Sarver: Dragic called me and apologized for his comments about the Suns

[AzStevenCal]

So you wouldn't take his word when is reaction was probably more honest but will take it now? OK.

I don't doubt it came out wrong but that doesn't mean there wasn't some truth in his reaction. Usually people are generally more honest with their first reaction. Not after their agent or player talks to him or guilt sets in.

Besides, it's telling that he apologized to Sarver and not the FO folks. I hear time and time again Sarver is letting basketball people run the show now. Maybe Goran believes what many fans on this board believe (Sarver is now pretty hands off) and realizes he didn't think the overall organization deserved that shot. Maybe he realizes it pissed some fans off.

I don't think anybody is debating Dragic handled it badly though. We know he did. I will take his "word for it" the first time he reacted. If anybody admitted anything it's the FO when they traded half the freaking roster.

In the immortal words of Big Jake, not hardly. People are usually ruled by their emotions initially and their intellect upon review.

Steve

 

[Covert Rain]

In the immortal words of Big Jake, not hardly. People are usually ruled by their emotions initially and their intellect upon review.

Steve

Having emotion dictate how you reacted and there being no truth to what the reaction is about are not even close to the same things.

- signed just about every PR and image consultant.

 

[JCSunsfan]

This comment tells me something else: "Although my recent words came out harsher than I'd intended, I did feel it was time to find a better fit for me as a bball player who only wants to be the best and help my team in every way".

I don't believe he actually intended to say the Suns lied. I think he was trying to say we didn't meet his expectations. The latter happens often, the first one can be a killer in an industry like this one.

Steve

OK. Maybe. Maybe he meant that he had "lost confidence" in the front office (to make the moves that would make him the primary floor general again), rather than he did not "trust" the front office. That could conceivably be a language issue.

If it was a language issue, he could easily say so.

 

[Mainstreet]

Dragic came across clear enough in his trade demand and he presented a list of preferred teams to confirm his intent.

 

[Phrazbit]

Dragic came across clear enough in his trade demand and he presented a list of preferred teams to confirm his intent.

Which really was the most damaging part. Gave the Suns one day's notice and 3 potential trade partners, 2 of which had nothing to offer. It was a real screwjob of an exit strategy.

And it would be one thing if he had made clear he wanted to go to a contender, but winning was clearly the least of his worries, he just wanted a market and a cash grab.

 

[BC867]

Which really was the most damaging part. Gave the Suns one day's notice and 3 potential trade partners, 2 of which had nothing to offer. It was a real screwjob of an exit strategy.

And it would be one thing if he had made clear he wanted to go to a contender, but winning was clearly the least of his worries, he just wanted a market and a cash grab.

I wonder if your boss hired you for a position for which you were qualified, then ultimately brought in someone new to do it, then someone new after him (both of whom were not as natural at your position as you), bumping you to a job which didn't allow you to perform using your best skills. And a position that was totally out of your realm.

The Suns are the ones who made it happen. Goran reacted, protecting the short span of an NBA player. That shouldn't be overlooked.

When you put someone on the defensive, don't be surprised when they become defensive. And, as is the Suns mantra, the best defense is a good offense.

 

[sunsfan88]

I wonder if your boss hired you for a position for which you were qualified, then ultimately brought in someone new to do it, then someone new after him (both of whom were not as natural at your position as you), bumping you to a job which didn't allow you to perform using your best skills. And a position that was totally out of your realm.

The Suns are the ones who made it happen. Goran reacted, protecting the short span of an NBA player. That shouldn't be overlooked.

When you put someone on the defensive, don't be surprised when they become defensive. And, as is the Suns mantra, the best defense is a good offense.

What's worse is that the Suns tried to take a dig at him after it.

Suns brought in 2 more PGs, Dragic didn't like it, he calls out the team and he gets traded. Should have ended at that. The whole thing about McD and Babby taking shots at him was just unwarranted even though sure you could make the argument that "Well Goran said it first!". There's nothing with taking the high road as an organization especially an organization that already doesn't have the best reputation in the Suns.

 

[Suns_fan69]

What's worse is that the Suns tried to take a dig at him after it.

Suns brought in 2 more PGs, Dragic didn't like it, he calls out the team and he gets traded. Should have ended at that. The whole thing about McD and Babby taking shots at him was just unwarranted even though sure you could make the argument that "Well Goran said it first!". There's nothing with taking the high road as an organization especially an organization that already doesn't have the best reputation in the Suns.

Yup, fully agreed with this. It's a cliche and all but two wrongs don't make a right in this situation.

 

[slinslin]

What's worse is that the Suns tried to take a dig at him after it.

Suns brought in 2 more PGs, Dragic didn't like it, he calls out the team and he gets traded. Should have ended at that. The whole thing about McD and Babby taking shots at him was just unwarranted even though sure you could make the argument that "Well Goran said it first!". There's nothing with taking the high road as an organization especially an organization that already doesn't have the best reputation in the Suns.

Goran asked for playmaking help after he lead us to 25 wins. McStunna got Bledsoe.

Also hardly matters that the team brought in 2 PGs. The team made moves to improve the team that is the bottom line and calling out your team because they made moves to almost double the win total is ridiculous.

Oh I see Goran having fun in Miami again 0-4 0 points 0 rebounds 1 assist after 18 minutes and the Heat have managed a total of 16 points with 6 minutes to go in the first half.

 

[Mainstreet]

I wonder if your boss hired you for a position for which you were qualified, then ultimately brought in someone new to do it, then someone new after him (both of whom were not as natural at your position as you), bumping you to a job which didn't allow you to perform using your best skills. And a position that was totally out of your realm.

The Suns are the ones who made it happen. Goran reacted, protecting the short span of an NBA player. That shouldn't be overlooked.

When you put someone on the defensive, don't be surprised when they become defensive. And, as is the Suns mantra, the best defense is a good offense.

So you would give your employer only 2 days notice to replace you?

 

[JCSunsfan]

So you would give your employer only 2 days notice to replace you?

Yup. An publicly call him a liar as you go out the door, even though you know that you are lying about his lying. But hey, its all good, because you can get what you want.

Just call later and apologize.

 

[Phrazbit]

I wonder if your boss hired you for a position for which you were qualified, then ultimately brought in someone new to do it, then someone new after him (both of whom were not as natural at your position as you), bumping you to a job which didn't allow you to perform using your best skills. And a position that was totally out of your realm.

The Suns are the ones who made it happen. Goran reacted, protecting the short span of an NBA player. That shouldn't be overlooked.

When you put someone on the defensive, don't be surprised when they become defensive. And, as is the Suns mantra, the best defense is a good offense.

And despite all that spin none of it changes that his "preference" was to be "the man", to get paid and to lose games. These are things people thought, but with no evidence, were traits of Bledsoe, you and others killed him for it. But now Dragic confirms these aspects about himself and his halo stays in place.

Its laughable.

Goran did a hatchet job on the team whos only "wronging" of him was that they cared more about winning games than coddling to Goran and his brother.

Enjoy losing in Miami Goran. At least you're getting to get paid.

 

[3rdside]

Goran asked for playmaking help after he lead us to 25 wins. McStunna got Bledsoe.

Also hardly matters that the team brought in 2 PGs. The team made moves to improve the team that is the bottom line and calling out your team because they made moves to almost double the win total is ridiculous.

Oh I see Goran having fun in Miami again 0-4 0 points 0 rebounds 1 assist after 18 minutes and the Heat have managed a total of 16 points with 6 minutes to go in the first half.

I'm on the Side of the Suns started it even though i don't ignore what Dragic did (question - if he didn't demand a trade, would he have walked in the off season for nothing? Probably, so i think he deserves a break for this, amongst other reasons), but, do you realise how ridiculous you sound when you quote statistics 1 quarter into a game? And you did it after 1 quarter into his first game with the Heat which is even worse.

 

[3rdside]

Yup. An publicly call him a liar as you go out the door, even though you know that you are lying about his lying. But hey, its all good, because you can get what you want.

Just call later and apologize.

Which Sarver gladly accepted because he realised how stupid RMcD had been, and how stupid he'd been in Dragic's contract year no less.

Goran does not want to be the man in the vein of Joe Johnson, Harden etc, he just wants to play in a good situation (conceding he / his wife possibly, wanted a bigger market as well) and get paid what he's worth. He's not a douche bag.

 

[BC867]

Oh I see Goran having fun in Miami again 0-4 0 points 0 rebounds 1 assist after 18 minutes and the Heat have managed a total of 16 points with 6 minutes to go in the first half.

You've got to be kidding!

This ain't a bowling league. This is the National Basketball Association. Teamwork takes time.

But you know that.

 

[slinslin]

Miami is not a huge market and they suck. The only thing they have is some fading limelight from the Lebron-era.

Goran Dragic looks completely clueless in the halfcourt. He should give 20% of his next paycheck to Channing Frye.

 

[3rdside]

And despite all that spin none of it changes that his "preference" was to be "the man", to get paid and to lose games. These are things people thought, but with no evidence, were traits of Bledsoe, you and others killed him for it. But now Dragic confirms these aspects about himself and his halo stays in place.

Its laughable.

Goran did a hatchet job on the team whos only "wronging" of him was that they cared more about winning games than coddling to Goran and his brother.

Enjoy losing in Miami Goran. At least you're getting to get paid.

Please tell me you get that everyone wants to win - that is the point of being a sports club - but that you can't use that as an excuse to cover for a foolish way of going about it?

If the Dragic haters could just say they understand the reason for Dragic's poor move then we can move on as taking one side and not accepting the other is pointless as neither party is blameless.

I happen to be on Dragic's side because of how stupidly the Suns treated him; we pretty much got what we deserved. The whole world thinks it's the Suns' fault as well so I don't see why the few here have to so strongly disagree with this; we have strong track record (see previous analysis about the Blanks hire) of being a bad ball club over the last few years and and bad ball clubs make bad decisions that lead to bad outcomes. The Dragic episode last week was pretty obviously the manifestation of being a bad ball club.

 

[3rdside]

Miami is not a huge market and they suck. The only thing they have is some fading limelight from the Lebron-era.

Goran Dragic looks completely clueless in the halfcourt. He should give 20% of his next paycheck to Channing Frye.

Miami is a nice city with great weather on the East coast that's nearer eastern europe that have won 2 titles of late.

Goran has no Bosh for now - bad luck for him as he'll probably get paid less than if Bosh was there to help him. Either way, i'd bet that Goran stays with Miami this offseason on a smaller contract regardless because he would have given his word to Miami. Just my view but I bet it's true; from all accounts he took less money to rejoin the suns the second time round because he wanted to be in a good situation more than anything else. He's not a douche bag - he's a decent guy who chose a very questionable way of going about leaving the Suns.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Miami is a nice city with great weather on the East coast that's nearer eastern europe that have won 2 titles of late.

Goran has no Bosh for now - bad luck for him as he'll probably get paid less than if Bosh was there to help him. Either way, i'd bet that Goran stays with Miami this offseason on a smaller contract regardless because he would have given his word to Miami. Just my view but I bet it's true; from all accounts he took less money to rejoin the suns the second time round because he wants to be in a good situation more than anything else - he's not a douche bag. He's a decent guy who chose a very questionable way of going about leaving the Suns.

I disagree with pretty much everything you've said in this thread except for this comment. I too think he's a decent guy, he just handled this situation poorly. I still wish him well except when we play.

Steve

 

[Phrazbit]

Please tell me you get that everyone wants to win - that is the point of being a sports club - but that you can't use that as an excuse to cover for a foolish way of going about it?

If the Dragic haters could just say they understand the reason for Dragic's poor move then we can move on as taking one side and not accepting the other is pointless as neither party is blameless.

I happen to be on Dragic's side because of how stupidly the Suns treated him; we pretty much got what we deserved. The whole world thinks it's the Suns' fault as well so I don't see why the few here have to so strongly disagree with this; we have strong track record (see previous analysis about the Blanks hire) of being a bad ball club over the last few years and and bad ball clubs make bad decisions that lead to bad outcomes. The Dragic episode last week was pretty obviously the manifestation of being a bad ball club.

I don't think the Suns are without mistakes. However, whatever the Suns did, none of it justifies Dragic's tantrum or his laughable list of suitors.

The Suns biggest mistake in this entire fiasco was not signing Thomas, but rather signing Goran's worthless brother. Something they did as a favor to Goran but he somehow warped into a slight, since it wasn't enough that we made his brother a millionaire, we also should force feed a bad player playing time. I also think it supplied Goran his own little faction within the locker-room. That was the stupid move.

As for the Suns "getting what they deserve", that IMO is a joke. They were willing to make a ton of concessions to Goran, but what HE wanted was to be "the guy" and only PG, a situation that the Suns had seen before and resulted in 25 wins. He did not care about the team, at all, he might want to win... but only if it comes on his terms. And when Goran decided to part ways it was not enough to simply ask out, he also had to take a giant dump on the team in public AND limit the trade options to 3 undesirable partners.

Defending Goran after he published his list of teams he was willing to go to becomes an impossible task, one that requires a lot of either ignoring the facts or favoritism to the extreme.

Goran wanted to go play for terrible teams. There is no getting around that fact. Winning is extremely low on his list of priorities. I'm not saying he wants to lose, but winning is only a consideration as long as he is getting his and getting to do what he wants.

You can call me a "Dragic hater" but the situation is what it is. Even after it became clear things were going south my preference was to keep Dragic, dump IT to coddle to Dragic and hope that an increased role and the big dollars would win him over in the end. I liked him on this team and he generally seems like a nice guy. But what he did to the team was a totally undeserved and unprofessional hatchet job. And I liked him a lot less once it became clear how little he cares about team success.

 

[3rdside]

I disagree with pretty much everything you've said in this thread except for this comment. I too think he's a decent guy, he just handled this situation poorly. I still wish him well except when we play.

Steve

Huh? What can you possibly disagree with other than Dragic staying in Miami?

Either way, put it on the record that I say he does.

Don't know if anyone remembers - probably not - but I suggested putting together a schedule of poster predictions a couple of years ago so that over time we can work out who makes the best ones so that posters can 'earn the right' to assume a position of authority on basketball matters and potentially lessen the tension in situations we're in now (I bet Dragic stays / I bet he goes), and the classic tension that arose over Len when he was drafted:

Poster 1: Len is a bust
Poster 2: Len is an all star in the making
Poster 1: You're an idiot; tell me the last white 7footer that wasn't a stiff
Poster 2: No you're an idiot; look at his lack of college ball, his agility for a big man etc.

If Poster 2 builds up a portfolio of better predictions over time, then Poster 1 might be less inclined to be so aggressive when expressing an opposing opinion because Poster 2 has earned the right for his opinion to carry greater weight.

It'd be great to have a schedule I could refer back to rather than looking for this thread if / when Dragic stays to say I told you so, and it might make people think more before expressing an opinion. It's probably too hard to set up and maintain in the first place but I like the idea.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Huh? What can you possibly disagree with other than Dragic staying in Miami?

Either way, put it on the record that I say he does.

Don't know if anyone remembers - probably not - but I suggested putting together a schedule of poster predictions a couple of years ago so that over time we can work out who makes the best ones so that posters can 'earn the right' to assume a position of authority on basketball matters and potentially lessen the tension in situations we're in now (I bet Dragic stays / I bet he goes), and the classic tension that arose over Len when he was drafted:

Poster 1: Len is a bust
Poster 2: Len is an all star in the making
Poster 1: You're an idiot; tell me the last white 7footer that wasn't a stiff
Poster 2: No you're an idiot; look at his lack of college ball, his agility for a big man etc.

If Poster 2 builds up a portfolio of better predictions over time, then Poster 1 might be less inclined to be so aggressive when expressing an opposing opinion because Poster 2 has earned the right for his opinion to carry greater weight.

It'd be great to have a schedule I could refer back to rather than looking for this thread if / when Dragic stays to say I told you so, and it might make people think more before expressing an opinion. It's probably too hard to set up and maintain in the first place but I like the idea.

You've got to be kidding. You've made incredible leaps and incredible claims. Not the least of which is pretty much putting any of us that disagree in the "Dragic haters" box. I think the Suns did what was best for them and I do not believe they mistreated Goran in any way, shape or form.

I believe that Goran, whether pushed by his wife or his agent or the son of his agent decided to make it all about him and he screwed us in the process. I don't think McDonough screwed this up at all. I'd rather the front office had just sidestepped the issue about Goran when asked but it wasn't my integrity called into question so it's easy for me to say they should have just smiled and let it go.

Steve

 

[3rdside]

I don't think the Suns are without mistakes. However, whatever the Suns did, none of it justifies Dragic's tantrum or his laughable list of suitors.

The Suns biggest mistake in this entire fiasco was not signing Thomas, but rather signing Goran's worthless brother. Something they did as a favor to Goran but he somehow warped into a slight, since it wasn't enough that we made his brother a millionaire, we also should force feed a bad player playing time. I also think it supplied Goran his own little faction within the locker-room. That was the stupid move.

As for the Suns "getting what they deserve", that IMO is a joke. They were willing to make a ton of concessions to Goran, but what HE wanted was to be "the guy" and only PG, a situation that the Suns had seen before and resulted in 25 wins. He did not care about the team, at all, he might want to win... but only if it comes on his terms. And when Goran decided to part ways it was not enough to simply ask out, he also had to take a giant dump on the team in public AND limit the trade options to 3 undesirable partners.

Defending Goran after he published his list of teams he was willing to go to becomes an impossible task, one that requires a lot of either ignoring the facts or favoritism to the extreme.

Goran wanted to go play for terrible teams. There is no getting around that fact. Winning is extremely low on his list of priorities. I'm not saying he wants to lose, but winning is only a consideration as long as he is getting his and getting to do what he wants.

You can call me a "Dragic hater" but the situation is what it is. Even after it became clear things were going south my preference was to keep Dragic, dump IT to coddle to Dragic and hope that an increased role and the big dollars would win him over in the end. I liked him on this team and he generally seems like a nice guy. But what he did to the team was a totally undeserved and unprofessional hatchet job. And I liked him a lot less once it became clear how little he cares about team success.

1. Right, the sticking point is because Zoran didn't play, not because two other point guards took away from his role the previous season.

2. If McD says he never saw a list, was there ever one in the first place?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/suns-gm-ryan-mcdonough-had-some-choice-words-about-goran-dragic-s-departure-214346525.html

3. I'm not calling anyone specifically a hater but if one can't see why he did what he did then I think it's blind hate. I can freely admit he handled it badly but I don't blame him considering all that took place before it.

4. Suns pot meet Dragic kettle.

 

[Phrazbit]

I see why he did he did... because he is selfish. I can forgive selfish, there are a lot of selfish guys who still contribute in great ways, but to the rip the organization in public for not coddling your selfish tendencies? Its garbage. And said ripping took place as the Suns were in the process of granting him his wish. Seriously, its absolute trash.

The Suns, in no vague terms, we accused of being liars in public. Most teams would answer those types of accusations and really, what did the Suns say. That Goran was more focused on his own role and status than trying to be part of a winning team. Pretty hard to deny that fact. They could have undoubtedly aired plenty of more dirty laundry, but they merely answered what they were accused of.

 

[sunsfan88]

Goran asked for playmaking help after he lead us to 25 wins. McStunna got Bledsoe.

Also hardly matters that the team brought in 2 PGs. The team made moves to improve the team that is the bottom line and calling out your team because they made moves to almost double the win total is ridiculous.

Oh I see Goran having fun in Miami again 0-4 0 points 0 rebounds 1 assist after 18 minutes and the Heat have managed a total of 16 points with 6 minutes to go in the first half.

This would be funny if the Suns weren't tying to match the Heat in the game vs Spurs. They just set the franchise record for lowest points ever scored in a half.