I know nobody wants these threads littering the front page but, well, it's our offseason, and they're bound to. More than likely, it'll slowly evolve into the same thing most threads do, anyways, or discussion of the same plans. But whatever, had been kicking around a new plan today, thought I'd start up a new thread for discussion. Will start by saying, short of Dwight, it seems like just about any C mentioned on the board has met with some resistance, for one reason or another, and quite a few don't pass the needle moving muster to many, whatever it takes to actually move that needle. I agree to an extent, but also, our needle this season was at asset collecting, and young player development. So almost organically, our needle is moving. And a bit player can help move it to playoff team, IMO. So, offseason plan 2C or something. All of this is also working on the assumption the cap is swt at a straight 60 million, which it has been rumored to go up to. Also, we all obviously have no idea if another team will agree to a trade, or if we can sign a player for X amount of dollars, but I'll try to be fair on it. Draft night(assuming we stay at #10): Out: #10, Freeland, Pavlovic(unguaranteed) In: Robin Lopez Why? I can almost here the groans of trading a lotto pick for Robin Lopez. Of course, a lot of the suggestions of who to draft, and what we want out of the position are roughly what Robin could/would give us. We want a garbage man on offense, solid defender and rim protector. As a man defender in the post, Lopez gave up .73 points per possession, good for 54th overall in the league. For comparison, Larry Sanders gave up .70, DeAndre Jordan gave up .85, McGee was at .75. Hickson was at .94, good for 218th/ Basically, he is an above average man to man post defender and a big improvement on our roster. On the Pick n Roll, he was much better, giving up .58 PPP. 8th in the league. Hickson was at .8. Sanders .81, Jordan .72, McGee .8. So he's solid on the PnR as well. On offense, he was similar to Hickson on running the PnR, and really, that's about all I want out of him on offense. His post up numbers were good, but I don't envision wanting him to post up often. Still, he didn't fail miserably there. He has 2 remaining years on his contract at 5.1 and 5.3 million, neither are guaranteed, so is a big trade chip if we so desired, or if he broke his leg in pieces, he can be cut, so it isn't the salary concern someone like McGee or Jordan would be. Deal done on draft night. We go to July 1st with: Lillard Matthews/Barton Batum/Claver Aldridge Lopez/Leonard We have still 12.75 million in cap space, as well as our mini MLE at our disposal. Which leads us to three different options, IMO. We can go big on the wing, and smaller for a backup 4. So let's say....Iguodola for 4 years, 38 million, and I dunno, Dante Cunningham for 3 year, 10 million. Maynor for mini MLE Lillard/Maynor Iggy/Matthews Batum/Claver Aldride/Cunningham Lopez/Leonard The opposite, we can go big on another big(least favorite option of the 3 for me), and do something like... Millsap for a similar Iggy deal, and a 3 a year wing. Maynor at mini MLE Third options is splitting up the almost 13 million with a big and a wing, giving both a deal slightly over MLE, putting us at a distinct advantage over any team bidding just MLE for them. So, let's say... Reddick or Tony Allen at 6.75 starting, and someone like Speights, Blatche, Landry, Brand on a shorter deal, but over MLE, overpaying to keep them away from somewhere else. Let's go Allen and Brand. Lillard/Maynor Allen/Matthews Batum/Claver Aldrdge/Brand Lopez/Leonard We'd have Barton still on the roster there, and I'd look to fill in minimum spots with Jermaine O'Neal, try to take a shot at Cole Aldrich, and a 3rd string vet PG. Sorry so long. Obviously, the guys in consideration can be altered. In scenario 1 with going big on a wing, I don't see tons of great wing options. Iggy, Monta, Tony Allen, Mayo, Reddick, JR Smith, K. Martin, Not many I would go big on, but more would fit in option 3, of going with more of a split. In that scenario, I can see going slightly over MLE for any of them. Same with bigs. I would think option 3 would be the best, being able to steal guys unlikely to get totally overpaid by teams with cap space from teams that only have the MLE to offer. Does it move the needle? I think so. I think even if both positions are backups, you add huge improvements at 6th and 7th men, and a big improvement at C to our squad, and we're battling for home court advantage, and are still really young. Alright, who made it all the way to the bottom?
I've been on the Lopez bandwagon for a while. 10/Freeland might be overpaying a bit, but I think it'd be worth it. I also don't think NO would go for it. As for the use of the cap space, I like the idea of spending slightly more than MLE on 2 MLE-level guys to solidify the rotation. Yeah, if we could do it without trading Aldridge, that'd be nice.
I'd like Lopez but that is overpaying. His DRtg is surprisingly bad. He's also (at best) an average rebounder.
I like the general idea, but I think a rebuilding team like Pheonix would be just as enticed by our handful of early to mid 2nd rounders as by the #10.
he's on NO now, not PHX. And I think a rebuilding team would prefer the lottery talent over 3 second rounders.
Your plan is along the lines of what I'm hoping for this summer. Other than Howard there aren't any centers available that are going g to be difference makers. Get a mid-level talent at that spot and then fill in the other gaping holes in the roster.
Oops, my bad. That notwithstanding, sure they would prefer the lottery talent, but they would probably consider three solid 2nd round picks, plus someone like Freeland, to be fair value.
I was looking at Robin Lopez and I think he's a better defender than his twin brother Brook. In fact, I think he would be better for our system and players than Brook Lopez could. Robin sets great picks, rebounds and blocks shots well. He's also a pretty decent one on one defender too. I wouldn't be upset if we grabbed him.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3447/robin-lopez So I looked at his stats and I think he would be a great addition. I would even trade Leonard for him. Personally I think Leonard maybe the incentive, since he is young enough to develop and be a factor when Anthony Davis becomes the superstar. This could be a great move by Olshey!
