Suns @ TWolves 2/20/15

[GatorAZ]

I can't remember the last player who was as long and springy as Andrew Wiggins. Imagine him in 2-3 more years what he'll be able to do physically.

 

[CardsFan88]

you say the above as if NBA player still see us as a FA destination place, regardless of what Sarver's done in the past... but it's NOT. We didn't make the trade for Pau last season because he said he wouldn't sign with us, we've had cap room multiple times in the last five years and never lured ONE high profile FA... and are coming off widely acknowledged acrimonious negotiations with Bledsoe and now are seen as a team who had "the nicest player in the world" slam us, become disgruntled and demand a trade.

There IS AND ALREADY HAS BEEN long-term impact by Sarver and I fear McD's petulance yesterday will only dig that hole deeper.

No I agree, we still have damage and might in some capacity for a while, maybe even as long as $arver is here. I'm just saying THAT is a bigger problem then anything McD did yesterday.

But even with THAT, we still got IT to sign. We still go out and try to sign guys and even Lebron was interested in us a bit.

We don't know why Pau didn't come here. It could be many reasons. It could of been $arver, it could of been that he still saw as a team too far away. It could be a combination. We really don't know.

But when you refer to 'nicest guys in the league'...it's kind of a untrue belief that only fools would believe. We all know that no way the 'nicest guy in the league' would say stuff like that. So in my mind, any anyone's, he simply cannot be the nicest guy in the league. So if anyone keeps that up, and use that for anything, they are fooling themselves, and maybe making a bad move. (I'd say this no matter what team this happened to...the nicest player in the league simply cannot do this).

But yes, I agree, compared to when JC/BC ran this team, we still got a ways to go.

But my hope is, that $arver continues to keep a back seat, and we continue to let McD grow into the role. He has the chops... the mind, willingness to make big moves, and get them actually done. Maybe we would of felt the same way if JC was in 2015 with all the social media and sports coverage back in 1968 or whatever.

Here's to hoping though

 

[Mainstreet]

you say the above as if NBA player still see us as a FA destination place, regardless of what Sarver's done in the past... but it's NOT. We didn't make the trade for Pau last season because he said he wouldn't sign with us, we've had cap room multiple times in the last five years and never lured ONE high profile FA... and are coming off widely acknowledged acrimonious negotiations with Bledsoe and now are seen as a team who had "the nicest player in the world" slam us, become disgruntled and demand a trade.

There IS AND ALREADY HAS BEEN long-term impact by Sarver and I fear McD's petulance yesterday will only dig that hole deeper.

Maybe but I remember what huge disarray the Atlanta Hawks were including ownership before they were able to get Joe Johnson to sign there. The same can happen with the Suns.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I can't remember the last player who was as long and springy as Andrew Wiggins. Imagine him in 2-3 more years what he'll be able to do physically.

Gerald Green. Funny thing is that LaVine might be more so.

 

[Mainstreet]

I can't remember the last player who was as long and springy as Andrew Wiggins. Imagine him in 2-3 more years what he'll be able to do physically.

The Wolves got a genuine star in Wiggins.

 

[Covert Rain]

you say the above as if NBA player still see us as a FA destination place, regardless of what Sarver's done in the past... but it's NOT. We didn't make the trade for Pau last season because he said he wouldn't sign with us, we've had cap room multiple times in the last five years and never lured ONE high profile FA... and are coming off widely acknowledged acrimonious negotiations with Bledsoe and now are seen as a team who had "the nicest player in the world" slam us, become disgruntled and demand a trade.

There IS AND ALREADY HAS BEEN long-term impact by Sarver and I fear McD's petulance yesterday will only dig that hole deeper.

 

[Errntknght]

Giving Thomas away for free would have been addition by subtraction. I do wonder, though, if Knight does well, if Bledsoe will be a potential trade piece.

I don't imagine Knight doing well will have a lot of impact on Bleds' status in that regard. For the time being, at least, McD and Horny seem to b locked into the idea of playing two combo guards so that means they are not looking to discard the one that looks to be the lesser contributor. If they don't do well together, of course, they'll make a change.

My guess is that the two will play together about 24 minutes and each of them be the solo PG 8-12 minutes. It seems like they might give Archie some PG duties, converting him to another combo guard. (They talked about Archie playing some point when he first came here but then they got Ish and that never materialized.) Of course, they could just go right out and grab a backup PG without giving Goodwin a trial. IIRC, the Thunder have just waived Ish.

 

[BC867]

Giving Thomas away for free would have been addition by subtraction. I do wonder, though, if Knight does well, if Bledsoe will be a potential trade piece.

Good point. Bledsoe is going to see quickly that Knight has more Point Guard skills than he. Even if Knight moves to PG with the second unit.

The question is whether Bledsoe will practice Point Guard skills and show improvement (if he can) or will he continue to bring the ball up, dribble-dribble-dribble, watch the clock run down, then shoot from the perimeter, which is not his strong point either.

I can see Knight bumping Bledsoe from the PG spot and the roster during the post-season. And, hopefully, the Suns trading him for a pure Shooting Guard. Then we can move forward. So, that question is whether the Suns will make that move or justify their obsession with two smaller guys in the backcourt.

 

[CardsFan88]

Hard to say, I don't think Bledsoe is untouchable, they could trade him... at some point, and under certain unknown conditions.

But what I do know is they came to Bledsoe a while back (they didn't specify when) and asked the hypothetical question to Bledsoe about how he might feel playing with Knight.

Also remember both went to Kentucky. I think for one year they were there together.

So I do think they are thinking, unless something happens to get in the way, that they want these two guys together.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Justified or not, I think that management is far happier with Bledsoe than most of the posters here are. Bledsoe isn't a perfect point guard but from what I've read, Knight isn't too dissimilar. He appears to be a better shooter and Bledsoe has the clear advantage on defense but otherwise they have many of the same flaws and strengths. If Eric wasn't in our long term plans, I think we'd have traded IT and that pick for a true point guard, not another combo guard like Knight (and Bledsoe and Dragic and IT).

Steve

 

[AzStevenCal]

you say the above as if NBA player still see us as a FA destination place, regardless of what Sarver's done in the past... but it's NOT. We didn't make the trade for Pau last season because he said he wouldn't sign with us, we've had cap room multiple times in the last five years and never lured ONE high profile FA... and are coming off widely acknowledged acrimonious negotiations with Bledsoe and now are seen as a team who had "the nicest player in the world" slam us, become disgruntled and demand a trade.

There IS AND ALREADY HAS BEEN long-term impact by Sarver and I fear McD's petulance yesterday will only dig that hole deeper.

And he wouldn't sign with OKC either. He ruled out any city that doesn't have a huge commitment to the Arts and Theater. There were other reasons we didn't pursue him but this appears to be the leading reason he would not have wanted to be traded to us.

Steve

 

[slinslin]

Beyond the top flight FAs - Lebron, Carmelo, Bosh and restricted FAs Hayward and Bledsoe.. Isaiah Thomas was one of the top FAs last offseason.

 

[sunsfan88]

Been ringing this bell all season... Bledsoe has been a disappointment, period. Last night was yet another example of him falling way short, particularly in crunch time. He is very poor outside shooter (no threat there at all), his passing is mediocre at best and often delivers the ball in very awkward positions for whomever is receiving the ball... And he makes stupid plays and doesn't execute late in games. And for this, he making $14 million and guaranteed $70 million... I really want to see him flourish, but the gap between where he is and where we need him to be is huge, and frankly, I'm not at all certain he will get there... Man I hope I'm wrong...

I just think he needs to acknowledge his responsibility as the highest paid player on the team by a LARGE margin. Imo he needs to realize this is his team now and he needs to play hard and improve his game to justify McD's comments which basically said that Bledsoe is the face of the franchise.

Bledsoe has the potential for it, no doubt. But for how many years can we keep relying on potential for a player that's making as much $$ as he is.

 

[sunsfan88]

Justified or not, I think that management is far happier with Bledsoe than most of the posters here are. Bledsoe isn't a perfect point guard but from what I've read, Knight isn't too dissimilar. He appears to be a better shooter and Bledsoe has the clear advantage on defense but otherwise they have many of the same flaws and strengths. If Eric wasn't in our long term plans, I think we'd have traded IT and that pick for a true point guard, not another combo guard like Knight (and Bledsoe and Dragic and IT).

Steve

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[GatorAZ]

Gerald Green. Funny thing is that LaVine might be more so.

Those guys are maybe 6'5". Wiggins is a legit 6'8".

 

[82CardsGrad]

I just think he needs to acknowledge his responsibility as the highest paid player on the team by a LARGE margin. Imo he needs to realize this is his team now and he needs to play hard and improve his game to justify McD's comments which basically said that Bledsoe is the face of the franchise.

Bledsoe has the potential for it, no doubt. But for how many years can we keep relying on potential for a player that's making as much $$ as he is.

I hope the addition of Knight and a healthy Len is what will spur on Bledsoe to reach levels of play beyond where he's stuck today. But man... I have this seriously uneasy feeling that McD backed the wrong guy.
If nothing else, Archie NEEDS to be seeing real minutes from this point forward. IMHO, he outplayed any other guard we tossed out there last night. It's just one game, but there is no doubt in my mind that Goodwin has star written all over him... he just needs the minutes!

 

[sunsfan88]

I hope the addition of Knight and a healthy Len is what will spur on Bledsoe to reach levels of play beyond where he's stuck today. But man... I have this seriously uneasy feeling that McD backed the wrong guy.
If nothing else, Archie NEEDS to be seeing real minutes from this point forward. IMHO, he outplayed any other guard we tossed out there last night. It's just one game, but there is no doubt in my mind that Goodwin has star written all over him... he just needs the minutes!

Agreed, I've been sayin it since we drafted him that I thought Goodwin has star potential. Maybe not superstar but at least all star. Even now, I would say that Goodwin has the best chance of developing into a star than any other guard on our team.

 

[slinslin]

Those guys are maybe 6'5". Wiggins is a legit 6'8".

Gerald Green is 6'8

 

[Cheesebeef]

Beyond the top flight FAs - Lebron, Carmelo, Bosh and restricted FAs Hayward and Bledsoe.. Isaiah Thomas was one of the top FAs last offseason.

a 5'9 combo guard... in his prime... who's reputation was such a locker room problem that his own team wanted nothing to do with him and who only got a deal worth 6 million dollar per year isn't a top FA, IMO.

 

[sunsfan88]

a 5'9 combo guard... in his prime... who's reputation was such a locker room problem that his own team wanted nothing to do with him and who only got a deal worth 6 million dollar per year isn't a top FA, IMO.

Especially a guy that's now gettin tossed around the league despite putting up good numbers everywhere he does. I think NBA is realizing that with IT, there's stuff beyond just his stats.

 

[Cheesebeef]

No I agree, we still have damage and might in some capacity for a while, maybe even as long as $arver is here. I'm just saying THAT is a bigger problem then anything McD did yesterday.

But even with THAT, we still got IT to sign. We still go out and try to sign guys and even Lebron was interested in us a bit.

We don't know why Pau didn't come here. It could be many reasons. It could of been $arver, it could of been that he still saw as a team too far away. It could be a combination. We really don't know.

But when you refer to 'nicest guys in the league'...it's kind of a untrue belief that only fools would believe. We all know that no way the 'nicest guy in the league' would say stuff like that. So in my mind, any anyone's, he simply cannot be the nicest guy in the league. So if anyone keeps that up, and use that for anything, they are fooling themselves, and maybe making a bad move. (I'd say this no matter what team this happened to...the nicest player in the league simply cannot do this).

while YOU may believe this (and I don't deify Dragic AT ALL... I thought the way he handled this stunk), the public perception from pretty much the entire media (and likely the players who can't believe he was traded) is STILL that he was the good guy here who got shafted by our plethora of PG acquisitions.

What you WANT people/media to believe about Dragic and what they do ACTUALLY believe is a VERY different thing. Now you can keep calling people fools for perpetuating this, but you're only fooling yourself if you don't see public perception throughout the league is that we completely bungled the situation. No one is slamming Dragic like a Melo in this case, except half of Suns nation... and we don't really matter.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Agreed, I've been sayin it since we drafted him that I thought Goodwin has star potential. Maybe not superstar but at least all star. Even now, I would say that Goodwin has the best chance of developing into a star than any other guard on our team.

I wanna see more of Knight, but between Bledsoe and Archie, I think Archie's upside is greater...

 

[95pro]

I hope the addition of Knight and a healthy Len is what will spur on Bledsoe to reach levels of play beyond where he's stuck today. But man... I have this seriously uneasy feeling that McD backed the wrong guy.
If nothing else, Archie NEEDS to be seeing real minutes from this point forward. IMHO, he outplayed any other guard we tossed out there last night. It's just one game, but there is no doubt in my mind that Goodwin has star written all over him... he just needs the minutes!

Agreed, I've been sayin it since we drafted him that I thought Goodwin has star potential. Maybe not superstar but at least all star. Even now, I would say that Goodwin has the best chance of developing into a star than any other guard on our team.

I've been high on him as well. Kid will break out if he gets the minutes.

 

[sunsfan88]

I've been high on him as well. Kid will break out if he gets the minutes.

Him and Len are the only two things I'm looking forward to for remainder of this season.

 

[CardsFan88]

while YOU may believe this (and I don't deify Dragic AT ALL... I thought the way he handled this stunk), the public perception from pretty much the entire media (and likely the players who can't believe he was traded) is STILL that he was the good guy here who got shafted by our plethora of PG acquisitions.

What you WANT people/media to believe about Dragic and what they do ACTUALLY believe is a VERY different thing. Now you can keep calling people fools for perpetuating this, but you're only fooling yourself if you don't see public perception throughout the league is that we completely bungled the situation. No one is slamming Dragic like a Melo in this case, except half of Suns nation... and we don't really matter.

No, perception is not reality. Reality is reality. Perception CAN effect reality, IF people believe in bs, which is what perception IS. Sadly people DO allow perception to impact reality, thus BS effects reality, and I accounted for it.

But it doesn't always matter, if the person, in this case, the FA, doesn't believe in the BS.

Sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. It depends. Plus THIS situation won't always matter. It will ONLY matter, during FA, and not to everyone. So it's a sometimes thing, and only with 1/3 of the avenues available us to improve.

Ultimately it comes down to who we want. Do they believe the BS? 0 or 1.

The fact is I REALIZE THIS IS THE TRUTH. So I can say it does matter and doesn't and be right about it.