Suns, Eric Bledsoe Far Apart In Talks

[Azlen]

I'm still very curious if any teams had a conversation with Bledsoe's agent about an offer but were turned away if it wasn't a max offer. We heard rumors of possible interest from other teams but those never amounted to an official offer from anyone. I'm guessing that dollars were discussed but teams will usually not make a public offer to a free agent if he is expected to turn it down. Wonder how much money that is going to cost Bledsoe if that was the case.

 

[3rdside]

And this Board goes crazy with every head fake and new manipulative move. 30 pages of discussion. LOL.

Must feel great to look down from above?

 

[Absolute Zero]

Must feel great to look down from above?

What the heck, we need something to talk about until football season starts!

 

[3rdside]

Haha, it's a condescending comment and you know it!

 

[Absolute Zero]

Haha, it's a condescending comment and you know it!

I guess I must be condescending towards myself as well since I have been part of this ongoing frenzy. You may want to relax a bit, its all good.

 

[3rdside]

You have no idea - check out me for hypocritical, from another thread:

Perhaps I should have been clearer but maybe a more 'clarity-seeking' response from your good self first would have helped; I was slightly offended that you were offended .

There's a lesson in here somewhere.

 

[devilalum]

Say hypothetically he signs the one year qualifying offer and makes $3.7 million next year, then becomes unrestricted and signs for around 4/60. He will make about 4/48 over the next 4 years, the same amount the Suns are offering. The only difference is that he has no insurance for the coming year.

If I'm the Suns I call his bluff. The Suns are basically offering him the most he can possibly get over the next 4 years.

 

[Shaggy]

What I don't get is why hasn't he signed with Phx yet? There is obviously no other offers out there, why the wait? What is that going to accomplish other then piss off the team and fans? Its not helping him at all in the long run. Just sign and move on. No other team wants him for what he wants. Just weird.

 

[SirStefan32]

What I don't get is why hasn't he signed with Phx yet? There is obviously no other offers out there, why the wait? What is that going to accomplish other then piss off the team and fans? Its not helping him at all in the long run. Just sign and move on. No other team wants him for what he wants. Just weird.

I think his agent is giving him bad advice, or he is really delusional and thinks the Suns will blink. I am fairly certain that the Suns (Babby, specifically) will not blink. I think the Suns made it clear they will not overpay Bledsoe when they signed Thomas. Apparently Bledsoe or his agent did not get that.

 

[SirStefan32]

Say hypothetically he signs the one year qualifying offer and makes $3.7 million next year, then becomes unrestricted and signs for around 4/60. He will make about 4/48 over the next 4 years, the same amount the Suns are offering. The only difference is that he has no insurance for the coming year.

If I'm the Suns I call his bluff. The Suns are basically offering him the most he can possibly get over the next 4 years.

He would likely count on the Lakers giving him an actual max next year, which they very well may do, but it is too much of a risk for him. One injury away from losing $48M or so... to a normal person that's too much. Unless he is delusional, Bledsoe will not take that risk.

 

[sunsfan88]

What I don't get is why hasn't he signed with Phx yet? There is obviously no other offers out there, why the wait? What is that going to accomplish other then piss off the team and fans? Its not helping him at all in the long run. Just sign and move on. No other team wants him for what he wants. Just weird.

He could sign a 2 year deal with another team for $12M with a player option for the 2nd season. It was reported that the Suns were afraid of him potentially doing this.

It's basically same as signing a more expensive QO. He would still be leaving money on the table from the $48M offer but at least it's a lot better and lot more appealing than taking the QO offer.

 

[Superbone]

He could sign a 2 year deal with another team for $12M with a player option for the 2nd season. It was reported that the Suns were afraid of him potentially doing this.

It's been reported that that is not allowed by the CBA.

 

[Iceman]

Suns won't budge (much if any) especially now because they don't need to. They would be obviously screwing themselves by giving him more money. As much as I love having Bledsoe on the Suns, they did quite well without him last year. Plus, his knee could go out again anytime!

 

[Phoenix219]

I'm still very curious if any teams had a conversation with Bledsoe's agent about an offer but were turned away if it wasn't a max offer. We heard rumors of possible interest from other teams but those never amounted to an official offer from anyone. I'm guessing that dollars were discussed but teams will usually not make a public offer to a free agent if he is expected to turn it down. Wonder how much money that is going to cost Bledsoe if that was the case.

That would make this whole thing even more dumb then it already is - if he had the chance to force the Suns into a better deal, but didn't take it because, although better then what we've offered, it STILL wasn't good enough for him, and he didn't want to get locked down to a lower amount, even if it was a *bigger* lower amount.

 

[Phoenix219]

Say hypothetically he signs the one year qualifying offer and makes $3.7 million next year, then becomes unrestricted and signs for around 4/60. He will make about 4/48 over the next 4 years, the same amount the Suns are offering. The only difference is that he has no insurance for the coming year.

If I'm the Suns I call his bluff. The Suns are basically offering him the most he can possibly get over the next 4 years.

Exactly. I think I said this earlier; the best chance he gets, he still maybe breaks even.

What I don't get is why hasn't he signed with Phx yet? There is obviously no other offers out there, why the wait? What is that going to accomplish other then piss off the team and fans? Its not helping him at all in the long run. Just sign and move on. No other team wants him for what he wants. Just weird.

Thats why I'm really starting to think that he just doesn't want to be here in Phoenix, and this is all just a gambit on his part to get him out of here, without having to say "I don't like it here and don't care about this team."

It's been reported that that is not allowed by the CBA.

Yup, beat me to it. But, after he's completely unrestricted next year, he could still maybe try this again. Thats a lot of gambling on his health AND on the assumption that teams are going to want to continually shovel him the max.

This is getting so ridiculous.

 

[Mainstreet]

What I don't get is why hasn't he signed with Phx yet? There is obviously no other offers out there, why the wait? What is that going to accomplish other then piss off the team and fans? Its not helping him at all in the long run. Just sign and move on. No other team wants him for what he wants. Just weird.

My guess, Bledsoe wants to sign with another team but that team cannot give the Suns the assets they want. But he knows the Suns will match the offer sheet from his preferred team if they submit one. So the agent is trying to get a third team involved that can provide the Suns the assets they want. Getting that third team gets complicated. I still think the Suns want to keep Bledsoe but are ready to look at a sign and trade about now. However, again, the agent hasn't been able to produce the sign and trade the Suns would want.

Also, another thought, perhaps a draft pick who has already been signed by another team might be a part of a sign and trade after the required waiting period is over.

 

[SO91]

My guess, Bledsoe wants to sign with another team but that team cannot give the Suns the assets they want. But he knows the Suns will match the offer sheet from his preferred team if they submit one. So the agent is trying to get a third team involved that can provide the Suns the assets they want. Getting that third team gets complicated. I still think the Suns want to keep Bledsoe but are ready to look at a sign and trade about now. However, again, the agent hasn't been able to produce the sign and trade the Suns would want.

Also, another thought, perhaps a draft pick who has already been signed by another team might be a part of a sign and trade after the required waiting period is over.

Wiggins to Phx confirmed.

 

[Mainstreet]

Wiggins to Phx confirmed.

Only in our dreams.

 

[devilalum]

He would likely count on the Lakers giving him an actual max next year, which they very well may do, but it is too much of a risk for him. One injury away from losing $48M or so... to a normal person that's too much. Unless he is delusional, Bledsoe will not take that risk.

But the Lakers will only be able to give him around 4/60 MAX?

It seems to me like he wants something in particular but he's trying to be professional about it. All that's come out of his camp is that he wants max money, he acknowledged that the Suns are using RFA to limit his options (true) and now he's considering the QO. I don't see how he's crossed the line anywhere. The fact that he's taking his time seems smart too. Nothing is happening any time soon. Its not like the Suns need an answer to move forward. Everything is pretty much dead this time of year.

 

[Phoenix219]

But the Lakers will only be able to give him around 4/60 MAX?

It seems to me like he wants something in particular but he's trying to be professional about it. All that's come out of his camp is that he wants max money, he acknowledged that the Suns are using RFA to limit his options (true) and now he's considering the QO. I don't see how he's crossed the line anywhere. The fact that he's taking his time seems smart too. Nothing is happening any time soon. Its not like the Suns need an answer to move forward. Everything is pretty much dead this time of year.

The only rumor we've heard is LA, so I'm going to assume that Bledsoe wants to end up in LA, and is mad that the Suns were going to match, so now he's going to play for the QO and then bolt to LA when he gets his chance, for the equal money.

He doesn't want to be in Phoenix, period.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The only rumor we've heard is LA, so I'm going to assume that Bledsoe wants to end up in LA, and is mad that the Suns were going to match, so now he's going to play for the QO and then bolt to LA when he gets his chance, for the equal money.

He doesn't want to be in Phoenix, period.

I don't think he hates Phoenix, he just has no connection to the place. If we'd offered him the max right out of the gate he'd have stood in front of the cameras and told us how thrilled he was to be in Phoenix. And I'm sure that if there were no RFA rules he'd have signed in LA, Cleveland or somewhere in the South by now. But the money is still the big issue for him

Steve

 

[Phrazbit]

If he truly did not want to be here I think he would have flat out stated it. Demanding out is really the only leverage he actually has in all this and he has not used it because I think he'd be fine with coming back.

The issue is money, not location.

If his agent continues to poison the water then things might change.

 

[Sci Fi]

My guess, Bledsoe wants to sign with another team but that team cannot give the Suns the assets they want. But he knows the Suns will match the offer sheet from his preferred team if they submit one. So the agent is trying to get a third team involved that can provide the Suns the assets they want. Getting that third team gets complicated. I still think the Suns want to keep Bledsoe but are ready to look at a sign and trade about now. However, again, the agent hasn't been able to produce the sign and trade the Suns would want.

Also, another thought, perhaps a draft pick who has already been signed by another team might be a part of a sign and trade after the required waiting period is over.

I just read on Suns.net that some guy with supposed inside info says that Bledsoe truly doesn't want to be here. That seems likely at this point. If so, then the Suns should really drop their offer and give him a new offer somewhere in the 4/38-40 range. It's still large enough that he'd really be taking a chance by taking the qualifying offer. The Suns would then benefit as other teams would be able to offer more assets since they could get Bledsoe for less. If he doesn't want to be here, no reason for the Suns to keep the 4/48 offer open. Play to get the most assets out of him.

 

[Phoenix219]

If he truly did not want to be here I think he would have flat out stated it. Demanding out is really the only leverage he actually has in all this and he has not used it because I think he'd be fine with coming back.

The issue is money, not location.

If his agent continues to poison the water then things might change.

I think the issue is both. I think he doesn't like the location, but would suck it up if he was at least getting the money. Why would he publicly state that and ruin his reputation while he has no contract? It would be a very classless thing to do, come out and admit he doesn't like it here, while pissing off the fans he may well have to perform for if he gets his max money.

Instead, making it look like our fault and downplaying the fact that he's trying to get out of here makes him look like a better guy.


*edit*

Sci Fi, yeah, i read some rumblings to that degree on realgm.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I just read on Suns.net that some guy with supposed inside info says that Bledsoe truly doesn't want to be here. That seems likely at this point. If so, then the Suns should really drop their offer and give him a new offer somewhere in the 4/38-40 range. It's still large enough that he'd really be taking a chance by taking the qualifying offer. The Suns would then benefit as other teams would be able to offer more assets since they could get Bledsoe for less. If he doesn't want to be here, no reason for the Suns to keep the 4/48 offer open. Play to get the most assets out of him.

I think you and the .netter are reading too much into Traxxe's comments. I don't think he was suggesting that any one issue was as big as the money so lowering the offer accomplishes nothing. He's not going to sign or try to orchestrate a sign and trade at those dollars and we're not going to give him away at that money. I'm pretty sure he'd rather play in Phoenix for the 4/48 deal than anywhere else for 40 million.

Steve