ESPN Projects 26 Wins, 2nd Worst in West

[3rdside]

I'd do the Dragic trade again in a heartbeat... and the Heat almost certainly wouldn't. It's amusing how all of this revisionist history wasn't being mentioned when Dragic spent 70% of last season and the playoffs crapping the bed, but hey, he had 2 good games in a row! Time to drag that dead horse back out!

I made the point last season that he was naturally subservient to Wade and that the big, established personalities in Miami would count against him for some time. When Wade went out last season Dragic started to show some signs, much like he's doing at the moment.

So this is the season, without Wade, to see what he's made of and to gauge how much of a mistake we made in upsetting team harmony by bringing in IT that lead to a very uncomfortable chain of events and which painted our club in a very unflattering light.

But whatever happens - Dragic being 'just' a 16 and 5 guy or not - my point is not to focus only on his trade to Miami, even though it forms a large part of my opinion, but rather the glaring additional evidence that suggests McD is far too flawed to take us anywhere worthwhile.

 

[3rdside]

And your point about Miami not doing the trade again is, at this point, largely to do with Wade taking off unexpectedly and Bosh being done. Not a fair statement in other words.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Its not weird its wrong. Marcus was below average among SFs on almost every stat last year - pts, reb, ast, fg% - very much the same stats he had here in fact.

Exactly. The only coaching change was minutes. No way am I going to ever pine to have either one of the Morris brothers back on this team.

 

[JCSunsfan]

And your point about Miami not doing the trade again is, at this point, largely to do with Wade taking off unexpectedly and Bosh being done. Not a fair statement in other words.

Yes, a fair statement. McD (and many others of us as well) looked at the odds of that Miami team falling apart. They were actually pretty high. I am sure that those two departures were not huge suprises to McD. Remember that those picks are still a few years away. The likelihood of Bosh and Wade being on the team at that time was pretty slim.

 

[3rdside]

Yes, a fair statement. McD (and many others of us as well) looked at the odds of that Miami team falling apart. They were actually pretty high. I am sure that those two departures were not huge suprises to McD. Remember that those picks are still a few years away. The likelihood of Bosh and Wade being on the team at that time was pretty slim.

Yeah i can remember you talking about that, fair enough...Miami prides itself on being a 'family' ball club and with a guy like Riley in charge I guess they assumed they'd unfold like the Spurs and be in the playoffs every year.

And then you see Wade take off after relations with Riley deteriorated and realise that the Heat are no Spurs.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Yeah i can remember you talking about that, fair enough...Miami prides itself on being a 'family' ball club and with a guy like Riley in charge I guess they assumed they'd unfold like the Spurs and be in the playoffs every year.

And then you see Wade take off after relations with Riley deteriorated and realise that the Heat are no Spurs.

Oh, I am sure on Riley's end, he was planning on perpetual retooling through free agency. Like when he signed LeBron and Bosh.

"I don't need no stinkin' picks!"

It was a pretty good bet on McD's part. McD also bet that Knight as a bird in the hand would be better than an uncertain Laker's pick. In that situation, I have no doubt he thought the Lakers would be able to sign top notch free agents (Love and Westbrook maybe) rendering that pick a late first rounder. That one did not happen. . .yet.

 

[sunsfan88]

I made the point last season that he was naturally subservient to Wade and that the big, established personalities in Miami would count against him for some time. When Wade went out last season Dragic started to show some signs, much like he's doing at the moment.

Dragic is back to playing at the same level he did during All NBA season

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Again even taking his huge contract and age into play, how can anyone not prefer him over the idiot Brandon Knight that's on the team now?

 

[JCSunsfan]

Dragic is back to playing at the same level he did during All NBA season

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Again even taking his huge contract and age into play, how can anyone not prefer him over the idiot Brandon Knight that's on the team now?

Because, looking at the teams, it is not and never would be Dragic vs. Knight. Its very simple. Dragic would not be happy here without MAJOR changes to the roster.

 

[Chaplin]

Who exactly is Dragic playing with? No Wade, no Bosh. Do the Heat have any potential stars like we have in Booker and Warren?

 

[overseascardfan]

Who exactly is Dragic playing with? No Wade, no Bosh. Do the Heat have any potential stars like we have in Booker and Warren?

Whiteside is actually the best player on that team IMO.

 

[sunsfan88]

Who exactly is Dragic playing with? No Wade, no Bosh. Do the Heat have any potential stars like we have in Booker and Warren?

Other than Whiteside being a premier player in the NBA and better than Booker/Warren combined, yea they have nothing.

 

[SirStefan32]

Winslow has high potential, as does Richardson, though he is hurt.
Either way, there is no room for Dragic on this team. Unless Bledsoe goes bye-bye, there is no room for Dragic. It's no secret I prefer Dragic over Bledsoe, but he is 30 years old, and he is not good defensively. Bledsoe is a grossly overrated defender, but Dragic/ Booker combo would be atrocious defensively.

 

[elindholm]

26 seems really low, but I don't see the Suns contending for a playoff spot unless they make a big move. I'll go with 36 wins.

Sad to say, ESPN gave the Suns too much credit, even with what looked like a lowball number. Almost everyone in this thread (including me) had the Suns at least several games better. Sometimes the experts are right.

 

[pokerface]

Sad to say, ESPN gave the Suns too much credit, even with what looked like a lowball number. Almost everyone in this thread (including me) had the Suns at least several games better. Sometimes the experts are right.

True. But the suns did tank so we helped that prediction a little bit.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

True. But the suns did tank so we helped that prediction a little bit.

This. I feel very safe in saying that we would have ended with more than 26 wins had we never started tanking.

 

[Covert Rain]

The prediction was off by 2. That is about as accurate as it gets. I thought it was slightly low but pretty accurate back when this thread started. Mainly because I thought the team was young and also felt when push came to shove they were not going to try and win now.

I honestly thought folks predicting playoffs were nuts.