Suns Off-Season Goes 0 to 100 Real Quick
By Mario Hicks
In the span of just 24 hours, the Suns offseason went zero to one hundred, real quick. For most teams NBA offseason starts July 1st. This summer was the most anticipated since “The Decision” back in 2010. As soon as the San Antonio Spurs were crowned Champions rumors began to swirl. Would the Big 3 split? Would Carmelo leave the Knicks? They were the biggest fish in the NBA pond but smaller fish like Lance Stephenson, Trevor Ariza, and Pau Gasol were also heavily coveted by teams around the league.
The Suns also re-signed the Morris twins this morning. For details on the signing click here.
For the Suns their biggest question came in guard Eric Bledsoe. Bledsoe was acquired via trade with Clippers flourished as a starter last season. He averaged 17.7 ppg, 5.5 apg, and 4.7 rpg last season but was only able to play half the year due to a knee injury. The Suns opened the offseason offering Bledsoe a generous deal at five years, $70 million contract, which he took as an insult. The talks dragged on all summer but last week Bledsoe silenced them…for now.
After a long summer it looked as if Bledsoe would finally have a suitor. The Minnesota Timberwolves reportedly offered him the max because they thought he would be a great fit with their young nucleus. After the Kevin Love trade the Wolves are officially rebuilding. They have the high flying Zach Levine, Andrew Wiggins, Ricky Rubio, Anthony Bennett, Nikola Pekovic, and Thaddeus Young. The Suns quickly realized they couldn’t afford to let Bledsoe walk so they offered him a 5 year 70 million dollar deal which he signed late last week.
As Suns fans rejoiced, management was still busy at work. Goran Dragic, NBA Most Improved Player of the Year last year, has a brother Zoran who expressed interest in teaming up with his sibling. The Suns, who already have Morris twins, decided that Zoran would be a good fit as well.What seemed to be a relatively quiet summer became one for Suns fans to get excited about.
The Suns decided they didn’t want to go home alone this summer. They re-signed Bledsoe and signed Zoran which puts the Suns guard number to a staggering 6. Currently on the roster,the Suns guards consist of Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, Tyler Ennis, Archie Goodwin, and now Zoran Dragic.
With that being said the Suns top three highest paid players are all guards. I would like to see the Suns sure up the center position myself but there’s nothing wrong with playing small ball from time to time. On the other hand small ball doesn’t win championships but right now the our focus isn’t on winning title. Our focus needs to be getting back to the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
Even with all excitement of last week there are still plenty of question surrounding the Suns. What are we going to do with all these guards? What will Zoran’s role actually be? Will the Suns look to trade one of these players?
Time will tell for the future of Suns but one thing is for certain, the Suns will be a full fledged Run & Gun team again. They’ll be one of the most exciting teams in the league, so Suns fans buckle your seatbelts, it’s going to be one hell of a ride. #FueltheFire