Ariza for 15m
This one literally made no sense.
I mean, we thought it made some sense (he’s a veteran who wanted to help lead younger players; only on a one-year deal which preserved cap space for the 2019 offseason; could potentially be flipped for an asset at the trade deadline), but in the end, it made absolutely zero sense.
Trevor Ariza cashed in big time by signing a one-year, $15 million deal with the Phoenix Suns and had no reason to see the season through.
Why McDonough didn’t see that the signing was going to blow up in his face, who knows.
Of all of his mistakes McDonough made, this one is one of the most egregious because it put the franchise behind the eight-ball again, only this time it started out poorly whereas other mistakes needed time to percolate.
If McDonough’s thought was that maybe he could eventually flip Ariza for an asset down the line (which James Jones was obviously eventually able to do which turned out better than anyone could have known), then he should have come to that agreement with the FA prior to his signing and let Ariza know that was probably the plan, just to avoid any and all unpleasantness.
Instead, McDonough stuck to his apparent unwillingness to talk to his players, and it all went to hell before it ever had a chance to succeed.
Trade for R Anderson
This deal only makes sense if you thought that the Ariza signing was somehow going to succeed.
Adding two stretch-four’s who can light it up from beyond the arc should have helped the offense tremendously, and in Igor’s offense, it should have looked a lot like Mike D’Antoni’s offense in Houston where the two had been most recently.
There is one giant caveat to their acquisitions: the Phoenix Suns did not have a point guard.
Not only did the franchise not have a PG (or at least a confident ball-handler) who could run Igor’s offense, but that meant that both Ariza and Anderson were playing way out of their element as catch-and-shoot(ers).
Thus, this was never going to work.