Free Agency

admin

history-of-suns-free-agent-signings

History of Suns Free Agent Signings

sswiat

The Phoenix Suns today announced they have waived guard Joe Jackson, guard Casey Prather and forward Jamil Wilson.

The three rookies initially signed with the Suns on Sept. 26. Jackson recorded two points in seven minutes in one appearance this preseason, while Prather played five minutes in one appearance and Wilson totaled nine minutes in two appearances.

The Suns’ roster now stands at 16 players.

suns-waive-jackson-prather-wilson

Suns Waive Jackson, Prather, Wilson

Jessica Taylor

The Phoenix Suns have signed Slovenian guard Zoran Dragic to a multiyear contract, the team announced today. 

“Zoran’s will to win and intensity stand out every time he steps on to the court,” said General Manager Ryan McDonough. “He has been a very productive player in Euroleague, ACB and FIBA competitions. He excels defensively and in transition and I think our fans will quickly recognize his passion for the game.”

The 25-year-old Dragic joins the Suns after spending the last ten seasons playing professionally in Spain and his native Slovenia. The lefthander has also represented Slovenia at several international competitions as a member of the senior national team. Earlier this month, Dragic averaged 12.9 points on 50.0 percent shooting, 4.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 1.3 assists and 26.3 minutes in seven games at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. Dragic also played for Slovenia at 2011 and 2013 FIBA EuroBasket, averaging 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds over 22 games in the two tournaments.

Most recently in his professional career, the 6-5, 200-pound guard has played the last two seasons with Unicaja Malaga in Spain, where against top competition in the Euroleague last season, he averaged 10.9 points on 41.3 percent shooting from the field, 2.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 22.5 minutes in 22 games. Dragic also performed well in Spain’s renowned ACB League, averaging 10.3 points on 44.4 percent shooting, 2.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 18.1 minutes in 29 games in 2013-14. A disruptive wing defender, Dragic averaged 1.21 steals in ACB League games. 

Dragic began play with Ilirija Ljubljana in Slovenia as a 15-year-old in the 2004-05 season before playing the 2005-06 season with Jance STZ Ljubljana. The following four seasons, Dragic played with Geoplin Slovan in Slovenia’s premier league where he participated in the 2008 Slovenian all-star game. Dragic signed with Krka Novo Mesto of Slovenia prior to the 2010-11 season and helped lead Krka to the 2010-11 and 2011-12 Slovenian national championships, 2010 and 2011 Slovenian Super Cup titles and 2011 Euro Challenge title in his two seasons with the club. Dragic moved to Spain for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons after signing with Unicaja Malaga. 

Dragic’s only prior NBA experience came in 2012 when he played in four games as a member of the Houston Rockets at Las Vegas Summer League.

The younger brother of Suns guard Goran Dragic, Zoran’s signing gives the Suns the 15th pair of brother teammates in NBA history and, along with Marcus and Markieff Morris, makes the Suns the first team in league history to have two separate pairs of brothers as teammates at the same time. Zoran and Goran have previously been teammates on Slovenia’s national team at the 2014 FIBA World Cup and the 2011 and 2013 FIBA EuroBasket competitions. 

suns-sign-zoran-dragic

Suns Sign Zoran Dragic

Matt Petersen

The fifth-year guard will be wearing a Suns uniform for the long-term after signing a multi-year extension with Phoenix on Thursday. The announcement comes after Bledsoe concluded a career-year with averages of 17.7 points, 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field.

The move cements one of the deepest and most talented backcourts in the NBA. Bledsoe joins reigning Most Improved Player Goran Dragic and 20-points-per-game newcomer Isaiah Thomas in a guard rotation Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek said would become a “three-headed monster.”

“We expect Goran and Eric and Isaiah to pushing the ball up the court like they did last year,” Hornacek said. “We’ll swing the ball from side to side…[opposing defenses] are going to have to make decisions.”

Bledsoe’s return reaffirms the Suns’ commitment to fortifying an area of strength. Last season Phoenix went 23-11 in games in which Dragic and Bledsoe both started. With Thomas now in the fold, Hornacek will be able to employ an All-Star-caliber backcourt for all 48 minutes of a game while keeping individual playing time at a safe number. The team is also better equipped to handle an injury to any of its key guards.

“When we look at it, there’s going to be two of those guys on the court at all times,” Hornacek said. “When that happens teams are going to have to plan for that. These guys have been through being double-teamed. They know how to handle that type of pressure. We feel we can always be on the attack with three of them on the team and two of them on the court most of the time.”

Indeed, Dragic and Bledsoe combined for the best two-man plus-minus on the team (+5.0) when on the floor simultaneously. Combined with Thomas’ team-best plus-minus in Sacramento last season, the Suns figure to boast two positive game-changers in the backcourt all game, every game.

“A the end of the day, we’re going to play with each other, no matter who starts or who comes off the bench,” Thomas said. “It’s about winning.”

Dragic had hoped that attitude – established during last year’s feel-good run that fell just shy of the playoffs – combined with their on-court success as a duo would be enough to convince Bledsoe to return.

“Every day, every month, every year we can get better and better,” Dragic said. “It was our first season and we already play so good together. I think next season, hopefully he’s going to stay here and try to raise that bar even higher.”

It looks like Dragic and the Suns got their wish.

bledsoes-return-cements-three-headed-monster

Bledsoe's Return Cements 'Three-Headed Monster'

Today isn’t the only day that matters. What about tomorrow? Or the day after that? And so on?

That line of thinking is doubly true in the NBA, where one decision can affect the next half-decade of a franchise’s fortunes. Six years ago, the Suns had to pull off quite the draft-day maneuver to land Goran Dragic in the second round. They executed a trade with the Spurs, whose draft pick was one slot ahead of Detroit. The Pistons immediately contacted Phoenix to ruefully admit they’d been planning on snatching Dragic up had he slipped any further.

At the time, the move wasn’t deemed all that significant. Fast forward to 2012, when Phoenix’s initial faith in the Slovenian guard led him to an Arizona return via free agency. Now he’s an All-NBA Third Team guard coming off an All-Star caliber year. None of that success happens in Phoenix if they don’t do their diligence late in the second round of the 2008 draft.

ESPN recently gauged more recent developments among NBA teams and subsequently ranked each franchise’s future in five different categories: players, management, market, draft and money.

The Suns received a top-five spot in the latter two areas. That should come as no surprise. Phoenix has set up an enviable cache of draft picks spread out over the next few seasons, including the Lakers’ first-round pick for 2015 (top-five protected). They also have a protected Minnesota first-round pick acquired in a three-way trade back in 2012.

“Money” refers to a franchise’s projected salary-cap situation and willingness to exceed that cap. Again, the Suns are in a situation many teams would love to have for themselves. Their cap flexibility this summer and next allows them to pursue star-caliber players via free agency or trade. The latter option is especially useful, since extra cap room allows Phoenix to acquire large contracts without needing to send back near-equal contract value in return.

“If you look around the league, there are probably only a handful of teams that are as well-positioned as we are for the future,” said Suns President of Basketball Operation Lon Babby.

espn-two-factors-give-suns-bright-future

ESPN: Two Factors Give Suns Bright Future

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns have re-signed forward P.J. Tucker to a multiyear contract, the team announced today.

“We are pleased to have been able to reach an agreement with P.J. Tucker on a multiyear contract,” said President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby. “His new contract fulfills one of our most important goals for this summer.”

“P.J. is one of the most rugged competitors in the entire league,” said General Manager Ryan McDonough. “We love his passion and his fire. We are happy that he will remain in a Suns uniform for the foreseeable future.”

Tucker started 81 games in his second season with the Suns of 2013-14, posting career-highs of 9.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 30.7 minutes. Tied for the Suns’ team-lead with a career-best 11 double-doubles, Tucker also had career-highs with 38 games of double-digit scoring and 15 games of double-digit rebounds. Recognized for his intensity and versatility on the defensive end, Tucker won the Dan Majerle Hustle Award for the second consecutive season in 2013-14.

Against Oklahoma City on April 6 this past season, Tucker scored a career-high 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, making a career-high four

three-pointers in the Suns’ win. Tucker also became the first Sun since 2007 to have at least 15 points, 15 rebounds and four steals in a game when he scored 16 points along with a career-high 15 rebounds and four steals in a win against Golden State on Feb. 8.

Initially signing with the Suns as a free agent on Aug. 1, 2012, Tucker has established new career-highs in virtually every statistical category in each of his first two seasons with the club, in addition to earning a reputation as one of the league’s toughest defenders.

Prior to joining the Suns, Tucker played professionally in Germany, Puerto Rico, Italy, Greece, Israel and Ukraine, after his rookie NBA season of 2006-07 with the Toronto Raptors. A standout performer at the University of Texas, Tucker played three seasons with the Longhorns, earning consensus Big 12 Player of the Year honors as a junior before entering the 2006 NBA Draft.

suns-re-sign-p-j-tucker

Suns Re-Sign P.J. Tucker

When Isaiah Thomas played ball as a kid, he wasn’t the first one picked.

When he received scholarship offers, he wasn’t priority No. 1 for schools looking for point guards.

And on NBA draft night of 2011, Thomas wasn’t the first pick. He was the opposite – dead last.

The biggest factor was his frame, which loomed like a shadow far larger than its actual 5-9 height. It followed him wherever he went, tainting the people around him with doubt and ridicule. Average 31.2 point as a junior in high school? Good luck pulling that off in college. Make first team All-Pac-10 and hit a game-winner to knock off Arizona in the conference championship game? You can get away with that in the NCAA, but not the NBA.

“People were always saying I couldn’t do this or I couldn’t do that because I was so short,” he said.

Even after triumphing over the scary, non-guaranteed path that comes with being a second-round pick, Thomas never felt that he was ever doing anything more than buying time in Sacramento.  As much as he progressed, the Kings always seemed intent on upgrading his position. Greivis Vasquez, Jimmer Fredette and Aaron Brooks all came and went as signs of Thomas’ insecure role with the team.

Even after averaging over 20 points per game last season and becoming the shortest player ever to record a triple-double, Thomas watched as another point guard (Darren Collison) with lesser statistical impact was signed to replace him this offseason.

What more did he have to do? Didn’t someone want him? He was tired of wanting to be wanted. He thirsted to be needed.

Ironically, that thirst was quenched in the desert, where a team already laden with point guards convinced him from the moment he stepped off the plane that he was wanted and needed in Phoenix.

Thomas listened as the Suns eagerly laid out how he would flourish in their perimeter-oriented attack, one that needed multi-threat ball-handlers on the floor at all times. He saw the big screens inside and outside of U.S. Airways Center lit up with his image, digitally bedecked in a Suns uniform. He watched as his fiancé and kids were treated with a combination of respect and friendliness hardly ever doled out to him, much less his family.

So this is what it’s like to be wanted without hesitation or asterisks.

“They brought me in with open arms and just…they liked me for who I was,” Thomas said, almost as if he was still struggling to accept it. “They liked me for being 5-9. They liked me for being a shoot-first point guard. That’s what I wanted.”

The feeling was more than mutual. In Thomas, Phoenix had found a budding talent that wanted to be here for all the right reasons. They found out that he was a basketball nut and watched as many games as he could.

Turns out Thomas watched a lot of Suns basketball and liked how they played. More importantly, he appreciated and valued exactly what Phoenix’s front office had pinpointed as the main reason for last year’s success.

“It seemed like, even playing on the court against the Suns, there was really no arguing,” Thomas said “The guys were just wanting to play and wanting to have fun and wanting to win. I wanted to be part of something like that.”

The Suns’ recent memory gave them better vision than Thomas’ critics, whose eyesight stopped as soon as it noted his height and split hairs with his game. Phoenix saw the guy who torched them – and nearly everyone else in the league – all of last season. They saw he was only 25 and likely to improve.

Most important of all, they recognized his personality would fit in with and complement the precious chemistry Phoenix had only just established.

“As we went through the free agency process, we wanted to try to continue to build on what we established last year, which we feel to be a group of young, hungry, high-character guys who work hard, who play unselfishly,” said Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough. “We feel like [Thomas and Anthony Tolliver] will fit right in with our culture, with our locker room.”

As for the questions about Thomas before and after his signing, Phoenix felt the journey he’d already made had answered them.

“They brought me in with open arms and just…they liked me for who I was. They liked me for being 5-9. They liked me for being a shoot-first point guard. That’s what I wanted.”

“These two guys have earned everything they’ve achieved,” McDonough said. “They haven’t been given anything. I think at different times in their careers they’ve been overlooked.”

Thomas heard this in his introductory press conference, a room filled to capacity with reporters and team officials who wanted to see him. The situation was completely foreign. He’d been conditioned to prove himself for so long, it seemed like he still needed to on this day, even if he could only do try in words.

“You’re not going to regret the decision that you guys made,” Thomas said, as if he still needed to convince someone. “I’m just going to come in every day with my hard hat and just give it my all and try to fit in with the guys. I know it’s about winning and that’s the most important thing. I just want to do the best I can to honestly do my job.”

It’s a job for which Thomas, for the first time, knows he’s wanted.

in-phoenix-thomas-finally-felt-wanted

In Phoenix, Thomas Finally Felt Wanted

During an introductory press conference it isn’t unusual to catch a player’s eyes wandering around the Al McCoy Media center taking in the entire event from his perch high atop the risers that hold the podium where he’s seated at. Who can blame them? It’s a natural tendency when a person finds himself in a new environment and are trying to acclimate himself to it.

Thus was the case for Isaiah Thomas on Monday. But unlike many before him, his glances were purposeful. Throughout the proceedings you could see his eyes look down and to his right. At first you wouldn’t think much of it. It could easily have been brushed off like the many other looks that have been seen at press conferences more often than 100 degree temperatures in Phoenix. That is, until you realized who was sitting in the front row.

In front of the throng of media in attendance sat the five most important people in attendance, at least to Isaiah. They were his fiancé Kayla, his mom, Tina, father Keith and his sons James and Jaiden, who were already sporting their own custom Suns jerseys.

The looks he gave were a simple acknowledgment that the five people, and in particular his two sons, were, in part the reason Thomas was here in the first place.

“When I had my first son James it kind of put life into perspective that I’m not living life just for myself,” Thomas expressed with pride in his eyes. “I’m living life for my sons and my family.”

It doesn’t come as a surprise just how important his loved ones are to anyone who is familiar with Thomas. Even those who only know him digitally see it. The roughly 165,000 fans who follow him on Twitter are abundantly aware of it every time they look at his feed. His header photo is his two boys but, even though a picture is worth a thousand words, the 25 words just below it in his bio truly say it all.

Isaiah Thomas Poses with his family after press conference.

Luckily for the Suns and his family, he’s both. It’s that kind of off the court dedication mixed with his on the court tenacity and fun loving energy that made him the perfect fit in Phoenix. But it wasn’t just about Thomas being right for the Suns. It was just as much about Phoenix being right for Thomas and his family.

Proof of that came immediately upon his arrival in the Valley for his free agent visit.

“It’s a blessing from God,” the 5-9 guard said of joining the Suns. “When I came here for my visit [the kids jerseys] were the first two things they showed me. They had my sons’ names on the back of the jerseys. That was big for me. Not just welcoming me with opening arms and wanting me. They wanted my family.”

It’s those little things that helped make the Suns so special last season. Thanks to a front office and a group of players who cared about each other on and off the court the Suns found a unique chemistry. It didn’t go unnoticed.

“I just wanted to be a part of something like that,” Thomas admitted. “I’m a fan of basketball so I watched a lot of basketball and the Phoenix Suns were a team I watched a lot last year. There was a lot of excitement. The guys seemed like they played for each other not with each other. They just have fun out there.”

As a family man doing things for each other rather than just simply with each other is an attitude Thomas is all too familiar with. It’s a way of life for him and why he’ll fit right in with his new basketball family as well.

“I care about the people who care about me,” Thomas said with a smile.

So the next time you hear someone describe Thomas as someone who “creates for others as well as himself”, realize they aren’t just talking about the five man lineup he’s a part of. They’re also referring to the five most important people in his life too.

suns-retorter-its-a-family-affair-for-isaiah-thomas

Suns Retorter: It's a Family Affair for Isaiah Thomas

PayPal

<strong>Holiday Giveback Deal!</strong> Get 25% off upcoming Suns games when you purchase Christmas Day tickets with PayPal. <strong><a href="https://www.ticketmaster.com/phoenix-suns-vs-dallas-mavericks-phoenix-arizona-12-25-2023/event/19005F0B53010EA4?CAMEFROM=CFC_SUNS_WEB_HOME_20231225-PAYPAL&amp;_gl=1*1q090lq*_gcl_au*MTQ3NzUwNjg5OC4xNjk5MjMxNjY3">BUY NOW</a></strong>