When Goran Dragic dropped the bomb on the media earlier this week that he didn't trust the Phoenix Suns' management, it sent the trade engine into overdrive as teams clamored to figure out how to acquire the talented point guard. Dragic is less than a year removed from being named All-NBA Third Team and this season has been a congested experiment in the Suns' backcourt after signing Isaiah Thomas during the summer.
Things got ugly quickly with the Suns and Dragic, and there were numerous reports that owner Robert Sarver was going to deny the trade requests and attempt to talk the point guard into re-signing this summer. A day after the trade was made sending Dragic and his brother Zoran Dragic to the Miami Heat for role players and two first-round picks, the Suns aren't pulling any punches when it comes to discussing the departure of Goran.
The Suns made multiple trades before the deadline, moving Dragic to the Heat, Thomas to the Celtics, and acquiring Brandon Knight from the Milwaukee Bucks. General manager Ryan McDonough was asked about Phoenix trading its best player in Dragic and replied that the best players from this year's team were still in Suns' uniforms. From Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic:
On the idea that PHX traded its best player (Dragic), McDonough said, "Eric Bledsoe and Markieff Morris are still in Phoenix Suns uniforms."
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) February 20, 2015
Suns GM Ryan McDonough: "Sometimes, players gets a little selfish and are more worried about I, me and my than us, our and we."
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) February 20, 2015
McDonough said he never saw a wish list of where Dragic wanted to go. Once he asked out, "We really didn't care if there was a list or not."
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) February 20, 2015
It would be interesting to see if this type of response is something McDonough wants to say on his own or if this is a greater message being passed down from Sarver. McDonough also backed the signing of Thomas, remarking that it wasn't a mistake. He said that Thomas played well, which he did, and the fact that the Suns received a first-round pick for him shows a good return on investment when they had a plethora of players at that position.
Talking about Dragic becoming selfish can be both fair and unfair. The Suns experienced some surprise success last season, missing out on the playoffs by just a game when they were expected to miss the playoffs by many games.
The breakout performance by Dragic, the improved play of so many young players on the roster, and the coaching of then rookie coach Jeff Hornacek propelled the Suns further ahead than expected. Dragic was an All-NBA player and the signing of Thomas became somewhat unnecessary on the court once they figured out contract negotiations with restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe.
Bledsoe and his agent Rich Paul had some disagreements with the negotiating process from the Suns' ownership and front office, and it was a bit of a dramatic situation in terms of free agency before it was settled late in the offseason. Dragic is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2015 and probably didn't want to negotiate with a Suns team that could offer the most but had little motivation to do so when they had recently signed two players of the same position.
Dragic's play this season has dipped from last season, mostly due to fewer opportunities with a much lower usage rate. His field goal attempts per 36 minutes are roughly the same as last season but his free throw attempts and assist numbers have dropped significantly. He decided he wanted a change of scenery and ended up in one of his reported preferred destinations. It's curious that this supposed list didn't matter to Suns' management, considering he ended up in one of those spots.
Regardless of how this happened, the Suns are probably happy with their haul from the busy day of trades and Dragic is happy to be alongside Dwyane Wade in Miami. It'll be interesting to see if we get any more words to the media about this process.
(H/T - ProBasketballTalk)
