I hope we keep Battier! There are a lot of players who, if added, would be "upgrades" to our team. The hard part is getting them... I'd like a good Haslem-like/Millsap-like 4, or one of the Tyrus Thomas-like ones. Sigh, Eddie Griffin and his potential. And we need another swingman/wing player and a GOOD guard. Not Mike James, though.
After watching the Bulls-Pistons game, I am pretty sure Nocioni is not what we want. The guy is a jump shooter, no rebounding or defense, as soft as .Juwan... a good player though, not a good PF.
Maybe I underestimate Battier but he is a very streaky shooter and he doesn't fit in with Denver's uptempo game at all. I don't think that the Nuggets will ever trade Camby for him but I would do it in a blink despite his injury history because he is fit and has gotten the DPOY. I don't want Murphy but I like Diogu and Granger but I doubt if we can get them. Battier for Tinsley would be interesting even though he doesn't have an outside shot only if we could get a backup PG who can shoot the ball well in place of Skip.
Joe Smith is a free agent. Travis Outlaw will probably be hard to get from the Blazers. Don't go after Banks or Ely, but I like most of your ideas they are interesting and realistic.
Pietrus really doesn't look like one of Nelson's favorites at all to me. Barnes moreso, but whether they would pay him near MLE range (5 year about 30 mil) with the bigger committments to Harrington and Jackson through 2010 (as well as Foyle, though he doesn't play), as well as having to pay up for Biedrus and Ellis after one more rookie contract seasons each, I don't know. I still don't see GS keeping both Barnes and Pietrus next year. 10 mil and up to resign 2 bench players given their salary situation, I don't see it. At least one will play somewhere else barring they move Harrington or Jackson IMO.
Ithink if the Rox want to upgrade the talent, they will have to take on a longer contract and give a team cap relief earlier. Take Head and Sura which gets you about 5mil player. Well you look for a guy that has about 3 yrs left at about mle money. A guy Like ricky davis and marquise Daniels come to mind. Both are the kind of guy the Rox could use. Why? Both can create and get their own shot. Daniels could actually play the point for your team as a backup. Davis could be like Stackhouse and come in and get 30mins and score and finish plays at the hoop. Take howard contract. Many people think its hard to move, but if you look and see he has 2 more yrs, that can be coupled with a pick for a 6.5mil player. So now you're looking at a straight up plus the 2nd rd pick for a guy like Shareef or sign and trade for a guy like Mo Williams or even darko. Even with that, they still have the mle to spend also either by splitting it or giving it to one guy like francis. Evereyone and their mother can see the problems the Rox have, my problem is this moneyball type of gm they have.
The Indiana situation is very interesting. Murphy, Tinsley and Daniels are all on long term contracts. The question is: Would you trade Juwan and his 2 remaining years for one of those guys with 4 or more years left straight up?
i like all our current players. but yes i do think we need to make some off season changes, but i cant be bothered thinking of who or what, 2 players that i really like and think will fit beautifully on this team are mike james and al jefferson, mike james is probably the more realistic option. but i think they could both contribute greatly, james off the bench for heavy 6th man minutes with rafer, YES WITH RAFER! i think he would be much more efficient with less minutes, tmac and yao, of course, battier definitely must stay, hayes for your high energy bench player, deke! please stay another year! . this is my ultimate dream team, trade off j.howard for mike james, as for al jefferson... well we got nothing to get him, but yea reality sucks so i escape in virtual world of nba 07 and this i got this line up with jefferson and mike james and man... im loving it HAHA, if only we could pull off a miracle somehow..... with all these talks of trades (especially when 1/2 of them are impossible) i thought i might as well just post my dream team 5 yao/deke/jake 4 jefferson(DROOL), hayes (man-crush) 3 Battier, novak 2 tmac, head 1 alston, james, vspan that lineup looks soooooo sexy.... everyone else on the current roster i believe to be expendable if this were somehow do-able, as much as i like kirk and his atheticism, if we could get this lineup somehow... worth it haha. i think with a better team we could better develope vspan and novak. and i think its time for a new coach, defense wins championships... but when thats not working out for you PLEASE have some offense for backup.. ok just had the urge to post my dream, wont have to wake up to reality till 07/08 season starts haha, until then ill keep enjoying my dream team on the computer
