Suns interested in Josh for Gortat

[drzachary]

Gortat's been the better player the last 2.5 seasons or so. At his salary, PLUS picks? And maybe Dudley, who also has been arguably better than Josh lately? And we finally have a well-built roster with no tweeners??? What the hell do you people want?!? :)

[Admin]

Gortat's been the better player the last 2.5 seasons or so. At his salary, PLUS picks? And maybe Dudley, who also has been arguably better than Josh lately? And we finally have a well-built roster with no tweeners??? What the hell do you people want?!?

I gotta have more corndogs!

[MrMeltdown]

Gortat is nothing to get excited about. I would rather pay Josh 12-14 million than get Gortat and I do not like Josh as a player.

[ryandauwalker]

If this goes down, I want some serious props. Suggested this trade in Trade Ideas last night before the rumor came back. Still there and only has one reply with MrMeltdown adding a horrible (IMO) alternative.

[thecampster]

Now for the sane part of the conversation.

Source shamsports.com

Atlanta salary 12/13 - $66.5 million 5 + million under the LT

Phoenix salary 12/13 - $51.6 million

NBA salary cap 12/13 - 58.044 million

Suns are under the cap by 6.4 million, meaning the salary difference of 6.4 million can occur.

Josh salary 13.2 million

Gortat salary 7.26 million

Difference - just under 6 million dollars. Technically, the teams can swap these players straight up. There is no need for "other players".

The Suns are currently paying 15 players on their roster, 1 off. They cannot take back more players than they send.

Not including Pargo, the Hawks currently have 14 players on their roster, 2 off (Farmar/Williams). Meaning they can take back 1 extra player in a trade.

Assuming a trade goes down and the Hawks want to avoid the LT, they can take back 2 players of 18 million or less or they can add a player (say Petro) and take back more.

So assuming a deal for Josh only....you are looking at Gortat and 1 more (probably Dudley) and at least 1 pick.

Things you guys may not be considering. Every 1st round pick we acquire has a cap hold next season. That cap hold restricts our ability to sign free agents based on its value. So let's pretend Houston makes the playoffs and we get 2 picks in the process. Our cap hold next year is our players + about 5-7 million in draft picks up coming (depending on slot). This may be too much to allow our signing of a free agent.

Additionally, Gortat's salary and anyone they may trade us except (Brown, Tucker, Zeller, Johnson, Telfair, O'neal) has a contract guarantee next year which would also kill our cap space. Let's assume for the sake of argument its Dudley and Gortat and 1 pick. That gives us 3 picks next year and based on the location in the draft, about 5 million. The player salaries are 12 million together and we already have 21.5 million on the books for next year not including cap holds. Add it all up and we are at 38.5 million. This isn't bad and leaves us room to sign a max player except for the cap holds and such. It leaves you with a roster of Gortat, Horford, Dudley, Williams, Teague, Jenkins, Johnson, 3 mid level picks and whatever max player you get to sign. You still aren't a contender or even close.

[Kimsey]

Gortat is really Biedrins 2.0. He will not have great pgs feeding him here. It is imperative we get their pick. The La pick is next to worthless. The Cavs have the right to switch LA's pick and Miami's pick.

Our own pick has more value than it. Hell a 2nd round pick has more value than it.

[drzachary]

Still not seeing the downside.

[TheFuzz]

Gortat is really Biedrins 2.0. He will not have great pgs feeding him here. It is imperative we get their pick. The La pick is next to worthless. The Cavs have the right to switch LA's pick and Miami's pick.

Our own pick has more value than it. Hell a 2nd round pick has more value than it.

Only true if the Lakers make the playoffs and the Cavs actually get the pick. If the Lakers miss the playoffs, the Suns get it.

[drzachary]

Not buying the argument that Gortat's production is inflated because he has "great PGs" either. Definitely see Dragic and Teague as pretty equivalent.

[MrMeltdown]

I would not do this trade unless it looked like this:

Hawks get

J.J. Redick

Vucevic

Phoenix 1st via Lakers

Phoenix get

Josh Smith

Orlando get

Gortat

Phoenix 1st

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=byqtplq

Edited February 1, 2013 by MrMeltdown

[frankthetank966]

If y'all are seriously excited about Gortat then there are issues. You Are selling josh short. C'mon. He is a strong player and to put these two guys in same sentence is rediculous. It's like this called the other day on 929 the game that said Josh is similar to Lebron since they both came out from high school. Blah!

[Admin]

If y'all are seriously excited about Gortat then there are issues. You Are selling josh short. C'mon. He is a strong player and to put these two guys in same sentence is rediculous. It's like this called the other day on 929 the game that said Josh is similar to Lebron since they both came out from high school. Blah!

Of course Josh is the better player, that's why they'd have to throw in another good player and a 1st round pick or 2. But to dismiss Gortat as not being a good player worth adding as a replacement for a guy who's very likely not going to be here next year anyway is pretty short sighted.

[drzachary]

In what way is Josh actually better? Better defender, better in a dunk contest, more "entertaining," but I think the advantages end there.

Edited February 1, 2013 by drzachary

[Admin]

In what way is Josh actually better? Better defender, better in a dunk contest, more "entertaining," but I think the advantages end there.

If he's a better defender it's only marginally. Gortat is more efficient on offense, a better rebounder, blocks nearly the same amount of shots, shoots FTs better. The only area where Josh is really better at is with his passing and he's quite a bit better there, but we can afford to lose that to get the ball in our PG's hands more.

[drzachary]

I feel like Gortat's gives us another Horford like value at an even better price.

[Admin]

I feel like Gortat's gives us another Horford like value at an even better price.

Yep he really is a poor man's Horford, except he's more of a true C than Al is. At this point I'd be thrilled with just about anyone who prefers to be closer to the paint than the 3pt line though.

[Kimsey]

If you play Zaza 32 mpg he gets close to the production of Gortat except shot blocking. Why would the Suns give up the better player in the deal on a much smaller salary.

[Admin]

If you play Zaza 32 mpg he gets close to the production of Gortat except shot blocking. Why would the Suns give up the better player in the deal on a much smaller salary.

Gortat is more skilled than Zaza with better hands and far more athleticism but outside of that and shot blocking they're somewhat similar players.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

OK . throw this trade out then

I still say Ferry needs to call Mark Cuban/Donny Nelson and present this deal:

Marion + Mayo ( or Carter ) + 1st round pick 2013 or 2014 . . for Josh

We get the SF's that we need. We give Zaza and Ivan more PT.

We still have cap room. And we get a draft pick.

Cuban would do it, because he'd try to lure Dwight to Dallas with Josh. If he didn't re-sign Josh, he probably wouldn't cry about it either.

Win-Win for both teams.

[taz]

Josh is the better player but I don't think he's a great fit for where the hawks need to be going. Plus I'm not sure he's great for team morale/chemistryAnd gortat looked fine with Nelson feeding him hardly a great pg

Edited February 1, 2013 by taz