The Roster as it Stands.

[Folster]

PG: Dragic, Marshall
SG: Dudley, Brown, Goodwin
SF: Tucker, Mc Morris
PF: Scola, Mk Morris, Beasley
C: Gortat, Len

Free Agents: Johnson and O'Neal
Team Options: Tucker (guaranteed to exercise), Haddadi
Fighting for roster spots: Garrett, Lee, and Oriakhi
Medical: Channing Frye

It occurred to me that the Suns starting line-up could be nearly the same if not identical to last year's team. That's a scary thought unless your mind is already on next year's draft.

Johnson made some nice strides last year, and I would like to see him back for a decent price. Haddadi was decent and I wouldn't mind having him stick around for another season for insurance. You got to believe that O'Neal will leave for a contender unless he's afraid to leave our medical staff. Garrett and Oriakhi will be lucky to make the team. More so with Garrett since he is from the previous regime. Oriakhi will probably get a shot and plenty of time in the D-league.

The big question is who do we pursue is free agency. I was interested in Tyreke Evans due to his ability to attack the rim and draw fouls. I think he and Dragic would make a nice tandem. I'm not so sure now that we have Goodwin to try to develop. McDonough mentioned on KTAR yesterday that he was looking to add shooting and athleticism.

Also, who does McDonough purge from the roster and can her turn Scola and Gortat into worthwhile assets?

 

[Errntknght]

The players who will really help us win under 25 games next year are (in order) Beasley, Brown, Mc Morris, Wes Johnson, Marshall, Markeiff. Wes is a FA and I've seen enough of his defense to not want him back on a fresh contract - if he had a year left I wouldn't mind him staying around to 'help'.

Scola is neutral when it comes to 25 wins but to be on the safe side, I'd like to trade him.

Haddadi could help keep our win total in check if he played enough minutes but I think he's a somewhat useful deep bench player and hope we exercise his option. He looks awkward as the devil but he is not a bad defender and rim protector plus he rebounds at a good rate.

I haven't seen enough of Garrett to know if he'd be help with win reduction but it wouldn't be surprising with his level of experience. I like him more than I do Marshall, who is just too passive.

The big question as I see it is how to convert Gortat into an asset before he has a career year playing for his next contract.

The only question I have about free agents is why would we pursue any of them.

 

[jandaman]

Just play all the youth...
Maybe play the veterans early, first 30 games to get their values up just in case teams ring up with offers.
Then second half of the season, give Goodwin, Len, Marshall, Oriahki etc 24-30 minutes a game and let them get experience an development time.

 

[Neo]

PG: Dragic, Marshall
SG: Dudley, Brown, Goodwin
SF: Tucker, Mc Morris
PF: Scola, Mk Morris, Beasley
C: Gortat, Len

Free Agents: Johnson and O'Neal
Team Options: Tucker (guaranteed to exercise), Haddadi
Fighting for roster spots: Garrett and Oriakhi
Medical: Channing Frye

You forgot Malcolm Lee who came as part of the Goodwin trade. That gives us 13 on the active roster without signing any free agents other than exercising the option on Tucker. I can't seem to get excited about this roster.

 

[leclerc]

I hope they start Goodwin and Beasley. That should cost us a lot of games and win us many a ping pong ball. I also hope they play Gortat from the start and feed him the ball to increase his trade value. Send him and Duds out by the deadline. Also bury Brown on the bench like last year. Do not give Wesley Johnson a big contract, he can't get too many offers so it would be bidding against ourselves.

My preferred starting lineup is:
1. Dragic, Marshall
2. Goodwin, Malcolm Lee, Shannon Brown
3. Beasley, Dudley, other Morris
4. Keef, Scola, 2nd rounder
5. Gortat, Len, Haddadi

Someone must go. That is 14 players. Send the 2nd rounder down to the D-league. Do not resign Wesley Johnson.

 

[Folster]

You forgot Malcolm Lee who came as part of the Goodwin trade. That gives us 13 on the active roster without signing any free agents other than exercising the option on Tucker. I can't seem to get excited about this roster.

You're right. I think it's likely he'll be cut. I'll add him as fighting for a roster spot.

 

[Mainstreet]

I hope they start Goodwin and Beasley. That should cost us a lot of games and win us many a ping pong ball. I also hope they play Gortat from the start and feed him the ball to increase his trade value. Send him and Duds out by the deadline. Also bury Brown on the bench like last year. Do not give Wesley Johnson a big contract, he can't get too many offers so it would be bidding against ourselves.

My preferred starting lineup is:
1. Dragic, Marshall
2. Goodwin, Malcolm Lee, Shannon Brown
3. Beasley, Dudley, other Morris
4. Keef, Scola, 2nd rounder
5. Gortat, Len, Haddadi

Someone must go. That is 14 players. Send the 2nd rounder down to the D-league. Do not resign Wesley Johnson.

I think the Suns may keep a full complement of 15 players. There was some talk recently about the Suns wanting to have a D-league team in Arizona. If the Suns get a chance to get younger by trading players like Scola and Gortat, I think they will. I seriously doubt if Marshall and the Morris twins have any trade value. Right now I'm looking at them as expiring contracts. I hope I am wrong.

 

[Suns in rebuild mode]

Scola,Frye,Dudley,Dragic,Gortat

To many vets man

We need to get rid of them maybe minus Dragic. I actually thought when the coaching change was made they played much better then Gortat got injured and that did us in we really had no serviceable center behind Gortat with Frye out.

I really don't want to see us win more than 25 games this team minus Beasley I think could win 30-35 still not a lot but enough to take you out of the Winggins pick.

Me for one would love to see Marshall,Len,Goodwin,Markiff get a lot of playing time you can't develop guys if you don't give them playing time which we really didn't. Marshall finally got to play late last year and showed flashes he average over 12 assist as a starter how do you not play a guy like that more what's worst going to happen were going to lose that's likely going to happen anyway.

 

[Suns in rebuild mode]

Scola,Frye,Dudley,Dragic,Gortat

To many vets man

We need to get rid of them maybe minus Dragic. I actually thought when the coaching change was made they played much better then Gortat got injured and that did us in we really had no serviceable center behind Gortat with Frye out.

I really don't want to see us win more than 25 games this team minus Beasley I think could win 30-35 still not a lot but enough to take you out of the Winggins pick.

Me for one would love to see Marshall,Len,Goodwin,Markiff get a lot of playing time you can't develop guys if you don't give them playing time which we really didn't. Marshall finally got to play late last year and showed flashes he average over 12 assist as a starter how do you not play a guy like that more what's worst going to happen were going to lose that's likely going to happen anyway.

 

[Phrazbit]

Haddadi is gone, his option is for 1.4 mil, thats way too much for a "use only in case of emergency" player. O'Neal whether he wants back or not, I think is gone... unless Gortat gets moved in the next few weeks, which I doubt.

Johnson... I dont know, they might sign him to a Shannon Brown type contract, two years but the 2nd only partially guaranteed. I dont really care if they keep him or not.

I would bet Brown is gone. His contract is not fully guaranteed, he isnt going to develop further, he isnt trade bait. I'd bet they release him, unless Horny is a fan, which I doubt.

I hope we purge this roster. We're going to be a lousy team next year no matter what, might as well cash in on some of the parts before it becomes obvious how desperate we are to blow it up.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm looking for a lineup of Marshall, Goodwin, Wesley, Beasley and Haddadi with Brown, the twins, Frye, Len and Diante off the bench. Turn Scola, Tucker, Dragic, Dudley and Gortat into some extra picks in the 2014 draft to complement our own pick which should easily be the favorite to win the lottery.

Steve

 

[Mainstreet]

Per tweet:

Mark Deeks @MarkDeeksNBA about 3 hours ago

If not waived today, Viacheslav Kravtsov and Hamed Haddadi will have their contracts guaranteed for next season.

Read more: http://hoopshype.com/twitter/media.html#ixzz2XdDgxZtf

Sounds like something will happen today with Haddadi.

 

[Raindog]

My greatest fear is that the Suns will not play the youngsters next year, but instead play most of the season with Gortat + Dudley + Scola, etc in some misbegotten belief they could have a shot at the playoffs and/or they can con the fans of that belief. And yeah, of course they will still be awful but not awful enough to get a shot at any of the game changers in next year's draft. This team has been run so stupidly under Sarver, nothing would surprise me.

 

[Mainstreet]

My greatest fear is that the Suns will not play the youngsters next year, but instead play most of the season with Gortat + Dudley + Scola, etc in some misbegotten belief they could have a shot at the playoffs and/or they can con the fans of that belief. And yeah, of course they will still be awful but not awful enough to get a shot at any of the game changers in next year's draft. This team has been run so stupidly under Sarver, nothing would surprise me.

They might play them for awhile (if they're still here) to increase their value, but IMO they're gone when the right deal comes along. It's clear to see the Suns want to go young unless trading for a veteran brings in assets.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns waive Haddadi. It saves them some money. The contract was not that bad so he must have not figured in their future.

Paul Coro ‏@paulcoro 7m

The #Suns waived Hamed Haddadi. Doing so today allows them to pay him $200K instead of guaranteeing a $1.4M salary for next season.

https://twitter.com/paulcoro

 

[carey]

@paulcoro: The deadline passed today on a #Suns option to waive Shannon Brown & pay half of his salary. Now he's fully guaranteed at $3.5M for 2013-14.

I thought for sure he was a goner.

 

[elindholm]

I thought for sure he was a goner.

Yeah, that's weird. Maybe they think they can get something for him in a trade if he regains his form from the first half of last season?

I wonder whether this means Wesley Johnson is gone.

 

[Mainstreet]

I thought for sure he was a goner.

I still can't believe the Suns kept him. I'm having a major problem figuring this out unless he is going to be used in a trade or something.

He was as much a problem for the Suns as Beasley.

 

[Superbone]

Brown can help keep that win total down. Although, I can't see Hornacek letting him get away with that hero ball BS.

 

[Mainstreet]

Here is a link to an article concerning Haddadi and Brown.

http://www.azcentral.com/insiders/paulcoro/2013/06/29/suns-waive-haddadi-keep-brown/

 

[Mainstreet]

Really it only cost the Suns an extra 1.75 M to keep Brown. Anyway it's one way to look at it.

 

[carey]

I think it's for use in trade purposes. Plus he's actually the only pure 2 on the roster. We have guys that can play the 2 but he's the one that's actually best suited for it. (Although ESPN, notoriously wrong on player positions, lists him as a PG, lol) The first half of the Season he averaged about 12.5ppg in 30 min w/ 43% from the field. His 3p% was in the ****ter though.

If you think about salaries for trade purposes... who else would we include with Gortat that we don't want to hang on to? You don't want to split the Morris twins up because they'll probably throw the biggest tantrum you've ever seen so it's either none or both gone. So that leaves Scola, Brown, Tucker (loose change), Lee (more loose change), and Beasley. You kind of need that $3.5M salary. Scola makes $4.5M. Gortat makes $7.7M So any combination of those 3 and you can return a player making between approximately $3M and $17M.

 

[KloD]

I have to believe keeping Brown is to use him as a throw in for a trade. Maybe nothing in the works, but his salary is perfect for such a need. I hope this front office is working to rid this team of its Vets. Scola, Dudley, Gortat, & Brown need to be gone by the deadline. Don't give any assets up to pay someone to take them, but don't worry too much about not getting perceived value. Nobody will rid us of Beasley. I'd give Johnson like $4 mil for 2 years, 2nd year a team option. Play the youth and lose a lot. Give these kids lots of minutes and experience while racking up the L's. I sure hope this is the plan.

 

[SirStefan32]

Oh geez, keep Brown and waive Haddadi? I thought Brown was as good as gone, and Haddadi was safe. I wonder if the Suns are REALLY stupid enough to actually not trade Gortat this year.

 

[Mainstreet]

Oh geez, keep Brown and waive Haddadi? I thought Brown was as good as gone, and Haddadi was safe. I wonder if the Suns are REALLY stupid enough to actually not trade Gortat this year.

I agree with carey and KloD. Brown is a cheap asset for a SG and probably will be used in a trade. It would only save the Suns 1.75 M if they waived him. Where are they going to get another SG for 1.75 M.

I think the Suns will try to trade Gortat. IMO, Haddadi would likely not fit with the Suns uptempo offense.