http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5099980 Salary cap set at 56.1M. Well done, league prognosticators (50.7 to 53.3). NYK now has room for 2 maxes (~16.9M starting salary) and no one else. MIA's looking pretty if they keep Wade, sign a max (Bosh?) and still have around 12M left. If they send Beasley off in a S&T, they can have 3 maxes and a bunch of minimum contracts.
Yea you know what is the interesting wrinkle I want to throw out there, is the fact Batum replaced Parker on the French team when Tony was hurt, and they played pretty damn well. It raises the question. Do we possibly have a freak on our hands? A freak that it is worth going and getting another SF type so he can spend some minutes at PG? I am unsure. But I think it is worth investigating, because those types of freaks are rare.
In the draft thread I postulated that I could see us looking at Singler or Hayward or Pondexter for just that reason. Playing Nic more at the one allows us to get another defensive player (Webster, Pondexter) or ball-handler (Singler, Rudy) in the game. Batum/Roy/Player X is a pretty versatile way to go. Edit: Much easier than finding a PG that can start with X/Roy/Batum
Our biggest need is a backup PG. Bayless is most certainly a SG. Johnny Flynn The triangle offense totally killed his game. The guy is a stud and a very nice PG prospect. They have Ricky Rubio waiting in the wings with Ramon Sessions on the roster. Flynn probably could be had. Darren Collison He's like a better passing Aaron Brooks. With Paul 100% they could probably look to deal Collison with a bad contract. Petteri Koponen In Vegas he showed a very nice first-step, passing ability, and shooting range. At 6'5" he's an intriguing prospect. My favorite under the radar prospect is Jrue Holiday.
I think as far as finding a point to play with them, you go the Ron Harper mold, as long as they can play defense. I know Roy and Batum are a ways away from Jordan and Pippen, to say the least, but we don't need an incredible playmaking "true" PG, aren't going to find anyone that can shut down the smaller quicker guards, so find someone that'll play well off of them two, Oden and Aldridge. Decent shooter, decent playmaker, good defender. SMART. Basically, the assumption I am seeing and making is our PG is going to arguably be our worst starter. And I'm ok with that. And if we realize that, we can start to eliminate some of the expectations. I don't see Batum being a full time point for us. Same with Roy. But Someone like Kopo can. Or, even, Rudy. Yeah, yeah, he's not keeping up witht he quicker guards. Shit, Westbrook, one of the better guard defenders, just got his ass smoked the last two games by 30 something Andre Miller. Man to man PG defense is pretty over rated. The best of the best are going to get around defenders, regardless of how good the defender is. Is the player smart? Can he direct hi man to places he wants him to go? Understand team defense? I'd actually really like Rudy in that PG role for us, now that I think of it.
I really like Holiday, but I don't think he's anywhere close to "under the radar" among NBA people. I'd swap him straight-up for Bayless (or maybe Rudy) right now, but I don't think PHI would. If we're looking at keeping Batum at the 3, figure out what GSW wants for Curry. Though imo it'd be easier getting CP3 from NOH than Curry from GSW.
I have not been a Nate basher, but one thing I think is true, Nate is risk adverse. This leads to a drop in creativity. For this reason, I don't see Batum or Rudy getting enough of a leash at the PG spot to ever grow into that position. That may be the right answer, but it would take a couple months (at minimum) of giving them 20mpg unfettered at PG to see if it would work. I am not even saying Nate is wrong to go with a short term answer instead of exploring other options that will likely result in more immediate losses, even if it could result in a more positive future. Basically, I just realize it ain't gonna happen regardless of the merit of the idea. Baring Miller going down, it's not in the cards.
