While waiting for a Gillooley...

[Solid]

Play is so perverse I wonder if we're tanking?
Almost expect JOB to club someones knees if they go on a hot streak.
Could he have been given orders to secure a lotto pick?
Give him a nice parting bonus and generate enthusiasm for next season with :

a top pick, a top free agent, a new coach, maybe a trade?

Take your choice from each category (3-4 total) - and make your best team.

Group 1. Free agents. Take one or two, Do not exceed 15 mil. per year from this group.
Nene'
D West
K Perkins
Jamaal Crawford
Glen Davis
Mike Dunleavy
Zach Randolph
Jeff Green
Greg Oden
A Kirilenko
Sam Delebert
Carl Landry

Group 2. Draftees. Pick one.
John Henson
Jan Vesely
Trey Tompkins
Brandon Knight
Derrick Williams
Marcus Morris
Alec Burks
Someone else

Group 3 trades.
Pick one or two. Lose a guy or two to match salaries, make it a near wash talent wise for non FAs. FAs should be for mostly expirings or be a gain in talent for us.
Nene'
D West
K Perkins
Jamaal Crawford
Glen Davis
Zach Randolph
Jeff Green
Greg Oden
A Kirilenko
Sam Delebert
Carl Landry

Anthony Randolph
Iggy
Lee
Jason Thompson
D Favors (lose Granger)
Okafor
Larry Sanders
Ekpe Udoh
Someone else that may be shopped or pried away.


Group 4. Pick one, or suggest another.
Larry Brown
Mike Brown
Van Gundy
Brad Stevens
Bill Lambeir
JOB... I Dare you.
Someone else.

Post your line-ups.
Bet you can make a pretty strong team out of that.
I'll add or subtract names if that seems useful.
I'll play soon.

[Boneman2]

Is it a bad thing if Zach Randolph appeals to me more than any other player listed.

I guess it would be much more savvy to sign him and keep Granger, than to trade Granger for Favors.

[Solid]

If we could get Nene or West and not have to pay more than 4 years I'd Be thrilled.
If not Zach as a free agent or cheap trade is talent wise very tempting. any chance he's grown up?

Free agency is place to start, man free stuff!! good talent, just gotta spend and attract.

Iggy for core member plus would be great.

I'm thinking
1. Best Possible
Hibb, (Perkins, Okafor, or Dele)
West (4 yrs 36 mil?) Tyler
Granger George
Iggy (for Rush and a pick)George
Collison Price, Lance
Mike or Lary Brown : teach defense to a great offensive group.

2. Awesome still.
Hibb, Nene
Nene, Tyler
Granger, George
Iggy, George, Lance
Collison, Price, Lance
Brad Stevens or Van Gundy

3. Still good, but scary.
Hibb, Draft pick or FA
Zach, Tyler
Granger George
Rush, George
Collison, Draft pick or trade. (Brandon Knight)
Fred Flinstone but not JOB

I guess the emerging thought is if a high talent guy is on the block pick him up to look real strong and attempt to lure the last piece as a free agent. Pick up a draft pick if you have one left to fill in the blanks.
Most importantly,
1. Find a coach who doesn't hate inside play.
2. Get someone to spell Hib effectively and add some strength to the front line
3. Get a good defensive back-up point guard who is taller than your sister.

[Indy2thaWindy]

Why do people want Iguodala here? He's not as good as people think. I laugh at the people who think he is better than Granger because he started on Team USA.

Mine would be.

Plan A.

1. David West (5 years 47 million - 5th year team option) & Greg Oden (5 years 28 million - frontloaded with 3rd year player option)
2. Trade lottery protected pick for Anthony Randolph
3. If you could somehow figure out a trade involving Rush and Hansbrough for an upgrade at the 2, I'd be fine with that.
4. Byron Scott if he get fired

Hibbert/Oden
West/Randolph
Granger/George
Trade/George/Stephenson
Collison/Price

Plan B.

1. Nene (4 years 36 million) & Carl Landry (5 years 35 million)
2. Lucas Nogueira
3. None
4. Lester Connor

Hibbert/Nene/Nogueira
Nene/Landry/Hansbrough
Granger/George
George/Rush/Stephenson
Collison/Price

Plan C **MOST LIKELY**

1. Trade Rush for Amar'e Stoudemire
2. Trade Hansbrough for Dwight Howard
3. Trade Price for Rajon Rondo
4. Trade Pick for Dwyane Wade and LeBron James
5. Larry Bird is Coach

All-star starting lineup.

Howard/Hibbert
Stoudemire/Howard
James/Granger
Wade/George
Rondo/Collison

Only have 9 player on the roster, but that's okay, because you only need a 9 man rotation.

[chube]

^^^ Plan C almost made me go from six to midnight.

[chube]

This is obviously pro-Pacers, but this is one way I'm thinking. I'll post alternatives as I think of them.

1. Free Agents
Jamal Crawford. Despite a shot at a second consecutive 6th Man of The Year Award, Atlanta didn't offer him a new contract. Show him the love he deserves...maybe a 3-year contract at a shade lower than what he is right now.
Greg Oden. Don't massively overpay obviously, but bring him home where the fans might give him at least a temporary boost.
See if we can bring over Stanko Barac. If not, re-sign McBob to a 2-year deal and give him a slight raise or re-sign Foster to a MUCH smaller 2-year contract with a team option for a second if he doesn't retire.

2. Draft picks
Brandon Knight. A nice combo guard who can handle the ball and play off-the-ball. He can fill in at the 2 in spots and could battle A.J. for backup to Darren.

3. Trade Mike Dunleavy, Josh McRoberts, Solomon Jones, and the rights to Erazem Lorbek to New Orleans for Emeka Okafor and Marcus Thornton. Hell, if NO wanted to cut costs, they could send us D.J. Mbenga too. (We could have a T.J., A.J., and D.J.!) I like Okafor because if we want to go smaller, we still have a legit big at the 5 with 6-10 Okafor.

4. In terms of big-name coaches, Mike Brown. In terms of current assistants, not too sure, but Lester Conner is out in Atlanta, Mo Cheeks is in OKC, and Lawrence Frank is in Boston.

2011-2012 Ideal lineup:

5 Starters:
C - Roy Hibbert
PF - Emeka Okafor
SF - Danny Granger
SG - Brandon Rush (give him first defensive crack at elite wings such as Kobe, Durant, Wade, etc.)
PG - Darren Collison

5 first off the bench:
C - Stanko Barac or Greg Oden (NBA game-ready conditioning and re-learning the game may take time for both, so let them split backup time)
PF - Tyler Hansbrough (would LOVE his energy and improving offense with the second unit as long as we had a worthy player starting at the 4)
SF - Paul George (a 2nd unit guy who can score, but also do plenty of other things aside from scoring if necessary)
SG - Jamal Crawford (automatic offense. And if B-Rush is on one of his off-nights, leave JC him in longer)
PG - Brandon Knight or A.J. Price (whoever has earned it)

2 players suited up with no guarantee for minutes in the rotation:
Whoever remaining between Greg Oden and Stanko Barac
Whoever remaining between Brandon Knight and A.J. Price

3 players who better clean out the closet for suits, street clothes:
Lance Stephenson (first activated if there's an injury), Dahntay Jones (second), James Posey (98th)

Then, once the 2011-2012 season has started, use the expiring contracts of Dahn and Posey as trade chips or let them expire and have nearly $9 million between them to spend in the summer of 2012. Plus, both Rush and Hansbrough will be nearing the end of their rookie contracts, which opens the door for George to sneak into the SG spot eventually if we're not committed to Rush.

So to recap:
5 - Roy Hibbert, Stanko Barac, Greg Oden
4 - Emeka Okafor, Tyler Hansbrough
3 - Danny Granger, Paul George, James Posey
2 - Brandon Rush, Jamal Crawford, Dahntay Jones, Lance Stephenson
1 - Darren Collison, Brandon Knight, A.J. Price
Coached by Mike Brown (I figure if he can help turn Mo Williams into an All-Star, he can do wonders with Darren.)

My next goal is to work out a way to get David West.

[Boneman2]

West would definitely be an upgrade, but the five years concerns me because of his age. Regardless 7.5 to 8 million per sounds about right.

[Indy2thaWindy]

West would definitely be an upgrade, but the five years concerns me because of his age. Regardless 7.5 to 8 million per sounds about right.

That's why there should be a team option on it, or at the most only 25% guaranteed. I would never throw a full 5 year contract at him.

I think 4 is perfect with an option for 5.

[Grangerous]

i say pacers go for iggy..make him and granger a great 1 2 punch..

[PR07]

I think West will get at least 10 million per. You have to remember that players like Foster and Gortat are making what 6 million right now?

Give me a scenario which gives me Jeff Green.

[Indy2thaWindy]

I think West will get at least 10 million per. You have to remember that players like Foster and Gortat are making what 6 million right now?

Give me a scenario which gives me Jeff Green.

Wasn't David West an all-star when he got his extension or no? Centers usually get paid even if they shouldn't. David West is not a center. But I could still see him getting 10 a year though. But maybe at 3 years for 30 million. How many teams do you think would give him that 4th year at 10 million?

Even though in my deal he would be making $9.4 million a year. Less than that if we declined his option, but not by much.

[Wizop]

so we're losing and we've started to play the younger players. is O'B now doing what you want him to be doing? is he damned if he plays TJ and Posey to get the 7 spot and equally damned if he doesn't and gets a better lottery pick?

[Solid]

I'd play the young guys. But
My problem with O'Brian isn't rotations as much as just what I see as poor basketball fundamentals.
The rim is high, Duh. Use your big guys.
Shorter shots are easier to make.
Free throws are important as is getting the other team in foul trouble.
Fast shots let the opponents rest on D and pound it inside on us at their end...where WE get into foul trouble and watch them make more FTs than we take.
Watching four guys with their hands out on the perimeter just makes me ill.

[Grang33r]

I think West will get at least 10 million per. You have to remember that players like Foster and Gortat are making what 6 million right now?

Good call.

From Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski -

New Orleans general manager Dell Demps has discussed the framework of a multiyear deal with West’s agents at Octagon, but the Hornets’ hopes of getting him signed prior to the Feb. 24 trade deadline is “not likely at all,” one source close to the talks told Yahoo! Sports.West plans to opt out of the $7.5 million owed him in the final season of a five-year, $45 million contract and expects to command north of $10 million a season on the market, sources said.

“It’s hard to see an extension happening here,” one source said.

Demps said he and West have an agreement that they won’t speak publicly about any discussions, but the GM told Yahoo! Sports: “We’re happy with David and we want him here for a long time.”

Although-

“Under the current labor deal, I think he’ll get that $10 million a year,” said one rival GM who would have interest in signing West. “But who knows under the next deal?”

Link- http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=a ... nets012411

[Solid]

When I think of all the thousands of hours the basketball greats have spent working on their game...
How many hooks did KAJ have to shoot to become automatic?
Why did Oakly and DD bother with bone crushing picks?
Why on earth did reggie Miller do so many cuts and laps around, under and out again?
Why was Bobby Knight furious when someone chucked one up with twenty-five seconds left on the clock? Why Did Kevin Mckale juke and dip and dive?

Why, in short, don't all great teams and awesome players just toss up the first shot they see?

Because it's the behavior of basketball retards.
It's the un-coached, or organized yesterday band of rag tag wanna-bees who demean themselves into utilizing only the most obvious and futile tools at their disposal.
I could see it for a few first games or odd occasions but ...years later and we still get more threes than frees...REALLY? That all you got?
I'd quit on the guy too.
Just sayin'

[Miller4ever]

so we're losing and we've started to play the younger players. is O'B now doing what you want him to be doing? is he damned if he plays TJ and Posey to get the 7 spot and equally damned if he doesn't and gets a better lottery pick?

Fixing O'Brien has always been two parts:

1) Stop using that stupid offensive system. Its stupid.

2) Play the younger guys.

You see, #1 is the priority, and without completing #1, #2 is less effective. So I'm not getting on him no matter what he's doing, I'm getting on him for never fixing the problem in the first place.

[chube]

Some good news, I suppose. The wiretap had a piece about the Hornets and David West not being close on an extension.

[Grang33r]

Some good news, I suppose. The wiretap had a piece about the Hornets and David West not being close on an extension.

Look 3 posts back...

[chube]

^^^ Oops, my bad. I just jumped straight to the last page. Great minds think alike.

[Indy2thaWindy]

Don't you mean Ugooglely?