Suns trade

[Bada0Bing]

Gambo and Ash said we just picked up Skita for a 2nd rounder.

 

[elindholm]

Heh! Well, at least he's cheap. Hard to see him having much of an impact, though. It's not like the Wolves are stocked with front-court talent.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Looks like he has a 2 year contract for peanuts. Not much risk here.

 

[elindholm]

Holy frijoles, he's shot only thirty percent from the field over his career? That's unbelievably bad. Seriously, I have a hard time believing it.

 

[sly fly]

I like it. Cheap. Can't hurt. Young. Has size. D'Antoni may be the only coach who can tap his potential.

We'll see.

 

[fordronken]

Sounds good to me. I need somebody whose name is fun to pronounce when you get drunk and excited during a blowout.

 

[King A]

and we finally have a seven footer on the roster

but seriously: d'antoni can help him with his career

 

[Chaplin]

Now all we need to do is get Darko for our own first this year, and we'll be set!

 

[F-Dog]

Skita!!!



Seriously, this seems inevitable (now that Artest was traded and the team's trade exception was freed up, anyway). The Suns needed another big, and Skita has looked good for exactly one coach in his entire basketball career. You can't really declare Skita a lost cause until he's been a bust for D'Antoni, too.

My guess is that Skita gets garbage PT at best this year, but the price is definitely right. At least the Suns' summer league team will look a lot better.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

The irony of all this is in 2002, Phoenix made no secret they were in love with Sitka and had planned to take him at 9.

Then, those bastards in Denver took him and we had to settle for some dude named Amare

So, in essence D'Antoni got who he wanted all along, as well as a guy who's changed the face of the franchise.

 

[fordronken]

Is Jared Jeffries available?

 

[F-Dog]

The irony of all this is in 2002, Phoenix made no secret they were in love with Sitka and had planned to take him at 9.

Uhh, no.

Next you'll be saying that Indiana saved the Suns from Jonathan Bender.

 

[fordronken]

I'm assuming the Suns were waiting to see if there was a good player left over in a multi team Artest trade that they could get their hands on with the exception. This does use the exception, right?

Sounds like Tskitishvilli was on the table and they were just waiting to make sure nobody more useful was coming along.

 

[fordronken]

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/38840/20060126/suns_acquire_nikoloz_tskitishvili/

Suns Acquire Nikoloz Tskitishvili
26th January, 2006 - 6:17 pm
Press Release - The Phoenix Suns today acquired Minnesota forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who played for current Suns Head Coach Mike D’Antoni for Italian club Benetton Treviso in 2001-02, in exchange for the club’s 2006 second-round draft pick.

“If there is an ideal coach and ideal system for Skita to do well, it’s here in Phoenix with Mike D’Antoni,” Suns President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo said.

In his only season with D’Antoni as an 18-year-old, Tskitishvili, now 22, averaged 6.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and shot over 73-percent on two-point field goal attempts in 11 games with Benetton Treviso. Shortly thereafter, the Nuggets selected the early entry candidate in the first round (5th overall) of the 2002 NBA Draft, four picks before the Suns chose Amaré Stoudemire with the ninth overall pick. The Republic of Georgia native also played two professional seasons in Slovenia with KK Slovan from 1999-2001.

Tskitishvili, a 7-0, 225-pound forward, has averaged 3.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 11.6 minutes per game in 160 career games over four NBA seasons with the Denver Nuggets , Golden State Warriors and most recently the Minnesota Timberwolves , where he saw limited action in five games in 2005-06.

Last season Tskitishvili appeared in 35 games (1.4 points, 1.2 rebounds, 6.2 minutes) split between Denver and Golden State. He was traded by the Nuggets to Golden State on Feb. 24, 2005 along with Rodney White in exchange for Eduardo Najera, Luis Flores and a future first-round pick (from Dallas in 2007).

Tskitishvili signed as a free agent with the Timberwolves on August 9, 2005 after averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per game in two contests for the Timberwolves’ entry in the 2005 Minnesota Summer League. He posted 25 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes vs. Milwaukee on July 15, but played just nine minutes on July 16 vs. New York before breaking the third metacarpal in his right hand.

The Suns roster now stands at 14. Tskitishvili will wear No. 15.

 

[SweetD]

SWEET I finally get to make a trade in my NBA 2K6 Season.

 

[Chaplin]

Considering he's averaged .6 points per game this season, I hope we didn't use any of our exception.

 

[SweetD]

I still would like to see Jackson moved just to clear up salary and maybe get a 2nd or young PG to develop.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

Uhh, no.

Next you'll be saying that Indiana saved the Suns from Jonathan Bender.

Actually, I was going to say Dallas saved the Suns from Leon Smith but...


I'll post this http://www.nba.com/suns/news/qa_shea.html

Shea: Keep my eyes and ears open. I travel. I stay in touch with my contacts that I have established a network with. They actually keep an eye on South America, Australia, Africa and Asia. Places where if I went to Africa I wouldn’t know where to start. If you go where people tell you to go, agents, interested parties, you are going to waste your time. My job is to basically eliminate the extra baggage so when (President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo) has to focus in on somebody, he doesn’t have to focus in on 25 people. He has to focus in on three.

I started with the club last August. Bryan came over twice. (CEO Jerry Colangelo) came over once with me. We went over to see the people who were high on the list – Tskitishvili, (Bostjan) Nachbar – and established relationships so Jiri Welsch could tryout (in Phoenix). My job was to eliminate and that is what I did this year, and I provided general counsel in the sense, where that player will be in three years and where he was two years ago.

Suns.com: One player who has been mentioned as a possible selection for the Suns at No. 9 is forward Nikoloz Tskitishvili from Georgia. What do you think of him?

Shea: Tremendous potential. Tremendous legs. At this point, he’s a project. We are talking a young (Dirk) Nowitzki. The theory is if Tskitishvili were playing in Germany, he would be putting up the same numbers when Nowitzki was there at his age. You can’t fight that. That’s probably true. With that being said, if he comes to the NBA and is thrown into the mix and plays, remember Nowitzki wasn’t a killer his first year, even in his second year. He just completed his fourth year. We are talking about an investment along those lines as a player. Again, intelligence and ambition, how far does he want to go? Nowitzki is very ambitious and is a smart kid.

Suns.com: What position do you see Tskitishvili playing in the pros?

Shea: He’s Nowitzki at a three or a four. He can do a little bit of both. Eventually he’d probably be exactly like Nowitzki, a three-four, with the emphasis on the three because of his lateral speed and jumping ability. He can get rebounds on the run and can penetrate from the other side and get rebounds.

and this old clip from Chad Ford

The Suns are talking to the Grizzlies and Cavs about a trade that would give them the No. 4 or No. 6 in return for the No. 9 and the No. 22. The Suns are itching to get their hands on either Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Chris Wilcox or Nene Hilario.

The Skinny: The Suns love Tskitishvili, Wilcox and Hilario and are doing everything in their power to move up to No. 4 or No. 6 so that they can get their hands on one of them. However, at this point there's a good chance that neither Nene nor Jeffries will still be on the board. No one is sure exactly what you'll get with Stoudemire. He too has an NBA body and plays with a lot of determination. But he is very raw on both ends of the court -- no one is sure exactly what he can do besides dunk. Still, several teams told Insider that with the proper coaching (Stoudemire bounced around a lot in high school) he could be the best power forward in the draft. Borchardt would give the team some depth at center.
http://five.pairlist.net/pipermail/wash-wizards-list/attachments/20020624/2584459e/attachment.htm

Thank God they didn't go with Option 2 eh?

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

They showed the Suns draft board after the draft, Amare was at the top.

There was a rumored deal where we were trying to move up to 6, but BC said after the draft that was because they thought Portland was going to move to 8 to get Amare. (He said it before the season started)....

Skita was the suns smokescreen that year, it isn't uncommon for them to have one.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Considering he's averaged .6 points per game this season, I hope we didn't use any of our exception.

I dont have time to look at his deal right now, but IIRC he was on a minimum contract so our exception would have been untouched (there is a seperate exemption teams can use when trading for min. salary players)

 

[F-Dog]

They said nice things about Jeffries too. But, all the evidence after the fact is that they were completely locked in to Amare.

“If there is an ideal coach and ideal system for Skita to do well, it’s here in Phoenix with Mike D’Antoni,” Suns President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo said.

Got to love the vote of confidence there.

 

[sunsfn]

I think this is a good pick-up. He is not as skinny as he was a few years ago either. But he can play on the suns the way he should play, SHOOTING THE BASKETBALL !, not trying to play center against shack.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

They showed the Suns draft board after the draft, Amare was at the top.

There was a rumored deal where we were trying to move up to 6, but BC said after the draft that was because they thought Portland was going to move to 8 to get Amare. (He said it before the season started)....

Skita was the suns smokescreen that year, it isn't uncommon for them to have one.

Sort of like those "guarantee picks" right?

 

[elindholm]

Tskitishvili, now 22, averaged 6.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and shot over 73-percent on two-point field goal attempts in 11 games with Benetton Treviso.

Wait a minute. Let's go inside the numbers for a bit here.

He averaged 6.6 points over 11 games. That's 73 points. We don't know how many three-pointers or free throws he made, but let's be conservative and say that 60 of his points (i.e., most of them) came on two-point baskets. That's 30 baskets.

So basically we're talking about someone whose big claim to fame is that he shot 30-for-41 (.732) in a couple of months of spot garbage time duty, four years ago. And since then, he has sucked ass.

True, the Suns didn't give up much (about a third of the trade exception), so it's hard to complain, but I'll be amazed if Tskitishvili proves to be worth a darn thing.

 

[Diamondback Jay]

True, the Suns didn't give up much (about a third of the trade exception), so it's hard to complain, but I'll be amazed if Tskitishvili proves to be worth a darn thing.

He hasn't thus far and I don't suspect he will, however if he proves to be any kind of able body, he's more depth.

As is, I'm having a hell of a time fooling with friends telling them Phoenix just won the West by acquiring a former 1st rounder from the Wolves, gauding them in to thinking it's Garnett.. Being bored sucks.