What grade would you give the Suns draft?

[devilalum]

What do you think Sarver's going to buy himslef with that $3 mil?

As a Suns fan I am really happy that he can add this to the $40 mil. he grossed in revenues this past year. He is obviously the league champ in this category.

 

[Griffin]

Trading or giving away your draft picks does not seem like the proper way of generating revenue. The Suns aren't the only team facing luxury tax and yet they were the only team who traded a first round pick for cash last night. Even if that cash is used to pay Tim Thomas' salary next season, it still doesn't seem right.

But drafting and paying the salary of a player the team doesn't really like does not make any sense either. So if indeed, at 21, there was nobody the Suns wanted to develop, then trading the pick for a future pick is alright, provided the Suns use the money they have saved in order to sign the players they actually like. And I don't mean just Tim Thomas; the team needs to fill a few more roster spots. If Server really only cares about a ring and is not concerned with the cap, then the Suns should use whatever resources they have (including the trade exemption) in order to address the team needs for next year's run. If they do that, then their moves last night can be justified. On the other hand, they can always say again that there was simply nobody available they liked.

 

[nowagimp]

Once again, this draft was not going to make or break this team, but I wish people would stop saying this was a good basketball move because it allows us to sign TT and/or some other free agent. We could have used both picks and still signed TT, AND still used the MLE, so it wasn't an either/or proposition.

The only thing you can say that qualifies as a good BASKETBALL move is that we got a first round pick next year in a stronger draft. In that sense, the first trade to Boston was at worse a lateral move, and possibly a great move.

Maintaining flexibility in the roster is a good BASKETBALL move. Championship contenders stocking up on rookies in the draft is a bad BASKETBALL move. Almost all rookies need at least 2 yrs to be significant contributors to a championship level team and that is especially true for the PG position. No move outside of trading for KG would have more impact on this years team than just adding Amare and KT while keeping what we already have. TT is very likely a better contributor to this years suns team than ANY draft pick in this years draft. Next years pick will be by definition a rookie, thats enough rookies for the immediate future for the suns. Throwing money at a problem is often not the best way to solve the problem. Ask the knicks how that has worked out for them. The mavs threw money and if not for the suns injuries would not have made the finals and would not have made the WCF is Manu just listens to pop, " dont foul they are 3 down". Does anyone really believe that this years suns team with Amare and KT is not a better team than this years mavs team?

 

[devilalum]

On the other hand, they can always say again that there was simply nobody available they liked.

This is the thing. If this was the first cheapas move they'd pulled in the last year or 2 I'd be much more willing to give them some credit.

If they don't sign some descent talent with that money its just gonna get worse.

If Sarver keeps this up it might get ugly at courtside when he waves his big foam finger.

 

[F-Dog]

Maintaining flexibility in the roster is a good BASKETBALL move. Championship contenders stocking up on rookies in the draft is a bad BASKETBALL move.

That's great. But, if there's nobody there who can help your team and you'd like to maintain flexibility, you trade the pick for a future pick, not cash.

That way you've got an asset you can use to grease future deals (as the Spurs did when they used the Suns' pick in the Nazr Mohammad trade).

 

[Gaddabout]

Guys, if Sarver was really as cheap as you say, the Suns would've traded Marion to Seattle for a one-year lease of Rashard Lewis. Or perhaps he would've pushed for a deal in which the Suns garnered lots of picks and expiring salaries.

I'm the one that's been predicting Sarver's tight grip on the checkbook, but he essentially committed to paying the luxury tax by TRADING the picks. Keeping the picks probably meant trading veteran salaries and going cheap on rookie guaranteed money.

It didn't make sense to me in basketball terms. I give you I am in no place to put my opinion of Sergio Rodriguez over the veteran Suns scouting staff, but I find it hard to believe his obvious point guard skills wouldn't prove value at what amounts to Eddie House money. But this in no way indicates to me the owner being cheap. From the best I can tell, this was a BASKETBALL DECISION only, and in today's NBA market, money influences basketball decisions.

If the Suns had kept both picks + signed TT to even a reasonable MLE, that's a triple money debit (lux tax + salary + no revenue sharing) with no guarantee your picks will make an impact on a championship caliber team. It also means you are locked into those picks being on your bench for at least three years.

It seems to me this team is committed to winning and, perhaps to their discredit, they're more worried about making roster mistakes than the actual luxury tax. They still have to fill out the roster with the departures of Grant, House and Mustard Boy. So they are going to spend MORE MONEY on free agents, rather than creating depth through the draft. The side benefit is they will find those free agents with one- and two-year deals, so they aren't locked into cap-taxing contracts for too long.

The added benefit is the Suns now have THREE first-round picks in a 2007 draft that has every GM lining up to give away something valuable so they can partake in it. I do not for a second believe the Suns are going to keep all of those picks next year, and they may not even keep any of them, but one late first-round pick next year is likely more valuable than either the #21 or #27 this year. If it's as good as they say it is, that one pick might be more valuable than both.

I write this as one of Sarver's biggest critics and a prophet of doom. I've heard too much from inside the Suns front offices to believe the Suns are going to spend whatever takes to win a championship. There are definite limits. But, so far, Sarver has shown he sees what we see, that that rare opportunity to win a championship is now, and he's given the OK to maintain a high salary structure to KEEP THE TEAM TOGETHER. I figure that should be very appealing to anyone who watched the 93 team get dismantled piece by piece.

 

[arthurracoon]

Guys, if Sarver was really as cheap as you say, the Suns would've traded Marion to Seattle for a one-year lease of Rashard Lewis...I figure that should be very appealing to anyone who watched the 93 team get dismantled piece by piece.

 

[nowagimp]

That's great. But, if there's nobody there who can help your team and you'd like to maintain flexibility, you trade the pick for a future pick, not cash.

That way you've got an asset you can use to grease future deals (as the Spurs did when they used the Suns' pick in the Nazr Mohammad trade).

that would be true if there was valuable talent in this draft at 21 or 27. I'm starting to wonder if the alleged poor talent in this draft might be true. Whatever talent the suns might sign this year would probably be worth progressively less and less as the next talent rich draft approaches.

 

[devilalum]

Guys, if Sarver was really as cheap as you say, the Suns would've traded Marion to Seattle for a one-year lease of Rashard Lewis. Or perhaps he would've pushed for a deal in which the Suns garnered lots of picks and expiring salaries.

I disagree. I think Sarver is cheap but I never said he was stupid. I think he wants to be as competitive as possible, i also believe that he genuinely wants to win a championship. I just don't believe that he will try to do it at the expense of his bottom line.

Trading Marion for garbage to save money could backfire and cause him to lose money. If money saving decisions start translating to losses people will be jumping off the Suns band wagon faster than the Titanic.

The Suns made $40 million last year by WINNING.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I figure that should be very appealing to anyone who watched the 93 team get dismantled piece by piece.

uh - how was the 93 team dismantled piece by piece? They didn't lose anyone in 94 (except Dumas - but that was to drugs and there was nothign the Suns could do about it) and added AC Green, who was the best FA on the market and added Socks during the season who was a good backup PG and then in 95, they ADDED Danny Manning (the best FA out there), Wayman Tisdale and Wes Person while only losing Mark West (and Oliver Miller to his own obesity problems).

After that 3 year run, our window was shut and everyone knew it so how exactly did they dismantle that team? They gave them a three eyar run, continually ADDED to an already good team and lost people due to drugs/obesity. How is that dismantling?

 

[Treesquid PhD]

I disagree. I think Sarver is cheap but I never said he was stupid. I think he wants to be as competitive as possible, i also believe that he genuinely wants to win a championship. I just don't believe that he will try to do it at the expense of his bottom line.

Trading Marion for garbage to save money could backfire and cause him to lose money. If money saving decisions start translating to losses people will be jumping off the Suns band wagon faster than the Titanic.

The Suns made $40 million last year by WINNING.

IMO there is a big difference between being cheap and being greedy. I am not sure yet which one sarver is.

If they reinvest the money saved in players who will help them e.g. players who performed well post 1996 (unlike Brian Grant's old ass) then I give the draft and A.

 

[Wally]

These trades did not "allow" us to sign Tim Thomas. We had the ability all along. All this did was allow us to sign him without going over the luxury tax. Any move that does nothing but keep the owners out of the luxury tax deserves an F in my book.

Sarver is a good business man with good sense. If his GM / Coach tells him that there is not a player worth picking to help the team and he wants to have flexibility to use money saved to sign players who have a better shot at playing on a very good team, I can't blame him.

This was not a one man decision to not draft a "body". I think the main issue was to keep key players and I fully expect some changes before the summer is over. Several more players will be gone and several new guys will be on the roster - You can take that to the bank.

I expect these key rotation players to return:
G: Steve Nash
G: Raja Bell
F/C: Boris Diaw
C: Kurt Thomas
G: Leandro Barbosa
F/C: Amare Stoudamire
F: Tim Thomas

Other than that, I your guess is as good as mine.

I'm ok with their decisions.

 

[nothin' but net]

I have tried to read everything to get a feel for what some of you are saying. I have to say that EVERYONE that is freaking out and hitting the panic button rigtht now is being a little short sighted.

We are not done yet. While the Suns haven't gained much over the last couple of years through the draft, do you think there was anyone there that could have helped us as much as a Nash, or Raja?

It is OK to me that they target someone who is a proven asset in the NBA in a free agent or through trades. It is wrong to assume that Sarver is just taking the cash saved from these transactions and putting it into his pocket. He traded two pick that are potential assets for another team. They determined that they would be better off to transfer those assets into cash, cap relief and a future pick in a deeper draft. Any of those things can be turned around and used in free agency or trade.

Also, when you are a contender, are you better to pick up a draft pick with a guaranteed salary and a guaranteed length of contract? I think their biggest asset right now is that they are poised to win a championship. How many veterans are out there sitting on millions without a ring. The value can come in with someone (like TT possibly) who will sign for less to have a shot at the championship.

PHX has been very agressive in going after their targets in free agency the last few years. I'm not saying that I don't wish I had a new addition to the team to discuss today. I am saying I can see the potential wisdom in what these guys are doing.

It is one thing to be a glass is half full or half empty kind of person. Some of you are freaking out before they are done putting water in the glass.

 

[F-Dog]

that would be true if there was valuable talent in this draft at 21 or 27. I'm starting to wonder if the alleged poor talent in this draft might be true. Whatever talent the suns might sign this year would probably be worth progressively less and less as the next talent rich draft approaches.

I'm sure the Suns weren't getting a 2007 first-round pick for the #27, but I'm just as sure they could have gotten a 2008 or 2009 pick. There were players left that teams wanted to pick--Rodriguez, Maurice Ager, James White, Mardy Collins.

Portland drafted White for another team in the second round and got three second round picks out of the deal. Hey, it's better than nothing, right?

The problem is one of philosophy as much as anything. There were 60 picks in this draft and 15 trades, and exactly one of the trades involved selling a draft pick for cash. It's doesn't take a huge leap of logic to induce that the team that sold the pick isn't fully committed to competing.

 

[F-Dog]

I'm sorry, I now see that Toronto sold the 56th pick for cash. That makes two teams in this draft.

What do the Suns and Raptors have in common again? Let me thing this one over for a while...



Woohoo, and the Magic sold the #44 pick, too!

Hey, the Lakers got Maurice Evans with the 51st pick. I guess his contract was too rich for the Suns' blood.