Pritchard couldn't have been prepared for how well Nic has played. This, in itself, poses a problem (albeit a nice problem), with which direction the team will go. Batum has been fearless. For a 19-year old rookie to mix in perfectly with our team core and to do so while posting incredibly efficient numbers is jaw dropping. His PER (17.19) is nearly identical to Gerald Wallace's. Obviously Nic's doing his damage in a fraction of the time, but this latest revelation (Wednesday night with 15 points, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists), has to make Pritchard wonder if the missing "SF" ingredient is already on our team. I mean why pay ten times the salary for a player that could give you nearly the same, the same, or better results? At this point I believe Pritchard will need to hold off on any deals as long as Nic's playing this well, and I see little indication that he'll fall back to earth. Dude is here to stay. The other issue is how well both Steve and Sergio have played and that the only real probable upgrade, Hinrich, is out until February. Steve is playing the best basketball of his life (PER 14.92, .419 3-pt shooting, .957 FT shooting, and 11 points per game). This and he's so dependable with taking care of the ball. Defense is his obvious weakness. The way I saw it was that Kirk Hinrich would be able to come in, and with his superior defense make this team even stronger. Well that can't take place now until February. Unless the team is struggling at that point, I really don't see a change being made that late in the season. So at this point I'm left wondering what the hell is Pritchard going to do. To be fair to players that most certainly will be hurt by not having nearly enough playing time (Frye, Diogu) or to the team, who won't be as strong as they can be if they're not playing superior players more (Fernandez, Batum), the team needs to send out a couple of power forwards at least. And, if the team is as high on Bayless as we keep hearing from the Broadcast Crew, then Sergio should be packaged in a deal as well. But what do we need? We're still two deep at every position. So why not load up on more young talent. Unload our existing talent for future talent. I disagree that we need vets. We have vets. They're young, but they're experienced. So what about: - Joe Alexander (of the Bucks) - Alexis Ajinca (of the Bobcats) - Serge Ibaka (of the Thunder) - Omer Asik (of the Bulls) - Tiago Splitter (of the Spurs) These are all players that I've been interested in in the past. They have plenty of upside and wouldn't demand playing time this season. Deferring our current unusable talent for future talent makes a lot of sense to me now. What about sending say Channing Frye to the Bobcats for Alexis Ajinca and another player or future draft pick? Or how about, and this would be my preference, a package including either Channing or Sergio to San Antonio for the rights to Tiago Splitter. Thoughts?
tiago splitter will likely not come over ever because he was a late #1 pick. his salary is already10 times what he would ever make here. ajinca is a decent idea though, if we are going to have players like frye and ike rot on the bench, might as well cash them in for some younger players with smaller contracts.
What young talent could you want from LA? They're not giving up Thornton or Gordon and I can't think of anyone else you'd want to stash for a few years.
they arent giving up gordon or thornton? they are if they want to win sometime this life. with dunleavy making the gm decisions as well, he is going to need to put a winner on the floor, period. he has no one else to blame now. i could absolutely see him give up either of them for a productive vet.
One thing I'll add of the "deferring talent" debate is that Freeland and Koponen are already being "deferred". I'm sure KP thought quite a bit about keeping Petteri on the 15 man roster this year after his play in summer league, and Freeland seems to be doing very well this year in a solid European league. Koponen is 20 years old, and Freeland is 21. How many young players does the team need?
I should have been more clear. I thought in this thread you were thinking of giving up end of the bench guys (Frye was mentioned earlier) and it would take a lot more than that for either of them. The problem is that they are both producing at a very high level right now. That and their youth would make them very expensive. I think it would probably take something like Outlaw, Bayless and a pick for Thornton-I'm not sure LA would even take that. I think the Blazers are stacked with potential star talent right now and I don't think they really need another young guy like that who needs to develop further.
i would happily have the 15th player on this team perpetually be a high upside project. if you would like our inactive players to be veterans, that is your preference.
i was more thinking that dunleavy seems like he is ripe for the picking. not even those players, but possibly picks, which are clipper gold.
I, too, liked Asik. And he is in Europe until 2011, when he'll just turn 25. Trading Outlaw to CHI for his rights and Thomas would help them out immediately (scoring PF) while giving us a project PF/C and a 2011 potential stud. I, also, am intrigued by Alexander, but not enough to give what they'd want for a lottery rookie.
I never said that. I just think that the team is young enough right now in a "deferred" sense, and that trading to add more "deferred" players may not yield results that seem a season or two away at this point. I hope that Raef is the last veteran that is needed as an inactive player, but there was always a reason that he was mostly inactive and on the roster. It's for his contract. My guess is that the team won't need a player like Raef to sit if and when KP best uses his contract.
I like Ibaka a lot, and that was who KP was rumored after with that #27 he bought. I would really like to make a push for him and Desmond Mason, and OKC needs scoring help immediately. (my personal opinion) is that Frye and Webster fit better long-term than Outlaw (frye 1/2 just for setting picks for sergio and rudy) and I would personally do Outlaw for Mason/Ibaka (not sure OKC would). Mason is very high character, very high defense, and a vet expiring from Portland, plus he's played w/Nate in Seattle. It'd just mean a few less minutes for Batum this year, followed by quite a bit more next year. In a year (with Frye on a MLE 3 year?) Blake/Sergio/Bayless/Koponen (something's gotta happen there too) Roy/Rudy Webster/Batum Aldridge/Frye/Ibaka Oden/Pryzbilla/Freeland
