Who are the odd men? Raef LaFrentz-Too low on the depth chart, old, and expiring deal is attractive Channing Frye-With the emergence of Batum, this allows Outlaw to get the bulk of the backup 4 minutes Steve Blake- Just not getting it done on the defensive end of the floor and team seems to flow better with Sergio in the game. Reports out of Blazers camp is Bayless is quickly moving up the rotational hierarchy. We didn't draft a lottery point guard to have him be 3rd string all year. Now, theoretically, we could let them all walk at the end of the year due to their restricted status to free up more cap space, or we could look for a quick fix, 1 year rental for another prominent player who is in the final year of their contract. Shawn Marion comes to mind as his veteran presence would be welcomed and his defense would make our frontline scary defensively, but I don't think that package would be enough...maybe add a future 1st round pick? Miami does need a point guard and Blake is from south Florida. They do need front court depth as Frye is a better starting option than Haslem. Jason Kidd is a name that gets thrown around, but this package wouldn't be enough as the Mavericks are in denial and still think they are a title contender. I think he is a bit overrated and his shooting deficiencies and slower feet would hinder our team. If we let all 3 walk or trade all 3 for a player mentioned above, combined with Francis and Miles coming off of the books and taking into account Martells 1.3 million raise to 5 million a season, we should have about 41 million off of the books. What I am saying is, I don't really want to take on a Vince Carter or Kirk Hinrich type of player as a "increase the baking time" of our team just to maybe win a few more games, because their contracts are hell. I'm sure KP knows the market better than you or I and will use LaFrentz's expiring deal to find help now if he doesn't see a fix via the free agent market in the foreseeable future.
I agree that the good play of Batum means that one of Frye or Outlaw will be our backup PF and the other will find themselves facing a lack of playing time, but I agree with Julius that Frye will be our backup PF. I see us deciding wether to ice the cake through cap space or a trade by the trade deadline. I still see us re-signing Frye after the season, so I see us trying to create as much cap space as we can to make up for the money we give Frye if we go the cap space route, that means trading Joel. I would replace Frye with Outlaw and Przybilla in the odd men out. The other possibility is trading Raef for the icing we want. Which is better? What kind of icing are we going after? Here is Chad Ford's look at the free agent class of 2009. Bynum and Granger were taken off the possible market just before the extension deadline. Anybody else sign already? Which of those players might we go after? Which ones do we definitely not want? How much cap space would we need? How about a trade? Who is available? Who would be our trade target?
