2014. Why not? I guess what I'm saying is, if Aldridge, Batum, and Lillard are the true nucleus of this team, then the upgrades would need to happen at the 2 & 5 positions.....and, of course, the bench. Therefore, why not just move Matthews to the bench and sell him on the SMOY philosophy, and go after a mid to upper quality starting 2? Effectively, the Blazers could be killing two birds with one stone. I guess the question might remain, though, who might that starting 2 be? Who's out there that might reasonably fit/fill that role?
Here's the FA 2013 list provided by Hoopsworld: http://www.hoopsworld.com/2013-nba-free-agents/ I like the idea of going after Jarret Jack, Redick, or Mayo. What do you think, ABM?
JJ, not so much. I cringed a lot when he was a Blazer. Redick would certainly fill an outside shooting need, but I think I like Mayo the best of that trio.
Mayo will probably get the most $$$ for a contract out of that trio as well. I don't like the list of free agent centers coming up. We'll probably have to trade for a center if we want to upgrade the 5 spot.
My apologies if this has all been discussed before. It most likely has. But, do you guys think that Matthews would be accepting of coming off the bench? Is he (the team for that matter) best fit in that role?
With Matthews around our biggest hole is at the 5, it'd be nice to upgrade any other spot, but that's obviously priority #1. We have limited cap space OR a couple of decent roleplayers worth working out a sign and trade with, but it's a pretty limited set of options. Where do you think we can get the assets or room to make a move for an upgrade to Matthews? It would take one of Lillard or Aldridge to pry Beal away from Washington, no thanks.
How about just starting batum at sg, then use claver as the starting sf? Matthews can come off the bench and close the 4th
Ummm, not even close ABM. He was drafted this year 3 picks ahead of Lillard, he's locked up until 2016/2017 offseason and even then he's a restricted FA
Yeah, not sure what I was thinking there. He did show up on the 2104 list, but there's a team option. http://www.hoopsworld.com/2014-nba-free-agents/ Next.
If the priority is to get a center in the offseason/sign-and-trade Hickson (maybe), and you spend money on Maynor as well for the backup PG spot, that's actually not a horrible idea. The second priority should be a defensive-oriented assistant coach that can put a scheme together using the guys we have. A scheme that actually works.
I agree. The priority is a defensive center and defensive assistant coach. I'm tired of the layup drills our team gives up
Are there any big guys out there willing to challenge shots, take charges, and box their men out? Are fundamentals really hard to teach?
