Discuss Ernie Grunfeld's GM skills here (Part 2)

[montestewart]

The problem is that it's too late for this generation of the Wizards. Once Ernie fills out the roster this year w/ untradable overpaid FAs on multi-year, late-career contracts, he'll have made it another 4+ year process to turn the team around. A true disaster.

I don't think it's quite so dire. Portland lost four starters and finished fifth in the west. Teams can make quick turnarounds -- they just need someone smart and forward-thinking makind the decisions. The Wizards don't have that.

Skip all of PIF's detailed reasons. That's too in the weeds. The bolded part above, that's why it's dire. Hannibal would have been a great sitcom if they'd had funnier scripts, but they didn't. (Actually, that show was pretty hilarious. Maybe we should just laugh more to hold off the tears.)

[BigA]

Let me guess, the goal is to make the playoffs, right Ted and Ernie? So exactly when can we discuss winning the championship? What's that? Not as long as you two are in the front office. I see.

Correction, the goal is to contend for the playoffs.

[queridiculo]

The worst about how this offseason is shaping up, the Wizards have some many holes to fill on this roster and way too much cap space given Grunfelds history of overpaying.

There's a very real chance of Ernie screwing this team for the next half decade.

[lastemp3ror]

The problem is that it's too late for this generation of the Wizards. Once Ernie fills out the roster this year w/ untradable overpaid FAs on multi-year, late-career contracts, he'll have made it another 4+ year process to turn the team around. A true disaster.

I don't think it's quite so dire. Portland lost four starters and finished fifth in the west. Teams can make quick turnarounds -- they just need someone smart and forward-thinking makind the decisions. The Wizards don't have that.

Apples and Oranges. Losing some of your best and most expensive players puts you into rebuilding phase. If what PIF says comes true, Wizards won't be rebuilding anytime soon due to expensive long term deals.

[McFilthy]

So free agency is about to begin. At this time of the year, Grunfeld's modus operandi is a flurry of activity at the beginning, quickly making most acquisitions in the first week or two and then he is done for the summer - vacation time! Could this summer be a little different since there are so many available roster spots?

[closg00]

So free agency is about to begin. At this time of the year, Grunfeld's modus operandi is a flurry of activity at the beginning, quickly making most acquisitions in the first week or two and then he is done for the summer - vacation time! Could this summer be a little different since there are so many available roster spots?

That's what he will try do, he's got his list of FA's and at-least one of the targets will benefit from an EG panic-signing. EG will wrap it up as-quickly as possible.

[payitforward]

Bumping this thread w/ a new idea -- maybe you'll be interested.

We all have long long lists of everything Ernie has done wrong -- going back at least to the '09 pre-draft trade disaster or even to the previous year's pick of McGee. It gets to be a heavy bag to drag around.

What if we were to look only at the period from last off season through this off season and ask what moves Ernie could have made that would have improved this team optimally -- and what would be the team we'd have now?

If this isn't interesting, ignore it. If it is... anyone want to start us off?

[Ruzious]

Bumping this thread w/ a new idea -- maybe you'll be interested.

We all have long long lists of everything Ernie has done wrong -- going back at least to the '09 pre-draft trade disaster or even to the previous year's pick of McGee. It gets to be a heavy bag to drag around.

What if we were to look only at the period from last off season through this off season and ask what moves Ernie could have made that would have improved this team optimally -- and what would be the team we'd have now?

If this isn't interesting, ignore it. If it is... anyone want to start us off?

I'll give it a whirl. This probably wasn't realistic, but early last season, I think fishercob came up with a trade idea to get Paul George that I liked. I can't remember the details, but I'll call it Beal, Porter and Nene (probably plus a pick) for Paul George and George Hill. Yes, Paul George hasn't been tremendously efficient, but he has superstar ability (as he showed in the playoffs), and his presence could attract a Durant. Then sign Durant and Tomas in the offseason. Oh, and instead of trading our 1st rounder for Morris, use it to pick Henry Ellenson.

1 Wall, Sato
2 Hill, Thornton
3. Durant, Oubre
4. George, Ellenson
5. Gortat, Hickson

Fill out the roster with minimum salary players - we'd especially need another big. Champ yun ship.

[Dat2U]

Bumping this thread w/ a new idea -- maybe you'll be interested.

We all have long long lists of everything Ernie has done wrong -- going back at least to the '09 pre-draft trade disaster or even to the previous year's pick of McGee. It gets to be a heavy bag to drag around.

What if we were to look only at the period from last off season through this off season and ask what moves Ernie could have made that would have improved this team optimally -- and what would be the team we'd have now?

If this isn't interesting, ignore it. If it is... anyone want to start us off?

Well I'm looking at it from a realistic standpoint. We had no cap room. We had only the over the cap exceptions and two minor trade exceptions.

Draft Bobby Portis instead of trading (2) 2nd rounders to get Kelly Oubre. Draft Alan Williams in the 2nd round.

Trade a 2nd round pick for Mo Harkless during the '15 off-season and re-signed him to a modest extension around 5 mil per.

Sign Jeremy Lin last year for the BAE. See if he would agree to a multi-year deal, probably not. Sign Mirza Teletovic on a 3 yr deal to the MLE.

I would have still traded for Jared Dudley using our trade exception from the Andre Miller deal.

Sign Seth Curry & Wesley Johnson to the minimum if they would take it.

I would have definitely not traded for Markieff Morris during the season.

I think we'd have enough to make the playoffs last season. No Gary Neal, Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair or Drew Gooden eating up valuable minutes. Mo Harkless & Wesley Johnson would have given us better depth on the perimeter than Alan Anderson & Kelly Oubre Jr.

Teletovic would have been decent at PF, given us spacing and a modicum of size that Dudley couldn't provide as a starter. Jeremy Lin would have been a real nice 6th man, an upgrade over Sessions and better depth to withstand a Beal injury.

I would have tried to swap Beal but I don't know how much value he really had. If I could have gotten Paul Millsap in a S&T I would have done it in a heartbeat but I don't know how realistic that would be. I wouldn't give Beal away however.

I would not have traded for Markieff Morris. This offseason I would have really tried to get Denzel Valentine & Tyler Ulis in the draft through trades/cash/future protected picks.

Marcin Gortat / Alan Williams
Mirza Teletovic / Bobby Portis
Otto Porter Jr / Maurice Harkless
Bradley Beal / Denzel Valentine
John Wall / Tyler Ulis

In FA this year, I would have stayed out the fray for the most part. Adding a backup C on the cheap like Dewayne Dedmon or resigning Nene wold have been my priority. Adding guys like Christian Wood & Seth Curry on small deals to add additional depth.

The goal is setting us up for the 2016 off-season to make a run at the free agents of that class where there is less money to be thrown around while remaining a young, athletic team that's very competitive in the East that will intrigue free agents.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Bumping this thread w/ a new idea -- maybe you'll be interested.

We all have long long lists of everything Ernie has done wrong -- going back at least to the '09 pre-draft trade disaster or even to the previous year's pick of McGee. It gets to be a heavy bag to drag around.

What if we were to look only at the period from last off season through this off season and ask what moves Ernie could have made that would have improved this team optimally -- and what would be the team we'd have now?

If this isn't interesting, ignore it. If it is... anyone want to start us off?

Well I'm looking at it from a realistic standpoint. We had no cap room. We had only the over the cap exceptions and two minor trade exceptions.

Draft Bobby Portis instead of trading (2) 2nd rounders to get Kelly Oubre. Draft Alan Williams in the 2nd round.

Trade a 2nd round pick for Mo Harkless during the '15 off-season and re-signed him to a modest extension around 5 mil per.

Sign Jeremy Lin last year for the BAE. See if he would agree to a multi-year deal, probably not. Sign Mirza Teletovic on a 3 yr deal to the MLE.

I would have still traded for Jared Dudley using our trade exception from the Andre Miller deal.

Sign Seth Curry & Wesley Johnson to the minimum if they would take it.

I would have definitely not traded for Markieff Morris during the season.

I think we'd have enough to make the playoffs last season. No Gary Neal, Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair or Drew Gooden eating up valuable minutes. Mo Harkless & Wesley Johnson would have given us better depth on the perimeter than Alan Anderson & Kelly Oubre Jr.

Teletovic would have been decent at PF, given us spacing and a modicum of size that Dudley couldn't provide as a starter. Jeremy Lin would have been a real nice 6th man, an upgrade over Sessions and better depth to withstand a Beal injury.

I would have tried to swap Beal but I don't know how much value he really had. If I could have gotten Paul Millsap in a S&T I would have done it in a heartbeat but I don't know how realistic that would be. I wouldn't give Beal away however.

I would not have traded for Markieff Morris. This offseason I would have really tried to get Denzel Valentine & Tyler Ulis in the draft through trades/cash/future protected picks.

Marcin Gortat / Alan Williams
Mirza Teletovic / Bobby Portis
Otto Porter Jr / Maurice Harkless
Bradley Beal / Denzel Valentine
John Wall / Tyler Ulis

In FA this year, I would have stayed out the fray for the most part. Adding a backup C on the cheap like Dewayne Dedmon or resigning Nene wold have been my priority. Adding guys like Christian Wood & Seth Curry on small deals to add additional depth.

The goal is setting us up for the 2016 off-season to make a run at the free agents of that class where there is less money to be thrown around while remaining a young, athletic team that's very competitive in the East that will intrigue free agents.

GEEZ, DAT ... you hit it too far out of the park. My answer after your response is like following a great act on stage and you're feeling not ready for prime time. Kind of like a backup band following Aerosmith...

MY SIMPLISTIC RESPONSE: 1. PORTIS dammit. Not Oubre. 2. Freakin' don't trade a pick for a dude who might have a felony conviction. NO. NO. HELL NO on trading for Markieff. 3. DON"T FIRE RANDY UNLESS YOU STEP DOWN YOURSELF, EG! I guess I could not be a self-serving dude who keeps my job regardless of how freakin' bad I suck. 4. I wouldn't sign both Jason Smith AND Andrew Nicholson. They just got through competing for minutes at Orlando. Makes NO F'ing sense at all to me. Might work out but it seems like we need a real backup PG instead of 18 billion in C/PF.

That's about as rational as I can post right now.

[payitforward]

Dat-- cool! Only one thing: Portis was projected to be gone by our #19 pick. We couldn't have known he'd be there. Hence if we'd wanted him (i.e. instead of Oubre) don't you think we'd likely have made the same trade we used to get Oubre? All of us would have applauded that trade, I'm pretty sure.

Were you high on Seth Curry the previous off-season? I didn't know that.

My version:

2015 off-season
Pick Oubre (might not work out, but a risk worth taking)
Pick Alan Williams in R2 -- or sign him after the draft
Sign FA Bismack Biyombo (to as long a contract as possible. I recommended this at the time, and Nate agreed.)
Re-sign Rasual Butler (minimum salary, for the end of the bench)
Sign Dudley (one of Ernie's better moves) -- but for 2 years not 1, and play him exclusively at the backup 3
That would have brought us to 14 including guys we already had (Wall, Beal, Porter, Gortat, Nene, Temple, Sessions, Humphries, Blair) Hence:

Wall / Sessions
Beal / Temple / Butler
Porter / Dudley / Oubre / Butler
Nene / Humphries /Williams
Gortat / Biyombo / Blair
After the trade deadline, I'd have picked up Hickson for sure. Maybe Thornton as well. Waive Blair & Humphries as needed.

We'd come out of the season with 7 guys under contract plus Beal. I'd have made every effort to move Beal, and I would not have given him the deal we gave him. I'd have waited to see what offer he attracted and decided if I wanted to take the risk of retaining him or if I could arrange a sign and trade.

I've already detailed my trade-down strategy for the 2016 draft: I'd have wound up with Brice Johnson, Onuaku or McCaw, and Felder or Zipser. Ruz points to Ellenson, and his youth and Freshman numbers would have made it tempting to trade our #13 for the Celtics #16 and #51 (i.e. for Felder).

Like Dat, I stay out of the just-past FA fray: given the above, I sign Seth Curry and Christian Wood. I also sign Hickson on the cheap for 2 years. Bring Satoransky over. Assuming Beal still with us, that would give us:

Wall / Satoransky / Felder
Beal / Seth Curry / Satoransky
Porter / Dudley / Oubre
Hickson(?) /Alan Wiliams / Brice Johnson / Christian Wood
Gortat / Biyombo / Onoaku

Or maybe Ellenson is in there, but no Johnson or Onoaku.

First critique might be of Hickson starting at the 4. But, in fact, he's a better player than he's given credit for, and he's also younger than people realize. J.J. Hickson is only 11 months and 29 days older than Markieff Morris! He's also a better player than Markieff - quite a lot better, actually.

Total salary: maybe $83m. And that's with Beal at his current deal.

That's a better team than our current team; I have no doubt about it! It's also full of tradable assets, young, and gives us plenty of flexibility as we go forward.

[montestewart]

I thought Dudley came by trade (for a heavily protected 2nd) for the final year of his contract. Maybe EG could have tried for an extension, but their whole goal seemed to be cap space in 2016.

[payitforward]

Ooops! you are right -- and he just got a $10m/year deal. That affects my scenario, because I wouldn't pay him that.

So, off the top of my head, substitute Brandon Rush, who signed w/ Minny for $3.5m. We'll give him $4.5m, cuz we're the Wiz -- right?

Brings my scenario's salary down $.5m. And, it makes us younger (...by 3 days).

[payitforward]

...or just bring back Rasual Butler?

[montestewart]

...or just bring back Rasual Butler?

He's pretty old (36), but it seems like he's played the best of his career since his year out of the NBA playing in the D-League.

[ptptpt]

Well I'm looking at it from a realistic standpoint. We had no cap room. We had only the over the cap exceptions and two minor trade exceptions.

Draft Bobby Portis instead of trading (2) 2nd rounders to get Kelly Oubre. Draft Alan Williams in the 2nd round.

Trade a 2nd round pick for Mo Harkless during the '15 off-season and re-signed him to a modest extension around 5 mil per.

Sign Jeremy Lin last year for the BAE. See if he would agree to a multi-year deal, probably not. Sign Mirza Teletovic on a 3 yr deal to the MLE.

I would have still traded for Jared Dudley using our trade exception from the Andre Miller deal.

Sign Seth Curry & Wesley Johnson to the minimum if they would take it.

I would have definitely not traded for Markieff Morris during the season.

I think we'd have enough to make the playoffs last season. No Gary Neal, Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair or Drew Gooden eating up valuable minutes. Mo Harkless & Wesley Johnson would have given us better depth on the perimeter than Alan Anderson & Kelly Oubre Jr.

Teletovic would have been decent at PF, given us spacing and a modicum of size that Dudley couldn't provide as a starter. Jeremy Lin would have been a real nice 6th man, an upgrade over Sessions and better depth to withstand a Beal injury.

I would have tried to swap Beal but I don't know how much value he really had. If I could have gotten Paul Millsap in a S&T I would have done it in a heartbeat but I don't know how realistic that would be. I wouldn't give Beal away however.

I would not have traded for Markieff Morris. This offseason I would have really tried to get Denzel Valentine & Tyler Ulis in the draft through trades/cash/future protected picks.

Marcin Gortat / Alan Williams
Mirza Teletovic / Bobby Portis
Otto Porter Jr / Maurice Harkless
Bradley Beal / Denzel Valentine
John Wall / Tyler Ulis

In FA this year, I would have stayed out the fray for the most part. Adding a backup C on the cheap like Dewayne Dedmon or resigning Nene wold have been my priority. Adding guys like Christian Wood & Seth Curry on small deals to add additional depth.

The goal is setting us up for the 2016 off-season to make a run at the free agents of that class where there is less money to be thrown around while remaining a young, athletic team that's very competitive in the East that will intrigue free agents.

Man getting Millsap in a trade for Beal is highway robbery. If that were possible, I would have done that in a heartbeat. Or even for Horford if that is possible. I think the team should have dangled Beal as trade bait just to see if there would have been any takers. He's good and I believe in his talent, but he's not Wall yet in terms of franchise impact.

Depending on who was available, I would have drafted either Jerian Grant or Bobby Portis or Rondae-Hollis-Jefferson. I would not have used a high pick on Oubre, or if I were to get a high pick, it would have been for Myles Turner.

Or even right today since Philly got a glut of Centers I would do my best to get one of their young bigs.

But overall I love your plan of Bobby Portis, Denzel Valentine, and Tyler Ulis off the bench.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Well I'm looking at it from a realistic standpoint. We had no cap room. We had only the over the cap exceptions and two minor trade exceptions.

Draft Bobby Portis instead of trading (2) 2nd rounders to get Kelly Oubre. Draft Alan Williams in the 2nd round.

Trade a 2nd round pick for Mo Harkless during the '15 off-season and re-signed him to a modest extension around 5 mil per.

Sign Jeremy Lin last year for the BAE. See if he would agree to a multi-year deal, probably not. Sign Mirza Teletovic on a 3 yr deal to the MLE.

I would have still traded for Jared Dudley using our trade exception from the Andre Miller deal.

Sign Seth Curry & Wesley Johnson to the minimum if they would take it.

I would have definitely not traded for Markieff Morris during the season.

I think we'd have enough to make the playoffs last season. No Gary Neal, Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair or Drew Gooden eating up valuable minutes. Mo Harkless & Wesley Johnson would have given us better depth on the perimeter than Alan Anderson & Kelly Oubre Jr.

Teletovic would have been decent at PF, given us spacing and a modicum of size that Dudley couldn't provide as a starter. Jeremy Lin would have been a real nice 6th man, an upgrade over Sessions and better depth to withstand a Beal injury.

I would have tried to swap Beal but I don't know how much value he really had. If I could have gotten Paul Millsap in a S&T I would have done it in a heartbeat but I don't know how realistic that would be. I wouldn't give Beal away however.

I would not have traded for Markieff Morris. This offseason I would have really tried to get Denzel Valentine & Tyler Ulis in the draft through trades/cash/future protected picks.

Marcin Gortat / Alan Williams
Mirza Teletovic / Bobby Portis
Otto Porter Jr / Maurice Harkless
Bradley Beal / Denzel Valentine
John Wall / Tyler Ulis

In FA this year, I would have stayed out the fray for the most part. Adding a backup C on the cheap like Dewayne Dedmon or resigning Nene wold have been my priority. Adding guys like Christian Wood & Seth Curry on small deals to add additional depth.

The goal is setting us up for the 2016 off-season to make a run at the free agents of that class where there is less money to be thrown around while remaining a young, athletic team that's very competitive in the East that will intrigue free agents.

Man getting Millsap in a trade for Beal is highway robbery. If that were possible, I would have done that in a heartbeat. Or even for Horford if that is possible. I think the team should have dangled Beal as trade bait just to see if there would have been any takers. He's good and I believe in his talent, but he's not Wall yet in terms of franchise impact.

Depending on who was available, I would have drafted either Jerian Grant or Bobby Portis or Rondae-Hollis-Jefferson. I would not have used a high pick on Oubre, or if I were to get a high pick, it would have been for Myles Turner.

Or even right today since Philly got a glut of Centers I would do my best to get one of their young bigs.

But overall I love your plan of Bobby Portis, Denzel Valentine, and Tyler Ulis off the bench.

Mine would have been Portis (last draft), and both Valentine and Felder this draft. (I also liked Brice Johnson)

I never would have resigned Beal for the money he got. I would have tried to Jordan Clarkson or any number of other two guards for much less than Beal's max.

[ptptpt]

Mine would have been Portis (last draft), and both Valentine and Felder this draft. (I also liked Brice Johnson)

I never would have resigned Beal for the money he got. I would have tried to Jordan Clarkson or any number of other two guards for much less than Beal's max.

Does any of those other two guards include Alan Crabbe? I think he's close to being just as good as Beal with less money.

[Dat2U]

GEEZ, DAT ... you hit it too far out of the park. My answer after your response is like following a great act on stage and you're feeling not ready for prime time. Kind of like a backup band following Aerosmith...

MY SIMPLISTIC RESPONSE: 1. PORTIS dammit. Not Oubre. 2. Freakin' don't trade a pick for a dude who might have a felony conviction. NO. NO. HELL NO on trading for Markieff. 3. DON"T FIRE RANDY UNLESS YOU STEP DOWN YOURSELF, EG! I guess I could not be a self-serving dude who keeps my job regardless of how freakin' bad I suck. 4. I wouldn't sign both Jason Smith AND Andrew Nicholson. They just got through competing for minutes at Orlando. Makes NO F'ing sense at all to me. Might work out but it seems like we need a real backup PG instead of 18 billion in C/PF.

That's about as rational as I can post right now.

Thanks CCJ! I noticed I forgot to add Sato into that mix. I agree with everything you said. But I am glad Randy is gone. Dude was just taking up space by the end of the year.

Dat-- cool! Only one thing: Portis was projected to be gone by our #19 pick. We couldn't have known he'd be there. Hence if we'd wanted him (i.e. instead of Oubre) don't you think we'd likely have made the same trade we used to get Oubre? All of us would have applauded that trade, I'm pretty sure.

Were you high on Seth Curry the previous off-season? I didn't know that.

Well to be honest, I had settled on Justin Anderson as the pick at #19 if Portis was gone. I desperately wanted to trade up for either Myles Turner or Frank Kaminsky III but I didn't see either as very realistic possibilities. I also knew I wanted no parts of Jerian Grant and if Ernie didn't trade up for Oubre, I'm almost certain he'd have been the pick. I'm glad we dodged that bullet.

My version:

I've already detailed my trade-down strategy for the 2016 draft: I'd have wound up with Brice Johnson, Onuaku or McCaw, and Felder or Zipser. Ruz points to Ellenson, and his youth and Freshman numbers would have made it tempting to trade our #13 for the Celtics #16 and #51 (i.e. for Felder).

Like Dat, I stay out of the just-past FA fray: given the above, I sign Seth Curry and Christian Wood. I also sign Hickson on the cheap for 2 years. Bring Satoransky over. Assuming Beal still with us, that would give us:

Wall / Satoransky / Felder
Beal / Seth Curry / Satoransky
Porter / Dudley / Oubre
Hickson(?) /Alan Wiliams / Brice Johnson / Christian Wood
Gortat / Biyombo / Onoaku

Or maybe Ellenson is in there, but no Johnson or Onoaku.

First critique might be of Hickson starting at the 4. But, in fact, he's a better player than he's given credit for, and he's also younger than people realize. J.J. Hickson is only 11 months and 29 days older than Markieff Morris! He's also a better player than Markieff - quite a lot better, actually.

Total salary: maybe $83m. And that's with Beal at his current deal.

That's a better team than our current team; I have no doubt about it! It's also full of tradable assets, young, and gives us plenty of flexibility as we go forward.

I just don't think starting Hickson at PF is a palatable option. First off, he's more of C now, secondly he's not very skilled or effective in space. I see him as a passable third string C. You could say the same for Alan Williams, he was effective in very limited minutes at C. I don't know how he looks away from the basket, IMO that plays against his strengths and into his weaknesses. I even have questions about Brice Johnson's future position. He looked like a modern small ball C in college, I think its going to be a huge adjustment for him to play at PF.

Man getting Millsap in a trade for Beal is highway robbery. If that were possible, I would have done that in a heartbeat. Or even for Horford if that is possible. I think the team should have dangled Beal as trade bait just to see if there would have been any takers. He's good and I believe in his talent, but he's not Wall yet in terms of franchise impact.

Depending on who was available, I would have drafted either Jerian Grant or Bobby Portis or Rondae-Hollis-Jefferson. I would not have used a high pick on Oubre, or if I were to get a high pick, it would have been for Myles Turner.

Or even right today since Philly got a glut of Centers I would do my best to get one of their young bigs.

But overall I love your plan of Bobby Portis, Denzel Valentine, and Tyler Ulis off the bench.

Thanks, looking at how things played out in free agency, I think Noel or Okafor & Covington would have been a realistic option in a S&T for Beal. To me whether that deal gets done is whether Beal was willing to go to Philly and not if Philly would agree to it. Philly is going to have to move a C at some point here soon. I'm pretty sure they'd sacrifice one & a minor piece for a supposed young up & comer at a guard position.

I know that 5th year for Beal would have been off the table from my point of view. If Beal tried to play hardball I would have simply told whatever team he was trying to sign with, the only way you'd get Beal is with compensation otherwise we'd match any offer. At worse we'd have Beal at a 4 year. At best we'd get some good assets in return and likely opened up a boat load of cap space.

Mine would have been Portis (last draft), and both Valentine and Felder this draft. (I also liked Brice Johnson)

I never would have resigned Beal for the money he got. I would have tried to Jordan Clarkson or any number of other two guards for much less than Beal's max.

As much as we question Beal, I'd have even more questions about guys like Clarkson & Crabbe. Clarkson seems like a mediocre stats on a poor team type of guy. You get up enough shots, your bound to make a few. That's him. As bad as Beal defended last year is likely Clarkson's ceiling as a defender, so there's that. Crabbe can shoot but doesn't bring much else to the table either. Beal has the highest upside. I'm definitely not in love with him but considering the market, his deal might not look so bad with a better coach and a modicum of good health.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Mine would have been Portis (last draft), and both Valentine and Felder this draft. (I also liked Brice Johnson)

I never would have resigned Beal for the money he got. I would have tried to Jordan Clarkson or any number of other two guards for much less than Beal's max.

Does any of those other two guards include Alan Crabbe? I think he's close to being just as good as Beal with less money.

Yes. I like Crabbe. Other Beal alternatives (if free agents) would have included Will Barton, and Kent Bazemore.

Another option would be resign Marcus Thornton and draft Valentine in hopes that the rookie might be a more effective player.

Sign and trade for Oladipo would have been outstanding IMO.



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