My feelings on the team and offseson plan.
Posted: Tue Mar 5, 2013 8:33 am
I figure everyone else is doing it so, like a lemming, off the cliff I go! I have worked at the Palace for 17 years now. I have seen this team at there best (championship years) and worst (teal era, or so I thought 
). This has been the absolute worst season EVER in my opinion. Just plain bad basketball, no effort, little talent and no chemistry on the court all season. While I see some improvement some places this team is catastrophically flawed and like a burned out building, needs to be tore down. I have been hearing of locke room issues between the "old guard" and the new players (main reason for the Prince trade). Some of the vets. no longer care and are just going through the motions. The young guys are not down with that and are starting to be more vocal about it (good!). Not all the vets are in on this but those who are are influential ( Maxciell, Stuckey, Jerebko, and Prince was the worst of the group bu now gone), CV, Calderon, and Maggette are the vets that have been positive voices, but again, the three of them are not the most influential group. This team is currently made up of mostly "roster filler" type guys, only Knight, Monroe, Drummond, and maybe Singler, Slava or Calderon can be considered "real assets" the rest of the players are fairly easy to replace. Lets face it Chuck Daly, John Wooden, And Phil Jackson could not team up and coach this team to the playoffs! We have no Jump shooters, too many slasher type guys ( Stuckey, Magette, Bunym.) few good rebounders (Moose, Drummond), too many ball hogs( Stuckey, Bynum, Magette), and allot of "Hustle/energy" guys (Jerebko, Maxciell, Singler). That is not a successful combination in my opinion.
That brings me to my offseason plan. I would start by letting all the expiring contracts walk , except for Calderon who I'd offer 2yrs at 8mil per to be our starting PG. I think Calderon would be a good mentor for Knight, and I think Knight will learn more playing at the same time as him than he would by watching him or in practice. I foresee Calderon starting allot the first year and slowly making way for Knight in year two. In two years, we should know if Knight is ever going to be a starting PG and cam make a better decision then. I would attempt to trade Stuckey for ANYTHING resembling an asset up until the last day he can be bought out and then buy him out if nothing is offered. I believe he has become a problem and needs to go one way or the other! I am not sure what to do about Jerebko, I would trade him if I could, but I am not sure he could not be brought back inline with the right group. I would keep CV for three reasons. 1) We have to spend 90% of the cap as per the new CBA, And he helps with that because of the length of his contract and the amount. IF we cut him, we will have to sign someone else to use that cap space and probably have to sign that player to a longer contract. Unless that guy is a major upgrade (at similar cost) or a young player, I don't see the point. 2) CV is the type of player (stretch 4) that should pair well when either Drummond or Moose go to the bench. I think his skill set gives the other team a different look when paired with the other two and frees up space down low for the other bigs to work. 3) He has not been a Locker room problem and his expiring contract is an asset next year as either in a trade or as raw cap space next offseason (better FA's).
The last thing that needs to be done is is deciding on how, or IF to use this years cap space. This free agent class is not the best. I would hate for us to make the same bad decision we did last time. That would be to use the cap space to sign players to big deals just to get a little better in the short term, or sign players because we feel we "have to". As painful as this season has been I would rather go through another rough one next year than see us sign a couple of veteran players that make us just good enough to be mediocre for the next 3-4 seasons. This is what the whole "teal era" was all about, making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round and getting a 15-20 range draft pick and staying that way for years. In that situation there is very little chance of improving past that level. I would go for young guys in this free agency period that can have an impact My List (In order of preference):
Earl Clark (Lal)
Chase Bundinger (Min)
Al-Farouq Aminu (Nol)
JJ Hickson (Por)
Nicola Pekovic (Min)
Cory Brewer (Den)
Allen Anderson (Tor)
Dorell Wright (Phi)
Lavoy Allen (Phi)
Not all those names are sexy, but I think all can help this team. Some are not very realistic (Pekovic, Aminu) but I think those are the ones most worth going for. If we don't get them, I would wait to see who gets amnestied and what trades are available for raw cap space. If nothing develops, I would sign enough players to one year contracts to fill the roster (and mandatory cap space according to the CBA) and wait a year. I know that would suck to watch but next year we could be MAJOR players in free agency with a class of players that is light years away from this years. The expiring contracts we have next season( CV, and Stuckey if we keep him) along with what ever cap space we can save, could turn into great trade fodder. I just fear us signing Iguodala or Josh smith, and becoming a "decent" team but not a good one. I would rather wait till the next seasons free agent crop and do it right.
). This has been the absolute worst season EVER in my opinion. Just plain bad basketball, no effort, little talent and no chemistry on the court all season. While I see some improvement some places this team is catastrophically flawed and like a burned out building, needs to be tore down. I have been hearing of locke room issues between the "old guard" and the new players (main reason for the Prince trade). Some of the vets. no longer care and are just going through the motions. The young guys are not down with that and are starting to be more vocal about it (good!). Not all the vets are in on this but those who are are influential ( Maxciell, Stuckey, Jerebko, and Prince was the worst of the group bu now gone), CV, Calderon, and Maggette are the vets that have been positive voices, but again, the three of them are not the most influential group. This team is currently made up of mostly "roster filler" type guys, only Knight, Monroe, Drummond, and maybe Singler, Slava or Calderon can be considered "real assets" the rest of the players are fairly easy to replace. Lets face it Chuck Daly, John Wooden, And Phil Jackson could not team up and coach this team to the playoffs! We have no Jump shooters, too many slasher type guys ( Stuckey, Magette, Bunym.) few good rebounders (Moose, Drummond), too many ball hogs( Stuckey, Bynum, Magette), and allot of "Hustle/energy" guys (Jerebko, Maxciell, Singler). That is not a successful combination in my opinion.That brings me to my offseason plan. I would start by letting all the expiring contracts walk , except for Calderon who I'd offer 2yrs at 8mil per to be our starting PG. I think Calderon would be a good mentor for Knight, and I think Knight will learn more playing at the same time as him than he would by watching him or in practice. I foresee Calderon starting allot the first year and slowly making way for Knight in year two. In two years, we should know if Knight is ever going to be a starting PG and cam make a better decision then. I would attempt to trade Stuckey for ANYTHING resembling an asset up until the last day he can be bought out and then buy him out if nothing is offered. I believe he has become a problem and needs to go one way or the other! I am not sure what to do about Jerebko, I would trade him if I could, but I am not sure he could not be brought back inline with the right group. I would keep CV for three reasons. 1) We have to spend 90% of the cap as per the new CBA, And he helps with that because of the length of his contract and the amount. IF we cut him, we will have to sign someone else to use that cap space and probably have to sign that player to a longer contract. Unless that guy is a major upgrade (at similar cost) or a young player, I don't see the point. 2) CV is the type of player (stretch 4) that should pair well when either Drummond or Moose go to the bench. I think his skill set gives the other team a different look when paired with the other two and frees up space down low for the other bigs to work. 3) He has not been a Locker room problem and his expiring contract is an asset next year as either in a trade or as raw cap space next offseason (better FA's).
The last thing that needs to be done is is deciding on how, or IF to use this years cap space. This free agent class is not the best. I would hate for us to make the same bad decision we did last time. That would be to use the cap space to sign players to big deals just to get a little better in the short term, or sign players because we feel we "have to". As painful as this season has been I would rather go through another rough one next year than see us sign a couple of veteran players that make us just good enough to be mediocre for the next 3-4 seasons. This is what the whole "teal era" was all about, making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round and getting a 15-20 range draft pick and staying that way for years. In that situation there is very little chance of improving past that level. I would go for young guys in this free agency period that can have an impact My List (In order of preference):
Earl Clark (Lal)
Chase Bundinger (Min)
Al-Farouq Aminu (Nol)
JJ Hickson (Por)
Nicola Pekovic (Min)
Cory Brewer (Den)
Allen Anderson (Tor)
Dorell Wright (Phi)
Lavoy Allen (Phi)
Not all those names are sexy, but I think all can help this team. Some are not very realistic (Pekovic, Aminu) but I think those are the ones most worth going for. If we don't get them, I would wait to see who gets amnestied and what trades are available for raw cap space. If nothing develops, I would sign enough players to one year contracts to fill the roster (and mandatory cap space according to the CBA) and wait a year. I know that would suck to watch but next year we could be MAJOR players in free agency with a class of players that is light years away from this years. The expiring contracts we have next season( CV, and Stuckey if we keep him) along with what ever cap space we can save, could turn into great trade fodder. I just fear us signing Iguodala or Josh smith, and becoming a "decent" team but not a good one. I would rather wait till the next seasons free agent crop and do it right.
