Woj: Mike Scott for the minimum

[80sballboy]

I liked Scott two seasons ago with Atlanta. He's getting what he's worth coming off last season's terrible year (4-27 3pt) with knee issues and off-the-court problems. Look with a possible 17 players, I think we're done unless Gortat or Mahinmi get dealt and I think a salary dump is possible. I'm also pretty sure this is the end of Bojan.

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[Tricky_Kid]

Is this guy had a history with drugs???

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[NatP4]

Is this guy had a history with drugs???

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He was facing 25 years in prison just a few months ago and now he's a wizard. Him and Morris are our two power forwards. What could possibly go wrong

[Tricky_Kid]

Frazier, Meeks and Scott. Bravo Grunfeld.

This isn't how you keep superstar players in town. Wall has to be frustrated.

I hope he will be! Serious question can Ernie survive when Wall go away?

Looks like a good pick-up. He is listed as a guard in the tweet, but it looks like he has been more of a stretch-4.

Woj messed up. He is a power forward and listed as one on basketball reference.

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[keynote]

I guess that's it, then.

I was hoping for an MLE-sized investment in a backup PF. Instead, we go the other way.

I'm sure Mike Scott is a fine end of bench guy. But we desperately needed a bona fide backup PF who can step up and play serious minutes if need be. Barring another move, our entire rotation is, one again, contingent on Morris not picking up two quick fouls or a technical.

I don't think our need at backup PF is all that great. If Oubre breaks out and becomes a reliable 25 mpg rotation player, then Porter is going to have to spend 12 minutes a night at PF anyhow. With Morris getting 30 or so, that leaves just 6 minutes.

To be clear, I originally wanted the MLE spent on a dynamic third guard; we'd then spend Meeks-level $ on a backup PF. But, given the acquisition of Meeks and Frazier, I figured that wasn't going to happen.

That said, I still don't love the idea of relying on Oubre and Porter as our primary backup PFs options. In the playoffs, both ATL and BOS exploited our thin PF rotation. I'm not sure the addition of Scott solves that vulnerability.

And, I don't love the fact that we basically have a full roster, yet we don't have a single bench player who can create his own shot and/or create shots for others. That was a *huge* issue for us last year, and should have been a priority to address this offseason.

I hope EG and Ted prove me wrong with one final move. But Frazier, Meeks, and Scott are bargain bin acquisitions for a team content to stand pat and minimize their tax bill; they're not the acquisitions of a team aggressively pursuing Cleveland in the East. I can't imagine that this is what Wall wanted to see happen.

EG made a big mistake in spending big money on role players last year. He spent $16M on a quality reserve center, where only about 16 minutes a night are available, and he spent $5M a piece on Smith or Nicholson, who projected to be 10th to 12th men. You can't do that when you are already paying max money to guys who are really good, but not quite superstars (Beal and Porter). I much prefer EG's strategy this year. Meeks and Scott project to be guys who are 8th-12th in the rotation. You pay those guys $3M or less.

Assuming we are keeping the starting rotation the same, and assuming Oubre and Mahinmi are projected to play 1600-2000 minutes as reserves, we really can't afford to pay MLE type money to any front court position. The only position where an MLE sized contract could make financial sense would be a quality combo guard to back up both the PG and SG positions. Instead, EG went with two mediocre guards for less money, one a PG and the other a SG.

EG's mistake last year wasn't spending big money on role players; it was spending big money on the wrong role players. In spite of that, we were a quality bench away from making the EC Finals.

Now, it would've been great, of course, to pick up a George or Millsap -- but we didn't have the assets, in part because the role players we signed weren't worth the contracts we signed them to. Given that we have no realistic path towards acquiring another star, the only other options are to either a) double down on investing in the bench (and pay the necessary tax to do so), or b) concede that the team as constructed isn't going to be a contender. If we had committed to a) -- and executed it properly -- we could've had the #2 team in the conference (depending whether BOS lands Hayward). And, we would've added assets (in the form of players on well-negotiated deals) that could've been useful to snag one of next year's crop of disgruntled stars.

By going cheap, we avoid the tax, but we fail to improve. Unless we get a huge leap from Oubre, we're looking like a #4 seed again. And, we still don't have any assets to trade for future stars.

Given that we were a game away from the EC Finals last year, I think now *is* the time to spend.

Also: what's the rush? As others have stated, there are a lot of quality guys still out there; meanwhile, the FA money is drying up. If we had been patient, we might've gotten a weapon on a short-term bargain deal. Minimum-priced guys like Scott will still be there a week from now, so why rush to lock one up?

I don't think that's fair. There is an ideal window of opportunity to go after bargain free agents, the question is, when? In some seasons, the bargains are early, in others, they are late. I don't think it's a sure thing that guys better than Scott will be available for the MLE a week from now.

Fair enough. Who knows. But I suspect a Beasley type might've been available.

[Tricky_Kid]

Is this guy had a history with drugs???

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He was facing 25 years in prison just a few months ago and now he's a wizard. Him and Morris are our two power forwards. What could possibly go wrong

I thought after Arenas gate they wanted new, better look of the franchise and now two guys with bad behaviour and addiction to weed lol

[NatP4]

To be 100000% clear, Atlanta and Boston did NOT exploit Otto Porter playing power forward, Millsap destroyed Jason Smith at power forward and Boston absolutely wrecked Bojan and Smith playing at power forward. Brooks elected to not use Otto at the 4 very much at all in the playoffs despite him being featured at the 4 in our best lineup throughout the regular season.

Our best hope is to lose Bojan and hope that Brooks is forced into playing Oubre 25+ a night regardless, because the team is better when he does.

[Induveca]

Just saw a tweet Wizards are interested in signing Jamal Crawford if bought out. Too bad it's 5 years too late.

[keynote]

To be 100000% clear, Atlanta and Boston did NOT exploit Otto Porter playing power forward, Millsap destroyed Jason Smith at power forward and Boston absolutely wrecked Bojan and Smith playing at power forward. Brooks elected to not use Otto at the 4 very much at all in the playoffs despite him being featured at the 4 in our best lineup throughout the regular season.

Our best hope is to lose Bojan and hope that Brooks is forced into playing Oubre 25+ a night regardless, because the team is better when he does.

It doesn't much matter to me which specific backup PFs Millsap and BOS collectively whupped up on. My point is that we didn't have adequate depth to handle them. Porter averaged 33 mpg during the playoffs (a tick above his regular season mpg); I don't think our PF depth can be addressed solely by just playing him even more minutes.

Bojan's good as gone. And, given the lack of other options, Oubre is likely to get steady minutes next year. Either way, unless Scott can play defense, our PF rotation will remain thin and vulnerable.

To that end: what's the scouting report on Scott on defense? Anyone have any insights?

[gambitx777]

The Scott signing means guess what? Chris McCullough will be waving a towel this season, then he'll be off the team.

All this mean is competition, Thats all.

[LyricalRico]

Tough to argue with a minimum contract for somebody who has a skill. And for those that still want more, remember that more potential moves are being held up by the Gordon Hayward decision. Once that shoe drops, you might still get your wish. Either way, again, signing somebody who can play to a minimum deal is never a bad idea IMO.

[Kanyewest]

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[Tricky_Kid]

Just saw a tweet Wizards are interested in signing Jamal Crawford if bought out. Too bad it's 5 years too late.

but guy can shoot!

To be 100000% clear, Atlanta and Boston did NOT exploit Otto Porter playing power forward, Millsap destroyed Jason Smith at power forward and Boston absolutely wrecked Bojan and Smith playing at power forward. Brooks elected to not use Otto at the 4 very much at all in the playoffs despite him being featured at the 4 in our best lineup throughout the regular season.

Our best hope is to lose Bojan and hope that Brooks is forced into playing Oubre 25+ a night regardless, because the team is better when he does.

It doesn't much matter to me which specific backup PFs Millsap and BOS collectively whupped up on. My point is that we didn't have adequate depth to handle them. Porter averaged 33 mpg during the playoffs (a tick above his regular season mpg); I don't think our PF depth can be addressed solely by just playing him even more minutes.

Bojan's good as gone. And, given the lack of other options, Oubre is likely to get steady minutes next year. Either way, unless Scott can play defense, our PF rotation will remain thin and vulnerable.

To that end: what's the scouting report on Scott on defense? Anyone have any insights?

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[Sluggerface]

I don't know, maybe the knee injury was worse than what was being reported. I find it hard to believe that a guy in his physical prime suddenly forgot how to play basketball after 3000 minutes of above average play out of a reserve. I'm fairly confident that he handily beats out Smith for minutes.

[nate33]

To be 100000% clear, Atlanta and Boston did NOT exploit Otto Porter playing power forward, Millsap destroyed Jason Smith at power forward and Boston absolutely wrecked Bojan and Smith playing at power forward. Brooks elected to not use Otto at the 4 very much at all in the playoffs despite him being featured at the 4 in our best lineup throughout the regular season.

Our best hope is to lose Bojan and hope that Brooks is forced into playing Oubre 25+ a night regardless, because the team is better when he does.

It doesn't much matter to me which specific backup PFs Millsap and BOS collectively whupped up on. My point is that we didn't have adequate depth to handle them. Porter averaged 33 mpg during the playoffs (a tick above his regular season mpg); I don't think our PF depth can be addressed solely by just playing him even more minutes.

Bojan's good as gone. And, given the lack of other options, Oubre is likely to get steady minutes next year. Either way, unless Scott can play defense, our PF rotation will remain thin and vulnerable.

To that end: what's the scouting report on Scott on defense? Anyone have any insights?

Brooks didn't trust Oubre in the playoffs. And justifiably so. He was a liability on offense and a hackbox on defense. So Brooks only had two guys to rely on: Porter and Morris. That's why we had trouble with some matchups.

The hope here is that Oubre becomes more reliable - at least equivalent to young Trevor Ariza in his LA days. If that happens, then the issues of depth at forward in the playoffs go away.

[nate33]

I don't think that's fair. There is an ideal window of opportunity to go after bargain free agents, the question is, when? In some seasons, the bargains are early, in others, they are late. I don't think it's a sure thing that guys better than Scott will be available for the MLE a week from now.

Fair enough. Who knows. But I suspect a Beasley type might've been available.

Yeah. That very well might be the case. It's possible that EG screwed up, I'm just saying it's too early to judge. This is one of those things that's really easy to criticize in hindsight, but pretty difficult to get it right in real time.

[nuposse04]

Scott didn't have a productive season last year but I chalk that to off the court distractions and his knee injury, which one was a bigger issue, I'm not sure. If we are getting the mike scott of 2 seasons ago, then that is a solid guy to bring off the bench. Kinda wish they a team option for another season in the chance he DOES revert to form.

[payitforward]

Scott didn't have a productive season last year but I chalk that to off the court distractions and his knee injury, which one was a bigger issue, I'm not sure. If we are getting the mike scott of 2 seasons ago, then that is a solid guy to bring off the bench. Kinda wish they a team option for another season in the chance he DOES revert to form.

Scott didn't have a productive season last year -- that's true. He also didn't have a productive season the year before. Or the year before that. Or the year before that.

Scott had a reasonably productive rookie year in Atlanta. Of course he only played @375 minutes, so it's hard to give much weight to the statistics.

This might be the worst signing Ernie has made in a long time. Mike Scott is not an NBA player. & is coming off a knee injury. & legal troubles. Why would you ever sign this guy? Why would you not give one of the young kids a chance?

Assuming we pick up Sheldon's option & retain Porter, we are now at 14 players, which is the number we are required to carry this year.

I can't believe what a lazy, awful fool of a basketball executive Ernie Grunfield is. This signing makes me sick.

[dckingsfan]

Scott didn't have a productive season last year but I chalk that to off the court distractions and his knee injury, which one was a bigger issue, I'm not sure. If we are getting the mike scott of 2 seasons ago, then that is a solid guy to bring off the bench. Kinda wish they a team option for another season in the chance he DOES revert to form.

Scott didn't have a productive season last year -- that's true. He also didn't have a productive season the year before. Or the year before that. Or the year before that.

Scott had a reasonably productive rookie year in Atlanta. Of course he only played @375 minutes, so it's hard to give much weight to the statistics.

This might be the worst signing Ernie has made in a long time. Mike Scott is not an NBA player. & is coming off a knee injury. & legal troubles. Why would you ever sign this guy? Why would you not give one of the young kids a chance?

Assuming we pick up Sheldon's option & retain Porter, we are now at 14 players, which is the number we are required to carry this year.

I can't believe what a lazy, awful fool of a basketball executive Ernie Grunfield is. This signing makes me sick.

Hmmm, might have to disagree with you here (although just on the 15-16 season, not rest)... although I will probably lose the argument

I think his 15-16 season was good - especially taking into account the playoffs.

I think that the only way to get in EGs mind on this one (eww) is to think that he will come back to form this year. The problem is it doesn't get us anywhere long-term (go figure).

[NatP4]

Scott didn't have a productive season last year but I chalk that to off the court distractions and his knee injury, which one was a bigger issue, I'm not sure. If we are getting the mike scott of 2 seasons ago, then that is a solid guy to bring off the bench. Kinda wish they a team option for another season in the chance he DOES revert to form.

Scott didn't have a productive season last year -- that's true. He also didn't have a productive season the year before. Or the year before that. Or the year before that.

Scott had a reasonably productive rookie year in Atlanta. Of course he only played @375 minutes, so it's hard to give much weight to the statistics.

This might be the worst signing Ernie has made in a long time. Mike Scott is not an NBA player. & is coming off a knee injury. & legal troubles. Why would you ever sign this guy? Why would you not give one of the young kids a chance?

Assuming we pick up Sheldon's option & retain Porter, we are now at 14 players, which is the number we are required to carry this year.

I can't believe what a lazy, awful fool of a basketball executive Ernie Grunfield is. This signing makes me sick.

I seriously question this signing also, the guy was facing 25 years in prison a few months ago for felony drug charges, coming off a knee injury. If it's just a vet min. Depth player, why not sign a veteran without legal issues of the high character variety.

Sign me up as someone that would rather see all of the following:

Sato play over Frazier
Mac play over Meeks
McCullough play over Mike Scott

But I guess he shot the 3 at 40% 2 years ago and isn't terrible defensively, so who knows