What kind of contract is Evans going to get? If all we need at the 4 is rebounding, defense, and youth, then I'd rather bring over Malick Badiane. He's cheaper and supposed to be incredibly athletic.
Gadzuric is a center guys. He will get near or at the MLE and be a starting Center somewhere next year. Evans is a restricted FA so someone will have to overpay to get him. Overpaying him would be 3M-3.5M a year. Evans is a proven player while Badiane is still just a prospect. If the Rockets like Badiane this summer camp I assume they will sign him, but he would be the 11th or 12th guy. I hope Badiane would/could be better but that is just looking at it realistically. If we draft another PF this draft that speaks to the Rockets belief in Badiane.
I don't think we will have any problem getting our key bench role playing free agents to resign (Deke with early Bird, Barry for vet min or up to the 1.6 exemption if necc). So THE key to the offseason is adding a 4. True, we have a full MLE, but the WHOLE MLE is not enough to land a young power forward who is productive and who doesn't have major limitations or questions. Further, you also consider we will have Yao, JH and Deke returning, so you think what player most compliments these guys. So the most realistic options: -SAR. While it is very doubtfull the MLE will land him, he is unrestricted and Portland will have little interest for him returning, thus it is to Portland's advantage to facilliate a trade or risk losing him for nothing (e.g., Spoon + our #1 pick this year). He isn't exactly the defensive presence we are looking for, but he still is younger than 30 and might really find an offensive niche in not being asked to be the guy. His age (close to his prime), versitility, good athleticism, and proven offensive game give him the edge to me of our targets. -SWIFT (URA). Unrestricted. Maybe an MLE will land him, but only because he has major questions about his work ethic, toughness and competitiveness. If he didn't have those questions he would get bids at like 8+ million--he still might. On the plus side he is athletic, young, and their is no doubt talent wise he could help. Further, when Deke retires and Yao is stonger with more stamina (older), could double as your back up C a la OT for Hakeem. -EVANS (RFA--but again Seattle has a lot of more priority guys to resign and he is in their deepest position). Discussed. Young, solid low block defender, superb rebounder, but no game outside of 12 feet. Despite the latter point, he brings things we lack in our bigs bigtime. Probably the play would be to evenly split the time with JH and him, probably with JH starting. Could probably sign him for less than the others, less long term financial risk. -DM (UFA). Is very similar to JH in game and age, except with 3 range. 99% chance a full MLE signs him somewhere, but there will be multiple suiters. Certainly he would help the squad the next couple years, but I am thinking 1st of guys who will be effective longer and provides more of different skill sets than JH. Other possibilities for S&T include Chandler and Kwame possibly, but these guys will be expensive and have a lot of questions even if they are shopped. Guys who can play center--Dalemburt and Gadzuric--will end up being way overpayed, and don't really ft our needs with Yao/Deke covering that spot hopefully another 2 years. So I think one of the above 4 is really our best bet. Having Evans there gives us 4 options instead of 3--that is why it is a good thing James is playing so well (bringing back to this thread ) On Baidine Come on guys. The guy doesn't even dominate Euro ball. James Thomas (if signed) and our 1st round pick this year have a much better chance of helping our 4 spot than him. So don't give up on him, but if you have your expectations high there is a 95% chance you will be dissappointed. That is the nature late 2nd round picks.
One thing though...the European game is very different from the NBA. The Olympics and World Championships(FIBA rules ~ European league rules) demonstrate that quite clearly. We've seen some of the league's all stars debilated by the European game...I'm not saying that Badiane will fit better in the NBA, but it's a possibilty. Otherwise, I doubt that JVG & co. would be hanging on to him with his dismal stats over there.
Nice post. I always thought SAR was the clone of J. Howard not Marshall. Marshall adds deadly 3pt shooting, block shots and better rebounding. SAR has the 3pts shot but about the same as Howard in rebounding & blocks.
Yao said Ryan Bowen played a big part in the victories, but he probably wouldn't be able to grace the court in the Chinese Basketball Association, save for injuries at the same position. It tells you the difference between different leagues.
This is my choice so far, although SAR can land a bigger deal elsewhere. SAR adds more dimensions to our game. For one thing, he is an athletic and skillful finisher around the basket, which is lacking in our current pfs. Also, with SAR being able to play sf against some defenders, we can put a lineup like this on the floor: James McGrady SAR Howard Yao Can you say dynamite scoringwise?
To me the only major advantage DM has over SAR is the 3 ball, though SAR has developed it more than enough to keep a team honest however. Howard of course has no such range--and this is the major difference between JH and DM, DM would park himself at the 3 line and wait whereas JH also has a good spot up but more like inside 18 feet. SAR can do more damage at multiple spots on the floor. Rebounding, I think they are relatively close in RPM--all three. In blocks you are talking about like .6 difference with SAR in the middle--not particularly significant, none are what I would call a shot blocker. I don't think defense and rebounding differences between the three are enough to be a decisive factor if choosing between them. Also, JH and DM are also less athletic than most starting NBA forwards. The major advantages I see in SAR are age (3 years younger than JH and DM), athleticsm, niftyness around the rim, and like I said before, more spots on the floor where he does damage. SAR has been a pretty efficient shooter and scorer even for bad teams, I think it would only be enhanced getting the looks and around the rim opps Tmac and Yao would create. I just don't think JH and DM can do the same kind of damage with small openings because more athletic opponents have an easier time recovering than they would versus SAR. I don't see any parts you can cheat on SAR offensively, and that will only help Yao and Tmac. So overall I prefer SAR. But if we came away with DM that would be just fine with me. It would be really good for a couple of years, but in 3-4 years when we still have DM and JH under contract that would be a lot of money tied into two 35+ PFs though.
