The Phoenix Suns appear to be in need of a point guard and the Miami Heat appear to be willing to trade Goran Dragic. But should Phoenix bring Goran back for a third stint?
If I have said it once I have said it a thousand times – and I’ll said it a thousand more if I have to: the Phoenix Suns should not trade for Goran Dragic.
When it was announced that the Suns surprisingly traded Brandon Knight to the Houston Rockets, they were left without an air apparent at point guard – unless you believe that Devin Booker should be a non-traditional point guard as I have so eloquently discusses here, here, and here.
NBA teams need traditional point guards, right? They specifically need a shorter ball-handler who can safely bring the ball up half-court and set up an offense.
Right?
Wrong!
The days of the “traditional” point guard are over, and if anyone would like to debate that fact, just ask the Golden State Warriors who have a power forward/center leading the team in assists (Draymond Green); ask the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers (again), and now Los Angeles Lakers who is/was their primary ball-handler (LeBron James); ask the Los Angeles Lakers (again) who their primary ball-handler was (Kobe Bryant); and ask the Chicago Bulls who theirs was as well when they won six titles (Michael Jordan).
The Phoenix Suns as of today have a very capable ball-handler in Devin Booker, unarguably their best player and someone compared to Kobe Bryant, a star player who not only has the skills to safely bring the ball up court and pass it when needed, but as the best player needs to touch the ball on absolutely every single offensive possession – hell, if it were possible, I’d even say that he needs to touch the ball while he is resting on the bench.
Phoenix Suns
But okay, let’s say that the Suns absolutely do not want Booker to be the primary ball-handler for some reason (a decision I believe is wrong at it’s core unless they are able to find a transformation point guard, say Damian Lillard, who would make the roster as a whole better merely by his presence on the court). Who should they look to obtain?
Not Goran Dragic.
Don’t get me wrong: I am a fan of Dragic’s. I believed that he should have been kept over Eric Bledsoe and had that happened the Suns might not be in the funk they have found themselves the past few seasons (then again, they might not have Booker, Josh Jackson, or Deandre Ayton, so wish wisely). I was very upset when he demanded a trade but equally as pleased when, a year later, he said that he regretted his comments.
I too would be all for bringing Goran Dragic back for a swan song stint ala Paul Westphal in 1983 – in 2020 when he is once again an unrestricted free agent.
Right now though is not the right time to trade for Goran Dragic, and both reasons are because of cost: cost in assets, and cost in salary.
Not counting salaries (yet), only if the Miami Heat were willing to simply swap Tyson Chandler for Dragic would I potentially be open to a move. Obviously Goran provides backcourt depth and Chandler is at this point just a roster-filing veteran backup center here only to run out his contract and help Deandre Ayton out as much as possible along the way. Most importantly, no young assets of any kind would be moved for an aging stop-gap player.
That said, even then I’d be a little bit wary.
Ayton is still a rookie and only played one season (35 games) at the University of Arizona. Shouldn’t the Suns want to have Chandler on the roster to help push Ayton as hard as possible while he is still here before T.C. rides off into the sunset next offseason?
Yet that trade is still the most palatable I have heard: Some rumors have theorized trading T.J. Warren and draft picks for Goran.
Stop it. Just…stop it.
Why would the Phoenix Suns trade a 25-year-old core member, a player who sets up perfectly to be a Sixth Man of the Year candidate in 2018-19 (if that is the role is he placed into), or any future first round draft picks, for a 32-year-old stop-gap point guard who is slowing down and wouldn’t be acquired with the intention to be a part of the future?
I sincerely hope that they wouldn’t.
And then there is the issue of cost, as in salary.
If Goran Dragic were on a one-year deal, then I could see some merit in making a swap of a veteran for a veteran (again, certainly no young pieces), especially when specifically looking at a Chandler for Dragic, because at least the contracts would be somewhat offset and maybe Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough could find another veteran center to back Ayton up and all would be fine.
But Goran isn’t on a one-year deal.
Not only is he owed $18.1+ million this coming season (and Chandler $13.585 million), but then Goran has a player option for $19.2+ million in 2019-20, totally screwing the Suns’ salary cap in the summer of 2019 when they will want as much free money available to either go after veteran free agents or swing a trade for a star player (possibly a point guard – who knows) who can help the franchise well into the future.
In my mind there is no way that a then 33-year-old point guard is going to turn down a guaranteed $19+ million dollar payday next summer, meaning any team that acquires him is acquiring his services through the 2019-20 season.
Nuh uh. No way.
If the Phoenix Suns truly do believe they need to add a point guard for this coming season, keeping Devin Booker at the two, then there must be another point guard available who wouldn’t potentially fracture the present or future core or create cap difficulties in 2019.
I like Goran Dragic and I would take him on the Suns again – just not until the summer of 2020.
And anyway, who does he think he is? Leandro Barbosa?