Camby is out. He is going to resign with Denver. I haven't seen much of Blount is he really solid enough to start? Etan Thomas? Shouldn't he be considered in the backup tier? Rebracca was just a mediocre backup for the pistons last I remember so I guess he's out. Ruben Boumjte Boumjte isn't really anything special. I'm guessing we'll pass on having Big Jake again. Chris Mihm might be good. There's a few others out there that we could get if we wanted to stockpile centers or something but really I think the list (out of respect to leaving Voskuhl as our backup) is short: Foyle Dampier (if Shaq goes east and we can part with more than 8.7 million!) Okur Blount Camby (if we could get him) Keon Clark
Yea Camby is going back to Denver, Dampier will be very hard to get. Foyle would be a good pickup but I don't know as a starting center. Blount wants to go to Orlando or Miami because has a residence in Florida. Okur is a possiblity, and Clark wouldnt be a bad pickup. Etan is more of a backup and didn't do too well starting but is capable, Boston has expressed interest.
I don't know if we should be pissed BC passed up on PJ Ramos for this Jackson guy. The way draft city describes him he'll be a slightly smaller Voskuhl with a rap sheet. I am also absolutely livid we missed Varejao by one pick.
Anyone think Vroman will suit up for the season? Is he even playing in the RMR (or the other one)? He's only 6'10" 220 yet they project him as a F-C. Then again they also have Zarko down as one what was Okur's season like before Sheed came in? I only saw 2 games but he looked solid. Much better than his brief playoff appearances.
The Pistons have offered free agent center Mehmet Okur a six-year, $40 million contract to stay in Detroit, according to a league source. Okur still plans to have discussions with other teams before deciding in the next week what he will do. The Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns are among the teams expected to make offers for Okur. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1833613','351' Can we afford to beat that now? Do we want to? Would Foyle or Blount be cheaper? MAybe they would be better since Lampe is basically an Okur in the making. He <u>was</u> 270 but trimmed down already this offseason, hopefully keeping around 250 in bulk. He has the outside touch. He just needs to follow direction better and learn to play inside and not shoot every time he gets it. At the very least we are a year away from getting serious about winning. Maybe this year we develop Lampe and Vroman and keep Voskuhl as our starter. I'm sure no one is happy with the sound of that since we can taste playoff blood with the other four starters we have now. Somebody might have to come in at a discount... are we a team that people would do that for though We better get off our buts and chase after Centers though... I haven't seen anything on hoopshype about our looking for anybody but Okur really.
Suns have never had a good center and we never will. THe last "good" center was Mark West and his numbers weren't that impressive. Why is this? Bad luck? Wrong direction or just bad time for our free agency money. I think the Suns should go after Okur. He is a solid rebounder and will help on D. That is what the suns need. I don't think they will have a problem scoring this year.
Didn't they have Clark and release him? I don't think Clark would go back after that. I heard that they're real Interested in Okur. Though his body doesn't look like a body of a Center, for the west.
Okur's gone to Utah http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1834778 No link, but Foyle's gone to GS I heard... still rumor I guess. Options are dwindling. We may run with Voskuhl Lampe and Vroman next year.
Well I wanted Lampe to get a chance at playing, but not this much of a chance lol, well the center could be a problem, I hope Vroman can also contribute pretty decently, but Lampe isn't a shot blocker, and neither is Jake. It would be good to have a shot blocking/defensive center. Vroman is supposed to be a good defender, but he can't block shot's either, if he could it would be nice. Lampe - Offense, Shooting Voskuhl - Hustle, Harrasing offensive players, and defense Vroman - Defense and Rebounding It would've been nice for one of them to have shot blocking in their repotior
It'd be nice if Lampe could be turned into a rounded player. I'm excited to see how Vroman does in the summer leagues His pre draft camp performances were really solid Vroman burst onto the NBA radar with his strong play at Portsmouth and a quality follow-up performance at Chicago, which probably secured him a spot in the second round. At Portsmouth, he averaged 19.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and was named to the All-Consolation Team. At Chicago, his norms were 14.3 and 5.7. Looking around the sites they make him sound like a Rodman or a potential white guy flop as a center depending on who's talking. All agree he's way too small. Coach Mike D'Antoni said Vroman, who didn't play basketball until high school, has center Jake Voskuhl's work ethic and a chance to stick in the NBA. "It's likely he'll be around," D'Antoni said. "He'll go through summer league, and I expect him to make the team. We wouldn't have drafted him if we didn't think he had a great shot at making the team, and we expect him to contribute, even. A talent that's overlooked is how hard he plays." http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=1829002 dunno. Rebounding he can probably manage, but defemse might be tough. He might be backing Amare and have Lampe sliding over to C moreso. Really, if we don't re-sign Dice then Vroman will be our backup PF most likely. I hope we don't rashly spend (or take on) too much money on a Center we're going to regret having again (Jahidi). We should hold out a season and wait for options to improve. If Lampe does well in the summer leagues again he may fulfill his boast and be our starting C this year Learn to muscle the post. Pass the ball. He could be our man.
Hey guys, I've got a trade proposal for you that would shore up your center problems: Warriors S&T Damp for a 4-5 year deal (the first year could be anywhere from 6 to 8.4 mil, but probably a lot closer to 8.4 mil) to Phoenix. Phoenix trades Eisley, Voskuhl, and the Chicago pick to the Warriors. As a Warrior fan, I'd jump all over the deal because of the Chicago pick. By getting Damp, Phoenix would shore up their center problems and have an excellent starting 5. The only problem is that in two years most of the team's salary will be tied up in Nash, Marion, Stoudemire, and Damp, so Johnson would probably eventually have to be traded. Basically its a short term move to make the Suns legitimate title contenders for two or three years then saddles them with some huge contracts for the following year or two.
Arthur Johnson, one of the top big men in college basketball the past couple of seasons at Missouri, is among the free agent invitees to the Suns? summer camp that runs from Saturday through Monday. In addition to the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Johnson... http://www.nba.com/suns/news/tribune_040709.html At 255 he might be buff enough (ala Wallace or Okaphor) to be a 6'9" C. We might pick him up and put him on the IL just in case. Too bad Vroman isn't that heavy.
