Who do you like at SF?

[JWizmentality]

Why are people so high on Thornton. He's got potential, but he's far from starter potential IMO.

He's cheap, already under contract and we probably aren't taking the Magic to game 7 next year no matter what we do.

True, but if we can get Howard on recession type money, he's starting.

[Hoopalotta]

Okay, that's true, Thornton plays defense too, especially on the ball.

Somehow Flip seems to like him too (even though you would think he'd be a bad fit).

It's enough positives for me to be well satisfied for next year.

As to Brewer in Minnesota, they are just a very difficult trading partner for us as they're in the same situation as we are. Maybe they'd move Brewer if they get Wesley Johnson or sign Rudy Gay (as per the wiretap),but I expect they'd want a future pick from us and I'd have a hard time agreeing to that.

[ErikChowbay023]

But, what is your assessment of Brewer..

[mcgradyming]

Whoever plays at SF has to be a role player who doesn't need the ball in their hands. The reason being that we have enough scorers. The problem with the Arenas, Miller, Butler, Jamison, and Haywood lineup was that too many people needed to score themselves. We don't want to run into that problem again. That takes out Josh Howard. I like the idea of Miller because he's a facilitator, doesn't take bad shots, and is a smart player. He would work well with Blatche, Wall, and Arenas.

I do understand the concerns of financial considerations, but if this wasn't a factor, i would pick Miller. But I guess we have to go with the idea of taking a SF with one of the two later picks, and starting Thornton.

[Hoopalotta]

But, what is your assessment of Brewer..

I really can't say that I've been tuned into watching the Timberwolves this year, but I know he had something of a breakout and he's not really dissimilar from Wesley Johnson, who I'm thinking is the prototype for what we want.

Athletic, good attitude, disciplined, solid defender, doesn't need the ball.

'Cuts off the ball' is probably good, but I'm not sure (I know he can finish in transition).
'Spaces the floor' is a work in progress; not so efficient but seems like he's getting better.
Somehow his on-off defensive numbers aren't so good, but I'd think that's got to be a fluke.
Is he really a 3, though? I'm concerned he might be too skinny.

But yeah, he's a good compliment with all the ball skills and penetration in the backcourt as we don't need someone trying to create shots.

A good system fit, but he's a free agent after one more year and keep in mind that our poster Fisher-C heard that the squad is targeting Melo from some fancy-pants exec.

[GhostsOfGil]

Whoever plays at SF has to be a role player who doesn't need the ball in their hands. The reason being that we have enough scorers. The problem with the Arenas, Miller, Butler, Jamison, and Haywood lineup was that too many people needed to score themselves. We don't want to run into that problem again. That takes out Josh Howard. I like the idea of Miller because he's a facilitator, doesn't take bad shots, and is a smart player. He would work well with Blatche, Wall, and Arenas.

I do understand the concerns of financial considerations, but if this wasn't a factor, i would pick Miller. But I guess we have to go with the idea of taking a SF with one of the two later picks, and starting Thornton.

my thoughts exactly on miller.

[ErikChowbay023]

I think Brewer has a similar build to someone like Ariza...

And this is a roster I have on NBA Live..

10-11 season.. I know it is just a video game, but its plays out pretty similar to the real thing...

C- Magloire , Rasho, McGee
PF- Blatche, Singleton,
SF- Brewer, Howard, Thornton
SG- Young, Redd, Korver
PG- Arenas, Livingston, Boykins

I know this might not be specifically relevant to this topic, but it is relevant to how the Wizards could be rebuilt...

Maybe our concern is finding a solid C, more than finding a versatile SF..

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I like Babbitt too, but I'm not sure he makes it past the middle of the 1st. Once he tries out for more people, I'm pretty sure people will pick up on why Bilas has him in his top ten prospects of the entire draft, ranked #9.

It's a decent draft to be drafting a small forward in the late 1st tho, with Pondexter, Robinson, and possibly Babbitt around.

I have to agree with Bilas on Babbitt. The guy's a big time scorer and he's also a very good rebounder and passer. Belongs in the top-10, even ahead of Xavier Henry.

I haven't seen enough of George to say he's better.

As for who I'd like, realistically, I see Pondexter at 30 being a very solid pick.

[Dat2U]

I'm not high on Thornton. When people say Thornton has potential, I'm like "potential for what?". He'll be 27 before the end of the year. He is what he is. His defense was okay. I think his initial performance against Carmelo was more of an anomaly though. He's passable as a backup SF but I don't believe he should be a part of or future plans.

Did anyone else notice that an NBDL guy in Alonzo Gee stepped in and looked like a better version of Thornton? Guys like Thornton are a dime-a-dozen and easily replaceable.

Also signing Howard to a one year deal is akin to throwing money away. Did everyone forget Howard is coming off a very serious injury? He's not even going to be ready at the start of the season. This is the same guy that seemingly took months to recover from a sprained ankles while in Dallas and folks want to give him a multiyear deal after a torn ACL? I just don't understand.

Here's another reason not to even consider signing Howard or Miller. Both are 30 years old. What would be the freakin' point?

Bottom line, I'd be looking for a starter at SF next year. Ideally via a BOYD scenario. Andrei Kirilenko is still far and away my favorite choice.

[willbcocks]

He would be a perfect fit. Was one of my favorite players a few years back, but got lost a bit, either on his team, or in his own game. Still a good player though.

[Ruzious]

I'd give Howard a 3 year offer totalling about 10 mil. If he doesn't take it, draft Pondexter or someone like him. They need defense at the position, so Miller isn't an option - especially with his seemingly endless array of injuries. I'll say what I said about Brewer in college - No - he's not good. His being very long was a myth - with no basis in reality. His defense was way overrated, because he was playing with arguably the 2 best defensive bigs in college - and actually, their 3rd & 4th bigs were also exellent shot-blockers. He was no better than the 3rd option in their offense and was never the focus of opposing defenses. He's not a good shooter. And he's not a good enough ball-handler to be much at G and too skinny to be much of a F.

[verbal8]

Bottom line, I'd be looking for a starter at SF next year. Ideally via a BOYD scenario. Andrei Kirilenko is still far and away my favorite choice.

Yeah I think AK could be the perfect fit for the Wizards at SF. The big issue for him is injuries. He has missed at least 10 games every season since 2004/5. If the team does have success next season he is young enough he could be kept on a reasonable deal.

[dobrojim]

I'm of several minds about this and can understand many of the
opinions here

AT - I think he is a solid defensive player. He's got some game.
Dat's right about him though re his age. He's not getting better.
My gripe with AT is he's not a 3 pt shooter.

I can see a solid argument for Miller. With Wall and Gil, I love
the idea of a (mark jackson voice) knock down shooter camping out
at the 3 pt line and making defenses pay for ignoring him. I also
really like the idea of MM rebounding the ball. I don't trust 7DD
and JM to carry that load without help. Miller would have to come
at a relatively cheap price.

The draft would be great if the pick(s) actually pan out which is
always a crapshoot the lower you go. Maybe GMEG will mine gold. Or not.
Babbit sounds intriguing as does Henry, Johnson and others (Pondexter).
IIRC, there are some questions about Babbit defensively, otherwise he
sounds too good to be possible. Ditto Johnson and Henry (re their upside
not their defense per se).

Howard could be worth considering at the right price as well.
Remember when healthy he was the second best player on the
reg season champ. Obviously there are questions about whether
he can ever be that player again.

Bottom line - I am not worried. There are many possibilities
who could do the job, some of them players that almost no one
is thinking of now.

[LyricalRico]

I completely agree with Dat that Thornton isn't anything special and never will be. I like his size/athleticism as a backup SF, but I wouldn't hesitate to include him a trade for other assets. As for Howard, I've never really liked his game. That, plus the injury concerns makes say no to re-signing him. I've always been a Mike Miller fan, and I would love to have a guy like him in the rotation. But his age and the amount of money he'll command don't jive with a rebuilding team. So of the three, I guess I'd take Thornton by default since he's the only one who's going to be under contract.

But I wouldn't consider AK47 to be my Plan A because he'll eat up our whole BOYD capability. I'd like to do several deals and pick up multiple picks rather than just get the one from Utah.

[willbcocks]

I think the Utah pick is as high as we're going to get with BOYD and I'd rather go quality than quantity since we already have 2 later picks and could buy a couple more. And AK47 is serviceable and plays D. If the only major move we make this summer is getting him and the 10, I would still be tickled pink.

[verbal8]

I completely agree with Dat that Thornton isn't anything special and never will be. I like his size/athleticism as a backup SF, but I wouldn't hesitate to include him a trade for other assets. As for Howard, I've never really liked his game. That, plus the injury concerns makes say no to re-signing him. I've always been a Mike Miller fan, and I would love to have a guy like him in the rotation. But his age and the amount of money he'll command don't jive with a rebuilding team. So of the three, I guess I'd take Thornton by default since he's the only one who's going to be under contract.

But I wouldn't consider AK47 to be my Plan A because he'll eat up our whole BOYD capability. I'd like to do several deals and pick up multiple picks rather than just get the one from Utah.

I think the Wizards might be able to get a future lotto protected pick or throw a smaller junk contract to Utah and the dumping team sends the Wizards another incentive.

[nate33]

The sentiment from Utah fans on the Trade Board is that Utah will go ahead and pay the luxtax rather than trade the pick in order to dump Kirilenko. They'll only have to pay the tax once because Kirilenko's salary comes off the books next year.

I'm not sure I believe them though. If somebody offers Boozer a max contract, Utah will end up about $9M over the luxtax (while also having to dump Wesley Matthews). If they trade us Kirilenko + #10 for the #30, they will save about $29M after factoring the cost of Kirilnko's contract, the luxtax, the luxtax reimbursment, and the cost of paying the #10. Is Luke Babbitt plus a 1-year rental of Kirilenko worth $29M?

What makes this interesting is that Boozer won't be a free agent until after the draft.

[verbal8]

The sentiment from Utah fans on the Trade Board is that Utah will go ahead and pay the luxtax rather than trade the pick in order to dump Kirilenko. They'll only have to pay the tax once because Kirilenko's salary comes off the books next year.

I'm not sure I believe them though. If somebody offers Boozer a max contract, Utah will end up about $9M over the luxtax (while also having to dump Wesley Matthews). If they trade us Kirilenko + #10 for the #30, they will save about $29M after factoring the cost of Kirilnko's contract, the luxtax, the luxtax reimbursment, and the cost of paying the #10. Is Luke Babbitt plus a 1-year rental of Kirilenko worth $29M?

What makes this interesting is that Boozer won't be a free agent until after the draft.

It really depends on what they want to do with Boozer. If they are going to let him go, I think they do it as a S&T. This way they can use their whole(or most of the) MLE to keep Wesley Matthews and acquire other pieces with the TPE from Boozer.

However if they plan to keep Boozer and he wants to stay, dumping AK saves a ton of money and lets them keep Wesley Matthews.

[Hoopalotta]

It really depends on what they want to do with Boozer. If they are going to let him go, I think they do it as a S&T. This way they can use their whole(or most of the) MLE to keep Wesley Matthews and acquire other pieces with the TPE from Boozer.

However if they plan to keep Boozer and he wants to stay, dumping AK saves a ton of money and lets them keep Wesley Matthews.

Yeah. If they had something lined up with a Boozer sign and trade that was better than the 10th pick, but had them taking back some kind of significant salary, then they might be in on a BOYD dump even with Boozer leaving.

It's hard to say what's up behind the scenes as far as borderline collusion or even legal contract extensions and all that (honestly I don't know the specific CBA parameters or pattern of rule breaking here well enough). They and Boozer might know exactly what's going to happen, or they might be fairly well in the dark.

But definitely Boozer is the key to the whole Utah BOYD angle.

I can see Rico's point about a number of smaller deals being preferable, but I'd still be ecstatic if news broke that we're going up to 9 from 35. If I theoretically knew that we could have nabbed a bevy of mid rounders and future picks instead, I'd have some reservations, but I'd still be cool with it.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I'm not high on Thornton. When people say Thornton has potential, I'm like "potential for what?". He'll be 27 before the end of the year. He is what he is. His defense was okay. I think his initial performance against Carmelo was more of an anomaly though. He's passable as a backup SF but I don't believe he should be a part of or future plans.

Did anyone else notice that an NBDL guy in Alonzo Gee stepped in and looked like a better version of Thornton? Guys like Thornton are a dime-a-dozen and easily replaceable.

Also signing Howard to a one year deal is akin to throwing money away. Did everyone forget Howard is coming off a very serious injury? He's not even going to be ready at the start of the season. This is the same guy that seemingly took months to recover from a sprained ankles while in Dallas and folks want to give him a multiyear deal after a torn ACL? I just don't understand.

Here's another reason not to even consider signing Howard or Miller. Both are 30 years old. What would be the freakin' point?

Bottom line, I'd be looking for a starter at SF next year. Ideally via a BOYD scenario. Andrei Kirilenko is still far and away my favorite choice.

Agreed on Gee. That guy was phenomenal in his brief time, and he's real young. SA apparently has some sort of deal for this season with him. I think.

http://www.poundingtherock.com/2010/3/2 ... zo-gee-for

Spurs max out with Gee: The Spurs signed forward Alonzo Gee for the remainder of the season, bringing their roster to the NBA’s maximum 15.

Gee, a 6-foot-6 rookie from Alabama, became available after Washington declined to pick him up for the rest of the year after he completed the second of two 10-day contracts Sunday.

The Spurs sweetened their offer to Gee, who played for the team’s summer league entry in Las Vegas and spent most of the season with its Development League affiliate in Austin, by including a make-good offer for next season that would bring him to training camp.

Since Gee joins the roster after March 1, he will be ineligible for the playoffs.