IMO, Mo Williams doesn't seem to be much of an upgrade from Rafer if you're planning on starting him. He appears to be a worse defender, more turnover-prone, and worse from the three point line. He does score more than Rafer, but that's while on the Bucks. He seems to only benefit us by offering a better overall field goal % than Rafer. Mo only seems like he would be good for a backup role. Varejao, on the other hand, seems to be a good fit for us. He is a good energy guy to play minutes at either the 4 or 5. We would have no need for Hayes if we signed Varejao. So I would make either of these the Rox plan for the offseason: Option 1 - Use the full MLE on Varejao, vet min to Mutombo, and let Hayes, big Jake (or sign to min), and Bonzi go to the market. Option 2 - Split the MLE between Hayes and Mo (or another backup pg), vet min to Mutombo, and let Jake and Bonzi go. I see these as good plans since were already set with a solid 7: Yao, T-Mac, Shane, Rafer, Howard, Head, and Snyder.
That would be good, I just think Cleveland has too much of a man-crush on Varejao to release him. Also, take a look at thier upcoming free agents; Dwayne Jones (averaging a healthy 1.0 in both PPG and RPG...in 3 games played...) Scot Pollard (with 0.7 PPG and 1.10 RPG...) And then there's Varejao. I think we know where most of Cleveland's MLE money is going this offseason.
If he is your own free agent (AV, Hayes, etc) and been with you 2 years (or you acquired him with a 2 more year contract) you don't have to use MLE money to resign them. You have Early Bird rights at minimum (if you had them 3 years, full Bird). Mo W is a pipe dream. Diener or Bell might be possible, but we would have to make the contract high enough their own teams don't want to match. If we really wanted them we would have done it before the trade deadline this year. Same deal with Atkins. If we wanted him (and I did), you would have thought we already would have acquired him (e.g., TE). Yes, we don't have a 2nd. It goes to Milw to complete the 1st Mike James deal. I also kinda think we go with either Deke or Tsak, unless they take below market contracts. There is really only a need for 1 back-up center. Having two true back-up centers (if above market price) sounds expensive, particularly behind a max salary starter (Yao). It might be different if one of the 3 could also play the PF, but none can. I think we need to play out the year, see how the Rafer/Head PG expirement goes and how well Snyder/Wells do at SG, before getting an angle on where we go in FA or the draft.
If Diener had been traded here before the dedaline he'd be an unrestricted free agent. Orlando were also asking for a 1st round pick. Too much for too little.
No, he would have been restricted. We could have matched any contract he might get. 1st rounder might be steep, that part I agree with. Maybe if we got Diener and their best 2nd rounder for our 1st and JL3--I'd done that. As it is now we would have to outbid Diener for Orlando next year. Much trickier enterprise.
Deke is taking vets' minimum. Book it. Between his HOF days and the salary that came with it and the buyouts from NY and NJ, he's earned enough not to be desperate for cash at this point. I think he's pretty happy in Houston...and the 4 million difference between vets' min and full MLE matters little to him right now, specially since he's earned between 150 million-200 million by my estimates.
Steve Blake is, but he really is probably a lesser version of Rafer (decent all around PG except for being a marginal shooter). Don't get be wrong, he would be a better back-up PG than we have now--and I'd take him for LLE if it was him or nothing to bolster the PG spot, but I'd aim for better.
as interesting as this is, lets keep this thread in the archives and worry about it after the championship parade.
MIKKI MOORE - Solid in playoffs. Athletic PF like we need. MATT BARNES - But would he leave the up and coming Warriors? CHUCKY ATKINS - Decent back-up PG, but another small defender. GRANT HILL - Oldy but goody. Could play less minutes but valuable minutes. P.J. BROWN - Another PF option if all else fails. JERRY STACKHOUSE - I wish. It'd feel real good to snatch him from the mavs. SMUSH PARKER - Streaky PG, at best. JASON KAPONO - Three's please!
thank you! finally someone realize the weakness of this dude...he's not a gd fit for us and we will not get him...the management knows ****.
PG prospect available for us: 1.Chucky Atkins 2. Brevin Knight 3. Steve Blake depends, at the end of he day, I think a guy like the Franchise or mike james would be a better fit because what we really want is a combo guard who can play both point and shooting guard. that way rafer and the new guy would not be wasted...they can sometimes play together. blake play some shooting f=guards, but he cannot defend the spot. knight is very injury prone. i would wait if i were the GM...see the francis buyout progress since our #1 target atkins is old and isn't gonna attract big demands anyways. PF option: none...since they all require big bucks, perhaps we can get mikki moore. but still not really an upgrade that plugs our hole at PF. i think we need to take a shot at the draft to get something like paul millsap.
The only reason a lot of people on the board are real quick to swap out rafer @ the 1 is because he is soft in the paint. We need a point guard that can finish in the lane when the threes arent falling. That is exactly what frustrates me the most about rafer. When was the last time you seen rafer finish and draw a foul hit the floor and go to the line. It irks me to think that he cant go in there finish strong or attempt to and then go to the line. I love RA handles. I honestly think the Rox will be hard pressed to find another point guard that can get wherever he wants on the floor like Rafer can, but the Rox are in desperate need of a PG that can finish and change the momentum when the shots arent falling and defenses want to make the rest of the team aside from Yao n TMac to beat them.
