NBA Rumors: Phoenix Suns Shouldn't Waste Effort Luring in Eric Gordon

The Phoenix Suns need to start looking to the future and they need to think big, but part of their plan shouldn't be wasting time trying to bring in star shooting guard and New Orleans Hornets' restricted free agent Eric Gordon. It would be nice, but to be frank, it's a highly unrealistic goal.

According to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic though, the Suns may be trying to go after the Hornets' guard:

"

The Suns have $23 million in salary-cap space but are trying to retain space for other pursuits, which appears to include a large offer to restricted free agent Eric Gordon. New Orleans traded Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza this week to create more salary-cap space and new owner Tom Benson is expected to want to match an offer for the shooting guard. Gordon could command at least $12 million annually.

"

While bringing in a guy like Gordon would obviously go a long ways towards the eventual rebuilding process the Suns are surely to experience—consider he has career averages 18.2 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game—there's something to be said about setting realistic goals when it comes to rebuilding.

Why in the world would Gordon want to leave New Orleans now?

They appear to be well on their way towards a new era, especially after the 2012 NBA draft. They got the No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis, who projects to be a star big man in the league, dynamic guard Austin Rivers out of Duke with pick No. 10 and Davis' Kentucky teammate Darius Miller in the second round.

They've got a young core to build around, and Gordon has a chance to be the leader of that growing team.

Meanwhile in Phoenix though, Steve Nash may very well looking elsewhere in free agency, they only acquired one player in the draft—North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall—and without Nash they really don't have a noteworthy star to play with.

Gordon would be crazy to consider the Suns, and then when you factor in that the Hornets can match the Suns' offer because of his restricted free agent status, this seems like a highly unlikely scenario for Phoenix.

One sign of good leadership is the ability to create clear goals and a vision. While it's important to be ambitious, bold and fearless, there's something to be said for the wisdom it takes to realize that one of your goals may be out of reach.

Nothing hurts a rebuilding process more than wasting time, and that's exactly what the Suns would be doing by going after Gordon.