2015 nba trade deadline

2015 NBA Trade Deadline: Suns Shuffle Their Point Guard Deck

2015 nba trade deadline

PHOENIX, AZ – JANUARY 21: Isaiah Thomas #3 of the Phoenix Suns celebrates with Goran Dragic #1 after scoring against the Portland Trail Blazers during the second half of the NBA game at US Airways Center on January 21, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Trail Blazers 118-113.  (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

 

Newsflash – Goran Dragic is heading out of Phoenix.  Ok, fine – no real shocker there.  But the fact that the Suns traded three (!!!) point guards off their roster was a shock.  Then again, they did have a roster imbalance to address – way too many point guards and not enough minutes (or balls) – so it makes sense.  So what did they get in return, to balance their roster out?  A starting point guard in his prime.

Huh?  You have too many point guards, so you trade a bunch of them for a point guard?  Doesn’t seem to make much sense.  So to pair up with their “franchise player” – 25-year-old point guard Eric Bledsoe – they get the 23-year-old Brandon Knight who has pretty much been solely a point guard throughout his career.  Oh, and he’s used to playing 32 minutes a night.  And he’s in the last year of his contract.  And he’s having a career year, so to keep him past this season the Suns will have to surely overpay for his services.  Am I missing something here?  Something doesn’t seem to jive.

So, to review:

Goodbye to:

Goran Dragic

Zoran Dragic

Isaiah Thomas

Miles Plumlee

Tyler Ennis

 

Hello to:

Brandon Knight

Marcus Thornton

Danny Granger

Justin Hamilton

three first round draft picks

 

I think I got that all straight.  Phoenix ships out three rotation players (arguably their best player in Dragic, their top bench player and big offseason acquisition in Thomas, and Plumlee) and a 20-year-old that they thought so highly of that they drafted him 18th overall last year.  And in return they get Knight (decent player), Thornton (meh – barely played for the moribund Celtics), two players who were just thrown in to make the numbers work, and three first round picks.  The draft picks are nice, even if they come with protections ensuring the Suns don’t get a super high pick.  But the rest of the deal?  Would have rather seen them just ship Dragic out and keep the rest of the pieces in place.  With Thomas’s name leaked as being shopped around by the team, however, probably made keeping him hard (and a little awkward).

The team was slumping, and they royally screwed over Dragic and made things tense, so something surely had to give.  But does this make the team primed to solidify their spot as the 8th seed and entry into this spring’s playoffs?  I don’t think so.  The team, on paper, is worse off now than they were earlier today.  This probably doesn’t help them in the “win now” column, but today’s transactions might help in the “win a few years down the road” one. But at least one of the teams chasing the – Oklahoma City – got rid of a key piece in Reggie Jackson, which probably means more court time for horrible Dion Waiters.

And at least my call for more minutes for Brandan Wright might come to fruition now.

 

UPDATE: it turns out Hamilton isn’t a Sun after all.  And the team briefly held the Lakers first round pick (top 5 protected) before trading it away.  Oof.

 

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Jeff Fox is Mr. Manifesto - the Supreme Leader and evil mind behind The Hoops Manifesto, The MMA Manifesto, & A Dry Heat.

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