Trade talks & rumors

[Mainstreet]

Dragic - $7.5M
Green - $3.5M
Wright - $2.5M

That's $13.5M coming off the books, which is a pretty significant amount of coin they could offer. But, that's if he proves to be the piece they've been missing, if not let him go and offer the money to Love.

All three of the players you mention can be FAs so there is that thought.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Dragic - $7.5M
Green - $3.5M
Wright - $2.5M

That's $13.5M coming off the books, which is a pretty significant amount of coin they could offer. But, that's if he proves to be the piece they've been missing, if not let him go and offer the money to Love.

I think he'd have signed last year if he was willing to take 13.5 million.

Steve

 

[Mainstreet]

Well we can go back to the idea of trading Bledsoe for Monroe if that could be made to work.

 

[overseascardfan]

All three of the players you mention can be FAs so there is that thought.

Not quite sure I follow. All 3 ARE FA's at the end of the season (Dragic is opting out) so that is the money that is coming off the books, there's the salary you said PHX needs to clear to re-sign Monroe if they want to.

 

[Mainstreet]

Not quite sure I follow. All 3 ARE FA's at the end of the season (Dragic is opting out) so that is the money that is coming off the books, there's the salary you said PHX needs to clear to re-sign Monroe if they want to.

I realized after reading your post again I was saying what you said but in a slightly different way. That money indeed would be coming off the books if it didn't work out with Monroe to sign another player.

Edit: I'm presuming Monroe can still be traded.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns could actually trade for Greg Monroe until the February trading deadline without any problem as his current salary is only 5.5 million given he approves the trade.

 

[sunsfan88]

No. But when I read it I was confident that someone would draw the parallel. No. We don't have Lebron, we don't have the stars surrounding him, we don't have the burden of expectations they have despite the laughably unrealistic complaints on this forum.

Steve

Expectation was for this team to make playoffs. Right now their on pace to not do that (with OKC surging).

The situations are obviously different in regard to the quality of player personnel (comparing it to the Cavaliers) but I do think a balanced roster might help the Suns. The Suns have too many parts that seem redundant especially in regards to guards and wings. If I were going to change the Suns (leaving coaching out of the equation) I would try to add a consistent SG and a PF that can score inside. Obviously both of these pieces may not be available now. However, I must say, I am concerned about the Suns coaching with the current roster. Defense and rebounding do not seem to be the Suns priority. Also team chemistry has gone by the wayside.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Expectation was for this team to make playoffs. Right now their on pace to not do that (with OKC surging).

Couldn't agree more.

Whose expectation? Vegas had us at 42 games? I watched and listened to most of the pre-season shows and I can't think of a single one that picked us to make the playoffs. IMO the expectation was for this team to challenge for the playoffs. And right now we are. And no matter how you spin it, right now we ARE on pace to make the playoffs. I agree we probably won't be there for long but you keep trying to throw dirt on this team. Let them die first, in the games and in the season.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

Whose expectation? Vegas had us at 42 games? I watched and listened to most of the pre-season shows and I can't think of a single one that picked us to make the playoffs. IMO the expectation was for this team to challenge for the playoffs. And right now we are. And no matter how you spin it, right now we ARE on pace to make the playoffs. I agree we probably won't be there for long but you keep trying to throw dirt on this team. Let them die first, in the games and in the season.

Steve

McD said before the season that the Suns expectations for this season is to make playoffs. He actually said this pretty recently as well.

 

[AzStevenCal]

McD said before the season that the Suns expectations for this season is to make playoffs. He actually said this pretty recently as well.

Yeah so you'd expect him to say we have no chance to make the playoffs?

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

Yeah so you'd expect him to say we have no chance to make the playoffs?

Steve

You asked me who expected us to make playoffs and I answered Ryan McD & the Suns did.

 

[AzStevenCal]

You asked me who expected us to make playoffs and I answered Ryan McD & the Suns did.

I've not heard him say that, he's always phrased it as a goal not an expectation when I've heard him (or read his comments). For example here's a quote from him on the 13th of this month:

“Last year we were an underdog,” McDonough said. “This year, our expectations have changed. We certainly hope we are a playoff team.”

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

I've not heard him say that, he's always phrased it as a goal not an expectation when I've heard him (or read his comments). For example here's a quote from him on the 13th of this month:



Steve

Here you go:

"I like a lot of the things we've been doing. I just feel like we have to do them more consistently than we've been doing," GM Ryan McDonough told SB Nation in a pregame chat. "I do like our talent. I like our depth. I think over the course of the season, that will pay off as other teams start to wear down and we've kept guys minutes down. Expectations have gone up this season and our own expectations have gone up. We think we should be a playoff team, and in the Western Conference you can't afford to fall too far behind. We have to keep pace and stay in the mix."

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/11...uns-expectations-ryan-mcdonough-jeff-hornacek

And....

And despite the loss of veteran forward Channing Frye, Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough said the team had a good offseason.

McDonough says he expects that improvement to lead to a Suns playoff berth at the end of the season.

http://kjzz.org/content/61089/suns-general-manager-expectations-2014-2015-season

 

[AzStevenCal]

"McDonough says he expects that improvement to lead to a Suns playoff berth at the end of the season."

Nice finds. So you're telling me that when you said "expectation" earlier you were specifically talking about coach speak and manager speak and you were ignoring all the so-called experts? Okay. And you think those expectations are on a par with the burden of expectations that the Cavaliers were facing?

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

Nice finds. So you're telling me that when you said "expectation" earlier you were specifically talking about coach speak and manager speak and you were ignoring all the so-called experts? Okay. And you think those expectations are on a par with the burden of expectations that the Cavaliers were facing?

Steve

Nope. I was talking merely about roster balance and how it can have an affect on players.

Now as to the first part of your post, come on Steve, you can't just interpreted quotes however you want so that it fits your argument.

As for the "so-called experts", again, I got it from the big money/near max player on the team:

But this is not the same team. And the expectations?

Yeah, those are different too.

"This year, a lot of people have us making the playoffs," Bledsoe said.

http://www.csnne.com/boston-celtics/bledsoe-celtics-lot-last-years-suns

 

[JCSunsfan]

Whose expectation? Vegas had us at 42 games? I watched and listened to most of the pre-season shows and I can't think of a single one that picked us to make the playoffs. IMO the expectation was for this team to challenge for the playoffs. And right now we are. And no matter how you spin it, right now we ARE on pace to make the playoffs. I agree we probably won't be there for long but you keep trying to throw dirt on this team. Let them die first, in the games and in the season.

Steve

This is correct. No media-type picked us to make the playoffs. Team mgmt talked about making the playoffs, like they all do, but when you seem to have a goal of just making it, you know its going to be tough.

Many Suns fans did expect to be better this year than last, then yes, there were expectations to make the playoffs. But it was mostly homer fans.

Actually, most got it just about right. 42-40 or so and on the bubble as far as the playoffs. Its right where they are.

 

[devilalum]

This is correct. No media-type picked us to make the playoffs. Team mgmt talked about making the playoffs, like they all do, but when you seem to have a goal of just making it, you know its going to be tough.

Many Suns fans did expect to be better this year than last, then yes, there were expectations to make the playoffs. But it was mostly homer fans.

Media types don't have to sell tickets. All the local sports teams college included try and con us into believing that the teams are much better than they are so we'll buy tickets. The ASU basketball program has the slogan "Return and Advance" everywhere. In a couple of weeks the Dbacks will try and convince us that they're in contention...

 

[Phrazbit]

Media types don't have to sell tickets. All the local sports teams college included try and con us into believing that the teams are much better than they are so we'll buy tickets. The ASU basketball program has the slogan "Return and Advance" everywhere. In a couple of weeks the Dbacks will try and convince us that they're in contention...

They ASU hype was pretty funny, I repeatedly heard those radio ads claiming "ASU's returning players were rated top 5 by (blah blah)". I follow college basketball to a decent degree and I knew they'd lost their best 3 players, by far, on the roster and a few more guys transferred away.

You're right, its the team's job to put the PR out there that says "We expect to be great".

Comparing our preseason expectations to that of Cleveland is absolutely laughable.

Right now the team is at the very least meeting and likely exceeding the majority of projections set on them prior to the year, but reading this board you'd think we were 20 games under .500 and the players were brawling in the locker room.

 

[BC867]

Right now the team is at the very least meeting and likely exceeding the majority of projections set on them prior to the year, but reading this board you'd think we were 20 games under .500 and the players were brawling in the locker room.

Hey, we're better than bad. Go Suns.

The end of the season will tell.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Hey, we're better than bad. Go Suns.

The end of the season will tell.

And 20 months ago we were looking at the absolute worst future in the league. Perspective. Yes most of us were hoping for more and some of us were even expecting more. This team, besides the obvious imbalanced roster, just isn't coming together quite as well as the parts suggested (to some of us anyway). I'm pretty sure that McDonough would do this offseason differently if he could do it all again. Mostly, he'd have kept Channing Frye.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

RealGM insider reporting that players are indeed brawling in the locker room.

The Suns current preference is not to trade Dragic as I've stated earlier and took a little heat for via a funny bit of pictures (this is a change from their previous position) and they have not been willing to include him in offers at the moment.

There was a locker room altercation involving one the Twins. I don't know the details other than this is the second time it has happened (once during practice and one after a game). The team feels like Tucker and a few other players are feeding off their negativity. They were really happy when they got their extensions; we told them we wanted them to become leaders of the "youth movement" and that has backfired on us.

Anyway, we will trade them if we can get good value but we are not going to dump them for the sake of doing so. Bledsoe, Len, Dragic, and Tucker are pretty darn safe at the moment. I don't know why we don't want to trade Tucker. But we don't.

That said we will make any move if the price is right. McD is not an idiot.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1369372

 

[sunsfan88]

And 20 months ago we were looking at the absolute worst future in the league. Perspective. Yes most of us were hoping for more and some of us were even expecting more. This team, besides the obvious imbalanced roster, just isn't coming together quite as well as the parts suggested (to some of us anyway). I'm pretty sure that McDonough would do this offseason differently if he could do it all again. Mostly, he'd have kept Channing Frye.

Steve

I doubt it. He's not doing well in Orlando and their fans are debating over if it's worth trading their top 10 draft pick this year just to dump his ridiculous overpaid contract.

Not paying Frye that ridiculous amount of money is probably the best thing McD did this summer.

 

[Hoop Head]

I doubt it. He's not doing well in Orlando and their fans are debating over if it's worth trading their top 10 draft pick this year just to dump his ridiculous overpaid contract.

Not paying Frye that ridiculous amount of money is probably the best thing McD did this summer.

I'd trade the Twins for Frye and the unprotected 1st round pick of Orlando's. Frye makes less than they do combined and that pick could help the team either in another deal, move up, or just pick a solid player.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'd trade the Twins for Frye and the unprotected 1st round pick of Orlando's. Frye makes less than they do combined and that pick could help the team either in another deal, move up, or just pick a solid player.

The eye test for many of us along with all the advanced stats I've seen showed that we were a far better team when Frye was on the court last season. He might not help Orlando but really, who cares about Orlando. Dragic and Frye were perhaps the most effective pick and roll duo in the league. I'd give up the twins just to bring Dragic back happy. Also, Frye was our leader on defense despite his weaknesses and a key part of our outstanding chemistry. Although I don't believe Orlando would give up their 1st round pick to get rid of his contract, maybe a pick swap is a possibility?

Steve

 

[Hoop Head]

I'd make the swap for the Twins & Frye straight up but Orlando knows it would need to dump some assets to drop Frye's contract and a straight trade like that would make McD look like he made the wrong choice this offseason. The assets Orlando included would be all about spinning it that we added more pieces than we lost. If they'd include Aaron Gordon with Frye I'd take that deal in place of the one with their pick. That would give us a young big to groom while Frye is the starter this year and next. Bringing Frye back might piss off a lot of the people here but he was a perfect fit for the offense, Markieff isn't putting up better numbers this year than Frye did last season. Marcus' attitude isn't worth what he brings to the table and without his brother I think he'd be overpaid and even worse. Frye would spread the floor and provide veteran leadership until someone else steps into that role. His contract isn't great but with the cap going up it's not horrible. I'd rather have Channing back than have 4 more years of the Morrii. Long term Frye is cheaper than they are per season and is only on the books for 3 years compared to 4 more with Kieff & Marcus.

BTW I was happy this offseason when Frye opted out. I didn't realize his impact was much more than the numbers showed.