Lakers Plan To Explore Dragic Trade Or Offer Him $20m Per Year In Off-season

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Suns GM Ryan McDonough has negative words about Goran Dragic
By Zach Harper | NBA writer

February 20, 2015 1:49 pm ET






Jeff Hornacek and Dragic's days together are over for now. (USATSI)


When Goran Dragic dropped the bomb on the media earlier this week that he didn't trust the Phoenix Suns' management, it sent the trade engine into overdrive as teams clamored to figure out how to acquire the talented point guard. Dragic is less than a year removed from being named All-NBA Third Team and this season has been a congested experiment in the Suns' backcourt after signing Isaiah Thomas during the summer.

Things got ugly quickly with the Suns and Dragic, and there were numerous reports that owner Robert Sarver was going to deny the trade requests and attempt to talk the point guard into re-signing this summer. A day after the trade was made sending Dragic and his brother Zoran Dragic to the Miami Heat for role players and two first-round picks, the Suns aren't pulling any punches when it comes to discussing the departure of Goran.

The Suns made multiple trades before the deadline, moving Dragic to the Heat, Thomas to the C Bags, and acquiring Brandon Knight from the Milwaukee Bucks. General manager Ryan McDonough was asked about Phoenix trading its best player in Dragic and replied that the best players from this year's team were still in Suns' uniforms. From Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic:
It would be interesting to see if this type of response is something McDonough wants to say on his own or if this is a greater message being passed down from Sarver. McDonough also backed the signing of Thomas, remarking that it wasn't a mistake. He said that Thomas played well, which he did, and the fact that the Suns received a first-round pick for him shows a good return on investment when they had a plethora of players at that position.

Talking about Dragic becoming selfish can be both fair and unfair. The Suns experienced some surprise success last season, missing out on the playoffs by just a game when they were expected to miss the playoffs by many games.

The breakout performance by Dragic, the improved play of so many young players on the roster, and the coaching of then rookie coach Jeff Hornacek propelled the Suns further ahead than expected. Dragic was an All-NBA player and the signing of Thomas became somewhat unnecessary on the court once they figured out contract negotiations with restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe.

Bledsoe and his agent Rich Paul had some disagreements with the negotiating process from the Suns' ownership and front office, and it was a bit of a dramatic situation in terms of free agency before it was settled late in the offseason. Dragic is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2015 and probably didn't want to negotiate with a Suns team that could offer the most but had little motivation to do so when they had recently signed two players of the same position.

Dragic's play this season has dipped from last season, mostly due to fewer opportunities with a much lower usage rate. His field goal attempts per 36 minutes are roughly the same as last season but his free throw attempts and assist numbers have dropped significantly. He decided he wanted a change of scenery and ended up in one of his reported preferred destinations. It's curious that this supposed list didn't matter to Suns' management, considering he ended up in one of those spots.

Regardless of how this happened, the Suns are probably happy with their haul from the busy day of trades and Dragic is happy to be alongside Dwyane Wade in Miami. It'll be interesting to see if we get any more words to the media about this process.

(H/T - ProBasketballTalk)

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...donough-has-negative-words-about-goran-dragic

 

Keep it classy, Phoenix. I'm sure you'll be attracting a lot of FA's with the attitude and class you're displaying...

 

Ugh Sarver, is in the same class as Gilbert, whining little b****es if things aren't given to them in silver platters. Nobody wants to play in that kind of environment unless they overpay, which Sarver won't and I guarantee we will make the play offs faster than the setting Suns.

 

Peak into the Suns' thinking on our 1st round pick they gave to the Sixers. At least they don't state the obvious of we're tanking to keep it. In this bizarro world the GM is being "PC" and saying the Lakers are just "bad":


Phoenix Suns GM explains why he traded the Lakers pick that could be one of the best in the draft

By Tony Manfred1 hour ago


They lost Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, and the Los Angeles Lakers' 1st-round pick. They acquired Brandon Knight, two future Miami Heat 1st-round picks, and Marcus Thornton.

Getting rid of that Lakers pick in a three-team trade that brought them Knight was one of the most criticized trades of the deadline.

The pick is top-five protected in 2015 — meaning the Lakers keep it if it's pick No. 1 through No. 5.

If the Lakers keep it this year, then it rolls over to 2016, when it's only top-three protected.

It's a great asset, and the Suns gave it up for Knight, a middle-tier point guard who's a restricted free agent this summer.

In a Q&A with Bryan Gibberman of SB Nation's Bright Side Of The Sun, Phoenix general manager Ryan McDonough explained why he traded the pick.

His basic reasoning: The pick isn't going to transfer this year because the Lakers are so bad, and it might not be that valuable in 2016 because there's a decent chance the Lakers sign a bunch of free agents and start to get good again.

Here's what he told Gibberman:

"With a pick like that our analysis was that we probably weren't going to receive the pick this year. That pushes the pick into next year, the protection drops to three, but I think analyzing the Lakers situation there's pretty high variance there as to what the pick could be. If you ask me how the Lakers are going to be a year from now I have no idea. Obviously, they've struggled some recently, but they're going to have a lot of salary cap space this summer and they're in a market that's traditionally been one of the top draws for free agents.

"We know the risks. The pick next year could be the fourth pick in the draft, it could be the 14th pick in the draft, it could be the 30th pick in the draft. We felt it was the right time to cash it in."

That Lakers pick ended up going to the Philadelphia 76ers in the trade. Interestingly, Sixers GM Sam Hinkie also said the Lakers are probably going to keep that pick this year.

"My guess is the Lakers pick is very unlikely to convey this year for a whole host of reasons," he said at a press conference.

However, he seems to be more bullish than McDonough about it being a high pick in 2016, when the Lakers can only keep it if they're one of the three worst teams in the league.

"Those picks do not move around very much," Hinkie said in explaining why he gave away Michael Carter-Williams in the trade. "It is almost impossibly hard to get your hands on a pick that at least has a chance to be a high lottery pick. It's very rare that they move."

The Lakers have the fourth-worst record in the NBA right now. If they stay in that position, they'll likely keep their 2015 first-round pick. According to a draft odds table that was published for the first time on C Bags.com last year, the team with the fourth-worst record has an 81% chance of getting a top-five pick.

Unless the Lakers get ridiculously hot and a few other teams collapse, the Sixers would need to get really lucky to get that pick in 2015.

2016 is a different story. As bad as L.A. is this year, the Lakers aren't the type of franchise that goes into a prolonged rebuilding mode. They're going to use their salary cap money this summer one way or another.

Hinkie is betting that they'll still be bad next year, and that pick will be between No. 4 and No. 10. McDonough is betting that they improve enough to bring that pick into the teens.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/phoenix-suns-gm-explains-why-193214314.html

 

I still want to know how my C-bags on the 2nd quote turned into all asterisks? Unless the person quoting it deliberately changed it to asterisks. It was a Mod. It's well known they do get power hungry at times and just do bleep to be doing it......

 

I'd be on board with Rondo at around 8-10 mil. I think it's doubtful. Rondo 10 + Matthews 10 >>>> Dragic @ 20mil.