Goran Dragic stated his desire to leave the Suns and criticized their management.
After trading him to the Heat, the Suns are firing back.
General manager Ryan McDonough, via 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 signing Thomas wasn't a mistake. "He played well & we played well." Said the 2-PG system proved it works but requires buy-in.
— 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
President Lon Babby:
Suns president Lon Babby took offense to Goran Dragic's comments about not trusting the front office. "Unfair and unwarranted aspersions."
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) February 20, 2015
Suns president Lon Babby, referring to moves to add Bledsoe and Thomas: "If some of those moves ruffle Goran's feathers, so be it."
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) February 20, 2015
McDonough is correct that signing Isaiah Thomas was not a mistake. Phoenix got a first rounder out of it.
It’s also a fair point that McDonough wasn’t worried about Dragic’s list of the Heat, Lakers and Knicks (though it probably affected what those teams and other teams offered Phoenix).
And Babby is right that adding Eric Bledsoe was worth the potential downside to Dragic. The combination largely worked well together.
I won’t get into whether Dragic’s comments on the front office – “I don’t trust them” – were fair. I have no way of knowing what he was promised.
But with all due respect to Markieff Morris and Bledsoe (who was having the top season so far in Phoenix because adjusted best to the crowded backcourt), Dragic was the Suns’ best player.