Dalembert is trash. He is just damn awful at basketball. Nene is a top post defender, and a fantastic finisher at the rim, and from midrange as well. Scola and Nene would give this "older" group one last shot at the playoffs before we go young.
Nuggets were still missing a post presence, a bigger version of affalo like a posey or battier to take away his post game and another 7 footer to match-up with gasol and bynum defensively. The celtics are the only team that had all the tools, I knew the Nuggets would never get past them until they filled those holes, are any team for that matter that's there advantage night in and night out their size and kobe in the clutch. Big reason I've never bought into morey as a great gm, because he values production over size and athleticism which can make you a liability defensively against a team like LA because they can easily create mismatches with guys like brooks(too small) scola(too unatheltic) martin (too frail) Landry(too small) etc..
I agree with your assessment of the biggest issues (BRI % to owners and length/guarantees of player contracts). On BRI, the owners are going to fight like hell for %s to be based on NET revenues, instead of GROSS revenues under the current CBA. Players are going to fight like hell to make sure that owners can't deduct things like interest on loans they take out "to buy franchises they can't afford" from BRI before splitting up the pie. They'll probably find some middle-ground somewhere closer to the owners' position. I seriously doubt that any sort of "franchise tag" will exist under the new CBA. The MLE will most likely be reduced (possibly eliminated). My guess is that the "new MLE" will be lowered from the current 5-year, $33.4M+ full MLE deal that guys like Al Harrington signed for this offseason to a more manageable 3-year, ~$13M deal. Something like that. I think the Bi-Annual Exception is a goner, unless the owners use it as a "bone" to throw the players' way to get concessions elsewhere. And I do NOT see a hard cap system being put in place. It will simply be too disruptive to the league. The NBA NEEDS Larry Bird rights in order for many franchises to keep their fans over the long term. If you think it's bad now for fans of the Cavs, Raptors and Nuggets, imagine how bad it will be when most teams can no longer afford to keep their stars under a hard cap and have to trade them or just watch them leave for nothing. It will be an unmitigated disaster. The soft cap system will work just fine for the owners if they can get the higher guaranteed % of BRI (based on some form of net revenues), shorter-term player contracts with less guaranteed money and are no longer killing themselves slowly with long-term full MLE contracts. I've got plenty more to say on the subject, but I'm too lazy to post it all here.
Of course he will not opt-out. Nene just wants to assure his contract get done in a timely read: pre-newCBA world. So, is Nene worth the 11.6 + 3 years @12 mil or so (under whatever the new CBA will look like in reality)? And, to me, that is a difficult question. What it takes to land Nene is the answer...
If the NBA got a hard cap, franchise tags and non-guarenteed salaries then teams would have no trouble keeping their star players. That's how the NFL works and it's really difficult for a star player to move as a FA unless the team simply wants to divorce themselves from the player. Under those rules you pay the stars their money and everyone else gets less. The true superstars don't ever hit the open market so there's no bidding war for them. Their price is set and you pay it to keep them, simple as that.
As we are seeing, max players are starting to settle for a little less in order to team up with their favorite co-star. Bird rights do not appear to offer the same security to a team wanting to keep it's franchise player as it once did. And why should we be surprised? Sure I would love to have a 120 million contract but I think I would be just as happy with a 90 million dollar deal and in the city with the players I want to play with and make up the rest off of indorsments I get from winning more. Like you I could definitely see a hard cap with teams allowed to franchise one player. I see no reason why it wouldn't work. The NFL has even found ways to work around the hard cap by offering mega signing bonuses prorated across the term of the contract. I see no reason why this would not work in the NBA.
If we have to pick up a bad contract, hopefully we can snag Birdman over Harrington, atleast it's a big body that we can throw in, even though he's a shell of what he was 2 years ago. I look at the trade like this http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=4pntvgg gives them an expiring and young talent in hill for the start to rebuild, throw in a 2nd rounder and I can see Denver taking it. A future line up of Lowry Kmart Twill Pat Nene would be affective in the future. I'm curious as to IF we moved TWill to the 1 in the future, putting AB at the 2* using Lowry & Kmart in a deal to get a new SF we could have a pretty amazing lineup.
No but really? Dalembert is trash. I dont understand why anyone would choose to pick him up. Thats like going after a slightly taller shotblocking Jeffries.
We gave them a run for their money 2 years ago. We didn't get the job done, but Morey assembled a legitimate contender in '08-'09. Brooks posed a mismatch for the Lakers. He absolutely feasted on Fisher... "I mean, give the kid some f***ing credit." Landry dropped a couple of double-doubles, and had a strong series off the bench. His mid-range game was a problem for the LA bigs. I felt the Rockets matched up very well with the Lakers in that 7-game series, especially with a healthy Yao and 2 elite ball-stoppers in Artest and Battier. If not for the injury to the Great Wall, the Rockets would have won that series, and eventually played in the Finals, IMO. Hayes couldn't handle the Lakers' frontline, and was abused in Game 7.
I have to agree, the Rockets office did all they could to try and get us a championship that year. If we would have had a healthy Tmac and Yao we would have easily won a title. But we didn't and Morey has been faced with alot of problems ever since. Considering we are can still win games even after all we've dealt with is an accomplishment. There is no GM that could instantly fix the problems we have had.
I really wish we could get Nene.... He would solve a lot of our problems. Scola is a decent option as far as a primary front court scorer. Scola is followed by Jordan Hill and "The wagon wheel". Nene will finish and provide another skilled big body in the post. Considering Luis floats the perimeter mucho, they would be a solid fit IMO on the offensive end. Defensively, I believe Nene would be an improvement for our team. He is a big bulky body that is not the best rebounder, but he does ok. I believe his height and athleticsm will alter a least alter a few shots defensively and that sure as hell is not happening now. Plus at the end of the games or when you want to go defensive you can go Nene/Hayes. I think Nene would make Chuck a better rebounder as Nene will be assigned to blocking out the big bloat that Chuck is usually assigned to. Chuck can then dominate the opposing PF in the closing minutes when we always give away a crucial rebound. You would have to give Nene 12 million the next few years , which is probably feasible and I would think that you try to deal Miller in that deal or a subsequent one. His contract will be a burden for the rest of this year and next. Not too bad. I would give up quite a bit IMO. Hill+Budinger and the fillers to take on Nene and Birdman would be fine with me.
I see no reason why this should ever be a goal with team that is essentially stuck in the mud and going nowhere. Now if this team had essentially assured itself a playoff spot at like 6/7/8, I could maybe understand going out in a "blaze of glory" if you believe it is possible. However, this team is a longshot to make the playoffs, you just want to get there for the veterans? If you care that much about these veterans to go to playoffs, then trade them to contenders!!
I havn't seen Nene play a lot, so I won't really offer my opinion on whether he would be good for the team. But I would like to point out that we can't just plug in talent in at any position and assume said player would work under Rick Adelman. For the most part, if you are a big in an Adelman offense you either need to be a good passer (Brad Miller, Yao, Hayes) or a good shooter (Yao, Miller, Scola) or both and maybe to a slightly lesser extent a good post up threat (Scola). Does Nene have range? Does he have the ability to pass from the high post? I know he has a post game and he's a solid defensive threat, but I fear him being the new Jordan Hill if he doesn't have range and can't pass.
