Roster Overhaul Blueprint Proposals

[dmutombo321]

I of course advocate the rebuilding rout but some others may still favor the win-now mentality. Irrespectively, there are a number of threads focusing on individual trades so taking things a step further, I thought I’d go ahead and start a thread for complete roster overhaul plans.

Jaruff suggested trading Chandler’s 12 mil expiring, and Tyrus Thomas for Al Jefferson, Ramon Sessions and Hollins. I think this is a very reasonable proposal and a good starting point.

I’d hate to see Thomas go but I think his inclusion would be necessary for Minny to bite on the deal.

There’s been a lot of talk about Al Jefferson in his dedicated thread and if he can be acquired via a prudent trade to be properly utilized as a 4, I fall squarely in the group who would do it in a heartbeat. At 25 years old, we’ve already seen what he is capable of (23 pts/11rebs/1.6 assists/1.7blks at 50% shooting as the primary focus of opposing defenses) and his best years are still ahead of him.

The guy is a fantastic low post scorer (which we’ve never had) and a legit 20/10 all-star big man when healthy. Having played 70 plus games last season after surgery and still averaging 17/9/1 in fewer minutes while working his way back into form, I honestly think he’s past his knee problems. You’re taking a gamble in that respect but I’d say it’s a good, calculated risk. Jrich also had an off year due to injury the season before we acquired him and he bounced back just fine.

Jefferson’s defense is poor but as Paydro pointed out, the guy is playing out of position at center. He’s got the physical tools to be solid on D and if he’s moved back to his natural position at the 4 and given some tutelage under LB, I think he’ll be fine.

Skill-wise, I always viewed Ajinca as a talented player whose ineffectiveness was 90% due to his woefully underdeveloped body. Ajinca’s late summer league performances and weight gain were auspicious. He had some strong games prior to injuring his finger including a triple double and he added noticeable muscle mass. If he’s gotten strong enough to competently hold his position in the post now without fouling every 60 seconds, I think he could really thrive stroking open 15 footers when opposing defenses dare to double Jefferson.

Ramon Sessions is not getting big minutes in Minny as they are grooming Flynn as their PG of the future (or alternatively, to keep his trade value high in the event they land Rubio). But Sessions is a promising young point guard in his own right who is a phenomenal playmaker and a decent defender. His only glaring weakness is that his 3pt jumper needs work but we’re talking about a player who is only 24 years old but already has a triple double under his belt, has logged a game where he totaled 44 points, and on another occasion shattered the Bucks franchise assist record with 24 in a single game. And he is under contract for the next 3 seasons at only $4.2 million per year.

Miami and a couple other teams are rumored to be interested in Felton. If they shoot him 6-7 mil, let him walk and hand the reigns over to Sessions.
……

At this point they’ll be at a crossroads where they can either rebuild or try to hit one out of the park.

If they go for the latter, MJ should evoke his considerable influence and devote all his effort towards selling Carmelo Anthony on Charlotte.

Per the wire, as ohara posted yesterday, Denver may be looking to trade him rather than lose him for nothing :

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... e_carmelo/

If he signals an intent not to accept Denver’s extension, we’d be fools not to be on the phone with Denver.

Offer Wallace, Nazr’s expiring, Henderson and our unprotected 2014 first. It’s a long shot of course but Denver is going to have to make a difficult decision and this deal would net them an all star, cap relief, a prospect and a potential high lotto pick in return.

We’d have a lineup of:
Sessions / DJ / Sherron Collins
Jackson / Hulk / D league veteran w/ NBA experience like Marcus Williams (the 24 yo from AZ)
Anthony / DMiles / UPS
Jefferson / Diaw / Hollins
Ajinca / FA Banger like Earl Barron / Diop

This team IMO could contend in the East for years. Our center core is nothing to write home about and it is taking a leap of faith that Ajinca is finally physically bulked enough to play productive minutes. However, its not as if the status quo for the 5 spot was anything to write home about beforehand (Chandler was only providing 6/6/1 on the year and earned $11 mil for it). We can always ink someone like Earl Barron (he averaged double figure points and rebounds last year for NY after being called up from the D-League including an 18 rebound game against Boston.) to a serviceably plug the hole if Lexy’s not up to snuff.

If they cannot feasibly swing something dramatic like the Anthony scenario, they should shift focus towards rebuilding.

Start by sending Jackson/Diop to Orlando for Vince Carter’s $17 million expiring.

Orlando is in win-now mode and Jackson is a significant upgrade over Carter and at this point in their careers; Jack is superior in practically every facet, particularly defense (they would have faired much better against Boston if they would have had Jackson checking Pierce rather than Carter). Orlando’s price for this upgrade is acquiescing to take Diop’s dead weight but Orlando has already shown they are willing to spend whatever is necessary to win.

We force feed hendo, UPS and Ajinca big minutes to accelerate their development and win approx 25-30 games in the process. If we can trade Carter’s expiring for young assets or picks, we do so. Otherwise, we just let him walk at the end of the year.

Bring in a couple young prospects playing at MVP level in the d-league. There is a treasure trove of talent in the D League and teams are starting to wake up to this fact. For example, the Warriors plucked Reggie Williams who ended up averaging 15 points, 4.5 boards and 3 assists a game from the 2 guard spot while shooting 50% from the field and 36% from downtown. Candidly, I don’t think we’ll ever see that kind of production from Gerald Henderson. Alonzo Gee dropped 19 points on us for Washington in his first NBA start after being called up. Sundiata Gains and Mailk Hairston, were also D-league steals. And all these players are under 25 years of age.

A couple guys I’d shoot for would be Marcus Williams, mentioned earlier:

http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/i ... e_williams

and I’ve also always liked Morris Almond who, if memory serves, e4 pushed for them to consider calling up last season:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Morris-Almond-1026/

http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/i ... ris_almond

Almond has never really been given significant NBA minutes to show what he can do. He toiled on Utah’s bench from being in Jerry Sloan’s dog house and later spent some time briefly on Orlando’s bench buried behind carter and reddick. In the D League when he did see minutes, he basically decimated all competition and set the d league scoring record with 51 points in a game only to break his own record with 53 a month later. He averaged 22/5/2/1 in 36 minutes (.516 FG and .389 3ptFG) for the Armor last year.

Almond reminds me a lot of a poor man’s Michael Redd (who himself also rotted on Milwaukee’s bench early in his career (averaging 2 ppg on 26% shooting in 6mpg) before he finally got steady minutes and shots to show what he could do. Almond is still young and I honestly think he has 15-20ppg potential as a high efficiency volume scorer in the right system. He’s not a superior defender but he is competent enough to not be a liability (unlike an Anthony Morrow).

Real Madrid thought enough of Almond to ink him to a 7 figure deal last year so for him to come to Charlotte he’d have to have some type of opt out clause or buyout provision. Not sure of the particulars in that regard.

Ultimately, unloading Jackson/Diop clears out $32 million for us over the following 3 years. A cursory glance at the roster indicates that we’d have approx $46 million in dedicated payroll next summer likely putting us ~$14 mil under the cap. And everyone would be locked up save for derrick brown, our 2011 first round pick and any D League prospects we would have auditioned.

For the 2011-12 season, we could look something like:

Sessions / DJ / Marcus Williams (AZ)
Harrison Barnes (or other high lotto pick) / Almond / Hendo
Wallace / UPS
Jefferson / Diaw (who now would have trade value as a $9mil expiring who could help a contender)
Deandre Jordan or M Gasol (FAs) / Ajinca (who hopefully will have made strides)

They’d have a nice, young up and coming team with a economically sound roster with plenty of financial flexibility for additional trades and nobody over 30 years of age. Wallace would be the team elder/veteran leader and I think they’d be able to compete for a playoff spot.

[Walt Cronkite]

Like the Sessions/Jefferson/Melo plan.

If we rebuilt after getting big Al, I think we should move Crash as well. He deserves to get to win somewhere.

[Bassman]

As always a well crafted and thoughtful analysis D-MU!

I like the Jefferson & Sessions proposal, although I would like seeing what T2 could turn into here with LB's training. Supposedly they love each other, so that might be a hard deal to pull off here. Still, Jefferson coming here as our PF (which he'd need to be) would not be welcome by Tyrus (back to the bench) but he'd face the same situation there relative to K-Love. Still, I'd love AJ and Sessions starting on this team next year. And agree it would likely take getting a young player like T2 in the deal for those guys. It really depends on what Minny is looking for.

I'm more doubtful of the Orlando idea. Not sure the Magic would welcome Jax there. But I'm convinced that the Jax & Crash combo is here to stay, and for better or worse that's probably a good thing.

I'm even more doubtful that we could pry away Carmelo from Denver, but if your double scenario of deals could be pulled off, that would be some lineup. But I'd stop right there and save Jackson, as your Orlando move makes us very vulnerable at the 2.