quick, agile power forward targets

[fatlever]

this team needs a power forward, ideally one who is quick and agile. this need is on defense to cover guys like bosh but also on offense to help with the pick and roll, assuming felton stays our pg. we dont have anyone besides may, who is good in a pick and pop role. who do we target and how do we get them?

free agents

josh smith - r
walter herrmann - r
matt barnes (bit of a stretch at pf)
autin croshere
carl landry - r
ronny turiaf - r
ryan gomes - r
craig smith - r
nenad krstic - r (not sure if he is any quicker than emeka)
bostjan nachbar
kurt thomas (probably not much quicker than nazr these days)
francisco elson (again, not sure how much quicker he is)
kwame brown (please dear god, no)
elton brand (only if he opts out)
antawn jamison

r = restricted

trade targets ideas - guys i think could be had at the right price. some obviously would require us parting with a valuable player or pick.

chalie villanueva
charlie frye
marvin williams
david lee
leon powe
drew gooden
brandon bass
linas kleiza
jason maxiell
hakim warrick
chris wilcox
jorge garbajosa
jamario moon
tyrus thomas
andeson varejao
amir johnson
al harrington
josh powell
udonis haslim
andrea bargnani
jared jefferies
kris humphries
andrei kirilenko
andray blatche

draft

anthony randolph
deandre jordan (probably more of a center, eventually)
marreese speights (more of a banger than quick and agile)
darrell arthur
kevin love (has a ways to go before he is quick or agile, but could play pf and would be lethal with raymond in the pick and pop)


which direction should we look to address this need? i see some decent free agents and lots of guys that i believe we could acquire in a trade, depending on how much gave up.

did i miss anyone that is semi-realistic?

[Paydro70]

I'm on board for Randolph, obviously, because he's exactly what this team needs.

Some of those free agents are decent though, I'd say Gomes, Landry, and Turiaf would all do the job we need.

[fatlever]

my only problem with randolph as the solution is that its very possible he wont be ready to contribute for a few years. we need help in this department yesterday.

[BigSlam]

Gomes and Landry are undersized.

I saw Fryes last 4 games of the year and he looked solid. If we are not in a position to draft Beasley, Rose or Mayo..........

8th overall pick (Westbrook?) and Harrington
for
13th overall pick (Augustin?) and Frye

[zoned unc]

Well, ya'll will prolly dismiss my vote because he went to unc, but i'd take Marvin over about anyone else on that list

1. he's young and still developing
2. he has impeccable character
3. The way Atlanta plays masks just how good he is ( i.e. ball hogging joe johnson and Josh Smith)
4. we could possibly get a decent deal worked out with Atlanta.

[BigSlam]

Well, ya'll will prolly dismiss my vote because he went to unc, but i'd take Marvin over about anyone else on that list

1. he's young and still developing
2. he has impeccable character
3. The way Atlanta plays masks just how good he is ( i.e. ball hogging joe johnson and Josh Smith)
4. we could possibly get a decent deal worked out with Atlanta.

I've always thought of Marvin as a SF more than a PF, but if he can play the 4, why not? Young kid, lots of upside, has NBA experience, good body.

How's his D though? Could he stop a Bosh type?

[spectre_]

I thought Marvin was a 3?

Joe Smith maybe. Chrbal, do you see DET trying to move Amir or Jason this offseason? I'd like either of them, but I'm deathly afraid of Dumars.

I like how Bass has come along, but unless Dallas wins the 'ship (heh!) then I doubt he'd come to us. We could probably trade for Micky Moore cheap...I liked him on the Nets but he's not done as well in SAC this past season. He can defend guys like Bosh and he did have a pretty sick midrange shot.

Tho I'm not as high on Frye as you Slam I'm also not high on anyone after OJ, so I'd be cool with that move...but I still don't think Augustin is going to last that far (DE has him at 11th) if he even comes out this year.

Randolph is the supposed 2nd coming of Dwight isn't he? If we can't do any better I wouldn't have a problem taking a guy with potential (I have not seen this guy play one time...so FWIW). Pretty much the same position I'd have been in last year with taking Wright at 8th.

If we do just take the pick it'd be quite disappointing after last year's draft "party" we had. Following Swish is a tough act.

[fluffernutter]

Yeah let's trade our pick for another still-improving almost all-star.

That would be awesome.

2 years in a row! Let's get it done!

I'm trying to think who is the JRich of power forwards. ?? Nothing much comes to mind.

[zoned unc]

Yeah, Marvin is a 3, but he could play the 4 very well if we actually did what we said we were going to do and play a fast paced style.

As far as defending Bosh, thats no small task. You'd be better off letting bosh get his and shutting down the others.

But yeah, I think he could do a decent job on him.


Klieza would be a beast on our team, but Denver isnt going to let him get away.

Powe would be a strong pick up as well.

Of course all of this would be moot if Sean May could stay healthy, he has the exact skill set we need at that position.

[fatlever]

there's a lot of guys on those lists that i would like to see here, even some of the lesser known guys would be a huge help... maybe not as starters but off the bench.

unc - i see marvin as simply a forward, much like herrmann with a lot more upside. he is a tweener in the truest sense, but i dont exactly see that as a problem in today's nba. marvin could defend bosh better than anyone else we have, while providing some much needed outside shooting from the 4 spot.

slam - i dont like frye as a stand alone player, but i like how he would fit with our team. he would be deadly in the pick and pop, something i keep bringing up, and he could defend quick 4s about as well as anyone on the list.

spectre - bass would be a great move, but i figure dallas is really high on him. maybe if they start to rebuild after another early loss they will consider making some moves like that.

chalie v has long been mentioned with our club. i think he would do well here, especially next to okafor.

david lee would be sick, but we'd have to give up a lot to get him (see below)

knowing how many wings we have and after seeing dudley play and realizing ammo has little value, is this where we dangle wallace and or the pick out there to make a play for a top level pf? i think we could get a really good package of players for wallace and that pick, possibly our starting pf and backup pg in one deal. its not like i want to lose wallace but sometimes you have to make sacrafices to get a player that make more sense for the roster. just throwing that out there.

[spectre_]

knowing how many wings we have and after seeing dudley play and realizing ammo has little value, is this where we dangle wallace and or the pick out there to make a play for a top level pf? i think we could get a really good package of players for wallace and that pick, possibly our starting pf and backup pg in one deal. its not like i want to lose wallace but sometimes you have to make sacrafices to get a player that make more sense for the roster. just throwing that out there.

I'm dead set against moving Crash unless we somehow upgrade with a defensive wing who's offense isn't a negative (it seems most wings are usually good at one but not both). Mayo would make me think of moving Crash to fill other holes, but few others.

Felts/Hammer/Swish or Felts/Swish/Ammor (Duds) would get hammered by the better wings.

[BigSlam]

Randolph is the supposed 2nd coming of Dwight isn't he? If we can't do any better I wouldn't have a problem taking a guy with potential (I have not seen this guy play one time...so FWIW). Pretty much the same position I'd have been in last year with taking Wright at 8th.

Randolph is the supposed 2nd coming of Bosh (left handed, skinny as a rake and all!!)

DeAndre Jordan is the supposed 2nd coming of Dwight (although his freshman year at Texas A&M was far less than impressive and what was expected).

[Paydro70]

Randolph is most certainly not the next Dwight... if anything his ceiling is more like Bosh (that's obviously a super-best-case scenario). Jordan is the only guy in the draft similar to Dwight.

[BigSlam]

I'm dead set against moving Crash unless we somehow upgrade with a defensive wing who's offense isn't a negative (it seems most wings are usually good at one but not both). Mayo would make me think of moving Crash to fill other holes, but few others.

Agreed - unless we could move Crash for a high quality replacement at the wing (someone who can help with ball movement a the 2 with Swish playing the 3), then I'd rather keep Crash.

And if we get a high quality replacement at the wing, that means we aren't getting the athletic PF we need for him.

[spectre_]

Randolph is most certainly not the next Dwight... if anything his ceiling is more like Bosh (that's obviously a super-best-case scenario). Jordan is the only guy in the draft similar to Dwight.

Heh, well I did say I haven't seen him (or most of the others) play...but yeah, it appears Jordan is touted as the possible next DH.

Most of those comparisons are crap anyway and lead to disappointment.

But yah, we have to draft Randolph now...who in their right mind would pass up the next Bosh???

[amcoolio]

A huge no to Frye. Jordan has lazy issues, I'm not sure he will ever come close to Dwight Howard. Maybe the next Jamaal Maglorie. But I guess I'd have to bite the bullet and take him if we have no shot at Rose or Mayo.

[Paydro70]

I mean... take comparisons with a grain of salt, of course. They're usually best-case, and are just meant to summarize player body/skillset types. If you were to list Randolph's traits: 6'11", skinny, long, athletic, great off the dribble, good skill in post, solid jump shot, they're very similar to Bosh's. Similarly, if you list off Jordan's: elite athleticism, 7', wide body, excellent leaping ability, strong rebounder, very good shot blocker, they sound like Dwight Howard. The question is whether these things pan out against tougher competition.

[fatlever]

unless we sign a FA to the MLE we are going to have to give up something of value in a trade. if not wallace, then who? who do you trade to get this mythical bosh-like clone that everyone wants so badly?

[BigSlam]

It's not that simple.

a) They don't grow on trees

b) Unlike past years we don't have very many tradeable assests or cap space to get one even if we could identify one

Maybe we jsut hope that Davidson improves/puts on weight-muscle over the summer.

[fatlever]

i guess what i am saying is... i am open to trading just about anyone, included the once untradeable wallace, if we were able to get a good starting power forward in return, one who meshed well with okafor and felton... meaning one who could play the pick and roll game on offense and who could defend quick 4s on defense.

we are deep at wing, so its the one spot we could cover. plus, i hate playing felton, wallace, okafor and nazr on the floor at the same time. way too many guys who cant shoot. it kills our spacing. okafor doesnt get any room to operate when he is surrounded by masons. in fact, i prefer wallace at pf in general unless he is paired with a pf who can stretch the defense. any lineup with felton, wallace, okafor and another big man who cant shoot, is a flawed lineup offensively. not to mention that i think i prefer jrich at sf rather than sg.

its time starting putting together a roster that makes sense, guys who compliment each other on offense and defense. so far we just have a bunch of young hungry guys who have talent and jrich. that will only take you so far.