Suns, Eric Bledsoe Far Apart In Talks

[Phoenix219]

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

Obviously the money is the biggest issue to him; like I said, if we gave him what he wanted, he would be content here, but at equal money, he would prefer to play somewhere else. No way is he taking less money, anywhere, period.

I have felt like this about Bledsoe for awhile, and in fact have been expecting something like this since last season. I'm not reading overly into any of the statements, but of course will notice when something supports the way I feel.

I think the LA rumor a week or two ago was dropped by Bledsoe's camp... I wouldn't be surprised at all if he had been trying to end up in LA. He's only been gone from LA for a year, and although Lakers <> Clippers, its still his familiar cityscape.

 

[Phrazbit]

Lowering the offer will only burn the bridge down, it will do nothing else. At that point he is pretty much forced to take the qualifying offer and then everyone is probably screwed.

 

[Sci Fi]

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

You're missing the point. Lowering the offer will yield more for the Suns eventually, not get him to sign. The offfer of playing in Phoenix for 4/48 would no longer available. All you're doing is gifting him money if he doesn't want to be here.

My suggestion is a based on the notion that he doesn't want to live in Phoenix. If that is true (and the Suns would likely have a fairly good idea), then at some time the Suns will move him, either now through a S&T or later in the year.

If they move him now, they can get more as the other team has to pay less. Same thing if they trade him mid season. If a miracle happens and he decides he loves it here, great!

If the Suns truly believe he doesn't want to be here and they are ready to move him, the only potential problem with this strategy is that he takes the QO. Still, with his history, 4/40 looks a lot better than 3.7/1.

I'd call his bluff. Give him 2 days to sign at 4/48 or the offer is off the table. Even if he ends up taking the QO, you really lose little. The market is speaking now that his value isn't that special at 4/48 that teams are lining up to give assets away for him.

 

[AzStevenCal]

You're missing the point. Lowering the offer will yield more for the Suns eventually, not get him to sign. The offfer of playing in Phoenix for 4/48 would no longer available. All you're doing is gifting him money if he doesn't want to be here.

My suggestion is a based on the notion that he doesn't want to live in Phoenix. If that is true (and the Suns would likely have a fairly good idea), then at some time the Suns will move him, either now through a S&T or later in the year.

If they move him now, they can get more as the other team has to pay less. Same thing if they trade him mid season. If a miracle happens and he decides he loves it here, great!

If the Suns truly believe he doesn't want to be here and they are ready to move him, the only potential problem with this strategy is that he takes the QO. Still, with his history, 4/40 looks a lot better than 3.7/1.

I'd call his bluff. Give him 2 days to sign at 4/48 or the offer is off the table. Even if he ends up taking the QO, you really lose little. The market is speaking now that his value isn't that special at 4/48 that teams are lining up to give assets away for him.

I get all of that. But what's his motivation for taking the lesser contract if all he's really concerned about is money? And his request for the max from us suggests it still is just about money for him. If he hated his teammates or coaches I'd be worried but he's been openly positive about them. I think it's clear he has no special interest in Phoenix but until he says otherwise there's no reason to believe he's anything other than neutral on the area. And Traxxe, the supposed insider that was referenced on .net, has stated he is no longer an insider. His comments appeared to be general observations, not inside information.

Steve

 

[Sci Fi]

The motivation for taking the lessor contract is he has to play for someone. If the 4/48 is no longer available, he has to take what is available (4/38-40) or sign the QO. You're acting as if he can just have the 4/48 if he doesn't like the new offer.

This is obviously a hardball strategy but at this time, I see little risk to the Suns by doing so with at least some upside.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The motivation for taking the lessor contract is he has to play for someone. If the 4/48 is no longer available, he has to take what is available (4/38-40) or sign the QO. You're acting as if he can just have the 4/48 if he doesn't like the new offer.

This is obviously a hardball strategy but at this time, I see little risk to the Suns by doing so with at least some upside.

You don't play hardball with an NBA player. At least not until you absolutely have to. And with Sarver's rep, maybe not even then. You don't offend a fraternity like Bledsoe belongs to without obvious cause. And we don't have obvious cause. We yank our offer or come in much lower and someone is going to offer 13 per and we're likely going to have to let him go without compensation. Matching it then would make us the bad guys.

Steve

 

[Cheesebeef]

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.

Sometimes I wonder how people who take enough time to post on these sites can come up with ideas that have no basis in what really happens in sports negotiations.

 

[Sci Fi]

Sorry I didn't live up to your lofty posting standards.

 

[Sci Fi]

You don't play hardball with an NBA player. At least not until you absolutely have to. And with Sarver's rep, maybe not even then. You don't offend a fraternity like Bledsoe belongs to without obvious cause. And we don't have obvious cause. We yank our offer or come in much lower and someone is going to offer 13 per and we're likely going to have to let him go without compensation. Matching it then would make us the bad guys.

Steve

Yes, there is some risk but there is also some reward.

I just think the reward is greater than the risk at this time.

 

[elindholm]

It wasn't all that long ago when it was commonplace for teams to say that their contract offers had expiration dates. "This is on the table for a week, then we pull it." It wasn't a big deal. That's not the fashion now, but it's not as though Sci Fi's idea is coming completely out of left field. I'm a bit surprised that the Suns haven't already given Camp Bledsoe a deadline. They need to put the off-season behind them and start thinking about training camp.

 

[AzStevenCal]

It wasn't all that long ago when it was commonplace for teams to say that their contract offers had expiration dates. "This is on the table for a week, then we pull it." It wasn't a big deal. That's not the fashion now, but it's not as though Sci Fi's idea is coming completely out of left field. I'm a bit surprised that the Suns haven't already given Camp Bledsoe a deadline. They need to put the off-season behind them and start thinking about training camp.

I can't remember that ever being the case with one of your own players but maybe I just wasn't paying attention back then. Still, it seems very shortsighted in today's marketplace.

Steve

 

[Cheesebeef]

Sorry I didn't live up to your lofty posting standards.

apology accepted. don't let it happen again.

 

[Phoenix219]

You don't play hardball with an NBA player. At least not until you absolutely have to. And with Sarver's rep, maybe not even then. You don't offend a fraternity like Bledsoe belongs to without obvious cause. And we don't have obvious cause. We yank our offer or come in much lower and someone is going to offer 13 per and we're likely going to have to let him go without compensation. Matching it then would make us the bad guys.

Steve

How would it make us the bad guys if we were still matching the best offer he's gotten? Thats the whole point of restricted free agency. It still would show that we value him enough to pay him. That would just make for smart business sense.

 

[AzStevenCal]

How would it make us the bad guys if we were still matching the best offer he's gotten? Thats the whole point of restricted free agency. It still would show that we value him enough to pay him. That would just make for smart business sense.

The suggestion was that we should pull our offer and give him much less. Doing that and then matching an offer that was even higher than our original would paint us in a poor light IMO. Right now, most of the support is in our corner. Playing hardball would change that. It's not like we're up against a deadline yet.

Steve

 

[Superbone]

What a world we live in. Kyle Lowry is happy as a clam with his $48 million dollar deal while Eric Bledsoe is miserable about it and a victim.

 

[Phoenix219]

What a world we live in. Kyle Lowry is happy as a clam with his $48 million dollar deal while Eric Bledsoe is miserable about it and a victim.

Yeah, isn't it crazy 'bone? Its shades of Sprewell, but even Sprewell had big money saved, and an ego about taking a pay cut.

This is some unproven young buck demanding a pay day way out of his league while giving us no likeable personality traits in return.

There's no logic to the way this is unfolding.

The suggestion was that we should pull our offer and give him much less. Doing that and then matching an offer that was even higher than our original would paint us in a poor light IMO. Right now, most of the support is in our corner. Playing hardball would change that. It's not like we're up against a deadline yet.

Steve

Yeah, I understand that. Really, though, he doesn't like our offer, maybe it would make him think a little and give him a little perspective if we showed him how much worse it COULD be. Attitude and passion for our team directly affects on court performance..... maybe it should affect the $$ amount as well. Its all one big related package.

 

[sunsfan88]

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

You are probably right but do you mind giving the link? Thank you.

 

[JS22]

So tired of this. I take "insiders" with a grain of salt, but Traxxe is (supposedly) a pretty respected poster. So, who knows, maybe Bledsoe simply doesn't want to be here and is upset that he had a better offer from another team - but the Suns insisted on a physical. Which would have added additional time to the waiting period. (And caused that team to back off.) I vaguely recall the Milwaukee rumors early on. So who knows.

At this point if I'm the Suns I up the offer to 4 / 52 as a good-will gesture. If they balk at that...meh. Stand firm and let him take the QO. If he has a good season and someone offers him the max, that's great. See ya. If he misses half the season then he just screwed himself out of a LOT of money. Either way, if I'm the Suns, I let him walk. I'm sure they'd be tired of his drama by the end of the season. If he takes the QO it's a clear sign he doesn't want to be here. So next season would be interesting if so.

 

[AzStevenCal]

So tired of this. I take "insiders" with a grain of salt, but Traxxe is (supposedly) a pretty respected poster. So, who knows, maybe Bledsoe simply doesn't want to be here and is upset that he had a better offer from another team - but the Suns insisted on a physical. Which would have added additional time to the waiting period. (And caused that team to back off.) I vaguely recall the Milwaukee rumors early on. So who knows.

At this point if I'm the Suns I up the offer to 4 / 52 as a good-will gesture. If they balk at that...meh. Stand firm and let him take the QO. If he has a good season and someone offers him the max, that's great. See ya. If he misses half the season then he just screwed himself out of a LOT of money. Either way, if I'm the Suns, I let him walk. I'm sure they'd be tired of his drama by the end of the season. If he takes the QO it's a clear sign he doesn't want to be here. So next season would be interesting if so.

I wouldn't. It's my understanding that Paul made his max demand and that's been the end of conversation. Sarver has already stated publicly that even though he feels their 48 million deal was a fair offer, that he's willing to negotiate from there. At this point, it has to be in Paul's corner to make the next move. Anything else is a sign of weakness on our part IMO. I think we can justify paying more but it has to be part of a two way negotiation.

Steve

 

[Errntknght]

The Suns could also offer sixty million over five years... that could be more in line with what Bled wants. I think I'd do try that approach as it has overtones of Eric wanting to be here if he accepts that.

 

[Cheesebeef]

my guess is this gets settled by the end of the month to the tune of 4 years, 55 million. Both sides are playing chicken right now...because they can. it'll be interesting to see who blinks first.

 

[JS22]

my guess is this gets settled by the end of the month to the tune of 4 years, 55 million. Both sides are playing chicken right now...because they can. it'll be interesting to see who blinks first.

I think the Suns will move up a little. Anything beyond 52 million though and you're just bidding against yourself. An extra million a year is a gesture that would make the Suns look even better and Bledsoe / Paul look a lot worse. (If they rejected it.)

I guess if he says he'll sign at 55m, then you do it. But I wouldn't offer it.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think the Suns will move up a little. Anything beyond 52 million though and you're just bidding against yourself. An extra million a year is a gesture that would make the Suns look even better and Bledsoe / Paul look a lot worse. (If they rejected it.)

I guess if he says he'll sign at 55m, then you do it. But I wouldn't offer it.

They are already bidding against themselves. In the end it will be whatever they think having Bledsoe happy is worth to them.

 

[Mainstreet]

my guess is this gets settled by the end of the month to the tune of 4 years, 55 million. Both sides are playing chicken right now...because they can. it'll be interesting to see who blinks first.

What if neither side blink? Sometimes I think Bledsoe wants out of Phoenix. I would vomit a little if Bledsoe played the season on a qualifying offer. For me, it would cast a gray cloud over the season. So, I hope you are right that a deal can be reached. I also hope the Suns have a sign and trade as a backup plan.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns sign PG Tyler Ennis per Paul Coro at azcentral in an article dated 8-8-14 so I guess he will not be used in a trade, at least for awhile. T.J. Warren was previously signed but they had an announcement for both today.

Warren previously had signed but the announcement was held up for Ennis' signing.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...-warren-tyler-ennis-nba-first-round/13778815/