Craig Smith..

[4ho5ive]

Thanks andyhop.

dunonu21, I think you are seriously under-valuing Craig and even David Lee. The Knicks will abslolutely refuse, REFUSE to trade away David Lee. There arent "plenty of these guys available". If Craig Smith was 6'9+ he would be mentioned with David West, Elton Brand, hell even Jefferson himself. The way he can bruise in and get buckets is crazy.

[dunkonu21]

I totally agree with the if Craig was 6'9" comment, but fact of the matter is he's prolly only 6'5" or so.


Jason Maxiell
Paul Milsap
Brandon Bass
Andray Blatche
Glen Davis
Jared Dudley
Ryan Gomes
Chuck Hayes
Linas Klieza
Carl Landry

Ok I'm done with that list I only got to the "L"s and whoever I could think of off the top of my head. Now I know this is a wide variety of styles but they all were late picks and find a way to make a niche'. Joey Dorsey, Joseph Jones, and Taj Gibson will all prolly find a team and make the roster. I think there is a mold of these guys who have wide bodies, but are not exactly tall but they find a way to make it effective.

I know not all these guys are Craig Smith's caliber, but the point is we don't need someone as good as Cookie to play the role that he is playing IMO, unless he's gonna sign for cheap, which is unlikely.

[theGreatRC]

Craig Isn't worth MLE type money, but he is an efficient scorer and is valuable to a team's bench because of his consistency and is reliable to get buckets in the paint. His defense isn't something to be impressed with, but being under-sized, you tend to get shot over by the Dirk's of the NBA who are 6'10+ that has unbelievable accuracy from the field. IMO Mchale offers him a deal, and it's up to Craigers to decide what happens next.

[MN Die Hard]

Haha thanks for a 4 month early happy birthday. That's how I know you care

haha whoops I read that wrong!!

[horaceworthy]

Ok I'm done with that list I only got to the "L"s and whoever I could think of off the top of my head. Now I know this is a wide variety of styles but they all were late picks and find a way to make a niche'. Joey Dorsey, Joseph Jones, and Taj Gibson will all prolly find a team and make the roster. I think there is a mold of these guys who have wide bodies, but are not exactly tall but they find a way to make it effective.

I know not all these guys are Craig Smith's caliber, but the point is we don't need someone as good as Cookie to play the role that he is playing IMO, unless he's gonna sign for cheap, which is unlikely.

If it's so easy to find this type of player, why would a team go out and spend big money on one? Your last sentence sort of contradicts the rest of your post.

My opinion of Rhino Cookie is that he's the perfect 3rd big man bench scorer. He's a restricted free agent, so I don't see him getting a huge offer. If he does, I'm fine with letting him go, but I'd like to see him back here next year. He's got his weaknesses, but he's carried us for spurts this year.

[dunkonu21]

Well I think other teams would be justified in giving him a relatively large contract (meaning a little smaller than the MLE, anything more is just ludacris), because not all teams have a low post scorer. I'm talking strictly for the Wolves in this. We have Al Jefferson, who eats a ton of minutes, in all likelihood the Wolves will be adding a PF or C to this team in the draft (just my opinion). This means that there will be few minutes for both back-up PF and back-up C. Craig Smith is too good of a player to only get 15 minutes a game and Al Jefferson is too important to not give full minutes. So there is a danger there. The ideal situation for me is to get a hybrid PF/C and play him at both of those back-up front court positions. If we keep Craig Smith and sign him to a big contract, then we also have to find a back-up center, because Cookie definitely can not play both. I'd rather kill two birds with one stone sort of speak. Plus that way we can give the player enough minutes for him to be considered a core piece. I do not think Craig is going to be getting that many minutes when this team is fully formed in the near future.

[the_bruce]

I don't see any teams offering cookie a contract we wont match. Not many teams have the type of players defensively to cover up for his weaknesses. Most of the teams that do have those pieces are so far over the cap that offering him a big contract will cost double. I just don't see it happening. Cookie is probably worth 4-5m on the right team with an eraser shot blocker on defense, but most of the teams that have that are over cap and certainly wouldnt pay 8-10m per year for him regardless.

[horaceworthy]

Well I think other teams would be justified in giving him a relatively large contract (meaning a little smaller than the MLE, anything more is just ludacris), because not all teams have a low post scorer. I'm talking strictly for the Wolves in this.

They may be justified, but RFA's that have actually performed haven't switched teams all that often in recent years. Teams often shy away from them because if they offer reasonable deals, the player's original team is likely to match, and they don't want to tie up that money for a week when they could be using it for other things.

We have Al Jefferson, who eats a ton of minutes, in all likelihood the Wolves will be adding a PF or C to this team in the draft (just my opinion). This means that there will be few minutes for both back-up PF and back-up C. Craig Smith is too good of a player to only get 15 minutes a game and Al Jefferson is too important to not give full minutes. So there is a danger there. The ideal situation for me is to get a hybrid PF/C and play him at both of those back-up front court positions.

If it's just your opinion, then it's "might be," not "will be" (apologies for picking nits). Still, that's just one big man, and most good teams have a solid rotation of 3, with a usable 4th. Craig's ideal for that 3rd big slot, since he can come in and give the team an instant boost on offense. He'd fit perfect with a hybrid PF/C (I agree that's the ideal type of big for this team). He'd be able to check the other team's least threatening big, give the team an offensive boost, and make up for when Big Al takes a breather. He'd also be to play some minutes with Al when the draftee gets a breather, so that's around 24mpg for Craig, which is about right for a player of his type and caliber. I don't see a danger there. I'd see the situation working out like this:

C: Hybrid/Al/4th big
PF: Al/Rhino/Hybrid/4th big

If we keep Craig Smith and sign him to a big contract, then we also have to find a back-up center, because Cookie definitely can not play both. I'd rather kill two birds with one stone sort of speak. Plus that way we can give the player enough minutes for him to be considered a core piece. I do not think Craig is going to be getting that many minutes when this team is fully formed in the near future.

I'm not advocating signing him to a big contract, I don't think anyone is. I just don't think he's going to get offered a big contract. Keeping him around doesn't hinder a core player getting minutes unless we draft Beasley. Once again, if he's not good enough to be getting minutes on this team in the near future, it's tough to see him being good enough to get a big offer from another team. You're putting yourself in between a rock and a hard place when you try to argue both those points at the same time, since one detracts from the other.

[revprodeji]

He is a talented player, but if we only plan on using him for a 10min a game back up 4 role then he is not worth the cap, nor is it worth it for him.

Because he is not a full MLE player, maybe we could work a sign/trade out with another team who wants him, but does not want to use the mid level.

Personally, I like Craig and I would like to keep him. But we need a situation that works for all parties included.

[dunkonu21]

If it's just your opinion, then it's "might be," not "will be" (apologies for picking nits). Still, that's just one big man, and most good teams have a solid rotation of 3, with a usable 4th. Craig's ideal for that 3rd big slot, since he can come in and give the team an instant boost on offense. He'd fit perfect with a hybrid PF/C (I agree that's the ideal type of big for this team). He'd be able to check the other team's least threatening big, give the team an offensive boost, and make up for when Big Al takes a breather. He'd also be to play some minutes with Al when the draftee gets a breather, so that's around 24mpg for Craig, which is about right for a player of his type and caliber. I don't see a danger there. I'd see the situation working out like this:

C: Hybrid/Al/4th big
PF: Al/Rhino/Hybrid/4th big

See that is a decent way to think, but it would be hard to find a Hybrid that is mainly a center but can also play PF too. Seems like things usually work the other way around.

I was thinking:

Get a C/Hybrid PfC
Al Jeff/Hybrid PfC

Once again, if he's not good enough to be getting minutes on this team in the near future, it's tough to see him being good enough to get a big offer from another team. You're putting yourself in between a rock and a hard place when you try to argue both those points at the same time, since one detracts from the other.

What I was saying is that Craig is not a great fit for this team. He definitely is one of the better scoring undersized PF's and I think he has earned money. I just don't think we're the team who should pay it.