Is this our starting center next year? Looks like he can rebound, and has a nice scoring touch inside. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_ogcJ1IER4
6'11" 255 lbs., he has the size and athleticism. The international scout that 'Behind the Beat' interviewed said he can play both PF/C in the NBA. #FWIW
great backup to LA then. Roster would look like this Im assuming.... Felton/Smith Wes/? Williams? Wallace?/Batum LA/Freeland ??????????
He is good at positioning, which should translate to the NBA, but I think he will need more upper body strength to hold that position once he establishes.
I still think if Joel Freeland is our starting center then we are in trouble. It's argued which league is better, but even if you believe the league Freeland plays is is better, it's not a ton better than the D league. Babbitt lit up the D league
He's in euroleague, which is a lot better than D-league. We'll probably re-sign Camby and play him till he drops (unless he gets another injury and decides to retire). But we can't count on Oden or Johnson, and the only FA option next year is Chris Kaman, who is also injury prone.
Could a D-League team ever beat last year's Lakers? Because that's what Barcelona did. Ricky Rubio is getting more minutes on the Timberwolves (or are they a D-League team?) than he did on Barcelona. Freeland will, I think, be a solid rotation player (which is a lot better than I expected in his first couple of years - he's really improved). But he's more David Lee than Andrew Bogut or Tiago Splitter. He's got height but he's got kind of stumpy arms. They play him pretty much exclusively at PF, from what I can gather (although team UK plays him at C). It should be pointed out, however, that Freeland has not been dominant in the Euroleague in the way that, for example, Kirilenko has. If it was a choice between getting Freeland and getting AK, I'd go for AK, even taking age into account.
I like Marcus Camby, but resigning a 38 year old center with a history of injury problems isn't much of a plan. They desperately need to swing a trade or sign a free agent and probably need to draft a project or two.
What center do you want to sign? Chris Kaman (who is also injury prone). Ben Wallace? Jermaine O'Neal? Omar Asik? Desagana Diop? Nazr Mohammad? I wouldn't give Camby 10 mil a year, but I'd try to re-sign him, and at the same time, work at getting a replacement that can play defense and rebound.
I somewhat agree but its all about the amount of money offered and the length of the contract. If the price is reasonable and we can set it up for team options at the end I would love to keep Camby. Im sure a lot of that will depend on how much we win. If we do Camby may be willing to take less and have team options. But in the end its all about how well he can stay healthy. Even at this age he is productive. Some nights, very productive.
I agree. For the right price I would take Camby over all of those players. Except maybe a rejuvenated Kaman which I dont think is going to happen.
While I don't think Freeland is the answer at center, we can plug him in there. There aren't a lot of dominant centers right now so he shouldn't be all that much of a liability.
I said sign OR TRADE ... not being privy to whom is or isn't available it's pretty tough to say. But given just your list I'd sign Omar Asik in a heartbeat. He was very, very good (as a strictly defensive big) for the Bulls last year and would compliment LMA well.
I think Asik is pretty good player but to me it seems like Camby (at this point anyway) is a better fit. He is just as good defensively, probably as mobile if not more so which fits in with our running style, he is a better passer and is important to the chemistry of the team. I dont claim to be a Asik expert but I like Camby better at this point in time.
Camby is 38 Asik is 25 ... I like Camby quite a lot, but expecting him to be able to play at a high level for much longer is wishful thinking. If Camby wants to sign a one year deal for the vet's minimum I'd go for that, but anything else would be a bad investment.
I guess that all depends on how much you think Camby would drop off next year and how much Asik would improve because stats wise its not really close. Asik would have really improve and Camby would have drop way off. Not impossible but not likely.
