Peter Vescey Rumor on Joe Johnson

[KB21]

Quote:

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Contrary to reports, the Suns have made no commitment to matching Joe Johnson's pending Hawks' $70M, 5-year offer sheet. If it were chairman Jerry Colangelo's call, it'd be a done deal, but new proprietor Robert Sarver is in charge of the checkbook. "Ever since he's taken over he's talked long and loud about fiscal sanity," notes a rival owner. The moment of truth — a week, not 15 days, following the July 22 signing commencement — is approaching.

To put it mildly, the Suns' coaching staff and players are nervous. Not retaining Johnson means taking a giant step backward and reshuffling the game plan despite the impending pickup of Jazz free agent Raja Bell.

Intriguingly, when the Suns are serious about negotiating an agreement nobody does it more lickity-split. It only took GM Bryan Colangelo 45 minutes into the July 1 bargaining period to come to outlandish terms (nearly $5M per over five) with Bell. Years ago, Jerry C. managed to sign Tom Chambers and Danny Manning only minutes following the stroke of negotiation. Question is, why use up so much cap room if you plan to hold on to Johnson?

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[Plainview1981]

It also got to consider that it's Peter Vescey... Even

though he seems to have a smaller role in the hype

machine he still isn't a trustworthy source I don't

think.

[macdaddy]

Right. Vescey has had Iverson traded from the Sixers about 10 times over the last 3 years.

Don't the Suns gain some extra cap room by signing FAs before they resign their own restricted FAs?

[mrhonline]

Vecsey's not reporting anything new here. Sarver reportedly doesn't want the Suns' payroll to climb over $50M.

He's the Hawks' best hope that they won't match.

[Buzzard]

Quote:

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Vecsey's not reporting anything new here. Sarver reportedly doesn't want the Suns' payroll to climb over $50M.

He's the Hawks' best hope that they won't match.

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I almost have to agree with Sarver on this one. Until the Suns coaching staff can prove they can beat the Spurs, what's the sense in spending more? Unless of course it is to get someone (a center) who can off set Duncan a little and the other teams ability to go down the lane. You know play a little D.

[skaughtybee]

Unless it comes from the top of the organization - it'll be easy to say "We *intended* to match, but were trumped by the fiscal constraints of the ownership.

I think it is 50/50 at this point.

[Yeti]

I thought we couldn't make a formal offer until next week. That would mean Phoenix will have until the 29th.

What did I miss?

yeti

[Lascar78]

That's what the artile says. We can sign him on the 22nd, they have a week from then to match

[DominiqueWilkins]

Quote:

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It also got to consider that it's Peter Vescey... Even

though he seems to have a smaller role in the hype

machine he still isn't a trustworthy source I don't

think.

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Exactly.

You took the words out of my fingers.

[mrhonline]

Again, the NY Post isn't the only one reporting this. See the AZ Republic article in the thread I started.