Another one bites the dust: Dragic to stay in Spain
In an interview with a Spanish Newspaper Suns second round pick, and heir apparent to Steve Nash, Goran Dragic says he will remain in Spain for the upcoming season.
“It is true the Suns wanted me on board, but I think the best for me is to go to Spain and try to find my niche with Baskonia.”
That’s right Suns fans another option to back-up Steve Nash is off the table. The worst part is this time they are being turned down by a player they own the rights to.
The $1.5 million buyout, of which the Suns could only pay $500k, was probably a major deterrent for Dragic. Although I’m pretty sure Steve Nash would have thrown in the extra $1 million just to ensure he doesn’t have to play all 48 minutes at this point.
With Dragic off the list that means the Suns are officially down to Jason Williams, Sam Cassell, a trade or the guy who sells hot dogs.
The trade route is the most intriguing for me, although I’ve heard the hot dog guy has a mean jumper. If the Suns could find a way to land a player like a Travis Diener from Indiana they might be able to solve their problem. Diener is still a younger player who has shown the ability to pass the ball in his brief playing career. He averaged over 6 points and 3 assists in 20 minutes of play last season for the Pacers and would be a guy who could run the point without hurting the team.
An outside the box option that I’ve heard suggested is letting Boris Diaw run the point. While I applaud people’s creativity it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to move Diaw around once he finds his comfort zone, just ask Atlanta about Diaw as a point guard.
One outside the box option however might be Grant Hill. He is one of the best ball handlers on the team. If Diaw is seeing a lot of time at the small forward spot it could free up Hill to fill back up need.
None of these are ideal options for this season but for the Suns sake let’s hope Dragic decides to join the Suns next season and doesn’t turn into the next Milos Vujanic (if you don’t get the reference neither does anyone else because he never played in the NBA).
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Posted by Greg Esposito
Co-founder of AzSportsHub.com. Greg provides the sometimes serious, sometimes sarcastic and always interesting takes on Arizona sports (at least we hope). Whether it’s on In The Zona with Matt or in his column Greg reports, rants and raves about whatever is in the news for Arizona Sports.
http://www.azsportshub.com/author/espo
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