Sura, James, Wesley and Barry can't ALL come back...

Nice points.

I don't mind having all the guards on the roster for one more year, though Wesley seems to be the odd man out the most. My main gripe is not one of them is completely an ideal role player for this team. They are either too short, a little old, too injury laden, being unable to penetrate, streaky, too much scoring and no passing, subpar entry passer, or a liability on defense at times. Although it'll be great to have, we don't necessarily only need a star, a defensive stopper, or a lights out shooter. An all around guard/sf with no obvious flaws who can do a little bit of everything will help a lot IMO. I agree with the big man priority, this should be settled after we fills up our 4 spot.

 

Again, there is nothing wrong with having 5 guards who can play: Sura, Wesley, James, Barry + player X.

Look at the Spurs, they played substantially PT to five guards: Brent Barry, Devin Brown, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Beno Udrih. It is especially important if one becomes injured--and Sura, Barry and Wesley are old and/or beat up.

Unless Spounalis or a draftee is ready to play, we should pick up another vet guard/SF in addition to resigning Barry who can play. The only way we should not plan to keep Wesley and Barry in the rotation is if we have TWO new guys who deserve to play from Spounalis, possible draftee, and new free agent--long shot at best.

I don't know what you have against Wesley. He played a lot of minutes for us, shot decent, played within the offense, and was a good defender versus most opponents. He also has 1 year left at 5 mil--not bad. I like what Sura, James, Wesley and Barry bring, we just want to look for one bigger more athletic swingman (SG/SF) to round the group out.

 

Conisdering how old Sura, Wesley and Barry are, I don't see any reason to dump any of them. It seems prudent to assume an injury, or at the very least, reduced minutes for all of them.

Everybody here seems to see Wesley as the odd man out, but JVG played him the most minutes. Whatever JVG likes, I am behind.

 

from Desert Scar:

Desert Scar, you're right we do pretty much agree. All I meant about the Mav's series is that our interior defense wasn't the problem and I don't think the 4 (unless it's a draft pick) should necessarily be our top priority in the off-season. You're right that an athletic swingman cutting down Wesley's minutes especially could make a huge difference.

Sura's coming back regardless and I do think he and James should be be fine if they both prioritize getting Yao touches on most possessions. Sura in particularly.

Thanks for the kind words Panda.

 

If it was up to me I would let go Sura, Wesely, and Barry. I would only come back with James and Deke. To me they showed me the most, and yes Barry dis play his heart out as did Sura but if we want a championship unatheltic guard play wont get it. Come on CD go get us some trackstars that can hit an open jumper.

 

Exactly, people are too emotionally attatched to Barry. He's a good guy and he brings energy, but he is expendable. Unless they sign a good starting 2 or a 3 and move Tracy to the 2 they have to keep Wesley. He's the only legitimate starting on the team outside of McGrady.


The fact that the guards were tired in game 7 isn't an excuse to keep them, its the reason they will need to be replaced.

 

Why get rid of them? Barry will come back for the minimum and Wesley is in the last year of a modest deal. Why not have Barry be your 5th guard, are you going to find an NBA minimum guard better than him--I doubt it. Further, say we do pick up a bigger, better than Wesley, 2 guard. Are you saying you would not like to have Wesley and Barry as the back-ups. Those guys are professionals, know their limits, know the NBA game, seem ideal back-up guards for a playoff team to me. Depth in the backcourt is a good thing and it costs us next to nothing to keep Barry, Wesley and Sura. Only James has any trade value, and I doubt what we would get in return is equal to what he provides.

 

My point is Barry is a luxury and I wouldn't care if he stayed if they get another starting two. But I think that this team will have to make some additions and if they don't improve the backcourt then Wesley remains the starter and Barry is the odd man out. They will have to open up some roster spots somewhere.

 

Barry or Bowen can be had for the min, I'd rather keep Barry and open up Bowen's roster spot. Unless Spanoulis (sp?) or a rookie is ready to take Barry's place in the roster and do his role AND we add another FA guard Barry for the vet min and 5th guard spot for Barry is just fine.

 

from Desert Scar:

I completely agree. Unless the new CBA is radically altered or we get a too good to be true deal, it's likely we open with Ward, Baker, Mooch and Spoon as dead weight until the trade deadline.

It's wishful thinking that Ward may retire or accept a buyout, and the other guys' expiring contracts are assets not to be thrown away lightly. So there's really only 11 other roster spots unless we find some team that's really ready to tank before the season begins.

So:

Sura/James
Wesley/?
T-Mac/?
JH/ Spoon (until Feb.)/ Padgett
Yao/Deke (prayerfully)

And that leaves three spots availiable unless more happens this offseason than most of us think will. If Spanoulis (sp?) is ready to play a few minutes that's a huge plus. We are also a franchise that psychologically really needs our next first round pick to be on the roster.

But hat would leave one spot, and given JVG's track record Spanoulis and our first rounder could both be playing in Europe next season, but if that happens we'd have to really get someone worthwhile because the roster is likely to be glutted until the right team melts down next year in midseason (I'm not really complaining, but that is the current MO of the NBA).

I really believe Barry deserves another year here, but most of us think we need two new guys that play significant minutes next year (though we disagree on or at which positions).

I'm a little surprised that the roster is as crowded as it is now (just really now thinking about it I guess...) given we have more flexibility now than we've had for awhile. Our expiring contracts may be the reason CD and Les sound so content, and I'm still freaking out that many believe we can really contend with the backcourt we have.

They're should be a spot for Barry somewhere here, but it looks pretty easy to see how that might not be the case. If Barry and Bowen were the 11th and 12th man on the bench I normally would be pretty happy. But the NBA has changed a great deal. And we do need to get younger and more athletic ASAP.

So I have no idea whether Barry's going to be viable for not.

 

That would be impossibly difficult.

 

I am really confused that SURA HAS BEEN bench player for whole life except this year and so many people here love him stay in the starting lineup. a 100% SURA might be understandable, but not a totally crashed! actually sura should share some blame for our losses!