Suggestions to Salvage the Future of the Franchise Thread...

[dmutombo321]

Ok,

So our team isn’t going anywhere and I’m still in a state of disbelief over our front office basically handing Richardson to the Suns on a platter and then making things even more unbalanced by needlessly including a second round pick.

Since this season’s already down the sh*tter, why not build for the future?

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... &te=&cash=

Charlotte sends to Portland:

Gerald Wallace and Matt Carroll

Portland Send to Charlotte:

Rudy Fernandez, Raef Lafrentz, Nicholas Batum


Why for Portland?

Blake / Rodriguez / Bayless
Roy / Carroll / Bayless
Wallace / Outlaw / Webster (once healthy)
Aldridge / Outlaw / Frye
Oden / Pryzbilla / Frye

Fernandez is better than anyone dreamed he would be. However, with Brandon Roy firmly established as their 2 guard, Fernandez will never consistently see more than 25-30 mpg.

Wallace gives them an all-star caliber SF who can rebound, score, play the passing lanes and provide great help defense and weak-side shot blocking. He’s an immediate, dramatic upgrade at SF who would be able to play 40 mins per night. You can envision how dangerous they would be with Blake, Roy and Wallace running the break together.

Carroll gives them a quality backup, who, while not the athlete Fernandez was, still offers the same deft shooting touch and a deep threat off the bench. His salary is structured in a front loaded manner with relatively modest payouts in the later years of his contract.

This line-up could take them deep into the post season for years to come.


Why for Charlotte?

Augustine / Felton / Singletary
Fernandez / Bell / S Brown
Morrison / Batum
Diaw / Howard / May
Okafor / Ajinca / Nazr (Hollins would have to be waived)


Anyone who saw Fernandez play in the Olympics and early this season for Portland knows he is a stud. He’s only 23 years old, is a phenomenal athlete, a deadly shooter (has the third longest three point FG streak for a rookie in the past 12 years and accomplished this playing only 25 mpg) and has all star potential. Plus, he’s under contract until 2012-2013 for practically nothing; an avg of $2.2 million per year. He has the makings of a high efficiency 18-20ppg scorer from the two guard position if given the minutes and shots. We need offense and he could replace some or all of what we lost with the departure of Richardson.

Batum is currently a poor man’s Gerald Wallace. But he has room to grow and is also under contract until 2012/2013 for about 2.2 million per. At only 19 years of age, he’s not ready to be a regular contributor but he’s shown flashes of potential with a handful of double figure scoring games and even started a few times. Long and athletic, he has the body type that Larry Brown likes in his players.

Lafrentz has a 12 million + contact expiring this year. Clearing his deal off the books would free up a lot of cap room, allowing for free agent signing(s) for any of the next three off seasons and/or further trade flexibility.

As mentioned, there’s a strong possibility that Fernandez, the principal of the deal on Charlotte’s end, has All Star potential as his ceiling. At worst, he’s still an above average starter at the shooting guard spot. Batum is more of a wild card of course.

Both of these players have team options for each of the two years proceeding next season so if Batum fails to pan out, he can always be cut loose. Fernandez is a value at his paltry salary whether he reaches his ceiling or not.

The beauty of the whole deal is that Diaw’s versatility and ability to play 3 or 4 gives us some lineup flexibility with the lottery pick next summer. If we hit pay dirt and somehow land Blake Griffin, Diaw can slide to the three and you have:

Augustine / Felton / Singletary
Fernandez / Bell / S Brown
Diaw / Morrison / Batum
Griffin / Ajinca
Okafor / Nazr


If we land a pick in the 5-10 range, Diaw can remain at the 4 and we can select a wing:

Augustine / Felton / Singletary
Fernandez / Bell / S Brown
Lottery wing / Morrison / Batum
Diaw / Ajinca
Okafor / Nazr

Or (although most agree Okafor is best suited as a 5, albeit an under-sized one) we could look like:

Augustine / Felton / Singletary
Fernandez / Bell / S Brown
Diaw / Morrison / Batum
Okafor / Ajinca
Thabeet / Nazr


In any of these scenarios, we would be a young, talented team with Okafor being the youngest starter at only 26 years of age. As an added bonus, they would actually be more fun to watch than observing paint dry.

[Paydro70]

My guess is we'll get some portland fans in here saying they wouldn't trade Fernandez for Kobe, but I think it makes sense for them if you're under the impression that Wallace will make a huge defensive impact. Personally I'm not so sure he would, they really need a lockdown man defender, but Wallace has kind of a good reputation I think.

For us, I obviously like it... blow up the team, suck a year while developing some more prospects, and get a high draft pick. But I don't think we can do a deal like this right away, we'll have to wait at least a couple of weeks to see how the Diaw experiment is going.

[ohara]

I would trade Big Slam and Walt to Charlotte in return for MJ. That way we have two reasonable people who can rationally discuss in what direction to lead the team and they have the authority on all trades and Draft picks, and we get MJ out of the "danger zone" so he cannot do further damage except as Moderator. (Unless we can strip him of that title as well.)

I feel confident that these two individuals can help salvage this team.

[Paydro70]

Seconded. I only ask that I be called upon to consult, and to run the advanced statistics branch that I'm sure this front office does not currently have.

[BigSlam]

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/t ... &te=&cash=

Bobcats out:
Wallace
Carroll

Bobcats in:
Hughes
Noah
Graham

Bulls out:
Hughes
Noah
Simmons

Bulls in:
Bargnani
Humphries
Carroll

Raptors out:
Bargnani
Humphries
Graham

Raptors in:
Wallace
Simmons

Bobcats continue to build and look for added balance
Bulls get their front court help
Raps get their SF

While this might not look as pretty on paper, it's all about ridding contracts, blowing the team up and starting again (again).

We'd play the following two units:

DJ - Hughes - Diaw - Noah - EO50

The D of Hughes and Diaw would hopefully cover any short comings (pardon the pun) of DJ. We'd have scorers at the 1 and 2, four guys who can faciltate the offense at the 1, 2, 3 and 4, if EO50 can continue with his post offense Noah can chase around the more mobile bigs and be a big help on the boards. Plus he has that "edge" to him.

Felts - Bell - Ammo - Lex - Nazzy/Twiggy

Give us scoring off the bench and vaierty at both ends of the floor

If all else fails, we are out of Crash and Hammer's contracts, Bell and Hughes are off the books the summer of 2010 and we'd have a bucket load of cap room to play with and try and build the team (again)!

[Paydro70]

Also, since Ammo cut his hair, we do need another guy with a ludicrous haircut on the roster, so Noah would be critical. Could he grow a more prominent moustache as part of the deal?

More seriously, it's definitely a blowup deal, but Noah looks really horrible and so this seems like a trade for nothing... I'd like some better prospects.

[W_HAMILTON]

Rescind the trade.

Fire Larry Brown.

Fire Rod Higgins.

BBBBBBBK.

Have Johnson (majority owner) to tell Jordan (minority owner) to sit down and shut up, or go play some more golf. Restrict his ownership ability to the same as Nelly. Jordan brought none of his positives, and all of his negatives to the job. If he wants to leave, good.

Hire a team of reputable draft scouts so we don't get screwed in the draft as much.

[Walt Cronkite]

1. Doc Brown
2. Delorean
3. Flux Capacitor
4. ????????
5. Profit


That's the best I could come up with right now, gonna take some time to see how the guys mesh... probably a month.

I DO have an idea for what our board motto should've been before the season started and DEFINITELY should apply to the remaining games, so I'll unveil that shortly...

[BigSlam]

More seriously, it's definitely a blowup deal, but Noah looks really horrible and so this seems like a trade for nothing... I'd like some better prospects.

I'm thinking that if all we can get back in a deal that has Swish, Dude and a Charlotte 2nd (as good as a 1st for most) is a past his prime SG and a under achieving French man then we aren't getting prospects back for Crash while also asking someone to take on Hammer's contract.

Noah pretty much would be the prospect we'd get back. Hughes and his contract (who we would hope would be more than useful while here) and a huge amount of cap room get it over the line.

The cap room is the real kicker here (although I do think that Noah and EO50 would be a pretty good pairing)

[W_HAMILTON]

Bobcats: Back to Basics ??

I've already got that one reserved for when we BBBBBBBK and cure ourselves of Brown and Jordan.

[W_HAMILTON]

I'm thinking that if all we can get back in a deal that has Swish, Dude and a Charlotte 2nd (as good as a 1st for most) then we aren't getting prospects back for Crash and asking someone to take on Hammer's contract.

THEN DON'T TRADE.

It's that simple. Only we can hurt ourselves. Or the teams that we stupidly agree to trade with, but again, that is up to us.

If the best thing you can get for a good guy that can average 20ppg and fill up the stat sheet is a couple of role players, YOU DON'T TRADE HIM. You keep him. Why would you trade him in that scenario? Because there is nothing left to do but to blow up the team after you flicked that first domino by trading away good for bad? YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT TO BEGIN WITH.

[dmutombo321]

I'm thinking that if all we can get back in a deal that has Swish, Dude and a Charlotte 2nd (as good as a 1st for most) then we aren't getting prospects back for Crash and asking someone to take on Hammer's contract.

THEN DON'T TRADE.

It's that simple. Only we can hurt ourselves. Or the teams that we stupidly agree to trade with, but again, that is up to us.

If the best thing you can get for a good guy that can average 20ppg and fill up the stat sheet is a couple of role players, YOU DON'T TRADE HIM. You keep him. Why would you trade him in that scenario? Because there is nothing left to do but to blow up the team after you flicked that first domino by trading away good for bad? YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT TO BEGIN WITH.

I don't particularly care for that salary dump proposal involving Noah either. And I think we all agree that the Richardson deal was non-sensical. But the purpose of the thread is to suggest ways to improve the team long term.

Sure, we could hold on to Wallace for the duration of his contract and continue to be a 30-35 win team each year. But, if we can trade him for a young, cheap high-potential player or two along with cap space, why not? I still think Wallace/Carroll for R Fernandez / Batum / Lafrentz (Cap Space via $12 million expiring) would be a deal that would improve Portland immensely and give Charlotte a young building block (possibly two) along with cap flexibility.

Sadly, this whole topic is only a hypothetical since Brown apparently wants to try to win now (as evidenced by spending a million dollars or so to add juwan howard and acquiring 32 yo raja bell.) Unfortunately, these token additions will only serve to at best propel us from 30 wins to a whopping 34-35.

I say better to blow up the team, develop/acquire prospects and aspire towards greatness two years from now than to continue making token moves to wallow in mediocrity (a la the Knicks during the past 5-6 years) with the delusion that this roster can somehow make the playoffs.

[Walt Cronkite]

Okay, first... what about this?

Charlotte Sends:
Felton
May
Morrison
Jared Dudley trade exception (according to ESPN)

Bobcats Receive:
Vince Carter

Why for Charlotte: Our point guards need to be on the court with someone who can bail them out by being able to make plays for others. We also have no superstar or go-to scorer, which Carter would provide. Probably goes without saying, but Vince's alma matter and name recognition not only gain back fans lost during the Jrich trade, but probably surpass the original number.

Why for New Jersey: The Nets looked like a top team for landing a big star in 2010 and then the Knicks doubled them up. This trade gets them back into that race. The deal isn't good value wise for the Nets, but depending on their priorities we could address that. For instance, Wallace (who's deal runs the same length of Carter's and saves the Nets 5 million instantly) could be easily added with May and one of Felton/Morrison.

[Walt Cronkite]

And as mentioned by me earlier, this should've been our boardwide motto before the season began, but unless we can make a blockbuster trade (and I don't think we can) this should be the motto going forward:

[BigSlam]

THEN DON'T TRADE.

It's that simple. Only we can hurt ourselves. Or the teams that we stupidly agree to trade with, but again, that is up to us.

If the best thing you can get for a good guy that can average 20ppg and fill up the stat sheet is a couple of role players, YOU DON'T TRADE HIM. You keep him. Why would you trade him in that scenario? Because there is nothing left to do but to blow up the team after you flicked that first domino by trading away good for bad? YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT TO BEGIN WITH.

To late - it's already happened.

[BigSlam]

I still think Wallace/Carroll for R Fernandez / Batum / Lafrentz (Cap Space via $12 million expiring) would be a deal that would improve Portland immensely and give Charlotte a young building block (possibly two) along with cap flexibility.

I think it would be more than fantastic for us - which means I seriously doubt the Blazers would be down with it.

[spectre_]

The D of Hughes and Diaw would hopefully cover any short comings (pardon the pun) of DJ. We'd have scorers at the 1 and 2, four guys who can faciltate the offense at the 1, 2, 3 and 4, if EO50 can continue with his post offense Noah can chase around the more mobile bigs and be a big help on the boards. Plus he has that "edge" to him.

VERY well reasoned and laid out. I never thought I'd bee agreeable to a deal where we get Larry Hughes but that quoted above is exactly what we should be striving to accomplish. You covered the liabilities, added handles, rebounding and court vision.

Well done Slam.

[W_HAMILTON]

I should read some of these posts more thoroughly.

Hughes? LARRY HUGHES?

My God, where did we go so wrong...

[spectre_]

I should read some of these posts more thoroughly.

Hughes? LARRY HUGHES?

My God, where did we go so wrong...

Heh, the exact same reaction I had to it!

You have to realize what Slam's deviously ulterior motive is though: think about a certain ATL SG that will be available right after Hughes expires...

[BigSlam]

I should read some of these posts more thoroughly.

Hughes? LARRY HUGHES?

My God, where did we go so wrong...

The same one who is averaging:
13.2 pts (on 45%/47%/86%)
3.2 boards
1.5 assists
1.4 steals
0.8 turn overs

this season in only 27mpg...........................and who's contract expires after next season.

Plus we get a mobile big and get rid of Hammers contract.

Yes, that is him.