we have around either $10M and the room exception of $2.5M if operating under the cap or the MLE, BAE, and asik's TPE if operating over the cap. either way we have about $12M to spend and need a bench. ariza is better than parsons on defense only. when it comes to creating for himself or others parsons was pretty good, and ariza isn't great. we're gonna need a third scorer sixth man. the positions needed are PG, SF, and C. i believe in dmo as a PF and daniels/johnson as SG's so i wouldn't spend money there with more glaring needs. PGs: jameer nelson, stuckey, sessions, bayless, mowill, brooks, ridnaur, billups SFs: turner, marion, beasley, wesley johnson, hamilton, douglas roberts Cs: blatche, jermaine oneal, jason smith, okafor, hollins, byron mullins, nazr mohammed, steimsma these are the guys at positions we need who are still on the market. mike miller and caron butler are close to deals with other teams so i left them off the list. my wish list (of the players remaining obviously) are mo williams, wesley johnson, and andre blatche. i think mo williams can hold the fort as the 3rd option / 6th man. johnson is the best 3&D wing remaining. and blatche has issues but no big man remaining is more talented also, no matter what happens, i'd sign billups, steimsma, and kenyon martin to minimum deals. billups would give such great leadership and mentorship to the pgs. steimsma is a really good shot blocking center (poor mans birdman), and kenyon martin still plays really good defense and we might need a good defender at the 4 spot in the playoffs... i'm pretty sure we'll need that, something tells me. who would you pick to build our bench?
If we could sneak out of the summer with Okafor, Marion and AB0 I'd be a lot happier than I am now. I don't believe in D-Mo as a PF myself, but aside from a potential Boozer amnesty the PF market is barren so there's not much choice.
Said this elsewhere, but maybe the thing to do is to get someone with one year (or maybe two) left via trade. I wonder, for example, whether Toronto would give up Chuck Hayes or Tyler Hansbrough for little in return.
