Trust me I would love Morey to do what you just said but two things make me say not right now. One, what if someone offers Smith real money and he walks which he probably will and two the same happens with Dragic. We cant give up Papa, Dmo and a lotto pick for a gamble, but if Morey truly believes in this year only I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he made a trade similar to that. I trust he will make the right decision and I fully believe he won't make the same mistake of letting Dragic walk again either.
what exactly is a legit pg to you? an all-star? their is only a handful of them, and their teams are unwilling to trade them. Unless you consider Deron williams an all-star still.
Quick check and found only CP3, John Wall and Ty Lawson fits those criteria in the entire NBA this season
I don't think Bev is a very good passer, I don't think he's even a mediocre passer... I don't really understand why it's so hard to make a decent post entry pass but apparently it's harder than it looks and, unfortunately, I haven't seen any improvement in that area since last season. Passing the ball to DH in the paint is money, but it just seems so rare that he actually gets the ball in the paint where he can make a solid, high percentage post move. I also don't get why DMo is so often ignored in the post, especially after the flashes of brilliance he has shown down low when he has the ball with his back to the basket, but instead we settle for a low percentage, contested 3. This team is now pretty loaded with talent and we've been winning with that talent, but I think a lot of the time they make it harder to score than it should be. Once they can figure out how to play smarter I don't think anyone will be able to stop them... for now though, it seems like the only way that is going to happen is by trading for a "legit" pg. I wish we knew if IC was the solution but he's either hurt or in mchale's dog house. It's too bad because I thought he was playing pretty well up until he got hurt against the clips.
Just because Harden is the best playmaker on the team, and one of the best in the entire NBA, it doesn't mean that his current usage rate is optimal or that you wouldn't benefit from other players with play-making abilities. The Rockets' offense was far more efficient last season, when they had Parsons and Lin to take some of the burden off Harden's hands. Even when Harden handles the ball on an iso or pick-and-roll, it is helpful that the person that the person spotted up in a corner or on the wing is capable of both shooting as well as creating off the bounce against a close-out. This way, even if the opponent makes the correct rotation to close out to a potential shooter, you have the ability to have that guy drive and force the defense to make more rotations, which create opportunities for better shots. It also helps Harden to receive the ball when a teammate has already scrambled the defense a bit via penetration, rather than having to work against a static defense all the time. Now, we have Harden doing a ton of heavy labor to create shots for himself and for teammates, and we end up just having to shoot a bunch of 3 pointers.
I know you guys just refuse to accept it, but the Suns aren't trading Goran. While there is some real concern that a Knicks offer of as much as 4 year/68M could beat a Suns' 5 year/75M+ (being a Knick has fringe $$ benefits) this concern is in no way causing the FO to be thinking "we better trade Dragic, because he's leaving". The Suns want him and feel very good about his resigning next summer. But go ahead and keep rosterbating about Gogi for the next what? 50 days? Unless Morey offers McDonough something crazy good, there is no freaking way the Suns are trading Dragic to you guys...or any other team. The 3 combo guard rotation is starting to take off...along with a center named Alex Len. Eventually...maybe even soon, IT will be moved to upgrade the frontcourt, but the Suns are in no hurry. They'll wait for the right deal to present itself. So concoct some lopsided trades for Thomas, at least you'd have a long shot of them actually panning out. But I know, your Dragic fantasies will not stop until the deadline. You're wasting time & braincells
I'm not sure you are right. Dragic is not doing well this season and he already said in an interview something about how he would like to play for the Knicks - not something you usually hear from a player during the early stretches of the season. If the Suns think he is going to leave, they would trade him and the rockets have a decent offer on the table. If we can't get Dragic, what do you guys think of someone like Jameer Nelson who could be the play maker for the bench unit and play some minutes alongside Harden as well? Would he and Dwight get along well?
How much help does a coach need??? Sheesh, any other team would be freaking scary with all these players. Not the Rockets, still not contenders. The Clutch City Rockets didn't have a solid back-up C and Kenny nor Cassell were great playmakers though they were 10x what Beverley is. Maxwell was a actually our best creator and had the most assists in 93-94, just like Harden is our top creator now. Canaan is very solid and clutch so he could be our Cassell, if only he's given a freaking chance!! When TJ comes back, we're set with bigs. We just need a coach with a good offensive system. D-Mo and Canaan would thrive under good coaches. I do believe that with Dragic we would be better, but there's no way we should have to rely on him nor a 2nd center.
I find this interesting since you come froms a Suns fan perspective. I'd like to debate this with you and perhaps you might convince me to think all of dragic, Bledsoe and IT to stay. 1) what else would a FO do but communicate confidence in retaining a star UFA? We've heard the same message from FO's at risk of losing FA's for years now. Most recently BOS with Rondo, Melo with NYK, LBJ with Miami, and Howard with LAL. Some FO's have more leverage being in a prime market. Some are willing to leverage their biggest asset in keeping a FA (maxing out with a 5th year). PHX isn't going to offer either of those by the way. 2) I would conjecture NYK offers a whole lot more than $17mm/year. They've got roughly $27mm in cap space and what other star FA will they spend on before Dragic? Same with LAL. This is actually one of the key reasons why PHX won't get a stellar offer from HOU because the risk is real for us to lose him in FA as well knowing those teams are out there with interest and can offer the absolute max for dragic. especially with the knowledge that the cap opens up even more the following year don't you think that increases the risk of teams spending more freely this summer? I mean I'm sure you felt you had to pay Bledsoe a lot more than you thought or wanted to and he was a RFA you had A TON of leverage on. Bledsoe literally had no one with cap space to offer him a contract but PHX thought the risk of him signing the QO was high enough to give him closer to what he wanted. That says a lot about how confident they feel about FA ability and willingness to leave in the open market IMO. The only real leverage PHX has is the ability to offer more money with bird rights but if PHX can't/wont offer more than NYK than PHX really has no unique leverage. 3) Say you do retain him for 15mm/year. PHX would then be capped out with about $35mm committed to essentially 3 pgs. Perhaps they're ultra committed to the 3pg line up and to offer dragic that money (assuming he'd take less to stay) you'd basically be locking in that team and hope to sign and trade to add talent. That team is barely in the playoffs and when OKC gets their act together PHX is perpetually on the bubble. Do you think the FO goes all in on that roster? If rumors are true, they are already putting IT on the block which indicates they aren't sold on the 3pg model and want to upgrade elsewhere. Reports coming out of the FO indicate that much since they're making moves to clear cap space in hopes of bringing in a star player. These moves and messages tells me they aren't all in on this 3pg system taking them into contention and therefore aren't going to cap themselves out to keep them together. 4) perhaps the most important point in all this debate and why you see so many of us talk about fantasy trades for him is: he seems interested in leaving. So regardless of how good PHX feels about him, the only thing that matters is how he feels about them since he's a UFA. So forget for a second what the FO wants, how good do you feel about dragic taking less money in FA, a role he has to share with a Bledsoe, and with a team on the playoff bubble with little more room to maneuver after he signs that contract? On all 3 of those factors numerous teams can have the advantage. NYK and LAL can offer more money and a huge media market with room to improve. teams like houston can offer title contention immediately. Again of course the FO is going to present confidence but their actions don't indicate confidence in the status quo of 3pg's. Given the reality of the market out there for dragic and his ability to do whatever he wants how good do you feel about keeping him and why? 5) I'm sure the FO believe in dragic more than IT and maybe as much or more than Bledsoe. The problem is they don't have leverage to hold dragic as they do the other two. So if indeed a) the 3pg model isn't something PHX feels confident enough to take them into title contention and to lock up the cap and b) Dragic is the only one with the ability to leave and has substantial reason to, what do you do? What's the best thing to do to put your team in a position to win now and for the future? Bear in mind one of the most telling things about the PHX FO mentality is their statement of how they are looking to upgrade for star potential that fits their age window of mid 20's. Dragic doesn't fit in that window. 6) the Market rate for a star point guard hitting UFA was set by the rondo trade. You might get slightly more if you think most GM's place dragic over rondo. But the price tag is a) late 1st b) late 2nd c) expiring backup big (equal to a couple 2nds) d) a young serviceable prospect e) salary filler. What makes you think PHX can get that much more when they're the ones in the situation detailed in points 1-5 above? I'd like to know your rebuttal to these points as I'm not trying to be combative but want to be open to the fact that I'm not seeing or considering something. But given these points at the very least I don't think its fantastical thinking to consider Dragic might be moved at the deadline for less than PHX wants. It actually seems logical and quite reasonable. Looking forward to the points of your response.
Even with the additions of Brewer and J Smith the team was and is still a good playmaking PG away from being really dominant. You can't have the perfect team, but because of the unexpected J Smith signing the rockets have the assets to make a move for a big time PG IMO. Jones or DMO will probably be gone by the deadline.
Yep, everything about this post smells overreaction. I understand some of you want Dragic, like REALLY bad. Bad enough you'll freak out every time Patrick has a bad game. Westbrook, Lillard, Parker & CP3 all will have field days scoring on Dragic. We don't need him. The solution is a quick fix. We just need a backup PG that can push the ball & penetrate, oh wait, we already have one sitting at the end of our bench
I want Dragic, but honestly I'd have him off the bench instead of replacing Bev. He'd probably get more minutes than Bev, but I like Bev and Harden on the floor together. I would have Dragic be my Manu Ginobli.
