the record somewhat straight...
Hunter had a severely dislocated finger most of the season and everyone knew it - he had a very noticeable bandage holding two fingers taped together. His PT dropped off a bit for a while after we acquired McCarty but then it went back to what he had been getting. During the regular season he averaged 13.8 mpg and during the playoffs he averaged 14.2 mgp. That PT information is readily available.

Chaplin and I had a discussion on here about Hunter with Chap claiming that Steven interferred with Amare's scoring. I countered that by pointing out that Amare got his monster scoring numbers in the Spurs series with Hunter playing 20+ mpg, fifty percent above normal, so the statistical information available was very definitely contrary to his claim. (That data is from my memory but its probably available someplace if someone wants to track it down - at the time the data was available from Hunter's game logs.)

That sounds right, I couldn't remember the details. I really didn't mean to get into this big discussion about him, it just seemed that history was being rewritten a little.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

However, they could have offered a five year deal and only offered two.

No they couldn't. The LLE can be a max of 2 years long

 

[George O'Brien]

No they couldn't. The LLE can be a max of 2 years long

I stand corrected. I know that when they still had their MLE, that the length of the contract was the primary hangup. Still, there is little doubt that Bell was their first priority.

 

[F-Dog]

The Suns dumped Hunter because he couldn't shoot--the same reason they dumped Eddie House a year later. The feeling I got was, if Raja Bell turned the Suns down, they had a number of other names on their list before they started thinking about keeping Hunter.

Expecting Hunter to take the LLE was about as reasonable as expecting Tim Thomas to take 3/14. Like TT, Hunter seemed to be popular with the team and the fans. so the brass decided to give themselves a fig leaf.


Anyway, I don't think the Sixers can S&T Salmons anymore, and they definitely can't S&T him for the $23m the Suns previously offered. So, I'm pretty sure there's a third (fourth?) team in Salmons' future.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Why on earth are we still talking about Stephen Hunter?

I'm not sure how much money we have left but i am seriously confused about why Salmons would do this unless he had some kind of promise from another team. Now matter how horrible the situation might look as ball player, he just turned down so much guaranteed money you have to wonder whats going on....

I think the Suns are the only other team to show interest and we might be able to get him for less if the Suns want to at this point. I think its a good idea to collect as many swing man as possible to avoid injury issues and if Marion is in fact traded next off season.

I think we should make the move if at all possible. I would rather deal with D'Antoni having to soothe egos then having to play Piatkowski major minutes.....

 

[Joe Mama]

The Suns dumped Hunter because he couldn't shoot--the same reason they dumped Eddie House a year later. The feeling I got was, if Raja Bell turned the Suns down, they had a number of other names on their list before they started thinking about keeping Hunter.

Expecting Hunter to take the LLE was about as reasonable as expecting Tim Thomas to take 3/14. Like TT, Hunter seemed to be popular with the team and the fans. so the brass decided to give themselves a fig leaf.


Anyway, I don't think the Sixers can S&T Salmons anymore, and they definitely can't S&T him for the $23m the Suns previously offered. So, I'm pretty sure there's a third (fourth?) team in Salmons' future.

I agree with everything but your first sentence. I was a huge Hunter supporter for much of last year. However, later in the season I can see why Coach Mike was consistently frustrated by Hunter's offense. Play after play he would run right to the wrong spot on the floor and mess up the offense.

Joe

 

[sunsfn]

Anyway, I don't think the Sixers can S&T Salmons anymore, and they definitely can't S&T him for the $23m the Suns previously offered. So, I'm pretty sure there's a third (fourth?) team in Salmons' future.

Why can't the Sixers sign and trade Salmons?

At this point he is a Sixer free agent, and if Harrington in Atlanta can do a sign and trade as a free agent so can Salmons. The part about the amount of money is probably right, but they did not renounce him, they just pulled back the qualifying offer which means, they do not have to pay him that amount if he would decide to play for them one more year.