What happens with our Center position?

[JDR720]

We have Al and Hawes on the roster. Bismack is a restricted free agent and we even worked out Greg Oden. Who will be our centers at the start of next seaon?

[Braggins]

I voted with my heart. Here is my recent post moved from the Clippers trade thread.

The more I think about it, the more intrigued I am by the possibility of moving Al and starting Hawes at center. Hawes is a week defender, but he is definitely better than Al and has better size and mobility. If we can hide Al on defense then we should be at least a tad better with Hawes. On offense, he actually compliments Kemba, MKG, and Zeller, perfectly. He spaces the floor to open up driving/cutting lanes for our young athletes and he has the passing ability to operate out of the high post and hit our guys on cuts. Having a stretch 5 would also open up possibilities like using MKG, Zeller, and even Hendo in the post. He would be a great option as a trailer in fast break scenarios as well. Biz is also a perfect complimentary guy to split minutes with him. You can play him with all our non-Al/Marv bigs without creating massive holes in our defense or hurting our spacing.

I know everyone is thinking that Biz is going to be the odd man out, but it just makes too much sense that Al would be the guy we would move. Also, in the draft press conference Cho didn't exactly sound positive when talking about Al. He made it seem pretty clear that Al is gone if he doesn't get his **** together, and when asked a question about the health of our guys and who had been working out he made a very unenthusiastic comment about how Al had been completely cleared for some time but had been around to work out "here and there", whereas it sounded like everyone else has been putting in as much work as possible. When asked about Biz he said he played really well before the injury and pointed out that he is only 22 and his best days are ahead of him. This last part is all speculation, but I've always felt like the Al signing was more of a Higgins/Jordan thing and it doesn't seem like Al fits what Cho wants to be doing. I mean, if Cho has been paying any attention to analytics then he surely understand how big of a drag Al is.

We are all skeptical about the front office being willing to move Al, but that really seems like what the signs are pointing to. Of course, our FO could just be as clueless as a lot of us have speculated and are just going to further imbalance the roster this off-season, but I'm going to try to stay positive about it until we see what happens in the draft and free agency. I feel like we are a trade like Al for Mayo + Bayless away from actually being surprisingly good.

Kemba/Bayless/Roberts
Mayo/9th pick/Daniels
MKG/Hendo/Hairston
Zeller/Vonleh/Marv
Hawes/Biz

On paper that rotation probably looks worse to a lot of people, especially outsiders, but those people also probably still think Al is our best player. Regardless, Al is terrible for our offense and a complete joke on defense. I think a lineup with that kind of balance would make our young core, especially Kemba/MKG, look a lot better and I could see Hawes putting up something like 10-12pts, 6-8 reb, 2-3 asst, and really helping smooth out the kinks in our offense. Heres to hoping Cho agrees and that an opportunity to move Al presents itself.

[BeesWax]

I voted with what was best for the team. I am not sure we will do it but we need to move on from Al.

[-Ian-]

I voted for Keep Biz + Hawes but we all know Cho isn't going to ship out Al. But I'd love to be proven wrong.

[Hornet Mania]

It's going to suck on defense but score plenty of points.

I voted keep all 3, just because I find it hard to believe Cho won't bring Biz back if he really only gets bargain-bin offers as a restricted FA. Cliff will probably bury him behind Al/Hawes and seem baffled as to why we get abused down low every game for 48 minutes.

I doubt Cho trades Al, I would be thrilled, but it just doesn't seem like something the current brain trust would do. I think there's a better chance they re-sign Al to a 2-3 year extension next summer than trade him, unless he specifically demands a trade. But anything is possible with that situation, the front office and Cliff seem to love Al but it became more obvious by the week that he had severely declined last year. If that holds true maybe their opinions shift dramatically.

[Radu_Hornets]

Apparently, we have tested Greg Oden...

[HornetJail]

I think Al is out on draft day. If not draft day, then we trade him to a team that missed out on Brook Lopez and wanted a scoring center.

Biz, Hawes, and some minimum contract third center is going to be our center rotation next year.

[JDR720]

I would like us to trade Al, but i cant think that it is realistic. I dont think Cho likes him much, but Cliff is cuckoo for Al Jefferson puffs.

[Braggins]

I'll swear my loyalty to Cho forever if he makes a 3 team deal on draft day that sends out Al and moves us up.

[HornetJail]

I think some of you guys underestimate Al's value. You guys talk about him like he's Andrea Bargnani. For all his warts, he's still a 20/10 big man on a one-year contract. OKC traded for Enes **** Kanter- a worse version of Al. We should have no issues finding a suitor if we want to.

[Braggins]

I don't think any team would want Al over Kanter.

[HornetJail]

I don't think any team would want Al over Kanter.

Then you simply haven't seen Kanter play defense. A mostly healthy Al looks like Tim Duncan in comparison.

[Braggins]

I don't think any team would want Al over Kanter.

Then you simply haven't seen Kanter play defense. A mostly healthy Al looks like Tim Duncan in comparison.

I can't imagine a starting center being worse than Al on defense. I didn't see Kanter play last year, but I didn't see anyone else that even came close to being as bad as Al.

[HornetJail]

I don't think any team would want Al over Kanter.

Then you simply haven't seen Kanter play defense. A mostly healthy Al looks like Tim Duncan in comparison.

I can't imagine a starting center being worse than Al on defense. I didn't see Kanter play last year, but I didn't see anyone else that even came close to being as bad as Al.

Watching Kanter playing defense makes me thankful that we have Big Al. I've never seen such a strong player that was reasonably mobile be that horrific at defense. At least when Al has his legs under him, he's halfway decent.

[Braggins]

Then you simply haven't seen Kanter play defense. A mostly healthy Al looks like Tim Duncan in comparison.

I can't imagine a starting center being worse than Al on defense. I didn't see Kanter play last year, but I didn't see anyone else that even came close to being as bad as Al.

Watching Kanter playing defense makes me thankful that we have Big Al. I've never seen such a strong player that was reasonably mobile be that horrific at defense. At least when Al has his legs under him, he's halfway decent.

I think Al only appears that way because of our scheme and how talented we are defensively. In Al's last two seasons for Utah they were +7 and +9 pts/100 worse on defense when he was on the court. I bet Kanter wouldn't look as bad if he was on our team.

[catch20two]

I wish in my heart of hearts that I could believe that we'll keep all 3 because that's what I want to believe but my gut tell me that Biz is likely gone.

[Eoghan]

The correct answer is lose both Al and Biz and resign Maxiell to a max deal with Hawes as his backup. Oden is being converted to stretch 4.

[fatlever]

Everyone say this with me - "Al Jefferson is not getting traded". Ok, all together now "AL JEFFERSON IS NOT GETTING TRADED!". Now just the ladies in the back "Al Jefferies is not, Ooh look at Hugo dancing." Well, you get the picture.

I hope that Cho understand that keeping Biz around will be the better long-term move, even if he is 3rd string and doesn't play much next year. Come next year his salary will look like a blip on our salary cap. Plus Biz will have trade value on a good deal. If we let him go, we lose an asset for nothing. We will be over the cap, so signing our own free agents is the best way to retain value from them. Its not like we can add a free agent with the money we will save on Biz.

[Soul Rebel]

I can't see how Biz, being a Cho pick, and recognizing that he is only 22, would move on from him. We all knew hat it would be a patient 4-5 years as his rawness got polished. As he appears to be the closest I've seen to a near-starting C, or at least competent player that has steadily improved, I can't see cutting bait on him.

Though I doubt we get the dream of trading Al, is go with Hawes/Biz at the 5 and sign someone else for garbage minutes.
It just seems odd that we put in the time and effort in molding Biz and then as he's nearing the final product, we lose him and some other team enjoys the fruits of our labor.

[HornetJail]

The correct answer is lose both Al and Biz and resign Maxiell to a max deal with Hawes as his backup. Oden is being converted to stretch 4.

This seems like the only logical prediction in this thread. Marvin starts at the 4 again while Vonleh gathers dust, right?