Suns are smart to slow-play free agency

So Dwight Howard got a call from Jack Nicholson and the promise of a statue from Steve Nash.

He has a standing offer for all you can eat chicken fingers from fast food restaurant Raising Cane’s if he signs with the Mavs.

Oh, and half of the Rockets team — and a Skyped-in Yao Ming — made the pitch for Houston.

It must be nice to be the best looking woman in the bar and everybody is buying you drinks. That’s Howard, who gets to have his ego stroked for a week or so before choosing which future employer earns the right to pay him $88 million or more.

But Howard isn’t the only one having fun; fans eat this stuff up too. All the rumors. All the teams. Everybody getting in on the action…..except the Suns.

And that’s just fine with me.

Passive doesn’t usually play well with a fan base. When the new GM says things like “I don’t think we’ll be in that game” or that he’d rather “target value guys” it leaves fans with a yearning to be part of the action. It can leave you a little envious when your NBA neighbors are getting in on Howards or the Andre Iguodalas or Josh Smiths of the world; it’s fun when your team is active.

Here’s a vote for inactivity. I want them to avoid the fun the same way I want my high school son to avoid parties on a Saturday night.

Please, sit this one out. The players out there aren’t worth it and you’re not close enough to justify it anyway. Preserve cap space for a future trade or free agent down the road somewhere.

Suns GM Ryan McDonough has already shown a bit of verve; he had to know Ben McLemore would be the popular pick with the fans yet he picked Alex Len anyway. He doesn’t strike me as being too worried about a fan base who might have that itch to see their team jump in.

This is essentially the vibe the team is sending out and it’s absolutely striking the right chord.

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