What's bothering me about the Suns

[Mainstreet]

There are some things bothering about the Suns as they try to move forward. Player personnel decisions are foremost at the top of the list and in particular the GM position (Lance Blanks) if he is the primary decider of what talent the Suns go after, past, present and future. I won't delve into much history and just keep things fairly simple.

In particular, there are three personnel moves that are irritating me the most because they stick out like a red thumb. The Suns drafting Markieff Morris, Kendall Marshall and signing Michael Beasley are my present pet peeves. I do think the signing of Telfair, Tucker, O'Neal and Scola were solid attempts to improve the Suns in regard to depth. The move to sign Shannon Brown seems like an ill conceived attempt to fill a void at SG when other options were ignored and exhausted. It's scary to think the Suns could have signed Eric Gordon. I'm undecided about the addition of Dragic.

Anyway looking back on the Suns drafting Morris, Marshall and the big off season signing of Beasley does not excite me. IMO, none of the above three players are exciting to watch or give hope for the future. Also Luke Zeller and Wesley Johnson do not offer hope. I fear that if the Suns do not find a better person or methodology to evaluate talent, their future salary space and draft picks will all be for naught. Something needs to change before the trading deadline and the off season if the Suns want to improve. Whoever is making the Suns player personnel moves is not cutting it. I have no faith that the Suns FO has the ability or knowledge to go after the right players.

Anyone have confidence the Suns will make better player personnel moves going forward?

 

[SunsTzu]

Anyone have confidence the Suns will make better player personnel moves going forward?

Blanks and Babby are both on the final year of their contract. Only way I'd have hope going forward is if Blanks is replaced as I think he is supposed in charge of talent evaluation. Plus Blanks comes off as really patronizing, and his comments prior to the draft rubbed me the wrong way because he has done nothing to warrant his arrogance.

Given how bad the talent evaluations have been I can't see how ownership won't make significant changes.

 

[Mainstreet]

Blanks and Babby are both on the final year of their contract. Only way I'd have hope going forward is if Blanks is replaced as I think he is supposed in charge of talent evaluation. Plus Blanks comes off as really patronizing, and his comments prior to the draft rubbed me the wrong way because he has done nothing to warrant his arrogance.

Given how bad the talent evaluations have been I can't see how ownership won't make significant changes.

I think replacing Blanks would be a huge step forward. IMO, Babby is capable of making good decisions provided he has a capable GM making solid player personnel recommendations.

 

[Errntknght]

I doubt that Sarver can see how inept they are - and he's probably proud of himself regarding the split of the GM duties he made. Babby is what, in charge of negotiating deals after Blanks recommends them? I wouldn't call Beasley contract the result of first rate negotiating - nor even second rate.

 

[Errntknght]

The best thing I can say about them is that they've done a reasonable job of cleaning up some of the worst messes they've made - Hedo, Warrick, Childress - but they still hurt the team - in lost opportunities if nothing else.

They inherited the woeful draft crew - a gift from Mike D' and Foamy. I don't think they have a collective clue of what to do about it, though.

 

[JS22]

I have a feeling that Gordon would be healthy and playing for the Suns. So I still don't hate that attempt. He is pretty much exactly what PHX is lacking right now. A true 20+ PPG scorer.

 

[Mainstreet]

I have a feeling that Gordon would be healthy and playing for the Suns. So I still don't hate that attempt. He is pretty much exactly what PHX is lacking right now. A true 20+ PPG scorer.

If Eric Gordon has been healthy enough to play and chose not to play for the Hornets, I would not want him for the Suns. However, I feel he would have been injured for the Suns as well even though the Suns have a good medical staff.

 

[Phrazbit]

Our staff is good but they are not miracle workers. Gordon has some serious problems with his knees, I'd think maaaaybe our staff would be a little more pro-active than the Hornets and Gordon would have undergone micro-fracture surgery back in October (which was apparently discussed) but having a guy on a brand new contract missing the first season with that surgery would be a repulsive proposition.

Mentally and physically there is a lot to not like about Eric Gordon, that contract offer was really dumb. Knowing the kinds of players that Lance seems to covet I fully expect us to make a crippling offer to Tyreke Evans this summer... unless Banks is fired by then, and I pray to god he is.

 

[SirStefan32]

Our staff is good but they are not miracle workers. Gordon has some serious problems with his knees, I'd think maaaaybe our staff would be a little more pro-active than the Hornets and Gordon would have undergone micro-fracture surgery back in October (which was apparently discussed) but having a guy on a brand new contract missing the first season with that surgery would be a repulsive proposition.

Mentally and physically there is a lot to not like about Eric Gordon, that contract offer was really dumb. Knowing the kinds of players that Lance seems to covet I fully expect us to make a crippling offer to Tyreke Evans this summer... unless Banks is fired by then, and I pray to god he is.

Excellent point about the Suns' medical staff- they are good, but there are some things that nobody can fix. Not sure about this specific situation. If they signed off on it (which I assume they did), I'd be OK with Gordon. They made the right call with Amare, so I'd give them the benefit of the doubt about Gordon.
I am also terrified that the Suns will sign Evans or Ellis to a crazy contract next year. All of the sudden, Gordon doesn't look that bad.

 

[Phrazbit]

Excellent point about the Suns' medical staff- they are good, but there are some things that nobody can fix. Not sure about this specific situation. If they signed off on it (which I assume they did), I'd be OK with Gordon. They made the right call with Amare, so I'd give them the benefit of the doubt about Gordon.
I am also terrified that the Suns will sign Evans or Ellis to a crazy contract next year. All of the sudden, Gordon doesn't look that bad.

Gordon would have needed to go through an MRI or a CT scan for the Suns staff to truly know what they were up against and I am certain that did not happen. I dont think they could have even given him a physical until after New Orleans opted to let him go.

 

[Mainstreet]

Gordon would have needed to go through an MRI or a CT scan for the Suns staff to truly know what they were up against and I am certain that did not happen. I dont think they could have even given him a physical until after New Orleans opted to let him go.

IMO, if the Suns did not or could not give Gordon a physical exam before they signed him to an offer sheet or before the deal is finalized (if NO opted out) is crazy. Somewhere along the line the Suns would need to give Gordon a physical before he became a Sun. Still I would not put it past the Suns FO.

 

[Phrazbit]

IMO, if the Suns did not or could not give Gordon a physical exam before they signed him to an offer sheet or before the deal is finalized (if NO opted out) is crazy. Somewhere along the line the Suns would need to give Gordon a physical before he became a Sun. Still I would not put it past the Suns FO.

We would have been able to give him a physical, I just dont think that would have happened until after he officially signed. Had he failed the physical the contract would be void. But I dont think things like a CT scan are part of a routine physical. Just like what happened to the Hornets his (continued) problems would not have come to full attention until training camp got rolling.

 

[Budden]

Excellent point about the Suns' medical staff- they are good, but there are some things that nobody can fix. Not sure about this specific situation. If they signed off on it (which I assume they did), I'd be OK with Gordon. They made the right call with Amare, so I'd give them the benefit of the doubt about Gordon.
I am also terrified that the Suns will sign Evans or Ellis to a crazy contract next year. All of the sudden, Gordon doesn't look that bad.

The suns just should've resigned amare. That way, the NOOBS could've kept him healthy, and the cutters wouldn't have had a chance to tear his knee to shreds again. I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about the Suns is when people lump the training staff in with the rest of the team's doctors. Because the surgeons are the ones looking at the MRI's, not the training staff, it's likely the Suns would've just signed Eric Gordon, drilled a whole in his knee, given him a 4-6 week timetable, scoped him when he compensated for the pain (which wouldn't show up on an ultrasound or MRI) by using the other muscles in his body more, then shut him down for the season. Once the doctors get a hold of the Suns players, there isn't much the training staff can do. Look at Grant Hill's "2-week" recovery from mid-season surgery last year. The worst news quote you can ever get from the Suns is that a player is "recovering ahead of schedule from minor knee surgery."

 

[Phrazbit]

The suns just should've resigned amare. That way, the NOOBS could've kept him healthy, and the cutters wouldn't have had a chance to tear his knee to shreds again. I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about the Suns is when people lump the training staff in with the rest of the team's doctors. Because the surgeons are the ones looking at the MRI's, not the training staff, it's likely the Suns would've just signed Eric Gordon, drilled a whole in his knee, given him a 4-6 week timetable, scoped him when he compensated for the pain (which wouldn't show up on an ultrasound or MRI) by using the other muscles in his body more, then shut him down for the season. Once the doctors get a hold of the Suns players, there isn't much the training staff can do. Look at Grant Hill's "2-week" recovery from mid-season surgery last year. The worst news quote you can ever get from the Suns is that a player is "recovering ahead of schedule from minor knee surgery."

No, I disagree and I have no doubt the training staff had their own input on Amare's long term outlook. And for as vaunted as our staff is, they had a ton of struggles keeping Amare healthy. Amare's contract was going to be an overpaid disaster if he had stayed HEALTHY, when you throw in the injury concerns it was likely a disaster... which it has proven to be.

And really your hypothosis in backwards. Guys with pain and problems go to the trainers FIRST, then the docs, they do things like an MRIs and CT scans and obviously their hope is for a non-surgical solution, once again with the training staff, the last step of the diagnostics is to put a guy under the knife, not the first.

 

[TruCard]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Gordon here someway, somehow. He wants to be in Phoenix.

 

[BC867]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Gordon here someway, somehow. He wants to be in Phoenix.

Unfortunately, Sarver wants to be in Phoenix, too. :dcr:

 

[Mainstreet]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Gordon here someway, somehow. He wants to be in Phoenix.

I wouldn't be surprised either if the Suns medical staff feel he can stay healthy.

 

[Mainstreet]

It's not exactly on topic but would the Suns have interest in Rudy Gay? It is rumored he may be on the market. He has a huge salary and is more of a scorer than a shooter but there is much to like. He may be as close to a star as the Suns may get.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/225403/Sources_Grizzlies_Explore_Rudy_Gay_Trade_Scenarios

 

[JS22]

It's not exactly on topic but would the Suns have interest in Rudy Gay? It is rumored he may be on the market. He has a huge salary and is more of a scorer than a shooter but there is much to like. He may be as close to a star as the Suns may get.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/225403/Sources_Grizzlies_Explore_Rudy_Gay_Trade_Scenarios

YES PLEASE.

 

[Mainstreet]

YES PLEASE.

I'd like him as well. His salary is a huge negative so perhaps this might mitigate his value in trade... perhaps not. If the Suns could do a trade package that would not bankrupt their assets it might be interesting.

 

[SweetD]

At this point it would be better to wait till next year to take on contracts, I would mind trading but it would need to be young talent for this year.

 

[hcsilla]

It's not exactly on topic but would the Suns have interest in Rudy Gay?

They might but they shouldn't.

This team wouldn't be going anywhere with Gay either but would lose some of their assets and cap flexibility.

 

[JS22]

I don't know. I don't really see the Suns being able to bring in anyone near his talent level. But yeah, his contract is a little rough.

That said, the Suns desperately need a #1 option and Gay would be better than Tyreke Evans, which is probably who the Suns will go after.

 

[SweetD]

It's not exactly on topic but would the Suns have interest in Rudy Gay? It is rumored he may be on the market. He has a huge salary and is more of a scorer than a shooter but there is much to like. He may be as close to a star as the Suns may get.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/225403/Sources_Grizzlies_Explore_Rudy_Gay_Trade_Scenarios

The more I think about it I would do this trade next year for sure. Beasley + Frye (who I am sure will accept a buyout or retire), I would even be willing to throw in Marshall and a future 1st. But I am not sure Memphis is just looking to unload him for salary dump. I am sure they can get a much better package somewhere else.

 

[Mainstreet]

They might but they shouldn't.

This team wouldn't be going anywhere with Gay either but would lose some of their assets and cap flexibility.

I think it all depends on what assets the Suns would have to give up to get Gay. I'm not convinced the Suns can get a better player in a trade.