RealGM

Draft Day:

Trade: Memo, Raja, #12 Pick
Receive: Andre Iguodala (Super athletic, lock down wing defender, and scorer)

Draft: Brandon Knight or Bismack Biyombo

If they require the #6 pick for this trade, we should require the #16 pick in return of theirs and use those picks to move up into the top #10 to still grab Biyombo if he is still available. Otherwise we should target: Reggie Jackson (PG) and another SF. I like Chris Singleton....defensive SF will lock down opposing scorers, or a shooter like Klay Thompson or Jordan Hamilton.

Then in Free Agency we go hard after Reggie Williams who can light is up from 3, and is a long athletic defender.


Harris/Knight/Watson
Hayward/CJ
Iguodalo/R Williams
Favors/Millsap/Evans
Jefferson/Fesenko

How does that make us a contender? It will make us a playoff team but far from a contender.

I believe we will take a huge step forward defensively next year by pairing Jefferson with Favors. I believe Hayward will become a very good shooting guard. I believe our bench will become one of the best in the nba with the addition of Millsap and CJ.

Now adding Iggy is huge. He gives us a scoring, passing, defending wing that will change the entire dynamic of our team. There are few players in the league who rate as high as he does defensively, and he also gives us passing, scoring and rebounding from his position.

Reggie Williams gives us that scorer and 3pt shooter from the bench.

Compare us to Dallas: We are younger, more athletic and better at every position except the PF which will change over the next three years as Favors improves and Dirk regresses. I think this will make us a contender immediately with the likelihood that Favors and Hayward may need one more year of seasoning. I think the Iggy move, the Williams move, the Millsap and CJ move to the bench puts us in position to win it in 12-13 with a shot in 11-12.

I don't see that as a contending team, not without some of our draft picks panning out extremely well. Sure, you might be able to argue that that team has an advantage over Dallas at every position but PF (I'm not sure Al's better than Chandler for a contending team, but you could certainly make the argument that he is), but the difference is that Dallas has one all-time great offensive option who can not only score at will, but also score efficiently and make great passes out of double teams. They also have a bunch of other guys who compliment him really well. Al's a really talented low post scorer who sometimes seems to be able to score at will, but he's decidedly worse than Dirk in terms of efficiency, passing ability and overall offensive impact.

Memphis is probably the best model for what that team would be going for, but as much as getting Iguodala and playing Favors more could improve our defense, I'm not sure we'd have the personnel to fully embrace the tenacious and rugged style that's made Memphis so tough.

Honestly, I think the best approach right now is to be patient, see what we have, gather up assets and make moves when it's more clear what moves we need to make. For now, I think we just need to focus on developing our young talent, figuring out how (or if) any of our other players fit in to our future and maintaining flexibility going forward. Obviously, that's a difficult approach to swallow for a team and fan base that's as accustomed to winning as we are, but I just think it's the smartest way to go. That's just me, though.

blackham9258 wrote:Draft Day:

Trade: Memo, Raja, #12 Pick
Receive: Andre Iguodala (Super athletic, lock down wing defender, and scorer)

Stopped reading.

The only thing that makes us a contender is Favors developing into Dwight Howard. There isn't enough overpaid second tier guys to make a team elite.

DelaneyRudd wrote:The only thing that makes us a contender is Favors developing into Dwight Howard. There isn't enough overpaid second tier guys to make a team elite.

Exactly.