Sarver on Gambo

[JS22]

It's no wonder Beasley and Marshall wanted Hunter. I get the sense that Majerle would have made them rot on the bench until they proved something in practice.

 

[Mainstreet]

It's no wonder Beasley and Marshall wanted Hunter. I get the sense that Majerle would have made them rot on the bench until they proved something in practice.

This would make the decisions made by Blanks look like mistakes. Hmm.

 

[Mainstreet]

Majerle still wants to coach but would have to ponder about leaving to coach elsewhere. He has family support.

 

[Mainstreet]

End of interview except to pose question, would Majerle would return to coach the Suns after 41 games if asked? Answer not given now.

This is not happening with the Suns ownership and FO.

 

[HooverDam]

Damn I was out to eat and missed the Majerle interview, sounds awesome. Someone please post a link to it ASAP if you see one

 

[Mainstreet]

Damn I was out to eat and missed the Majerle interview, sounds awesome. Someone please post a link to it ASAP if you see one

This should get you the interview.

http://arizonasports.com/41/1604396/MAJERLE-SOUNDS-OFF

 

[HooverDam]

This should get you the interview.

http://arizonasports.com/41/1604396/MAJERLE-SOUNDS-OFF

Thanks! I was just on their site and missed the link to that page.

Maybe the OP/mods can edit the original post and add all these relevant interviews in one spot, it might be helpful.

 

[SweetD]

Thanks! I was just on their site and missed the link to that page.

Maybe the OP/mods can edit the original post and add all these relevant interviews in one spot, it might be helpful.

All links to interviews here.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/f7/congrats-to-620-interviews-with-suns-190706.html

 

[Phrazbit]

There is always one player that slips through the cracks and has a great year. If there was 4-5 then you can make a case.

Least athletic?? Have you watch the Wolves or Dallas play? Heck Indy has lots of "Athletics" but play slow and under the basket. The only unathletic players are Marshall, Dudley and Scola.

Fyi Blanks came in after the 2010 free agency and there was the lockout so you can cut that down just to 1 1/2 years.

Yes, we are absolutely unathletic. The only guy on the team who is a high caliber athlete on the NBA level Shannon Brown, everyone else is either average or deficient. Now, dont mistake me for claiming that being athletic means that a player is good, there are plenty of elite athletes that are not good players... such as Shannon Brown, but if you've got a developmental team you'd hope to have some raw athletic dudes to work with... we dont. We're the 10th oldest team in the league, we're slow and we're really bad.

He said that in practice he is one of the best shooters in the world that is a big difference.

Also he was an undrafted FA. Not sure how that refers to draft evaluation now anyway..

I am not killing him for Zeller being a bad player, UDFA's typically suck, but its hilarious that he thinks he is one of the best shooters in the world and it shows how grossly out of touch with reality he is.

And you totally ignored the rest of the post. He has had three years to do SOMETHING with the roster and right now we are an awful team without even a semblance of a core to build around.

There is absolutely no indication that Blanks is anything but a god-awful talent evaluator.

 

[SirStefan32]

Yes, we are absolutely unathletic. The only guy on the team who is a high caliber athlete on the NBA level Shannon Brown, everyone else is either average or deficient. Now, dont mistake me for claiming that being athletic means that a player is good, there are plenty of elite athletes that are not good players... such as Shannon Brown, but if you've got a developmental team you'd hope to have some raw athletic dudes to work with... we dont. We're the 10th oldest team in the league, we're slow and we're really bad.



I am not killing him for Zeller being a bad player, UDFA's typically suck, but its hilarious that he thinks he is one of the best shooters in the world and it shows how grossly out of touch with reality he is.

And you totally ignored the rest of the post. He has had three years to do SOMETHING with the roster and right now we are an awful team without even a semblance of a core to build around.

There is absolutely no indication that Blanks is anything but a god-awful talent evaluator.

I think Dragic and Telfair are very athletic. Neither one of them is Russell Westbrook, but they are definitely above average in terms of athleticism. Gortat is very athletic for a big man (soft, but athletic.) I think Beasley is an above average athlete for someone his size/ build. He's a knucklehead but he doesn't lack athleticism.

I agree with you about your larger point that Blanks sucks as a talent evaluator, but some of your examples are over the top.

 

[Phrazbit]

I think Dragic and Telfair are very athletic. Neither one of them is Russell Westbrook, but they are definitely above average in terms of athleticism. Gortat is very athletic for a big man (soft, but athletic.) I think Beasley is an above average athlete for someone his size/ build. He's a knucklehead but he doesn't lack athleticism.

I agree with you about your larger point that Blanks sucks as a talent evaluator, but some of your examples are over the top.

At the guard position both Dragic and Telfair are average athletes. Gortat, he isnt particularly strong or fast... he is a polished (not Polish... well that too) player but you dont really see him beating guys to position or out muscling people. Beasley is not an high caliber athlete, especially as a wing player. He is a classic tweener. He is too slow (especially laterally) to cover most 3s and he is waaaay too weak to play in the post. Beasley gets his position with above average ball handling skills for a guy his size and a decent up fake (that is typically followed by an awful shot).

 

[SirStefan32]

At the guard position both Dragic and Telfair are average athletes. Gortat, he isnt particularly strong or fast... he is a polished (not Polish... well that too) player but you dont really see him beating guys to position or out muscling people. Beasley is not an high caliber athlete, especially as a wing player. He is a classic tweener. He is too slow (especially laterally) to cover most 3s and he is waaaay too weak to play in the post. Beasley gets his position with above average ball handling skills for a guy his size and a decent up fake (that is typically followed by an awful shot).

I guess we have different benchmarks for what "athletic" means.
Dragic and especially Bassy are very athletic in my opinion. Gortat is not strong, but he is a good athlete for his size. Beasley is a tweener, but that doesn't make him less athletic- if Dudley was two inches taller, he would be a tweener who lacks athleticism.

Who, in your opinion are Centers, PGs, and tweeners who are athletic?

 

[AzStevenCal]

At the guard position both Dragic and Telfair are average athletes. Gortat, he isnt particularly strong or fast... he is a polished (not Polish... well that too) player but you dont really see him beating guys to position or out muscling people. Beasley is not an high caliber athlete, especially as a wing player. He is a classic tweener. He is too slow (especially laterally) to cover most 3s and he is waaaay too weak to play in the post. Beasley gets his position with above average ball handling skills for a guy his size and a decent up fake (that is typically followed by an awful shot).

Put him in a foot race with other bigs and he comes out on top or near it. He may not be particularly quick which is more important for a big guy in the NBA but he is fast.

Steve

 

[Phrazbit]

I guess we have different benchmarks for what "athletic" means.
Dragic and especially Bassy are very athletic in my opinion. Gortat is not strong, but he is a good athlete for his size. Beasley is a tweener, but that doesn't make him less athletic- if Dudley was two inches taller, he would be a tweener who lacks athleticism.

Who, in your opinion are Centers, PGs, and tweeners who are athletic?

Dudley does not need two inches... he lacks athleticism as is... but I love the guy. Dudley makes up for his lack of speed and strength by having a ton of hustle and a bit of guile.

And I think being a tweener has a lot to do with it. If you dont have the physical makeup to really play ANY position a high level then its a problem. When talking about athleticism position has a lot to do with how you evaluate a guy.

I am probably being too harsh on Gortat, he does have decent speed.

But I think virtually every team in the league has guards of similar speed and strength to what you see in Dragic and Telfair.

And again, I said we were one of the least athletic teams in the league, if you peruse the other rosters its very hard to claim otherwise.

 

[Bayless2Budinger]

Dragic is quick, has good size and a great first step. You are trying to claim a guy with a questionable shot that can still put up 18/8 a night is not athletic. How does he get it done then?

 

[Bayless2Budinger]

We're the 10th oldest team in the league, we're slow and we're really bad.

Proof? Everything I have found shows otherwise. We have 2 guys over the age of 30 and Frye who is 29 hasn't played a minute thus far this year.

Give me some examples of young teams. 5-10 will work.

 

[Phrazbit]

Dragic is quick, has good size and a great first step. You are trying to claim a guy with a questionable shot that can still put up 18/8 a night is not athletic. How does he get it done then?

Drop me a line when Dragic is averaging 18 and 8...

Dragic is not a BAD athlete, he is one of the better ones on the team, however there are PLENTY of guards with his physical tools or better. Dragic constantly pushes the ball up court and he does have a good first step. He has hustle and good handles, it does a lot to help his game.

Again, look around the league and tell me how many teams the Suns are more athletic than... My point was; as a TEAM we are among the least athletic teams in the league.

 

[sunsfan88]

Actually he said no one has made an offer. I am sure he would sell the team if he had someone making an offer. Fans complained that we wanted Sarver out of basketball decision, then when he does that for a few years now, we still want him to sell the team. The people he has hired suck, but just like the Cardinals there will be changes. I don't expect Blanks, Babby and maybe even Hunter will last past the draft next year.

Why would anyone make an offer to a team that's not on sale?

Assuming that you are not selling your house, do people come up to you, ring the door bell and make an offer for your house?

The Suns are still a pretty good team to buy value wise.

http://arizonasports.com/41/1604236/Forbes-Phoenix-Suns-are-NBAs-13thmost-valuable-team

We're still ranked 13th among all franchises which isn't bad considering how our situation is right now.

 

[Phrazbit]

Proof? Everything I have found shows otherwise. We have 2 guys over the age of 30 and Frye who is 29 hasn't played a minute thus far this year.

Give me some examples of young teams. 5-10 will work.

Uh... really? We have like 1 rotation player who is not at least in his 5th year or later (Morris). We are absolutely among the older teams in the league. Not the oldEST but we're in the bottom half.

Some younger teams? Rockets, Wolves, Warriors, Blazers, Thunder, Kings, Hornets, Grizzlies...

And thats just the Western conference.

 

[Bayless2Budinger]

Drop me a line when Dragic is averaging 18 and 8...

Dragic is not a BAD athlete, he is one of the better ones on the team, however there are PLENTY of guards with his physical tools or better. Dragic constantly pushes the ball up court and he does have a good first step. He has hustle and good handles, it does a lot to help his game.

Again, look around the league and tell me how many teams the Suns are more athletic than... My point was; as a TEAM we are among the least athletic teams in the league.

He averaged 18/8 as a starter for the Rockets last year. 28 games too so not the smallest sample size. Dragic is a good athlete, a above average athlete, whatever you want to call it as long as its not just average.

I'm not even arguing that we are not athletic. Dragic, Bassy, Brown and Gortat are really the only players that would fit in a high tempo offense. Brown is the only elite athlete but not too many NBA players are of that level. We have a lot of slow players but we are anything but a old team. The top 10 crap is just that, crap.

 

[Bayless2Budinger]

Uh... really? We have like 1 rotation player who is not at least in his 5th year or later (Morris). We are absolutely among the older teams in the league. Not the oldEST but we're in the bottom half.

Some younger teams? Rockets, Wolves, Warriors, Blazers, Thunder, Kings, Hornets, Grizzlies...

And thats just the Western conference.

Memphis is about the same and age is not the same as exp. I wont argue the other teams but we are still not a top 10 old team. Not sure why I asked who is younger because we are in the middle of the pack and could honestly easily look a lot younger with Beas (24), Markieff (23) in the starting lineup and we would still be the same in the standings.

It's not that we have "old" players either, we just have a lot of guys that should be in the prime of there career but are just not that talented.

 

[Phrazbit]

Memphis is about the same and age is not the same as exp. I wont argue the other teams but we are still not a top 10 old team. Not sure why I asked who is younger because we are in the middle of the pack and could honestly easily look a lot younger with Beas (24), Markieff (23) in the starting lineup and we would still be the same in the standings.

It's not that we have "old" players either, we just have a lot of guys that should be in the prime of there career but are just not that talented.

We are not the oldest team in the league, I didnt claim we were, we are not like the Spurs or Celtics with several over 30 players on the roster. But as you just said, we have a lot of guys who are supposed to be in their prime but are not very good, HOWEVER we also have almost no truly "young" players, especially ones that actually see court time. Morris is the only guy in our rotation on his rookie contract, and he our youngest rotation guy at 23.

We might be the only team in the league to have only one regular thats still on a rookie deal.

We have 3 draft picks coming so we SHOULD be one of the younger teams going into next year but we certainly are not right now.

 

[Bayless2Budinger]

We are not the oldest team in the league, I didnt claim we were, we are not like the Spurs or Celtics with several over 30 players on the roster. But as you just said, we have a lot of guys who are supposed to be in their prime but are not very good, HOWEVER we also have almost no truly "young" players, especially ones that actually see court time. Morris is the only guy in our rotation on his rookie contract, and he our youngest rotation guy at 23.

We might be the only team in the league to have only one regular thats still on a rookie deal.

We have 3 draft picks coming so we SHOULD be one of the younger teams going into next year but we certainly are not right now.

I think we are in agreement. :thumbsup

 

[hcsilla]

I listened to the whole interview.

Am I the only who thinks that Gambo is an arrogant assh... while Sarver was an experienced businessman-negotiator that could easily defend himself while staying in gentleman-manner (even if he said things that are hardly to prove)?