Source Gotta love this, we have a legitimate bench than can come out and run with anyone, along with guys finally finding their roles. I really wanna stick with a starting unit and bench unit. Soon our bench will be Barbosa, Bayless, Lineas, Davis & Peja. Starting is Calderon, DeMar, Sonny, Andrea & Reggie (will be Amir Johnson). Feels good to be on a win streak, but that could be short lived. Game on Friday against Boston....it'll be a big one and a good one.
Yea, he actually had 7 points in 6 minutes. Hit a 3 and had a nice shot right over Jrue Holiday. If he can contribute like that in limited time; sign him for life. He stills shows he can play and his shot is hella nice.
Unless you can get him REALLY cheap, I wouldn't even try to resign him. He has a bad back and could go down for good at any instant. His biggest value is his $15,336,000 expiring contract. With that trading chip, if you're willing to take back a longer contract in return, you might be able to land one or two VERY solid younger players and/or some future draft picks. Getting Peja's enormous expiring contract from NOH this early in the season could be huge in jump starting your rebuilding efforts. Your best bet in trading partners may be the team you beat last night. The 76ers are looking to dump Brand's huge contract and may be willing to include a couple young players and a draft pick to help sweeten the pot. Brand is grossly overpaid, but he's still productive and would be a big upgrade at the starting 4 over Reggie Evans until Johnson (or some other young big) is ready to start at the 4. Cleveland, Washington, Detroit, Golden State and the Clippers all have big contracts they may be looking to dump and have young players and future lottery picks to include in any trades. Golden State is playing decent right now, but if the wheels fall off (most likely) and they are firmly out of the play-off picture come February (they will be), they may be willing to trade Biedrins (likely) or even David Lee (less likely) in exchange for an expiring contract. Beidrins seems to have fallen a bit out of favor in Golden State, but he's still only 24. Hard to believe he averaged 11.9 PPG and 11.2 RPG just two seasons ago at the age of 22, and 10.5 PPG and 9.8 RPG the year before at only 21. You could play him at the 5 and move Bargnani to the 4. That would give you a HUGE active front line. Or better still, if you could land David Lee, his rebounding and inside scoring would be the perfect compliment to Bargnani's perimeter offense. Lee thrived in an up tempo system in New York and would give you a very mobile big man that would fit well with your up tempo style. If you're looking to steal some young talent, look no further than the LA Clippers. Donald Sterling is a notorious tightwad who's all about saving money. If you're willing to take back Baron Davis's contract, the Clippers have some young talent to include in a deal. Best of all, Sterling actually prefers to give up young, promising talent rather than wait for them to blossom and demand more money when their rookie contracts are up. You're not going to get Blake Griffin (too good, too cheap, too many years left on his rookie deal), but may be able to land a player like Eric Gordon (MUCH better version of Jerryd Bayless), or one of their rookies (Bledsoe or Aminu) and they'd probably throw in DeAndre Jordan (cheap, young and big), as well. There's some talent there, and never underestimate Donald Sterling's desire to save a buck (or about $25 million of them, in this case). Point being, Peja's big expiring contract could be a very valuable trade asset for your team as the trading deadline approaches. And, lets' face it, even if he plays well (a big if) and stays healthy (an even bigger if), he's not part of your long term plans. You might as well use him to move forward with your rebuilding efforts. BNM
Gordan might be a stretch since he's probably their second best player. How long is Davis' deal? What bout Kaman?
Baron has two more seasons (and >$28 million) left AFTER this season. I'm sure Donald Sterling would LOVE to get out from under that contract. Gordon may be a stretch, but nobody is going to take on Baron's contract unless they also get some talent in return. BNM
Also, what about Mayo? He seems to have played himself out of the starting lineup this year. He is another young player that could contribute to this team. And Gasol is a restricted free agent this year and Zbo's deal is almost up too i believe, considering they payed Gay 80 mil, they might need some salary relief to retain those guys.
Memphis doesn't have any contracts to dump in exchange for Peja's expiring contract. Zach has an even bigger expiring contract and is way more productive than Peja. So, no incentive to swap his expiring contract for Peja's. Rudy Gay is their only other big contract and he's too young and productive for them to dump for an expiring contract. BNM
