Discussing Other Teams' Moves Part 2

[mohammed10]

Dallas had the worst summer ever. It might be time for them to just destroy and rebuild. They broke up a championship core just to strike out in free agency. Cuban might be on suicide watch if Shark Tank gets canceled

[closg00]

Hey! Dallas still has a starting line-up and some draft-picks.

PG: Rod Beaubois
SG: Vince Carter/Jones/ Jared Cunningham
SF: Marion/Carter
PF: Dirk/Brendan Wright?/Crowder
C: Haywood/Bernard James

[TGW]

Hey! Dallas still has a starting line-up and some draft-picks.

PG: Rod Beaubois
SG: Vince Carter/Jones/ Jared Cunningham
SF: Marion/Carter
PF: Dirk/Brendan Wright?/Crowder
C: Haywood/Bernard James

Beaubois at point guard? Might as well have signed Nick Young to play the point while they're at it.

[verbal8]

Hey! Dallas still has a starting line-up and some draft-picks.

PG: Rod Beaubois
SG: Vince Carter/Jones/ Jared Cunningham
SF: Marion/Carter
PF: Dirk/Brendan Wright?/Crowder
C: Haywood/Bernard James

I would not be surprised at all if they bid on Brand. He could back-up both C/PF and end up with starters minutes. Also when Dirk is out they may want to go small ball and they can play him at Center and Marion at PF.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I don't post much, but I laughed out loud when I read the story about Nick Young to Philly calling him "versatile." If they mean that he hogs the ball and jacks up bad shots from both sides of the floor, then yes, he's versatile.

[nate33]

Hey! Dallas still has a starting line-up and some draft-picks.

PG: Rod Beaubois
SG: Vince Carter/Jones/ Jared Cunningham
SF: Marion/Carter
PF: Dirk/Brendan Wright?/Crowder
C: Haywood/Bernard James

I would not be surprised at all if they bid on Brand. He could back-up both C/PF and end up with starters minutes. Also when Dirk is out they may want to go small ball and they can play him at Center and Marion at PF.

That's a pretty good idea. If they could just acquire an average PG, they'd still be a playoff caliber team. There isn't much available though. Hinrich is out there, I guess. I think they're better off with a more dynamic pick-and-roll type PG.

[verbal8]

That's a pretty good idea. If they could just acquire an average PG, they'd still be a playoff caliber team. There isn't much available though. Hinrich is out there, I guess. I think they're better off with a more dynamic pick-and-roll type PG.

I think CCJ's idea of Sessions is pretty good.

[queridiculo]

So seriously, given the deals that have been handed out this season anybody see Javale McGee settling for less than $12 million per?

[FAH1223]

That's a pretty good idea. If they could just acquire an average PG, they'd still be a playoff caliber team. There isn't much available though. Hinrich is out there, I guess. I think they're better off with a more dynamic pick-and-roll type PG.

They'll get Sessions

[mohammed10]

Beaubois at point guard? Might as well have signed Nick Young to play the point while they're at it.

Maybe that's the reason Dallas wouldn't trade him to us a couple years back wen Emperor Ernie gave away Wood and Tuff Juice...

[mohammed10]

Reports of Brandon Roy to the T-Wolves. Portland has to match Batum -- they'd be sick seeing ROy and Batum play there.

But man, if they let Batum go, keep a close eye on Lamarcus Aldridge. His trade demand would not be far behind.

fish -
Portland is going to match...but if they don't. Rubio, Roy, Batum, Love....that's a heck of a good 4. With Barrea, Buddinger, Wes Johnson, Ridnour, and Derrick Williams off the bench. They need a Center, and I'm not sure where they find one, but the T'Wolves punchline might be ending soon.

[J-Ves]

Reports of Brandon Roy to the T-Wolves. Portland has to match Batum -- they'd be sick seeing ROy and Batum play there.

But man, if they let Batum go, keep a close eye on Lamarcus Aldridge. His trade demand would not be far behind.

fish -
Portland is going to match...but if they don't. Rubio, Roy, Batum, Love....that's a heck of a good 4. With Barrea, Buddinger, Wes Johnson, Ridnour, and Derrick Williams off the bench. They need a Center, and I'm not sure where they find one, but the T'Wolves punchline might be ending soon.

They can have Okafor, maybe we can get Williams or a pick out of it

[mohammed10]

Reports of Brandon Roy to the T-Wolves. Portland has to match Batum -- they'd be sick seeing ROy and Batum play there.

But man, if they let Batum go, keep a close eye on Lamarcus Aldridge. His trade demand would not be far behind.

fish -
Portland is going to match...but if they don't. Rubio, Roy, Batum, Love....that's a heck of a good 4. With Barrea, Buddinger, Wes Johnson, Ridnour, and Derrick Williams off the bench. They need a Center, and I'm not sure where they find one, but the T'Wolves punchline might be ending soon.

They can have Okafor, maybe we can get Williams or a pick out of it

I would be all over that...we would have a core three of: Williams, Wall and Beal

[nate33]

That's a pretty good idea. If they could just acquire an average PG, they'd still be a playoff caliber team. There isn't much available though. Hinrich is out there, I guess. I think they're better off with a more dynamic pick-and-roll type PG.

I think CCJ's idea of Sessions is pretty good.

Yes. Sessions makes much more sense. At this point, is Sessions really a downgrade from Kidd?

If Beaubois can remain healthy and fill in for Jason Terry, and if they sign Sessions and Brand, I don't think they'll decline much. They'll still be in the mix for a playoff slot, and next summer they can take a shot at Howard or Harden. If that fails, then they should shop Nowitzki.

[Ruzious]

Because Sessions was so good for the Lakers... until he was terrible. And he was so good in Milwaukee, Minnesota, Cleveland... that everyone let him go.

Dallas is going to look for someplace to trade Dirk, but in the end - I think he stays. There's a loyalty there - with the owner and with the fans. The fact that they won an NBA title means that he'll be okay with staying - no regrets. Maybe they get into the playoffs, but that's not the point of him staying. Getting into the playoffs wouldn't mean anything if they can't compete in the playoffs, and they can't. Signing guys like Sessions and an over-the-hill Brand won't change anything.

[LyricalRico]

^ I agree with you Ruz, but I think that for a team with a winning history putting the best possible product on the floor still matters. If they added a few stop-gaps like Sessions/Brand on 2 year deals, with the second year only partially guaranteed, they would have a decent arsenal of expiring contracts to work with next summer as they prepare for life post-Dirk. And along the way they still win 50 games and have a puncher's chance to advance at least a round in the playoffs.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I'm not buying this notion that Washington was unwilling to tutor its young talent. That's just absurd. Management isn't going to spend tens of millions of dollars on player salary, and then be too cheap to spend $100K to hire a coach. Just because they didn't pay for a big name like Hakeem Olajuwon to be the big man coach, doesn't mean they aren't coaching the bigs. What, is Hakeem Olajuwon the only guy on the planet who can teach a low post move?

The incident when the Wizards told McGee to hire his own coach was during the lockout. The Wizards were not permitted to contact their players at that time. Neither could anybody else. There's a reason why the level of play for the entire league suffered last year.

Fine. Last season there was a lockout. In context, that blows away "find your own coach" for this past season. Javale had some other seasons with the Wizards. Flip helped McGee some by insisting he stay in the low post area and just work on rebounding. Flip also hurt McGee some by insisting he stay in the low post area and just work on rebounding. Flip worked with Javale.

nate, who else worked with McGee?

Way back in the day I had an opportunity to meet Clifford Ray. He was at Pete Newell's one year. Clifford Ray had worked with a lot of big men, including some Bullet/Wizards. No, Hakeem isn't the only good big man coach. Orlando is where some big men went after Pete Newell's. What did the Wizards do with McGee?

nate, I'm not blaming the Wizards for Javale's game. I am pointing out the difference between the Nuggets approach to what the Wizards approach was in the past, mostly pre-Ted. I was really critical of the Nene deal, but I have admitted I underestimated how good Nene is. Another thing about Nene is the man KNOWS how to play.

Javale NEVER played with a good, veteran big man. Never. What he had was Flip Saunders, who favored and petted Andray Blatche. What McGee had was a coach who praised Hilton Armstrong in the media and said McGee's game was style over substance. What you had was a coach who went OFF when McGee did the backboard dunk.

The way I saw that game was McGee was hustling his ass off and he threw down an easy dunk for him. Lebron, Wade, they do that dunk. The Wizards were behind you say? YES, they were for almost the entire duration of Flip Saunders' coaching era.

I didn't like McGee catching all that heat then. He's done a lot of silly things and clearly has some sort of attentional deficit or something going on. That said, he's one of the most consistent players. He rebounds better and blocks shots better and played with more effort than Blatche on Andray's best day. This organization is moving forward now, but they need to remember their history of scapegoating players, coaches, etc.

Sorry for the rant, nate. We disagree on this one. Bottom line is McGee is in Denver and I'm happy for him and Pam. I love the way Nene played last season and just hope he stays healthy and motivated in the future. Washington can be happy with what they have, too.

[montestewart]

As others have pointed out, all manner of players could teach the post (or really, any position) if they understand it and are effective teachers. A former all-NBA might more easily get a young player's attention, or maybe not. Hiring a big name like Hakeem for big men might be as much PR as superior one-on-one coaching, but the perception of the Wizards franchise as a penny-wise, pound-foolish mom-and-pop operation seems long and widely held locally and around the NBA. Sometimes it seems Leonsis bought Pollin's PR sense along with the team.

[closg00]

So the Sixers are doing what many here advocated we do. Rather than trading or attempting to trade Brand for "something", fit or bad fit, they paid-out and move forward with a young nucleus and cap-space. The Sixers are making some good moves (although they muffed the Lavoy Allen re-signing costing them $)

*Re-signed Spencer Hawes at a bargain, two-years $13 million
*Signed Nick Young for only 1-year at $6 million
*Drafted-well & for need: Harkless @ SF, Moultrie @ PF

A young team with increased speed now that Brand is gone.

PG: Jrue Holiday/?
SG: Young/Turner/Xavier Silas
SF: Iggy/Harkless
PF: Allen/Moultrie
C: Hawes/Vucevic

Although I like the Spencer re-signing, I can't see the Sixers being better next year with these moves. They built their team on hard nosed defense and smart play last year. Nick Young was pretty good at containing his own man for us, but I doubt his ability to play smart team offense or defense. Moultrie and Harkless were good choices for their draft positions, but they won't be ready to contribute meaningfully on a playoff team next year. I'm more in the "Collins' head is going to explode by February" than "look how much better they are than us" camp.

Gesa and Hoopalotta, Philly is a well-coached team, so I expect Collins to have his guys competative and perhaps back in the playoffs.

[MF23]

The Knicks are going to stink defensively. Good luck Tyson Chandler that team is going to be a pain in the ***