I'd rather still go into the season with Deke, Francis and Head. Harris Strawberry and Von Wafer can hit the road for all I care. Head is better than Strawberry and Wafer. It's preseason don't get to excited about these guys. Plus Head could actually be used a trade bait for a draft pick. Francis is still a low cost move that "could" prove to be very valuable. Plus he's a hometown favorite and he'll sell a couple of extra jersey's or fill a couple of extra seats. ... and IMO we owe it to him after JVG gave him the boot and he was let go the way he was. BTW I'm sure that short, bald, sour puss of a guy is gone! Deke makes a good insurance policy if the big man gets hurt again. Deke might be "old", but after seeing him last year I think he still gots one more trip around the block, or half a trip anyways. Harris has just been on the outside of the roster every year and with the addition of Artest, plus Scola, Landry, Hayes and Battier I just don't see him getting any minutes, so why keep him? so my last spots, Deke, Francis and Head..
Damn!! this game really made things interesting, Strawberry goes to the rack strong, can hit Ft's a good clip and is a much better ball handler than I tought. Wafer is a gunner and could put up good #'s but still seems to be a little trigger happy at times. These two guys are playing their asses off!!
I am really agitated that I can't watch the games here (no FSN and slow internet). Who's playing better defense between Wafer and Straw? If Straw really does have handles, then I think he has higher priority over Wafer because of PG ability. I love Wafer's 3pt shooting he showed today, but he's not going to get that many shots in the regular season. As far as regular season goes, Head does hit open threes for the most part, so he's a little more redundant than Straw is.
there were a few times i confused strawberry with rafer on the defensive end because he was playing really good d. he's almost as good of a defender as rafer is. he's more athletic but not as fundamental as rafer.
btw straw's handles aren't that great. i dont think he can bring it up the floor consistently, but he's good at attacking.
I am without words at this point. All of these players are so good, and fit the system really well. Harris: hustle and athleticism that just makes him fun to watch. DJ: relentless attacking of the rim and a great foul shooter (he had like 8 fts in the first!) Also filled up the stat sheet fairly well. Wafer: WOW, he has such good chemistry with Brooks! Seventeen points in the fourth! He has even shown good cutting in previous games. I honestly don't know what route to take. Im sure Morey will find a way to make us all come away from this situation with huge smiles on our faces. Ideally trading Luther or Steve to make space, cutting whoever we get in return, and then signing all three, while dipping below the cap.
Who are we to cut from the roster? I'm a little upset considering that everyone on this team contributes, and the organization has to let someone go. Even though, you see guys like Deke and SF3 not contributing, you still think that they should deserve a ring with this team. Who are the players you wish to cut from the team? Personally, I think we should cut Head, Chuck, and Mike Harris (but I'm not so keen on losing the last two).
Head and Chuck simply won't be cut. Let's recognize that, first of all. I've been flip-flopping a bit on this, but after today's game I think I'm leaning towards cutting Wafer and Harris. It sucks Harris has been missing these games with the sprained ankle.
I love Mike Harris, but we are too deep in that position. With that said, it should come down to Mike and Luther Head definitely. It would be crazy if they keep Head around just because of his contract situation. We need to have the best team on the floor period and Von Wafer, and D.J. Strawberry have definitely showed that they belong on this team.
it will be a fatal mistake if we cut chuck considered that we dont have any post defender that is as good as he is. other good post defenders are now asking for insane amount of $ for their defense. we are lucky that we are paying the minimum for chuck while the Mavs are paying full MLE on Diop
I'd keep Wafer AND Strawberry. Cut Francis, possibly Hayes. CH is worthless on this team...too many PFs better then him! I'd rather keep Harris over Hayes, at least Harris is more athletic and has SOME offensive game!!
Even if you thought his handles were great you wouldn't want him bringing it up at all. And let's be fair, Luther brought the ball up the court at times last year and IMO Strawberry has better handles than Luther. Just as an example: Memphis tried to trap the ball while D.J had the ball on the wing; he not only avoided the trap, but never picked up his dribble. Then brought the ball back out to Brooks to set up the play. This is a second year player who, to me, shows more upside (and court awareness) than Luther. I say Keep the Strawberry/Wafer combo and say bye to Head!!
This has been repeated again and again. Players under guaranteed contracts won't be cut, just to make room for players who won't sniff the floor in real games. It just doesn't make sense. Besides, why do you want to cut Hayes? He is the best interior defender (and one of the best rebounders) on our team, and with a dirt cheap contract.
Both Wafer and Strawberry played well today, so I don't want to get caught up in what either of them can do in one particular game. I think it's safe to say that we can only keep one of them, if any of them, and that whichever one sticks is unlikely to play very much at all either. So that being said, my position stands. From today's game: 1. It's a little unsettling, in spite of Wafer's awesome shooting numbers and good rapport with Brooks, to see his utter lack of any other stat on the box score. 2. One thing I've seen Strawberry do throughout the preseason--so I have reason to believe he can keep it up into the regular season--is draw fouls and shoot his free throws at a high rate. These ways of scoring are immensely high-efficiency and the primary reason Kobe has more value than T-mac these past three years. Free throw shooting (drawing fouls and shooting them at a high clip) will up one's PPS like nothing else, and it also puts the other team in danger of being in foul trouble. 3. Both Wafer and Strawberry have shown good finishing ability. At least, better finishing ability than what Head and Rafer have shown us. If Head weren't on the dockets already, I'd take both of them over him, mainly because they haven't proven themselves to be absolute postseason chokers the way Head's been (plus two inches on height per person). 4. Although he hasn't been playing any PG so far, Strawberry came over with the supposition that he had the versatility to play/defend either guard spot. Wafer is a pure SG, as is Head. Right now we have two PGs plus Barry and T-mac who can play emergency PG minutes. On the other hand, we have five guys in T-Mac, Artest, Barry, Battier, and Head who are either primary SG's or could handle the role pretty easily. I think that may be the most important factor to consider when considering the roster crunch. I'm glad our final roster spot guys are performing so well, but in the end it won't make much of a difference either way. My only pleasure in following the competition is to see if whatever I notice is similar to what Morey notices.
It is a tough cut because each of the three guys, Harris, Wafer, and Strawberry offers something different. At least one, probably two will be cut. My hunch is that the choice is between keeping either Wafer or Strawberry. Harris is the best all around player among the three. I think they will keep him at least until Battier is 100%. There is no hurry as long as Mutombo is not signed. That said, Harris' chance is not good because we already have five very good forwards, not counting McGrady. The choice between Wafer and Strawberry is hard. If Head is going to be traded, Wafer probably is more valuable in making up the shooting of Head. If Head stays, Strawberry is more needed for his PG ability and his defense. I am still not sold on Wafer despite his shooting outburst tonight. This is preseason. There's a reason why he is bouncing around the league while Luther Head is a serviceable bench player on a good team. Wafer does not have a track record of being able to shoot consistently in real games. So I think judging from a couple of preseason games and then calling him a better player than Head is ludicrous to me. Anyways, why are we spending so much time talking about some guys who are just borderline NBA players?
I'd cut him because I'd rather see Scola, Landry, Dorsey and Harris all play before him. Dude is a good rebounder, but that's what we got Dorsey for and he's WAY more physical/athletic!
