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SAVE THE CHEERLEADER, SAVE THE WORLD

That was the mantra for the TV show "HEROES". You'd have to watch the whole season to understand it. But in my book, we have a nearly similar mission if our Bobcats are to become heroes this year:

GET A STARTING PF, SAVE THE SEASON

Our group of 4's is a pathetic excuse for an NBA squad. Really, put them together in a police line-up and they would resemble bigs ("Yes officer, that big brute of a basketball player did that to me"). But put them on the court and they look more like the front line for the Washington Generals.

WE NEED A HERO!!

On HOOPSWORLD, an article discussed who were the most likely players to be moved this season. As PF's go one team stood out in their analysis:

Chris Wilcox (Thunder): Like Wally, Wilcox is in the final year of his deal with the Thunder, and is a very movable asset. Chris is slated to earn $6.75 million this season and has been a productive four spot player. The Thunder also have Nick Collison under contract for the next three years and he too seems to be a player the Thunder would entertain moving. Thunder GM Sam Presti could be looking at as much as $20 million in cap space next season and the chance to land a splashy free agent from the 2009 free agent class. Moving Collision would be the smarter move for the Thunder, and simply let Wilcox expire, moving the possibly cap space closer to $25 million.

Both of these players earn around $6.5M. The Thunder would seemingly want players that would allow them cap space next season so that might limit our options. Wonder if they would take Morrison and May for either player? Collison would seem to fit LB's type of player and would provide quality production, but he has limited upside. Wilcox has greater athleticism but hasn't really reached his projected potential. Could LB turn that around?

I posted a trade idea in the big forum about a trade between CHA & OKC with my eyes on Collison as I think he fits more of what we need in that he is a lost post scorer that can rebound while Wilcox is more of the athletic PF he isnt as solid w/ his back to the basket. But either one is obviously an upgrade over what we currently have

MJ coming out of retirement .

Pss! Spoiler!

OTish: [nerd] A week ago I fired up my first NBA2k9 Association. I, like our 'cats, had 4 obvious Starter selections but had to make a hard decision on the 5th <you must specify 5 players as "Starters">. I went with May, since I feel like he's who LB will pick, but tabbed Nazr as the 6th man(I think, could've been Carroll). Anyway, I was using hoopcast to have some control over what happened in the game (substitutions and timeouts) while keeping the pace rather quick. I only got through the first month and the cats were doing alright, but May was starting to be pouty because I had difficulty getting him to around 30mpg because of his tendency to foul and poor stamina--even worse was how disappointing he was when he managed to stay on the court. Halfway through month 1 and Nazr/Dudley/Davidson were all outplaying him, eventually Nazr had a small injury so I sat him and played May more but his output didn't really increase. I was finding no minutes at all for Morrison--when I needed a sub for Wallace I could easily insert Carroll at the 2 and move Jrich to the 3 or bring in Dudley to play sf.

Thanks for sticking with me if you have so far, because here's the relevant part: at the end of this month OKCT put Collison on the block. Neither Ammo nor May were enough value to get Collison straight up, but the two of them together made the computer very happy and the trade was virtually identical salary wise. Nick wasn't outstanding, but he was solid and helped in the development of a pretty consistent rotation. It should be noted that I haven't done any roster edits and Morrison is way overrated by default, but May is underrated in many aspects, so maybe it equals out. I almost posted this scenario specifically to see what Bassman would think of Collison as the answer to our PF problems, but kept it to myself (at this point for obvious reasons). I don't think Nick would be any better at guarding the rangy 4s than Emeka/Nazr/Gerald, but he is a capable 5th starter that seemed to compliment the team better than Mohammed or Carroll. As icing on the cake, he comes from the right bloodline (KU).
[/nerd]

To everyone that read that, thank you and sorry. To those that didn't, sorrys only.

Walt, I would be reasonably pleased with Collison as our starter. i think he is a solid player that would provide a strong base of production with Okafor, and allow J-Rich, Crash to star. We need this guy now however. I fear (as I stated in many posts prior to camp) that no action before camp would doom us to a deadline deal at best. By then we will be lucky to even sniff the tail-end of the playoff position. Collinson has 3 years remaining but I think that's a good thing as I doubt our drafts will produce anyone better anythime soon.

we need gwallace to be the hero and not shoot four threes like he did today and commit 4 TOs.

A savior won't come cheap. Our roster will feel the effects of the price that we MUST pay to get this power forward problem dealt with. Sure we need a power forward. We need one with superstar capability ( I just don't think we are destined to end up with one ). So, in the interim, we need to take the attitude that we can only have one power forward project at a time. Hollins hasn't shown that much. Davidson is afraid he might sprain an ankle going for a rebound. Ajinca will take time to bulk up. May...too much party life and good food. We have four guys that play backup power forward.

Does anybody see a problem with this in the front office?

In order to stop making excuses and making the playoffs, we will have to win more games than we did last year...by far. So far, everybody seems to think that we have about 5 more wins coming because of LB's coaching. I have a theory about injuries. If you are undermanned, you try harder. If you try too hard, you press. You press, you hold yourself out for injuries. Our franchise is the Webster's definition of injury prone. Having that hole at starting power forward is going to get somebody injured!

My idea of possible saviors... Probably out of range, and will cost us a core team member, but if we get a # 1 power forward, and can utilize what we have left, the other positions should be easy to cover for.

Here goes...

Tyrus Thomas
LaMarcus Aldridge
A signed to a long-term contract version of Carlos Boozer
Lamar Odom
In a pinch... David Lee.
If you twist my arm, Joakim Noah.

I welcome other suggestions to this list. I want someone who will realize that this is their opportunity to become that team leader that we need. These guys are buried on teams that already have their replacements in the wings and/or need wing players. The exhibition record has not exactly been a source of reassurance to date, and that needs to change.

Claw on!

tyrus thomas? srsly?

I mean, instead of May/Davidson/Ajinca? Yea, I'd seriously take Tyrus. He's what, 22 years old? Athletic and long so he can guard the type of players that ALWAYS kill us? He's been an average player for his career, but he'd get minutes here and to reiterate-- cannot possibly be worse than present day Davidson/Ajinca.

I would love to have Tyrus. Not LB would like him though, but he's exactly the type of player we need (if he keeps his head on straight). Noah would be great too, he just lacks an offensive game.

I don't know why everyone thinks Aldridge is even an option. There is no way Portland trades him for anything reasonable.

Our Hero would best emerge from that batch of young, not quite there players, but getting one of them is nearly impossible. Why? We don't have a comparable player of value that is in the same salary range. Therefore our best hope is to find a Wilcox or Collison type player (mid-range salary, team looking for cap space via expirings, or a different position player of potential) and package two of our young potentials into a deal.

How about Craig Smith? He's a money back to the basket scorer and is a pretty good rebounder. His contract is terrific, something 2.4 million per for 2 years. He's looked pretty good so far this preseason, plus he crushed your boy Tyrus Thomas at 1:30 of this vid

http://www.nba.com/video/games/bulls/20 ... r=whatsnew

Minnesota has Gomes, Jefferson, and Love, Smith could be had

What would you guys want in return for Smith, and how can we get around his BYC unless we start piling on contracts?

I don't think he's BYC, he didn't get much of a raise; trade checker say's he's not too, unless that's an error.

Minnesota's needs are kind of vague at this point; similar to your team probably in that there's a ton of solid players, but not really completely untouchable guys.

Is Craig Smith and Telfair enough for Felton?

I'd do that, if it works financially. We'd have the smallest PGs ever, but at least they'd be fast and fun to watch. Maybe LB can get Telfair to reach his potential.

and you could reunite the Craig Smith/Jared Dudley beastly tandem

Is Craig Smith and Telfair enough for Felton?

That's kind of similar to what I was thinking, but I'd need more research to assure myself that Smith could be an effective starter for us and that Telfair could exist under LB.

So far as BYC I picked that up off the ESPN Trade Machine:

Craig Smith (TR, BYC) - "If a team over the salary cap enters into a new player contract with a Bird or Early Bird free agent or an extension of a Rookie Scale Contract that provides for a salary in the first year of the contract in excess of 120% of the player's salary in the prior season, the player will be subject to Base Year Compensation".

As a fan you'd know better than me though.

Chris Jericho

NO TELFAIR!!!