Wiz Sign Josh Howard

[LyricalRico]

Re: Singleton - I think he's a guy that's looking at the money that mediocre players are getting and I think he's looking for something similar. And if he can't get the money, I think he's going to want to go where he's going to get minutes. Assuming that Blatche and Seraphin are healthy to start the season, I don't see the Wizards being able to offer him either of those things. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I would think that Singleton would see Washington as a last resort.

[fishercob]

I think the Wizards have a decent shot at being a trade partner if the Nuggets trade Anthony rather than lose him for nothing. However I don't know that the Wizards really have any special advantage in luring him as a free agent.

Melo has a huge financial incentive to sign an extension before the lockout. His situation is likely going to play out in one of the following ways:

1) Denver starts out well, Melo feels good about the pieces around him and the team's ability to add more if need be and he signs the extension

2) Denver struggles and Melo declines to sign the extension. Ownership can then do one of two things:
(a) tell him to enjoy the lockout and new CBA as a free agent
(b) work out an "extend-and trade" like Minnesota did with Boston for KG

I think 2A is unlikely because Denver would be better off getting assets other than a trade exception in return (I think). However, if 2A comes to pass, I think the Wiz would have a decent shot at signing Melo to a max deal under the new CBA when the time comes.

2b is more likely IMO, and the Wiz would have a decent shot there too, but it would probably be pretty expensive, namely Blatche or Mcgee + a pick, plus the necessary filler (Howard, Hinrich and Thornton?).

The immediate post-trade roster would definitely have some holes, and getting everyone enough touches would be an issue (but having Wall running the show may be right elixir). The usage issue might make trading Blatche more palatable than McGee, even though I think Dray is the far better player.

If we could indeed include Hinrich (or make a 3-way sending him out for an expiring to Denver), we'd head into the lockout with Wall, Gill, Melo (@ the max), Dray or McGee, Seraphin, Booker and not much else under contract. That's not a finished product and is severely lacking up front, but there are worse situations to build from for sure. I need some help from Nate et al on what the financial picture would look like.

[kavu]

You guys are missing the forest for the trees...We should not be targeting Melo. If we can resign Yi and Howard, we will be set with our starting forwards. The perfect fit for our team is Greg Oden. He's young (allegedly), he'll give us a true presence at center, and he is highly injury prone.

[montestewart]

You guys are missing the forest for the trees...We should not be targeting Melo. If we can resign Yi and Howard, we will be set with our starting forwards. The perfect fit for our team is Greg Oden. He's young (allegedly), he'll give us a true presence at center, and he is highly injury prone.

Years of Wizperience make this a too nightmarishly plausible scenario.

[hands11]

That's 11 with Howard as 12 later and we still have the flexibility to someone like Singleton or a shooter. I would still go with Singleton. He is a vet, tough, team guy, was here last year, solid looker room presence, defense, rebounder and won't demand minutes, who can play touch as SF or PF where we still made need help defensively. This gives us more flexibility regarding Booker if he isn't ready.

I'm totally with you on Singleton---for all the reasons you point out. I'm surprised we haven't heard anything regarding his status with the ards for next season. I also see him as the kind of glue guy and vet that could really help this team, especially when one of the young guys is struggling.

I love the way everything is coming together including so many of us being on the same page and feeling good about the teams choices.

I'm not surprised we haven't heard anything. They needed to do all the things they have done first. Now that they know they have Seraphin and Howard, they can make that final evaluation. Hopefully it is Singleton.

And from a PR view, things are rolling along nicely. We went from summer summer league and Wall, to the Kirk intro, now Seraphine and Howard, while bringing alone the Gil integration nicely during the Kirk interview.

Now what as they start to roll out the team pictures. We haven't heard much from Dray but ....

Here he is. Team Home Page. http://www.nba.com/wizards/

http://www.nba.com/wizards/video/2010/0 ... index.html
The kid becoming a man. They are working on his image. Good.

Oh, got a little health update on Dray. Broken toe only 6 more weeks. I guess he means in the cast.

[miller31time]

^^^ Arenas, Howard and Oden on the same team? Every week would be a game of Russian Roulette to see who's out for the month.

[hands11]

You guys are missing the forest for the trees...We should not be targeting Melo. If we can resign Yi and Howard, we will be set with our starting forwards. The perfect fit for our team is Greg Oden. He's young (allegedly), he'll give us a true presence at center, and he is highly injury prone.

Sorry but the trees are clear in my view. You need a SF/SG/PG or SG/SF/PG type player in their prime to win it all. With what your talking about we could be good and probably get out of the first and maybe even play a conference championship game but to be in the finals and have a chance to win, you need your Kobe, MJ, PP, Wade, etc player. Your player that can do it all inside and out. Rebound, D, pass, drive, shoot from range. You need someone like Melo.

Players like CP3 and even Wall and a host of others are great to have. They are a core piece but they are just a piece. Even Dirk is borderline to me. He got ranked higher when he started to drive more and his height and range is unique but his handles and mobility aren't good enough. The final puzzle piece is the type of player I'm talking about. Sure it isn't just one player that does it. PP wasn't PP without KG, Rondo and R Allen around him. You need a talented team but when it gets later in the game, you need this kind of player with the ball in their hand.

[verbal8]

That's 11 with Howard as 12 later and we still have the flexibility to someone like Singleton or a shooter. I would still go with Singleton. He is a vet, tough, team guy, was here last year, solid looker room presence, defense, rebounder and won't demand minutes, who can play touch as SF or PF where we still made need help defensively. This gives us more flexibility regarding Booker if he isn't ready.

I'm totally with you on Singleton---for all the reasons you point out. I'm surprised we haven't heard anything regarding his status with the ards for next season. I also see him as the kind of glue guy and vet that could really help this team, especially when one of the young guys is struggling.

I think it may be slightly money, but it may be that Singleton may want a longer deal that what the Wizards would or should offer him. If he is limited to comparable 1 or 2 year offers, it makes sense to stay in Washington because he probably has the best shot at PT here.

[Ji]

Oden would be a fantastic risk/reward player to bring in

[hands11]

Oden would be a fantastic risk/reward player to bring in

Yeah, but he looks to much like LeBron. Do we really want that here ?

[JonathanJoseph]

All the Carmelo Anthony love makes me a little sick to my stomach. He's a really, really good player but he's still ridiculously overrated. Despite 7 trips to the postseason, Carmelo Anthony has won a total of TWO playoff series. And none without HOF-candidate Chauncey Billups.

Arenas has had 3 healthy shots at the playoffs and won 1 series, despite having nothing near the talent that the recent Nuggets teams have had. I think there's a good chance that Wall/Arenas/Blatche/McGee has plenty of front line NBA talent. We need a Shane Battier or a healthy Josh Howard, not Carmelo Anthony.

[Wizardspride]

All the Carmelo Anthony love makes me a little sick to my stomach. He's a really, really good player but he's still ridiculously overrated. Despite 7 trips to the postseason, Carmelo Anthony has won a total of TWO playoff series. And none without HOF-candidate Chauncey Billups.

Arenas has had 3 healthy shots at the playoffs and won 1 series, despite having nothing near the talent that the recent Nuggets teams have had. I think there's a good chance that Wall/Arenas/Blatche/McGee has plenty of front line NBA talent. We need a Shane Battier or a healthy Josh Howard, not Carmelo Anthony.

I don't think Carmelo's overrated but I definitely don't think we need him to be successful.

In fact, the more that I think about it ...we should probably spend our future cap space on several players, rather than just one mega star.

[Hoopalotta]

I don't really see the upside in having Gil, Melo and Wall around. Only if you ship out Gil for expirings does it make any kinds of sense at all and I'm not here to advocate that idea either.

But with "the new big 3" plan, come 2013, we'd have about $47 million dollars committed to three elite perimeter players who may or may not have great symmetry. It goes up to $53 million in 2014. Melo to me is a guy who can negate a lack of elite playmaking through efficient, go-to iso scoring rather than a guy poised to reach new heights when paired with elite playmaking. That makes him a great clutch scorer, but with a ball dominant, shot creating backcourt like Gilwall, I don't see the upside in a max contract on another 1st option wing scorer with those proclivities. We've got loads of shot creating potential from the 1st to the 4th. Do we really need to pay a premium for that twice? Is that offense really better than if the backcourt were collaborating with quality pick and roll bigs?

And, we've really moved away from the upward trajectory that you'd like to have in place when Wall's thinking about his future in DC (not unlike Melo in Denver now - let that sink in). We could have a lot more resources invested in younger players under alternate plans and here we'd have to swallow hard to even re-up whichever from amongst Blatche/Mcgee wasn't shipped out. I just see that group as being a drastic alteration that creates a top heavy, redundant, perimeter oriented and extremely financially overextended win-now squad. You've got that team to win, but you lack the flexibility to put the right supporting pieces in place to take it home. The only way I like that team for a contender is if Seraphin is a prime Ben Wallace in his second year.

If you ship out Gil for expirings and trade, say, Blatche and our 2011 1st for Melo, you're just putting Melo on a rebuilding team, so that doesn't sound much more coherent strategically, even if it makes more sense financially. If you shipped out Gil for expirings and Melo didn't sign an extension, you could theoretically create a situation to where you could sign him after the lockout without being wildly irresponsible as you'd have a reasonably priced squad with upside, but contingent on the wide gamut of if's that would be required to see that into actuality. The iffyness of the those ifs is epic, so I would hope that some time had been invested into formulating Plan B (personally, I wouldn't trade Gil to "make a run at Melo", it would actually be for the opposite reason of pushing the window back and steady rebuilding).

In short, the whole thing sounds like a wildly misconceived bungleation spawned through whimsy without follow through on the implications. If we're building with Gil, we're much better off nabbing some younger restricted free agents and creating a sustainable up and coming team with more emphasis on - and resources committed to - the interior.

[JWizmentality]

I like Melo and he's extremely talented, but I think he's cut from the same cloth as LeBron. It's only a matter of time before his "doucheness" shines forth. I don't want those type of players here. Give me a Durant.

[pancakes3]

duran'ts a pipe dream. i think we should go after one of houston's 3 sf's. battier/ariza/budinger. any one of them would be a solid SF starter, and we can focus the bulk of the cash getting a C. i really was hoping we would be able to resign haywood but... no dice.

[Wizardspride]

duran'ts a pipe dream. i think we should go after one of houston's 3 sf's. battier/ariza/budinger. any one of them would be a solid SF starter, and we can focus the bulk of the cash getting a C. i really was hoping we would be able to resign haywood but... no dice.

Durant signed an extension with the Thunder so he's definitely a "pipe dream".

[Liverbird]

I'd take a shot at Jeff Green next year. I'd prefer someone better defensively, but his unselfishness and passing ability at the 3 would be ideal. I don't think OKC can afford to have 2 max players (Durant and Westbrook) and still sign Green to a reasonable ($9-$10M per annum) contract. I think that's better value than Melo and someone like Deng. He'd also fit in with the youth movement here.

[nate33]

I don't really see the upside in having Gil, Melo and Wall around. Only if you ship out Gil for expirings does it make any kinds of sense at all and I'm not here to advocate that idea either.

But with "the new big 3" plan, come 2013, we'd have about $47 million dollars committed to three elite perimeter players who may or may not have great symmetry. It goes up to $53 million in 2014. Melo to me is a guy who can negate a lack of elite playmaking through efficient, go-to iso scoring rather than a guy poised to reach new heights when paired with elite playmaking. That makes him a great clutch scorer, but with a ball dominant, shot creating backcourt like Gilwall, I don't see the upside in a max contract on another 1st option wing scorer with those proclivities. We've got loads of shot creating potential from the 1st to the 4th. Do we really need to pay a premium for that twice? Is that offense really better than if the backcourt were collaborating with quality pick and roll bigs?

And, we've really moved away from the upward trajectory that you'd like to have in place when Wall's thinking about his future in DC (not unlike Melo in Denver now - let that sink in). We could have a lot more resources invested in younger players under alternate plans and here we'd have to swallow hard to even re-up whichever from amongst Blatche/Mcgee wasn't shipped out. I just see that group as being a drastic alteration that creates a top heavy, redundant, perimeter oriented and extremely financially overextended win-now squad. You've got that team to win, but you lack the flexibility to put the right supporting pieces in place to take it home. The only way I like that team for a contender is if Seraphin is a prime Ben Wallace in his second year.

If you ship out Gil for expirings and trade, say, Blatche and our 2011 1st for Melo, you're just putting Melo on a rebuilding team, so that doesn't sound much more coherent strategically, even if it makes more sense financially. If you shipped out Gil for expirings and Melo didn't sign an extension, you could theoretically create a situation to where you could sign him after the lockout without being wildly irresponsible as you'd have a reasonably priced squad with upside, but contingent on the wide gamut of if's that would be required to see that into actuality. The iffyness of the those ifs is epic, so I would hope that some time had been invested into formulating Plan B (personally, I wouldn't trade Gil to "make a run at Melo", it would actually be for the opposite reason of pushing the window back and steady rebuilding).

In short, the whole thing sounds like a wildly misconceived bungleation spawned through whimsy without follow through on the implications. If we're building with Gil, we're much better off nabbing some younger restricted free agents and creating a sustainable up and coming team with more emphasis on - and resources committed to - the interior.

I agree that a Wall/Arenas/Melo core isn't a great fit relative to their cost. If we go after Melo, we either need to dump Arenas first, or have a plan to dump him afterwards.

That said, I think a Wall/Melo tandem would be a fantastic core - much better than Wall/Arenas. What's good about Melo is that he's a finisher. He doesn't need to dominate the ball out on the perimeter like Lebron. He'd be happy to have a great PG like Wall deal with all the ball-handling duties and get the ball to Melo where he wants it. Melo + a great PG > Melo alone. I'm not so sure that's true with Arenas (or with somebody like Wade or Lebron for that matter).

I also think Melo would be a great fit alongside Blatche. Blatche is very good both in the post and on the perimeter, as is Melo. They could take turns either posting up or spreading the floor depending on who had the weaker defender guarding them.

[nate33]

I'd take a shot at Jeff Green next year. I'd prefer someone better defensively, but his unselfishness and passing ability at the 3 would be ideal. I don't think OKC can afford to have 2 max players (Durant and Westbrook) and still sign Green to a reasonable ($9-$10M per annum) contract. I think that's better value than Melo and someone like Deng. He'd also fit in with the youth movement here.

I'd take Green at $6.5M a year (just over the MLE) but I think it's a terrible idea to pay him $10M a year. I'd MUCH rather have Melo at $16M a year.

[Liverbird]

True - $10M may be too much...but I think we'd have to pay a little more to pry him away from OKC. Perhaps $8M or so. I see him playing a Shane Battier role for this team, with a little less defense. He's a perfect long term glue guy for the wiz IMO and doesn't forfeit Ted's rebuilding strategy entirely as a Melo acquisition would.