Phoenix Suns: Should Goran Dragic Be Moved At The NBA Trade Deadline?
Should the Phoenix Suns trade Goran Dragic at the NBA Trade Deadline next week?
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If we know one thing about the Phoenix Suns, it’s that their roster isn’t ideal. For the most part, they’ve always been that way. The Suns, strategically and probably circumstantially, have always been a different type of team, even when they’ve been good.
And that remains to be the case this season as they strive for a playoff spot in a supremely competitive Western Conference. However, with the NBA trade deadline a mere days away, a legitimate question that has surfaced, thanks to a numerous amount of rumors over the last few days, is whether or not the Phoenix Suns should pursue a trade for Goran Dragic.
Dragic becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season and has been believed, by most that know the team well, to be returning to the Suns.
Although, with the recent rumors, should the Suns trade Dragic instead of setting themselves up for failure in the offseason?
And it’s not easy to answer that question.
For one, no. You don’t want to see the Suns trade Dragic. Not right now. Phoenix is currently sitting in the eighth seed of the Western Conference playoff picture, one-half game ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder. You want to see the team have every weapon in its arsenal during the NBA’s stretch run to see if they can make the playoffs.
On the other hand, those from the pessimistic point of view, you don’t want the Phoenix Suns to get burned. That’s kind of how the NBA is now. Teams plan for the offseason around the premise of not getting burned by players. One of the scariest thoughts for NBA teams is living in a world in which the players have all the power. Despite what gets said outside NBA front offices, most teams would rather control situations than have their players do and feel what they want.
And, it appears, that in order to justify a potential Dragic trade, Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough comes out to say that the team’s “roster balance is a little off.” Which isn’t exactly wrong, but the timing off these comments are quite interesting.
"[via Arizona Sports, H/T CBS Sports]“I think our roster balance is a little off, and that’s my fault,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough told Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Wednesday. “We are a little too backcourt heavy, especially in terms of guys who, you know, I think you’d define primarily as scorers in the backcourt.“So I think at some point we’ll need to balance that out, try to get a little more size, a little more frontcourt scoring and rebounding.”…“At the same time it’s a challenge because we do have talented players, they’ve all had success individually and team success in the NBA,” he said, “so those are some of the decisions we’ll kind of mull over the next week or so and we’ll see where we are on the 19th next week.”"
Specifically, McDonough goes all the way to say that they’re a little backcourt heavy. So ideally, what McDonough would do is move one of their guards. Probably one of their many point guards.
The Suns (active) roster construction is as follows:
- Guards: Six
- Forwards: Five
- Centers: Two
Although, four of those guards could technically be considered point guards — Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, Isaiah Thomas and Tyler Ennis.
It’s not a sure thing that the Suns decide to trade one of their point guards, but it kind of makes the most sense. Would we be surprised if Phoenix decides to trade Gerald Green for more frontline depth? No, because it also makes sense.
Perhaps the Suns decide to keep their arsenal of point/combo guards and trade a guy like Green, who might be able to warrant some interest for a contender or even a lesser team looking for an expiring contract in an attempt to cut salary.
Nevertheless, dealing Dragic does make sense from a business and roster construction standpoint. Phoenix made it quite clear in the offseason that they value Bledsoe and, now, Thomas. They won’t be moved. So, if McDonough is talking about potentially dealing someone in the backcourt, he could very well be talking about Dragic.
If McDonough isn’t just talking for the sake of spewing what fans want to hear about the imbalance of their roster, I think the proof is strongly in his comments. A move is coming for the Phoenix Suns.
A move that could very well mean trading Goran Dragic.