RealGM

bonnell discusses some of the bobcats option at center or next season in his latest article.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/0 ... g-man.html

he mentions
draft: kanter, jonas, biymbo
trade: kaman, camby, pachulia
free agent: kwame, gasol, dalembert


thoughts?

he fails to mention vucevic #FAILURE.. resign Kwame draft Vucevic

I have to admit, I am not aware of our financial situation this summer, as far as cap space goes, but could we really afford to sign Marc Gasol? I think he would demand at least $15 million per year.

but hell yes, I would do it.

hey slam, sorry i didnt see you had already posted this in the random news thread.

I don't think this team has any business going after a guy like Camby. He's too old. I like M. Gasol though, i'm not sure of his contract situation, but I fear it will be tough to get him out of Memphis.

Not sure why Gasol is even being mentioned in this article; we cant tender anything even close to a competitive offer to him with our cap situation being what it is. Camby can now see 40 without even using binoculars. He can still play and would be helpful for a playoff team that needs bench size. But thats not us.

Meanwhile, young < 25yo bigs we can realistically afford who would fit in with our rebuilding plans like Spencer Hawes arent even mentioned.

1. Resign Kwame $2.5 mln/ 2yrs + 3rd yr team option

2. Sign free agent Aaron Gray $2/2 yrs

something tells me we will not be able to get kwame for anything less than 5 mil per season.

free agent centers for 2011-2012 (loosely defining centers for this post)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/stor ... ents-11-12

unrestricted - not even going to bother with restricted guys
h armstrong
j collins
j powell
e thomas
n kristic
t murphy
k brown
n mohammad
j pryzbilla
k thomas
r hollins
t chandler
nene (eto)
c hayes
y ming
j foster
t ratliff
e dampier
z ilgaulskas
j magloire
d gadzuric
a gray
d mbenga
r turiaf
s willaims
t battie
d songalia
s dalembert
t duncan (eto)
a ajinca
f elson
k fesenko

the good news that we should have no problem finding a 2nd/3rd string center for fairly cheap to play 5-10 minutes a game out of that group.

i would love to have chuck hayes, but i know he will be out of our price range and most likely staying in houston. i dont care that he is 6-6. dude is a baller.

fatlever wrote:something tells me we will not be able to get kwame for anything less than 5 mil per season.

Then I would wish him well on his next team and thank him for his lane violations last season.

Stun704 wrote:he fails to mention vucevic #FAILURE.. resign Kwame draft Vucevic

If possible to sign Kwame, then this is my choice.

Surprised he did not mention Valanciunas, who is expected to go in the Lottery.

Kwame for $5 mil. I'll pass.

Benson, Vucevic, even Tyler in the 2nd round, i'd be happy with that.

We need to find a way to get some serious young talent at all positions. Unless the man in the middle is Dwight Howard, we're not going very far with this drecky team.

dmutombo321 wrote:Not sure why Gasol is even being mentioned in this article; we cant tender anything even close to a competitive offer to him with our cap situation being what it is. Camby can now see 40 without even using binoculars. He can still play and would be helpful for a playoff team that needs bench size. But thats not us.

Meanwhile, young < 25yo bigs we can realistically afford who would fit in with our rebuilding plans like Spencer Hawes arent even mentioned.

I would like Hawes but I don't see it happening. He's not a banger.

fatlever wrote:something tells me we will not be able to get kwame for anything less than 5 mil per season.

I would do it for one season.

I guess its Kuwamee at 3-5mil for 3 years? They are saying it maybe 2012 before Diop comes back and we won't be able to trade his contract until late 2012 or 2013. Wow What a Bummer?
I like Keith Benson out of Purdue second round to develop behind Kuwamee.

Maybe trade DJ , Diaw and TT and 9th pick to Hornets for CP3 and then draft Singeltary at 19 and Benson at 39
Cp3..Livingston..Temple
Hendo... Carroll...FA Wing
Jax.. Singeltary. Cunningham
White... Dmac..Najera
Kuwamee... Benson...Diop

Marvel wrote:Kwame for $5 mil. I'll pass.

Benson, Vucevic, even Tyler in the 2nd round, i'd be happy with that.

Kwame had better numbers in less minutes last year than Okafor. To put that in perspective, Okafor makes roughly $10 million a year, so compared to this conjectured $5 mill for Kwame, I'd say that seems very reasonable.

2 wrongs don't make a right. We still have Diop for number of years. BBD put up better "numbers" than Kwame at 3 mill. So compared to your "conjecture" BBD should be on $10 mil next year.

His career averages: 7ppg, 5.5rpg. He's 29, so forget about upside, he's never played a full season, he has one of the worst hands in the entire league...i'd love him as a backup at $3.5 mil.

I'm just saying that $5 mill a year is not crazy high for a starting center in the NBA. I'm a big Kwame fan and really rooting for him, I love seeing a kid fall in love with basketball again after some bad situations and I'm really optimistic that he'll improve noticeably after a Summer with Silas and Silas.

Practically all the guys on that big list of bargain Centers are either on the verge of retiring, lack the size Kwame has, or both.

I mean, Yao Ming was on there. Seriously, are we gonna go after Yao "feet of balsa wood" Ming?

I'd like to get Kwame for $4 mil/ yr. But in this market, he is probably worth $5 mil/yr. And if we are not sure of getting one in the draft, I think we have no real option but to keep him. He likes the team and coach, and the fans seem to take to him. It's a good fit.

^ I'd like to retain Kwame too. I value his physicality and defense. But only if its in the $3 million neighborhood to serve as our backup center; the guy is going to be 30, has terrible hands and $5 million is absurd.

If we're gonna spent that kind of $, we need to bid on Hawes, the lumering but talented 23 yo seven footer who was a recent top ten draft pick and dare philly to match. I've mentioned him many times before as the most realistic FA 5 for us to target because Marc Gasol is a pipe dream we cant afford and most of the other 5's we can like Hilton Armstrong are scrubs.

Hawes is a skilled albeit slow footed 5 who can score in the post and save for Kanter, is more talented than any center in the draft. Given his age, he fits with our rebuilding plan and can serve as a solid cog in the middle. Signing him would be like us adding another top 10 lotto pick.

Otherwise, at the minimum we need to look to draft Vucevik at 19 so we have at least some depth at the 5 because if someone overpays for Kwame and Diop isnt ready to go, we wont have a 5 on the entire roster. Some might argue the same could be said even if Diop is ready to go.