Wow all these "STARs" and no starting quality PG (Had 2 last season, lost both)... Way to go Houston... 18 pick there you go
Milsap and Smith also will put up similar numbers to Scola, but for double the price. I think we would have to over pay both of them then we would have another "Kelvin Cato" situation. Except they'd be making a lot more than we paid Cato. They are all good players, but not worth the money we'd have to pay. I think the only person who would be worth max money are Love and Aldridge, that are remotely feasible. And Bynum too if the sixers haven't locked him up already.
Good question, Big Al or Josh Smith. I pick Smith for a couple reasons: 1. He is a superior defender to Big Al. He is one of the best defenders in the entire NBA...at any position. Not just a top defender at his position. Overall, he is a top defender. 2. Big Al, while he is a good low block player offensively, he doesn't draw enough fouls for his usage, for the shots he takes. Big Al does not get enough juice out of his usage, out of his possessions. Smith, on the other hand, does have some post up game. He's not as good on the block as Big Al but he does have post up skill and he does have some talent for McHale and CD to work with and improve down there. And he draws more fouls than Big Al does. 3. Big Al has been somewhat injury prone. Smith hasn't suffered any major injuries that I can remember. I think Smith's body is built to last. I think Big Al is going to break down sooner. Big Al is carrying a lot of weight. So, I'd rather pay Smith $10-$12 mill, than to pay Big Al $16-$18 mil, which is what he is likely to earn on the open market. Smith is in a different contract situation coming off an $11 mil salary. His max is right around $13 million. Smith does chuck some shots. At least up until this point in his career he has chucked shots. I happen to feel that in our offense he wouldn't have the opportunities to chuck so many shots because he would be setting picks and rolling to the rim all the time. I think we'd have him stuck in a certain place, set the pick, roll to the rim, run back outside and set another pick and roll to the rim again. We're going to be running multiple PnRs with Lin and Harden. One guy runs one, if we don't get the layup/dunk or a wide open jumper to the other guy or Parsons, then we reset to the other side and run it again. I just don't think Smith would have as many opportunities to spot up and chuck here. By the way, if we got Smith for $11-$13 million, there would still be room to add another major superstar through trade. We'd have enough young pieces and expiring deals to make something else happen when the opportunity presented itself.
It's great we have some cap flexibility, but I'd recommend we stop, wait, and see how these guys do. We might be competitive already. Let's see if there's a particular spot we need to improve after giving these guys a chance: Lin, Harden, Parsons, TJ, and Asik is not a bad starting lineup. Moti, Patterson, Delfino, Cook, and Douglas are decent subs. Smith and Aldrich will contribute. Machado and White might turn into something after some RGV seasoning.
Would love to have J. Smooth, he can play def and he has a good game also. if we can trade 2pat + Morris + Douglas and future 1st Rounder or 2nd Rounder for Pachulia & PG Jeff Teague. would be good. we get our back PG and we can start our Rookie at PF. with this even our back up can give some scoring, with teague running the floor and cook/delfino hitting them 3's, our line up would look something like: PG: Lin / Teague / Machado SG: Harden / Cook SF: Parson / Delfino / White PF: Jones / Pachulia / D-Mo C: Asik / Aldrich
It's too early to make that assessment. Give Lin another month to get his strength, conditioning, and shot back. His defensive abilities are good.
I didn't read through all these posts so I'm just going suggest Bargnani... Tall guy who can shoot and stretch the floor, a rich man's David Andersen?
Machado + Aldrich/Smith to NO for Ryan Anderson? Helps them tank and gives them depth/youth/potential at positions of weakness in exchange for a player that plays the same position as their future superstar.
Josh Smith, LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Jefferson. You give us one of those 3 guys and we'll be a much, much better team.
That is an atrocious offer. For starters, New Orleans doesn't need to tank. They have three above average players in Anderson, Davis, and Gordon. They have a developing player in Aminu. And they have an upside guy (even if its only as a 6th man) in Rivers. The Hornets will be contending for the playoffs this season. And even if they weren't, two guys at the end of the bench for one of the most efficient 3 point shooting big men is not an offer that is going to be taken remotely seriously. If the Hornets actually wanted to trade Anderson (which I doubt they would since they acquired him for a reason) it would require substantially more.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind throwing in Morris or a pick, but I don't think that gets it done either. Trade couldn't happen until December anyways. Hopefully our younger players show enough in their playing time to become worthwhile trade bait (for any trade).
I wouldn't undersell Aldrich just yet until we actually see him play. And Smith has looked promising in the preseason. But I do agree that the deal is terrible for NO right now. Assuming the most optimistic scenario regarding our young players' potential/performance this season, how much more do you think it would take to get a deal done?
Pachulia is 6'11 and he could be used at Center also if needed, so when we running backups on floor, we can have two 6'11 guys on court to defend in paint. and he can score also when needed. so with him you can either use PF-C combo of: Pachulia - Moti - Delfino - Cook - Teague Aldrich - Pachulia - Delfino - Cook - Teague and we would break our bank either if we try to go get them both.
After Lakers got Howard and Orlando got **** back, I say anything can happen. Kevin Love would put Houston into contenders discussion.
Morey's next move will be for a Top 10 player. A genuine superstar. Or at the very least someone with the potential to be one. J Smoove, Al Jefferson, Millsap, Ryan Anderson etc will not make us contenders. Still don't get the hype around J Smoove btw. Very good defender, rebounder & shot blocker but he's a low-character, low IQ, high volume shooter with a terrible attitude. The guys we've brought in are all high-character, intelligent, unselfish basketball players with great worth ethic. Thought we've finally learned our lesson after the Cuttino/Franchise era?
We have seen Aldrich play. He's a 6'11 backup center. I'm glad to have him in Houston because it's been so long since we've had anyone with any height. I expect he'll get 10-12 minutes a night, average 4 and 3, and play the kind of defense expected of the 4th or 5th guy off the bench. That works well for Houston. But he's not turning in to Marc Gasol suddenly because we have more minutes for him. The ONLY thing that can be said about anderson right now is that the Hornets have a bit of a position problem with him. If Davis is playing PF then Anderson has to either play center (where he isn't exactly suited) or SF (where he also isn't exactly suited). But I suspect the Hornets will be smart enough to realize that pigeonholing their big men to specific positions is idiotic and he'll be on the floor plenty, both with Davis and without. The Hornets went after Anderson for a reason. He's going to play 30-35 minutes per night and if they are to win he's going to need to average 16/7+ with high % three point shooting. Players that have shown the ability to do that are not traded for 3rd centers and 4th point guards. Now, to your question of "what would it take" we have to buy in to the idea that the Hornets would be trading a guy they pursued in the offseason before he had even played a game for them. Putting that aside, I would think that getting a player with Anderson's skill set would be expensive. LEt's start with the trade that happened. Anderson wanted to go to New Orleans so a S/T was worked out that included Anderrson, a big fat new contract averaging 8-9 million a year, and Gustavo Ayon. Ayon's per 48 numbers are really good - 14ppg, 12rpb, 3apg, 2bpg. It is reasonable to think that the Magic received a guy who can play decent defense and put up 12 and 10 down low as their starting forward getting 30-36 mpg. (No, we aren't going to do the same thing with Aldrich because he hasn't played enough minutes). So, if the MAgic were to suddenly have a change of heart and say, "we can't find a fit for this guy making 8 million a year" and "we want to clear space to re-sign CP3 this summer" wanted to trade him, I imagine the offers would come quickly from a lot of teams. My guess is that it would take Parsons (16/8 per 48) and a useful player like Aldrich or Douglas AT LEAST. Anderson has a special skill set that commands 8 million a year. Just as Asik (defense and size) and Linn (marketability) have skill sets that command similar money.
