I'm not so much looking for an upgrade as I am insurance. With our starters playing as well as they are, I'm satisfied with our bench. I am perfectly fine with Freeland and Robinson as our backup bigs. Although I won't pull a PapaG or MM and bump an old thread, I was the ONLY poster who picked Joel Freeland as my Cult Hero before the season started (I'll just pat myself on the back instead). His improvement was obvious (to me) during the preseason and he's truly embraced his inner Nick Collison. Robinson is inconsistent, but does more good than bad and I love his energy and attitude. He also has a shit load of upside. However, if one of Lopez or Aldridge gets injured and needs to miss a significant number of games, I'd not be comfortable with Joel Freeland or Thomas Robinson starting. That's where I'd like to add a cheap veteran big. Not sure who we could get, but it's unfortunate Golden State beat us to Jermaine O'Neal for $2 million over 1 year. In the backcourt, before the season, many posters were saying we had too many bodies and should trade one of our guards (usually Wesley) for a big. Good thing we didn't. We've already had one significant injury, and when CJ comes back, I view him as our insurance in the backcourt. If not, in an emergency, we have Barton. So, unless CJ has a major set back, or we suffer another injury before he comes back, I'm fine with our backcourt. So yeah, cheap veteran big man with a pulse who can fill in in case of injury would be my priority. Contrary to the popular opinion, I'd prefer to hold onto Meyers Leonard, if we can. I couldn't believe how much hatred and teeth gnashing was directed at him during the preseason. There was even talk of cutting him outright (that would be stupid). We knew then (at least I did) that he was going to be our 3rd string center buried deep on the bench. Through 18 games he's appeared in 3 games for a total of 21 minutes - and over half of those minutes were head-to-head against Dwight Howard, yet his advanced stats aren't horrible (small sample size, of course). Yeah, he's raw and I'd hate to rely on him to start more than a game, or two (which is why cheap veteran big man with a pulse is my highest priority), but I'm not ready to give up on him long term. I knew he was very young and very raw when we drafted him. I figured it would be at least four years before he'd be a decent NBA player. We're only about 1/3 of the way through those 4 years and his trade value will never be lower. So, moving him now makes no sense. Of course, if someone offers us proven talent in return, I wouldn't hesitate to trade him. I just don't want to give him away at fire sale prices. BNM
The shot clock is running down because he dribbles for 20 seconds. I disagree that his shots are within the flow of the offense.
Which is exactly why I thought MIL was nuts for throwing over $15 million and 3 years at Zaza. They clearly aren't in win now mode. So, why tie up that much money, for that long, for a guy that old who wasn't even expected to start? Granted, he's not Jermaine O'Neal old, but he's not the kind of guy you lock up for 3 years when you're rebuilding. BNM
Well they've got to spend the money on somebody and Pachulia is easily moved if/when they decide to do so.
Actually, with that contract, I think he'll be difficult to move anytime soon - maybe as an expiring contract at the trade deadline in February 2016. BNM
Mirza Teletovic -- underused big who can really shoot. A bit like Frye. I. Thomas - instant offense who is a capable floor general. Will be an UFA this coming summer. Larkin - coming off injury, similar skillset to Thomas.
That might be his point, but if so, he's wrong. It isn't a difficult exercise to show that the probability of an approximately 0.400 team winning 12 in a row and sitting at 15-3 is absurdly low, and provides a high confidence level that we aren't a 0.400 team this year. Which means that there is an extremely high probability we are a much, much better team this year than last.
You know who's a big man who's really contributing for his (good) team and that we could have had FOR SURE? Steven Adams. But here's a name for you: Joel Anthony. Completely fallen out of the rotation. I guess that's because Oden's taken all his minutes, like we feared.
Trading McCollum or Robinson for a fringe starter like Frye, Davis, or Hinrich would be more short-sighted than moving Petro for Walter Davis. Our team is far from a finished product. Just be patient.
I can't imagine why Sacramento would want to trade him, though. He's awesome off their bench too, and he's cheap.
