Dealing with a huge roster

[UGotThrilled]

We have discussed the problems of having so many players next year. We have talked about deals where we do a 3-1 trade, and other things of the sort. I really feel like with Oden and Rudy, we will have pretty much everything that we need, if we can just hang on to all of our guys. So we have multiple draft picks. I think that it would make sense to see if we could trade our draft pick for somebody else's draft pick in a few years. They say that GM's first priorities are to protect their own job. With NY running so low on options, Isiah may be willing to go for another pick this year, at the cost of a pick down the road a bit (I am thinking like 2012, give or take a year). New York may still be bad enough at that point that the pick could be valuable, and it really beats drafting a player and then cutting somebody because of roster space issues. Is that even possible?

[SalemStoner]

I think this is definately a viable option other than the fact that this is shaping up to be a fairly deep draft... if this was the 2006 draft I'd be all for it... and my opinion might change in a few monthes once we know where we're drafting, but right now I think we'll be able to get ourselves another good player from this draft regardless of where in the 1st we pick.

I think a more likely option is packaging our 1st this year, and several of our prospects(read sergio, jack, frye, webster, etc) depending on how the rest of the year goes and trying to move into the top of the lottery for another serious prospect too assuming KP sees someone he really likes who the rest of the L is undervaluing.

Alot of what ifs, gotta love it.

[mojomarc]

I think this is definately a viable option other than the fact that this is shaping up to be a fairly deep draft...

When guys like Kevin Love aren't even projected in the top 15 (and might drop out of the top 20), this is a deeeeeeeep draft.

[Telfaire]

I think a more likely option is packaging our 1st this year, and several of our prospects(read sergio, jack, frye, webster, etc) depending on how the rest of the year goes and trying to move into the top of the lottery for another serious prospect too assuming KP sees someone he really likes who the rest of the L is undervaluing.

Well, we could also package our 1st rounder with some of our 2nd rounders. Maybe the 12-14 pick, Jack and two 2nd rounders for the rights for Bayless?

We could also draft Gallinari and keep him in europe, especially if we would draft somewhere around the 20th pick.

[BlackMamba]

wouldn't it be easier to cut guys like green and/or mcroberts?

[SalemStoner]

wouldn't it be easier to cut guys like green and/or mcroberts?

Easier? yes

Would it deal with our playing time issues? not at all

Next year we project to have 6-7 guys deserving starters type minutes - Roy, LMA, Oden, Rudy, Jack, Blake, Joel, Outlaw, Webster and Jones. Even if you break it down to this...

32mpg tier
Roy
LMA
Oden

28mpg tier
Martell
Outlaw
Rudy

24mpg tier
Blake
Jack
Jones
Frye
Joel

18mpg
Sergio
2008 1st

total = approx 318mpg

Even if you make some slight adjustments in the tiers and everyone on the roster that we expect to play plays a whopping 24mpg we still end up with 264mpg over 11 players(not counting the 2008 1st). There's only 240 mpg available(assuming no OT obviously), and we all know Roy LMA and Oden are gunna be over 30mpg, the only one who might play significantly less than 24mpg is Sergio.

That is why we expect the Blazers to make a move and why simply cutting Green and McRoberts doesn't deal with the problem.

While we've been saying all along we need to clear roster space, what we've really got to do is consolidate our talent base. That's why we need to do 3 for 1 or 2 for 1 deals... Because come next year we won't be able to play everyone on our current playing roster + add minutes for Oden, Rudy AND our 2008 1st... it simply isn't possible without lowering some of our players value and giving some players too few minutes to develop properly(namely Sergio in all likelyhood).

[SinceClyde]

I'd still cut green or mcroberts. You are giving 18 mpg to a pick that hasn't played a game yet and has to earn minutes. Rudy may need time to adjust so giving him 28 minutes is premature. We are actually becoming a good enough team that a first round pick might not actually get good minutes, mostly because we have better players playing at the moment.

[SalemStoner]

I'd still cut green or mcroberts. You are giving 18 mpg to a pick that hasn't played a game yet and has to earn minutes. Rudy may need time to adjust so giving him 28 minutes is premature. We are actually becoming a good enough team that a first round pick might not actually get good minutes, mostly because we have better players playing at the moment.

Try reading the whole post before responding... Otherwise you might have actually realized that even assuming all of our 11 current projected players who we expect to get minutes(yes this counts Rudy and Sergio) 24 minutes each on average we still end up with more minutes than it's possible to play. And we have alot more guys likely to get significantly over 24 minutes than we do who might get significantly under 24.

We simply have more players that require significant minutes than we have minutes to go around...

[Tiggo Bitties]

I think we should just cut Green and McBob also and trade our pick. Maybe move one of the PG's in the off-season but we still have another year to let the players battle for playing time. I like having the competition right now.

It wont work when their older but guys like Sergio and Rudy will need some time to figure out what their ultimate role in the NBA will be. Jack is closer to reaching that point and it appears that he'll be a solid scoring combo guard off the bench for his career.

Is that a role we need/want for the future of this team? Yes, but Rudy might play that role better... or not. That's why I think we still need another year to sort things out.

[BlackMamba]

yeah, i also think that the blazers don't need a pick, unless it's a top 5...

[Telfaire]

I think we could do better than Jack as a scoring combo guard off the bench - Bayless or Gordon. If we could make this upgrade by giving away some of our 2nd rounders and maybe Frye as well - that would make our rotation more managable, and better too.

[Tiggo Bitties]

Otherwise you might have actually realized that even assuming all of our 11 current projected players who we expect to get minutes(yes this counts Rudy and Sergio) 24 minutes each on average we still end up with more minutes than it's possible to play.

I really disagree with this. We only have 6 guys averaging over 24 mpg right now. I dont think Joel or Frye deserve 24 mpg next year. Frye should only get about 12-15 mpg and Joel 20 mpg. Sergio has yet to show that he deserves more then 10-12 mpg and we really have no idea how ready Rudy is for the NBA. No doubt he is talented but I dont think we should assume he'll need that many minutes next year.

I agree that the roster will need some consolidation and we'll probably trade one of those guys this off-season but another year with a crowded roster would be a good problem to have IMO.

[Telfaire]

I agree that as long as Oden is healthy and stays away from foul trouble, Przy should see about 10 mpg. But we should still keep him for at least two years as insurance.

Frye, OTOH, could become redundant. He can be a good fit with Oden, but so are LMA and Outlaw who would see most minutes at PF. And at center, if not Oden or Przy, then I wouldn't like to see Frye coupled with LMA or Outlaw since wer'e seeing this year how they get abused on the boards.

So I think we should trade Frye by summertime, while his stocks are as high as they could get. If we do indeed bring in Rudy, then maybe a package of Miles, Jack and Frye could land us a combo guard with an expiring contract plus a future pick? that is, if we wont make a similar move at the draft.

[swede]

There is NO WAY we can just Pencil in Outlaw as the #2 PF. It may sound good as he seems to play well there, but say LMA gets two quick fouls against someone like Z-Bo. You expect Travis to come in and be a legit PF in this league against everyone you're in trouble. We NEED a big, strong, rebound-eating back up 4/5.

[SinceClyde]

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Try reading the whole post before responding... Otherwise you might have actually realized that even assuming all of our 11 current projected players who we expect to get minutes(yes this counts Rudy and Sergio) 24 minutes each on average we still end up with more minutes than it's possible to play. And we have alot more guys likely to get significantly over 24 minutes than we do who might get significantly under 24.

Oh I read your post, and it's called "Disagreeing". You are trying to distribute minutes, which is premature considering how far away it's going to be. Do you shudder at the idea of having guys like Blake, Jack, Frye lose 5 minutes a game? You're minutes are pretty inaccurate, and that's mainly my beef with your post.

I'll make a deal with you, I'll take a double take on every post you write if you think about your posts before you write them. Sweet.

[omeloon]

Trading for a future draft pick might be a decent idea since you guys already have more youth than most teams really need. Packaging it with Jack and/or a few wing players wouldn't be a horrible idea either.

I wouldn't give up Frye unless you guys plan on trading for a veteran back-up PF. If you can do that though, packaging Frye would probably be a terrific idea.

[Telfaire]

There is NO WAY we can just Pencil in Outlaw as the #2 PF. It may sound good as he seems to play well there, but say LMA gets two quick fouls against someone like Z-Bo. You expect Travis to come in and be a legit PF in this league against everyone you're in trouble. We NEED a big, strong, rebound-eating back up 4/5.

I agree, but Frye is not that guy. We could use one of our picks for such a bigman.

[swede]

Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly.

[omeloon]

How much do you guys think Kwame will cost? Would you be completely opposed to him as a back-up PF and third string center??

[mojomarc]

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I agree, but Frye is not that guy. We could use one of our picks for such a bigman.

Why isn't Frye that guy? He's 40th in the league in rebound rate, which puts him at about the 85th percentile if I'm doing the math in my head correctly, and that's pretty darned good. On top of that, he's young, getting better, and he is deadly from 18'. That's a pretty darned good guy to have coming off the bench. Plus, like Aldridge his rebounding should get better once other teams have to put two bodies on Oden underneath.