Teffer10 wrote:If we don't include Bass in a trade, there is basically no way to improve this team unless we can get damn lucky by signing a good FA for the MLE.
It will be extremely difficult to improve in a Howard deal that doesn't include Bass. Maybe Stack and Josh for VC but I don't see where that is enough of an improvement.
Bass is a solid player for our future but then you have to look at where we will be in about 5 years when he is in his prime. If we are going to attempt to go after a championship with Dirk, it makes no sense to have someone that good playing behind him when he could help us get a player that could be a better complement to Dirk. If Dirk is on this team for 3 or more years, that means this FO has not committed to rebuilding which means that we will absolutely suck when Bass is in his prime.
Using the logic in your second paragraph, we should trade Bass why his value is at a high level. I would trade Josh too because his mindset is that of a person who needs to move on to another situation. I don't see his value increasing that much in the first few months of the season. Even if he is back to his old self, I don't see where it will be enough to land us an all star caliber player. Right now, Josh and Bass could get us a solid player to start the season with Dirk and Kidd. I don't want anymore of this crap coming from Dirk a few weeks before the playoffs about still trying to gel.
Recently i read through a mock draft list and i saw at least 4 or 5 Cs in the top 30. All building/rebuilding teams out there rather draft a C prospect than develope a 6-8 PF, and they sure as hell dont give us their C prospect for Brandon. So i think his worth is a late first in this draft. He has more value for winning teams, but will they give us pieces that make us better? Will we trade with a possible contender?
I really dont think Brandon is much more than a throw in for the teams
we want to trade with. He's more that guy that evens out the depth chart so you dont have any holes behind your main PF or C - he's no starting caliber player in this league.
But Bass is exactly what this team needs, theres no way we can get a guy even remotely close to his skillset. And his skillset, not his talentlevel, is what makes him so valueable for this team. He's no prospect for this team, he's become an integral part of it.
Which leads me to another knock on Brandon. I dont see him improving that much. I cant think of many areas he can improve in outside of passing and post moves. But maybe thats just me.
So i disagree when you say we can improve by moving Bass, trading Bass will generate more holes, not only depthwise but also skillwise, that will offset any improvement at SG or SF. Any team that'll trade with us will do it to get Josh and/or an expiring. The only rational behind them demanding Bass is to package him in a trade with a contender later that season to aquire a draft pick. Thus this has a high possibility of biting us in our very own ass.
Plus, including Bass to Howard and Filler (Terry or Stack) for one max player will destroy any depth we have left after the Kidd trade.
We cant affort a 3 for 1 trade or sth on the line, we need a 1-2 trade.(I dont see Stack as a player anymore, hes useless)
My approach would be to build a bench around Bass and Terry. We need a quick 7-footer with blocking abilities - Diop?. We need an athletic shlashing SF - Reyshawn?. We need another shooter off the bench - JR Smith?. Use Josh and Stack to build a backcourt around Kidd.
I prefer Miller and Artest. Is it possible? Probably not. Maybe we just need two premium shooters as we'll build our backcourt around Kidd. After all we always were a jumpshooting team, we can as well concentrate on improving what made us strong in the past (and weak in the recent playoffs). And i think Josh has enough value left to accomplish that.
PS: Im sorry if this post isnt directed fully at your original post or doesnt answer some questions/statements you built. I was just writing down my opinion and saw no way of fitting it in your post or even rearranging your post afterwards to make sense within.