Ryan McDonough New GM

[ASUCHRIS]

First exciting Suns news in awhile. Nice of Sarver to keep his boyfriend in the loop.


John Gambadoro @Gambo620
It is official former Celtics Assistant GM Ryan McDonough is the new Suns General Manager.
13 minutes ago
John Gambadoro @Gambo620
Can not see under any circumstance Ryan McDonough keeping Lindsey Hunter as coach.

 

[Mulli]

Wow, people on here called it.

 

[SirStefan32]

Good hire! Now let's hire a REAL coach and start this rebuilding thing.

 

[slinslin]

“Ryan distinguished himself among an impressive group of candidates for our GM position,

omg babby

 

[Cheesebeef]

i like the hire.

 

[The Commish]

Great hire by all accounts. Will be interested to see who he targets as a HC.

 

[HooverDam]

Hooray! They finally did something that seems smart.

My confidence in the Suns drafting abilities has just gone through the roof. We now have a GM who helped get guys like Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger in the latter part of the 1st round.

The Suns have a lot of late 1st rounders in the next few years, so its going to be important to have a guy who can find those diamonds in the rough.

 

[SirStefan32]

Hooray! They finally did something that seems smart.

My confidence in the Suns drafting abilities has just gone through the roof. We now have a GM who helped get guys like Rajon Rondo, Avery Bradley and Jared Sullinger in the latter part of the 1st round.

The Suns have a lot of late 1st rounders in the next few years, so its going to be important to have a guy who can find those diamonds in the rough.

I agree. What this hire tells me is that the Suns are done with the whole "Let's bring a couple of free agents in and see if we get lucky and become relevant" approach. No more Beasley, Brown, and to lesser degree, Scola.
I am OK with minor trades, assuming they dump bad contracts or bring in young talent or picks, but I really don't want a single free agent signing this off-season.

 

[HooverDam]

but I really don't want a single free agent signing this off-season.

Agreed. Im OK w/ some 1 year deals so they reach the salary floor, but other than that I'm all in on being bad for 1 more year.

Id love him to try to get Avery Bradley from Boston, but that seems unlikely.

It'll be interesting to see if Boston jettisons Pierce & KG and goes into rebuild mode. Or if they try to add pieces around them, and make another run to the ECF. If I were them, I'd blow it up, as it seems there's no getting past Miami. But getting rid of those 2 guys would be tough.

If they keep it together, Gortat & Dudley would be great fits for them. Veteran guys who fill roles that would really help the C's. I'd love a move that sent Gortat & Dudley Bostons direction and we got Sully, Bradley and filler (and hopefully a pick).

E: Here's my dream trade w/ them:

Suns send:
Kendall Marshall
Jared Dudley
Marcin Gortat

Celtics send:
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley
Jared Sullinger
Future 1st Round pick

The C's are then 2 deep at every position. They can move Jeff Green to the 6th man role, where he likely makes more sense. Dudley could start at the 2 for them. Marshall off sets their loss of a back up PG by losing Bradley.

Courtney Lee is there just to help match salaries, and he helps the Suns hit the salary floor w/ out having a horrible contract. The Suns solidify their PG position for the next 5 years, and Bradley and Dragic can likely play together some due to Bradleys excellent defense. Sullinger is possibly redundant with the Morris twins, but its nice to have that insurance. If the Suns could get a future first that coincides with when the Celtics current window will be closing, that'd be ideal.

 

[Sleepy]

Great hire!

Yes! McDonut for the win!

 

[Gaddabout]

Now Danny Ainge has a trading partner. Because Celtics/Suns trades have been historically strong for both teams.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm pleased with the hire of Ryan McDonough as the new Suns GM. I thought this was an edgy move by Babby considering his future rests with this hire although Babby has a new 2 year contract. Also McDonough is young which some might perceive as a threat.

IMO, I thought Babby would go with the familiar choice in Weltman which I think was the second best choice among the three targeted candidates. I didn't think I would get excited by this hire but I have. I feel some fresh air in the room with the focus now turned to scouting. Scouting and the hire of a new coach that can develop talent is the Suns only way out.

 

[slinslin]

E: Here's my dream trade w/ them:

Suns send:
Kendall Marshall
Jared Dudley
Marcin Gortat

Celtics send:
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley
Jared Sullinger
Future 1st Round pick

Of course that is beyond awful for the Suns.

 

[HooverDam]

Of course that is beyond awful for the Suns.

Considering the source of the criticism, I'll take it as a compliment!

You don't want a first rounder? You don't want Avery Bradley? Time that 1st rounder for 2015 and it could be a pretty high pick.

 

[JCSunsfan]

He seems to be the most promising among all the candidates. He is young, experienced, extremely smart, well-connected.

Hopefully it will be a Steve Keim type of hire.

His first job will be to hire a coach. That will tell us a lot.

 

[SirStefan32]

Of course that is beyond awful for the Suns.

How is it beyond bad for the Suns? They would need to get a Center to replace Gortat, but that first-round pick is nice, Sullinger and Bradley are very nice young players. I don't think Boston would go for this, but I think it's a good trade for the Suns.

 

[SirStefan32]

He seems to be the most promising among all the candidates. He is young, experienced, extremely smart, well-connected.

Hopefully it will be a Steve Keim type of hire.

His first job will be to hire a coach. That will tell us a lot.

I would really like an old-school, proven coach but I really think he will hire a young assistant who shares his vision. Who that person might be- I have no idea, but I'm really anxious to find out.

 

[Griffin]

I'm ok with this hire, but not as excited as some of you. Perhaps I was hoping that for once the Suns would hire someone with some quality experience and real accomplishments at the position they were hiring him for. McDonough has shown to be pretty good at scouting players, but he has never run a team. Not that there were much better options.

Unfortunately for him, his first biggest move as a Suns GM (other than hiring a head coach) will be to draft a player with the highest draft pick the Suns have had in decades. Him having a strong scouting background, the expectations will be high. And yet, this being a high lottery pick, luck will play much bigger role in determining how that pick will pan out than any amount of scouting.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I'm ok with this hire, but not as excited as some of you. Perhaps I was hoping that for once the Suns would hire someone with some quality experience and real accomplishments at the position they were hiring him for. McDonough has shown to be pretty good at scouting players, but he has never run a team. Not that there were much better options.

Unfortunately for him, his first biggest move as a Suns GM (other than hiring a head coach) will be to draft a player with the highest draft pick the Suns have had in decades. Him having a strong scouting background, the expectations will be high. And yet, this being a high lottery pick, luck will play much bigger role in determining how that pick will pan out than any amount of scouting.

This. I'm not excited about our new GM but I'm not dissatisfied with the hire.

Steve

 

[slinslin]

How is it beyond bad for the Suns? They would need to get a Center to replace Gortat, but that first-round pick is nice, Sullinger and Bradley are very nice young players. I don't think Boston would go for this, but I think it's a good trade for the Suns.

Sullinger is no better than Markieff really and has chronic long term health concerns which is why he dropped, what has changed about that?

Avery Bradley plays good fullcourt defense but other than that he is an undersized shooting guard who does little good offensively. He is an awful shooter.

Courtney Lee is a terrible contract.

That trade is so bad it is not even funny.

Basically we trade Marshall for Sullinger which is a joke.
Then we trade Dudley for Bradley, wouldn't do that either.
And to top it off Gortat for Lee and a future first.

 

[slinslin]

Considering the source of the criticism, I'll take it as a compliment!

You don't want a first rounder? You don't want Avery Bradley? Time that 1st rounder for 2015 and it could be a pretty high pick.

Avery Bradley sucks. If you want a 6'2 shooting guard who can't shoot nor get to the rim or freethrow line or create then fine.

 

[sunsfan88]

Everyone should check out this article on McDonough if you haven't done so already

http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/3/27/4149404/botson-celtics-gm-ryan-mcdonough-profile

 

[SirStefan32]

Sullinger is no better than Markieff really and has chronic long term health concerns which is why he dropped, what has changed about that?

Avery Bradley plays good fullcourt defense but other than that he is an undersized shooting guard who does little good offensively. He is an awful shooter.

Courtney Lee is a terrible contract.

That trade is so bad it is not even funny.

Basically we trade Marshall for Sullinger which is a joke.
Then we trade Dudley for Bradley, wouldn't do that either.
And to top it off Gortat for Lee and a future first.

1. Morris is not anywhere near the level of Sullinger. Sullinger can rebound, shoot and score in the low post. Morriss is terrible when his outside shot is not falling. He can not do anything well (consistently.) Sullinger can rebound, at the very least, and he takes better shots.

2. I am a huge Dudley fan, but he is what he is- a great "D and 3" small forward who can defend and shoot open 3s, but can't create his own shot. Tucker is a better defender, a better creator (though not a great creator by any stretch of the imagination), and his shot looked better towards the end of the year. We don't really know how high Bradley's ceiling is.

3. Gortat currently has no value, and he's likely to be gone after next year anyway, so why not get a first-round pick for him if nobody is offering more.

4. Marshall is not very good, and will never be more than a back-up.

 

[slinslin]

1. Morris is not anywhere near the level of Sullinger. Sullinger can rebound, shoot and score in the low post. Morriss is terrible when his outside shot is not falling. He can not do anything well (consistently.) Sullinger can rebound, at the very least, and he takes better shots.

Sullinger can shoot? He is shooting 28% on jumpshots.
You also forgot worse defender, worse passer and worse athlete. Plus not to forget long term health concerns.
And he already missed half of his rookie season.

And he had most of his success this season when playing as a 6'8 center against backups. His production when playing PF is significantly lower. His eFG% dropping a whole 11% at PF.

Morris isn't great, neither is Sullinger.

 

[az jam]

I like the hire, now to get a coach that can actually develop players.