I would sign V-Span and Jumain Jones with our MLE. If I couldnt get Jones, I would consider Rasual Butler, Speedy Claxton or Bobby Jackson. The idea is to get younger, more athletic and bring more offense to the table. Players that can either create their own shot or hit the 3pt shot. "More Firepower" to use JVG's words. Depending on who we drafted and got in FA, I would then decided on what to do with FA's Wesley and Bogans. I wouldnt mind having them back, but I dont want to over crowd the 1-2-3 positions. The draft will be huge too. If we get a Swingman at our spot that might determine what we do in FA. If we get a Big, then we might look to move Swift in a trade for a swingman.
good thoughts.... Who on the current roster is going to stay? I think these guys are all F.A.'s: Bowen, Lampe, Wesley, Brunson, Frahm, Hayes, Bogans. What about picking up a Van Horn, Bonzi Wells, or a Matt Harpring?
don't resign anybody not name bogans and hayes. Use our MLE on Qyention Woods (spelling) and V-Span. Trade Juan for picks or young players. Draft brandon roy or sheldm williams.
ok, let's see: players to get rid of (I dont care how; trade, waive, sign&trade, turn them into water boys ... ): Juwan Howard (he needs to go) Rafer Alston (absolutely) Flyin Ryan (please!!) Rick Brunson (let him coach the Owls) Maciej Lampe (let him give towels & gatorade for our players ) players to keep: Yao &T-mac (duh) Dikembe Mutombo (one more year is good) Bob Sura (our starting PG and the reason for going to playoffs last year..) David Wesley (great shooter, descent Defender.. would be good for back up SG) Chuck Hayes (backup PF) players to keep or package for trade if needed: Keith Bogans (I like his D and his ability to drive to the basket) Luther Head (I dont really like him, but we can work on him and he'll be good for 5-10 minutes) STromile Swift (start him or trade him)
Bobby Jackson is 33 and has been injury-prone the last couple years. He certainly wouldn't make our team younger. If he didn't get hurt, I'd say, even with his age, he'd still be a good addition, but make not mistake--he won't help the age factor on our team.
We'll pay for the following at least one more year: T-mac, Yao, Mutambo, Bowen, Howard, Head, Swift, Alston, and Sura, Ward . Ward is coaching, Head has a team option, Bowen has a player option, either way we'll probably have 8-9 of these guys on our roster next year. PG - Sura, Alston SG - Head SF - T-mac, Bowen PF - Howard, Swift C - Yao, Mutambo The total dollars tied up in these guys next year is about $55,000,000. I could see us trying to keep Hayes and Bogans. Which would be about another $3-4 mill together, best guess. Our two draft picks should be around about another $2-5 mill together, depending on where we draft in the first round. That makes our overal 2006 salary about $62-66 mill. That would be about where we were this year with out adding any other players. Will we be able to do it, with out making a trade? Is Les going to increase his player sallaries to $70 + million? What do you think?
Hayes and Bogans combined won't make more than $1.5M next season. Our 2 draft picks will be around $2.5M (if we pick as high as 6th).
Honestly, if we don't get a 7th pick or up...we're going to have to pick some guy up with character issues to make our team better. We don't have any pieces to trade away and we don't have a huge amount of cap space. We're going to have to look at guys like Qyntel Woods, Bonzi Well type cats who have been problematic in the past.
FAs I Want: Bonzi Wells Jason Terry Bobby Jackson Sam Cassell Player to Trade for: Mo Pete Jason Richardson Troy Murphy
We don't need any FA. We have 2 draft picks, and V-Span and Badiane coming over. That's 4 new guys. Sura is optimistic. Maybe 5 new guys. No FA's. Re-sign Bogans, Lampe, Hayes, JL3 as our 3rd pg behind V-Span and Alston, and we're set.
First thing we need to do is draft a power forward. Good PFs are hard to find in free agency, and they are almost always overpriced. This is a great draft for power forwards. Assuming the top-tier PF prospects are gone by the time we pick, I would take Sheldon Williams. He's tough, he's smart, he battles, he defends, he rebounds, and he blocks shots. He would be a perfect compliment to Yao. We retain Bogans and Head. We try to trade Stro for a backup SF/SG (one who can shoot) We sign Sam Cassel with our mid-level exception (he wants to finish a Rocket) We bring up that Greek PG. That gives us a roster of: PG: Sam, Alston, Greek Dude SG: Head, Bogans SF/SG: Dude from the Stro Trade SF: T-Mac PF: Williams, Howard, Hayes C: Yao, Deke IR: 2nd-round Pick, Sura We get better shooting in our backcourt with Sam, and more consistancy at the point with Sam. We get better rebounding and better defense at the 4 with Williams. And hopefully we get some extra shooting from our Greek friend, as well as the player we get from the stro trade. I also believe that Head's shooting percentage will improve in his second year. To me, this lineup preserves the chemistry we already have, while getting younger, and addressing our most glaring weaknesses.
I sincerely doubt Badiane will ever come over. He's never shown that he's good enough for the league. And it doesn't look like he played in the Euroleague this year: http://www.euroleague.net/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=CNO No stats for 05-06. No idea what he did all year. People need to let go of this kid. He's a 2nd rounder that isn't going to pan out. It happens all the time.
Qyntel Woods - HELL NO! And for the MLE? Quentin Richardson - Not as bad...if you want someone jacking up 3s and doesn't play defense
Qyntel Woods is pretty good. He just never had a chance. Hes shown that he can play in new york when larry brown gives him minutes. (larry don't give consistance minutes to him like jvg does to hayes) And this season he didn't do anything bad, even with larry brown and starbury.
