Are we two really good players away from contending?

Cleveland was one player away from contending and they're 8-28 now. So ya, I'd say so.

 

he worth acquiring if we would have one superstar player in the prime, like we needed him alongside with T-Mac when Yao was out in season of streak

 

Depends on the players, yes!

 

Add Iguodala and Varejao
Add Granger and Bogut
Add Wallace and Gasol

Contention? I am not sure, but definately a pretty good team as long as the players are defensive oriented.

 

Lets Suppose we get Chris Paul and Okafor by giving up Scola, Battier, Jefferies, Lowry

We will have a lineup like

Chris Paul/Aaron Brooks/Ish Smith
Kevin Martin/Courtney Lee
Terence Williams/Chase Budinger
Patterson/Hill/Hayes
Okafor/Miller/Hayes

I think Chris paul and Kevin Martin together will do good. Kevin Martin can score a lot if he get good touches, which Paul can definitely do. Patterson has good mid range shot so once again, Paul can work with him like West in NO.

AB, Lee, Bud, Hill, Hayes is a very strong bench.

I think we can go far with this lineup. I don't know about winning championship. Cleveland, Denver, Dallas has all looked good on paper in past and could not progress. On paper, this lineup is pretty good.

It is quite young line up and may be leadership... iunno. I think Chris paul can carry them. Hayes is good example setter.

 

Danny Granger, 6'8 228: 10-11
FG%:0.418 3p%:0.370 FT%:0.823 RPG:5.7 APG:2.5 SPG:1.2
BPG:1.0 PPG:20.8

Andre Iguodala, 6'6 207: 10-11
FG%:0.438 3p%:0.349 FT%: 0.664 RPG:6.1 APG:5.5 SPG:1.3
BPG:0.6 PPG: 14.2

Honestly I dont care if we get granger or iguodala which ever one we could get for cheaper would be fine with me but I prefer granger

 

Forgot to mention that this will fix some problems we have such as:

1. Go to guy in Chris Paul and even have AB with him in crunch time.
2. Defensive presence in the middle with Okafor
3. Overall defense: Patterson defends better than Scola, Okafor>Hayes, Chris paul>AB/Lowry. Martin stays same. T-will is not as good as battier yet. We can start Courtney lee somedays depending on matchups.

 

2 superstars/all stars= yes

2 good players= hell no

Its time to blow it up and go young.

 

McGrady was a better Rocket than Yao. Yao did little for turning us around.

 

I don't know what those stats are trying to prove. Granger is a better scorer, you won't get much argument from me. But so is Martin. The problem is, neither Martin nor Granger excel at getting off their own shot. I searched for "Danny Granger game winner" on youtube earlier and only found one where he hit a three with .9 seconds left against the Suns; it was a catch-and-shoot situation.

Granger is a good shooter, but he's much more content on jacking up three-pointers than he is driving to the basket. He's not one that you can isolate on the wing and have him get a good shot every time, like you can with Carmelo for instance. Adding Granger to this team still leaves us with the problem of finding someone that can create for BOTH Granger and Martin, since neither are capable of it themselves.

This board seems to be in love with Granger and I don't quite understand it. While he is a good player, I don't think we're a Danny Granger + defensive big man away from being a contender. Granger/Martin/Scola still can't stack up to the better teams in the league. The only reason that I would pursue Granger would be to include him in a larger deal for a true #1 option.

 

Whenever discussing potential trade targets, the first question that pops into my mind is asking price. The Nuggets, for example, are reportedly seeking a minimum of 3 first round picks + players to for Melo. If that's the Nuggets asking price, why would the Hornets be any different for a player who's regarded about as highly (if not higher) as Melo in CP3?

So when it comes to superstars, we have to accept the fact that simply being in the discussion will require us to gut the core of this team- no one can be untouchable. Martin, Scola, Patterson, draft picks...they all have to be on the table. And after all thats done, we'd essentially be starting over in building a team, which is the trouble with trading for superstars. Unless a Pau Gasol-like deal magically falls into your lap, you have to give up just about every valuable player on your team and future assets.

And I think the above logic has to factor into discussions for really good players as well. The Pacers may not be asking for as much, but I'm sure they'll want serious value in return- draft picks from bad teams and a number of players. Think Kevin Martin, a first round pick (top-1 protected, not 5), and a variety of role players for Granger and other role players. And at that asking price, I'm not sure its worth it.

More likely is that we continue incrementally upgrading this team, stockpiling above average talent in hopes of improving this team incrementally to the point where it can one day be a championship contender. Keep taking gambles like we did for the Knicks pick and hope that one works out for us....

 

Yes. With the exception of maybe 2 players (West and Okafor) Chris Paul's team sucks talent wise, they are a 37 win team (last years record without him) that he is carrying to the record it has today.

Chris Paul + Emeka Okafor are both excellent defensive talents, and Paul is a game closer (like how he did to us this year).

With Paul and Okafor this team could win 55-60 games, have a top defense (top 5 this year, bottom 10 last year without Paul. But with 2 exceptions, they lack overall offensive talent) and contend.

To do it with Granger, I think we would need a dominant defensive center (and a backup center with solid defense). And a two way Point Guard that is a consistently solid defender and offensive presence. Granger and a center alone would make us a 4-6th seed I think (I would take that since we suck right now).

 

A Nash + Gortat trade would be the perfect two player trade that you are speaking of. Yao and Brooks should do it.

 

Chemistry is a fickle beast, sometimes it is as simple as adding one good player that fits and changes everyone else's role.

Right now, it seems the organization has gone about acquiring assets without much thought to how they fit together.

At some point, there needs to be some consideration for chemistry on the court and how the pieces gell....

So, yes, we are one good player away from being a 50+ win team, and if the right player came along we might still get there.

DD

 

If there's one thing we've all learned about the Pacers, it's that they care more about being a very mediocre playoff team than completely rebuilding their program. So with that in mind, there's no way in hell they trade their best player when they are already in playoff contention and he isn't even playing his best. They'll try to get him help this season, not try to trade him away.

Camby... I've been a fan of bringing Camby in for quite some time now. I'd be 100% for bringing him in.

 

This needs to happen sooner than later....

 

Bring in camby

&

Bring in Danny Granger

This team is set

 

They would have to be really, really good.


We're Lebron and Deron Williams away from contending.

 

My question is: What teams are not 2 players away?

Kinda puts things in perspective thought of this way.

 

This is a good one, too.