Thing is because of the new salary, Dudley will likely be making more then Ariza. I think is at a point to where Dudley is a little to slow to guard SF's, and not strong enough nor a good enough rebounder to play extended minutes at the PF position either. He has great IQ, is very high percentage shooter but he has some bad flaws. I think Marvin Williams would be a excellent fit, he can play the majority of his minutes at PF, while giving backup SF minutes. Athletic enough to play SF, still has enough length/strength and the rebounding ability to play PF, hits the 3 at a solid rate and percentage.
Not a big name (or even an average name) but we do have the rights to Jon Diebler who will be available this offseason and is a taller Troy Daniels 2.0 from the look of it. Worth a summer league invite at least with a 49% 3 point shot last season. http://www.eurohoops.net/euroleague/265381/jon-diebler-will-not-continue-in-anadolu-efes
good thing about Drozan is he attacks the rim. he draws alot foul too. Harden can play the true point. Drozan play the shooting. Harden, Drozan, Bezy, Dmo, Clint
Derozan is an intriguing option, but idk if he would be the right max player to pair with Harden due to his poor shooting and defense. Regardless of the players I think that the off-season will end up being one big contract and two smaller trade-able contracts. So, one 20-25 and two 10-15. That way Morey can get out of one or both of the smaller contracts in order to make room for another max player next season. A player that hasn't been talked about on here very much is Courtney Lee. He has the potential to be what Thornton was supposed to be last year. But then again, if KJ somehow developed a shot this off-season then he could be very similar to Lee. Who the hell knows, but right now i'm leaning towards Lee, Marvin Williams (He can start at the 3, right? Or is he too slow?) and Conley. If they could get those three to commit then they could attach KJ or Harrel (No one will want Dekker) to Brewer and get a decent future pick out of the deal. Finally, resign DMo and JSmoove. I'm a big fan of DMo and think that him and Smoove would do really well in the new system Conley/Bev/Goudelock Harden/Lee M. Williams/Ariza/Dekker Dmo/Beasley/Harrel Capela/JSmoove Anyway, that's how i'm feeling today. Ask me tomorrow and it will probably be different.
The team needs a second playmaker. In an ideal world, we snag both Batum and Conley. Unselfish guys who can shoot, play D and create for others. Those should be our 1A and 1B targets. Adding bench scoring should be the next priority -- I love Crabbe and Speights a lot. The way the NBA is now, a 4th quarter line-up of -- Conley Harden Crabbe Batum Capela Can compete with anyone.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Arron Afflalo, Derrick Williams have told the Knicks that they will not opt in to their contracts for 2016-17, per league sources.</p>— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) <a href="https://twitter.com/IanBegley/status/745319090751844356">June 21, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Afflalo would be a nice get - not too long ago he was being discussed as a potential max candidate...oh how the mighty have fallen, but there's still talent there.
Don't know where else to put. Woj on a little bit of everything... Likelihood they move Love? They'll listen. If there's something out there, they'll look at it. Rarely does a team say 100% we're going to move this guy. You don't know the offers you'll get. They did win a championship with him. It's not like there's a desperation to move him but teams will inquire. Teams with significant interest in the past have told me we won't pay as much as we would have two years ago. We're not sure he's the same player he was the other times we went after him but we still like him. If that's true, Cleveland has to find a way to incorporate him into that team. LeBron leaving? He opened the door to that scenario during the season. He talked on the record about it & that having appeal to him. If it were going to happen, next year is a more likely time because you have a bigger crop of superstar free agents(Paul, Griffin, Westbrook, Durant probably) Miami has space next year. The door might be open to it then but he opened that door talking about it this year. Durant keeps saying this is about basketball. If you take out Barnes & plug in Durant, that's a better basketball team. Possibility wise? It is. It's been intriguing to him. I wrote about it during the season, when it felt like the gulf was bigger (between OKC & SA/GS). The way it ended for OKC, because what Durant has said publicly & privately, he wants a chance to win multiple titles. You can make a strong case it's in OKC. That should be a 65-66 win team next year. It should be. Where can he go outside of SA & GS, where you instantly put him in and they're the favorites? Those are the only two places. I do wonder emotionally for him watching how Cleveland won and what it meant to LeBron James & the city of Cleveland. There's no comparison but he's very ingrained in OKC. He's very much a part of that community. He's been part of a team where they've had ups and downs. You wonder him watching that, it'd be very meaningful to win it here. Let me give it one more run next year. Then he can look at FA next year. If he leaves now, he's not a bad guy for leaving but if he waits for Russ next year, he's sharing that pressure & burden. It won't all be on him next year like it would be now if he left. Dirk in Golden State? No, come on. Wade, Dirk, those guys are lifers. They're loyal guys. Dirk & Cuban, he'll work for the Mavs the rest of his life. I can't imagine a scenario where....unless he says I want another championship. Deep down he knows they're not built to win one but I would be shocked if Dirk didn't finish his career in Dallas. Same for Wade in Miami. Who of the young players is likely to be moved? I'd be very surprised if the Lakers move any young players. Philadelphia is different. Colangelo is trying to get another top 10 pick. It could be for another team to do a bigger deal or for himself. If he can get into the top 5, Dunn is appealing to Philadelphia. That's gonna be hard to do. They have talked to Boston about Okafor. No question Colangelo wants to get either Noel or Okafor out of there. He won't go forward with both of them. ... They have a glut of big men they'll start clearing out by the draft or free agency. Philly wants a PG(Jeff Teague, Boston guard or get back in the top 5 for Dunn). Conley the guy in NY? I think Mike Conley, it's hard to reject the 5 year offer. I think NY, they have to find one in free agency because they don't have the assets to trade. Everyone wants a point guard. Utah, Philly, Brooklyn are trying to find PGs. It's a good market. Jeremy Lin may get paid in this market on a 2-3 year deal at a high number.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Free Agency Rumble: Orlando, Detroit and the Lakers are all among the teams that intend to make a run at Atlanta big man Al Horford.</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/745591078368096256">June 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rather snag Batum and Horford. Beverley Harden/Brewer/McDaniels Batum/Beasely D-Mo/Jones/Beasely Horford/Capela Bev shot 40% from 3, Conley shot 36%.
Nothing wrong with Batum and Horford, both would do well with the Rockets I think, BUT... ...Conley is a good playmaker, Bev isn't. I'm sure that Conley could average similar percentages from 3 (maybe slightly less than Bev) when he gets wide open looks. Also, defenses have to focus more on Conley than they do on Bev, because he can create for himself and others and is more than just a guy that camps out at the 3 point line. In an ideal world, Bev isn't a starter. He brings the hustle but he is nowhere near the level of player that Conley is.
Al Horford Eric Gordon (may be cheaper due to injury history) - Still young and a career 38% career 3 point shooter. Athletic and can defend well when healthy. Aaron Afflalo - 38% career 3 point shooter. Courtney Lee - 38% career 3 point shooter, adds some defense. Luol Deng (depends on price due to age) - Can guard multiple positions (like iggy in GS). Mirza Teletovic - Stretch 4, 37% career 3 point shooter. Besides Horford, we may be able to go bargain shopping with the other players. Mid-level type guys.
Yep yep that's my thing -- I don't believe Bev is a starter. He's a championship back up pg. We can't go into the season with him as our starting pg again.
We're fooling ourselves if we think the that Leslie Alexander's only options for Morey aren't: 1. Big game hunting via trade/FA (Love, Horford, Conley, etc) 2. Super flexible moves that allows us to go big game hunting next summer. It's the only way the man operates. Batum and the likes aren't walking through that door unless we snag a max player first.
Natural position in college, maybe, but he's been a 5 since entering the league. Not saying it can't work, I'm just surprised they're interested after the whole Josh Smith debacle (throwing big money at Josh with Monroe already on board thinking "yeah, we'll just force him to play out of position - what could possibly go wrong?" #pistons #thingsthepistonsdo).
