You forgot one choice.
NONE OF THE ABOVE!
Again, no chance in hell of a top three pick. You kidding me? Durant might be the second coming of Len Bias and Oden, while NOT THE SECOND COMING OF BILL RUSSELL, is a very gifted big man. I think Durant is more ready than Oden, but will be kinda hard for Oden to turn down the sneaker money and the possibility of being the #1 pick.
And FWK, I wouldn't trade Jerome James and Malik Rose for Mike Dunleavy and Jamal Tinsley.
Jermaine O'Neal? Danny Granger?
Actually, I'm not sure how active we are going to be in the trading market.
Shandon Anderson, Allan Houston, Jalen Rose, Mo Taylor and Jerome Williams are all coming off the books this summer. Malik Rose's contract expires in the summer of 2008. Stevie and Steph's contracts are up in the summer of 2009, and there are several player options that kick in that summer as well, including Eddy, Quentin, Jamal and Jerome.
Even if we had not traded for Stevie, we'd still be well above the cap this summer at around 71 million, whereas this summer we will be at $87,779,428.
What you are proposing dear Caretaker, in some of those deals, is for us to take back contracts of players the likes of Rasheed Wallace and Jamal Tinsley. Where is the logic? The latter is talented but has almost never played a full season, while the likes of Rasheed is an excellent all-around player and defender, will be 33 this September. How does this fit into our core of young players? Are we making a rung at the championship next season? Is Detroit looking to jettison him? I doubt it. He and Tayshaun and Hamilton are part of the Pistons' core group. Detroit would be willing to give us Nazr Mohammad, who is signed up for the next four years.
Marcus Camby is supposedly on the trading block. Nene has a big new deal, and they still have Kenyon Martin signed through 2011. Malik for Marcus works straight up. Think Denver does it to save two more years on Marcus past summer of 2008, when Marcus will be 35-36? Got me, but I doubt it, and as perfect a match as Marcus would be at PF, again, are we making a playoff push. Same issues as with Rasheed Wallace and Chris Webber. Talent not an issue--age and durability is.
Finally, how much trade value to Channing and Nate really have? Do we really want to trade Balkman?
Frankly, I wouldn't be suprised if we basically bring back most of the current roster. Are changes needed? Sure. But our trading options are severely limited. Other than the draft, at which Isiah has proven masterful, there's the MCE, and, well, "A Tale of Two JJs" hasn't worked out so tough.
For now, I would just like to see us pull out a win in these final close games.
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2 comments:
Too late to change the poll now but we'll register your vote a vote for the status quo.
I read an interesting article the other day saying big men don't get the big sneaker contracts because more kids identify with players who hustle and are closer to their reality (e.g., I'm a teenager not 7' tall).
What that means is that Oden better hope he's picked in an urban basketball market that gives him the buzz he needs to sell merchandise.
But before I let you off the hook, how does this team improve?
I believe that the time has come to cash in some of our youth/role players for a genuine starter. I'd say that PF and SG need the most attention, but a star SF wouldn't be bad either.
It's hard to know which teams will deal a given talented player, and at what price (or what other offers they receive).
As for the guys in your poll, only Rashard and Camby appeal to me.
After scanning thru the depth charts, here are some less-heralded players we could target. Caveat: we seem to have a pretty good assortment of bench/role guys, so I'm not sure that these players make sense until after we trade a few players for a starter upgrade.
Rondo, Pietrus, Kleiza (bulky and can hit 3's), Jack (the new Charlie Ward), Sene, CJ Miles, Novak, Warrick, Kinsey (ex-teammate of Renaldo), Ely, Elson, Childress, Herrmann, Blatche, Josh Powell, Mo Evans.
Note: most of these guys can either defend or shoot.
Some other guys I'm not too up on:
Marvin Williams, Simien, Redick.
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