Phoenix Suns: Trusting Ryan McDonough at the Trade Deadline

The Phoenix Suns are in the middle of NBA trade rumors on a daily basis. Whether it’s Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas or a bit player like Gerald Green, it seems all but certain that the Suns will pull off a trade deadline deal. This has been a very divisive topic amongst Suns fans, but one thing has been agreed upon — trust in general manager Ryan McDonough.

McDonough has positioned this team in such a way that they can help facilitate trades in order to build up assets. They’re also in the advantageous position of having desirable assets.

Because the expectations have changed in the desert, the goal of this trade deadline is different than in past years. Let’s take a look at some of what McDonough has accomplished since he was hired back on May 8, 2013:

• June 27, 2013 — Drafted Alex Len
• July 10, 2013 — Traded a second-round pick and Jared Dudley to Los Angeles Clippers for Caron Butler and Eric Bledsoe
• July 27, 2013 — Traded Luis Scola to Indiana Pacers for Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee and a future first-round pick
• October 25, 2013 — Traded Shannon Brown, Marcin Gortat, Malcolm Lee and Kendall Marshall to Washington Wizards for Emeka Okafor and first-round pick
• July 12, 2014 — Traded Alex Oriakhi and a trade exception to Sacramento Kings for Isaiah Thomas
• January 9, 2015 — Traded a protected first-round pick to Boston Celtics for Brandan Wright

There were a few smaller deals (and obviously we didn’t touch on the 2014 NBA Draft), but in a nutshell, McDonough turned a struggling franchise without an identity into a team with not only an identity, but some stability. He did all of this while keeping the team’s salary cap in a manageable state.

When we look at any of those decisions above, can we say that McDonough and the Suns “lost” any of those deals?

LOOKING FORWARD

The Suns don’t have a huge stash of picks anymore, but they’ve got one really important pick looming — the Los Angeles Lakers first-round pick that was acquired in the Steve Nash trade.

That Laker pick is top-5 protected in 2015, top-3 in 2016, top-3 in 2017 and unprotected in 2018. Los Angeles isn’t in a position to turn around their fortunes quickly by any means, so that pick (in all likelihood) will be important.

In addition, the Suns haven’t sent any of their own picks out and have full use of their own draft picks.

From a salary standpoint, the Suns locked up Bledsoe with a five-year, $70 million deal that is reasonable for a young budding star. The three-year, $27 million deal for Thomas is a steal. Locking up Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris for $13 million annually over the next four years could prove to be the best deal of all.

The only real sticking point here is what the team wants to do with Goran Dragic.

THE GORAN DILEMMA

Management has said they want to re-sign Dragic. Goran has continually said he’s happy here but will test the free agent market. The only thing we know for sure is that Goran won’t pick up his $7.5 million option and will receive a big offseason offer.

Signing Dragic means the Suns will take themselves out of the running for any name free agents — though let’s be honest — the Suns haven’t snagged a big name free agent since Steve Nash.

Coach Jeff Hornacek has continually said that the goal isn’t making the playoffs this year, but rather the goal is to create a championship contender. The team is willing to take a small step back if they have to in order to take two steps forward.

It’s that sentiment that makes me believe the Suns are going to get cold feet and will trade Dragic. Could you imagine a scenario where the Suns trade Dragic for some quality assets, then end up going back after him in the offseason?

Some talk has surrounded Thomas as well and certainly that would open the door for giving Dragic star money this offseason, but they’re not going to be able to trade Thomas for a first-rounder and there’s no sense in trading him for anything less.

THINK LONG-TERM

As Suns fans, we’ve been a little bit spoiled. They were supposed to be one of the worst teams in the league in 2013-14 and they shocked everyone by winning 48 games. If the season ended today, the Suns would make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

It’s like a business that sees a big boom in business and starts making five times the money they used to. Should they be happy with that and rest on their laurels? Or, should they keep searching for ways to parlay that into something even greater?

That’s how I see the Suns right now. They could be happy being a playoff contender, as nobody expected they’d be back there so quickly. Or, they could think longer term and find a way to turn this club into a championship contender.

McDonough, Lon Babby and Robert Sarver have a plan. Judging how the first 21 months of McDonough’s reign has gone, we should be patient and trust that it’s a path with twists and turns that ultimately will result in a step forward.

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