Offseason thread... MLE,Draft, and all the other stuff...

[bmw42690]

^That would be awesome if we pulled that off.

[SMRattler]

We need so much help, I don't even know where to start or what we need more.

We need Manu healthy, period. Without Manu healthy and close to his regular play, we are going nowhere this year. There is no way around that. When you have your big three and one third of that invested money is eating your cap for less than "a big 3" kind of production/advantage, you can't replace that in anyway. And the bottom line, I could stop there because a healthy and dominant Manu may not happen this year at all if ever again. Yes, I said dominant. Because what Manu does at his best is dominate. TD dominates the interior block, interior defense and boards on both ends. TP dominates with his driving and tear drops. Manu dominates with his 3's, drives and finishes. Being productive isn't good enough. He needs to dominate and I don't know if that will happen.

But we have other problems even before the Manu re-same-old-injury...

Rebounding. KT is in his 50's already. He can't dominate boards for 35+ mins a night. Oberto is starting to show his age I think, looks like he's only gotten worse since we won our title. Ian, give me a break, I'm not counting on a guy who has not proven anything in the NBA.

Shot blocking. Besides TD? Nothing.

Shooting? No Barry with the high % shooting, instead we stick with Fin? Nice trade. And now Manu is out too. Our shooting might be a problem, especially since TD is our only low post threat and our only real proven driver with a scoring threat is TP.

Hopefully Pop is able to make something of this group, but right now I can't see anything but just another team that has some great players (TD, TP) but not enough talent. Lakers, Hornets, Rockets, Jazz, etc. It's gonna be a tough job for Pop to get this team to hang in the standings all year long. And yeah, we WILL need home court advantage at least for two rounds I think.

[Ballings7]

Pretty well said, SM.

[Blame Rasho]

We need so much help, I don't even know where to start or what we need more.

We need Manu healthy, period. Without Manu healthy and close to his regular play, we are going nowhere this year. There is no way around that. When you have your big three and one third of that invested money is eating your cap for less than "a big 3" kind of production/advantage, you can't replace that in anyway. And the bottom line, I could stop there because a healthy and dominant Manu may not happen this year at all if ever again. Yes, I said dominant. Because what Manu does at his best is dominate. TD dominates the interior block, interior defense and boards on both ends. TP dominates with his driving and tear drops. Manu dominates with his 3's, drives and finishes. Being productive isn't good enough. He needs to dominate and I don't know if that will happen.

But we have other problems even before the Manu re-same-old-injury...

Rebounding. KT is in his 50's already. He can't dominate boards for 35+ mins a night. Oberto is starting to show his age I think, looks like he's only gotten worse since we won our title. Ian, give me a break, I'm not counting on a guy who has not proven anything in the NBA.

Shot blocking. Besides TD? Nothing.

Shooting? No Barry with the high % shooting, instead we stick with Fin? Nice trade. And now Manu is out too. Our shooting might be a problem, especially since TD is our only low post threat and our only real proven driver with a scoring threat is TP.

Hopefully Pop is able to make something of this group, but right now I can't see anything but just another team that has some great players (TD, TP) but not enough talent. Lakers, Hornets, Rockets, Jazz, etc. It's gonna be a tough job for Pop to get this team to hang in the standings all year long. And yeah, we WILL need home court advantage at least for two rounds I think.

Your post made me depressed... thanks Rattler...

[SMRattler]

I was feeling a little down that night, I ran into an old friend and she kept jumping into our conversation and bringing us all down. Here's a pic of her:

[Black_Jack21]

My dream trade...

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

[lukeridenour]

damn i am no longer confident we have enough...

[SD2042]

^^ We really don't in terms of fluid of age. The Spurs are still older at some positions. Now if you look at the teams that will contend in the playoffs, you really should look at teams who have the best chances to contend for a title with who and how much talent they have on the roster. I know that the season is still two months away, but I have a sneaky suspicion that Boston and New Orleans have the better chance for contending for the title. For the Celts, they have the PGA Tour and outside of losing Po-Z, they still have a shot at gettin to the title if no problems develop for them. N.O, have the younger team, a year of playoff experience under their belts, added two time champ James Posey to their roster and a run and gun style to run teams ragged. With the roster they have and unless any major issues were to develop, a big possibility they have a higher chance to contend for the title.

[Ballings7]

New Orleans doesn't have a championship caliber team. They're missing 2 or 3 pieces for me to see them as that.

They'll do well in the regular season, provided their health is solid (Peja, West, to a lesser extent CP3), but the playoffs? Not enough overall with notability, to get out of the conference.

With us healthy, the Lakers with one, or both of Gasol/Bynum, I think even regardless of Odom (w/ his pretty iffy health past), combined with Houston healthy (or just missing Artest (health-wise, not suspension, that won't happen, especially in the guy's contract year) - I really don't see New Orleans getting out of the west.

I'll definitely own up and be impressed, if they prove me wrong, and get out of the conference without above-average luck.

Now, if they make a significant addition, I may have to adjust my feelings, depending on the change.

[SD2042]

The key word is "depend" on what will happen in the next few months. If I'm proven wrong on the Hornets, I will admit it. On to the Rockets, eventhough they added Ron Artest this summer, the key issue is staying healthy. T-Mac or Yao find themselves hurt and miss a sum amount of games and b/c of those key losses, the Rox are affected come playoff time. Having key losses like that leads to early exits from the playoffs.

[Ballings7]

Unless they want to sacrifice their already small amount of youth pieces (excluding Paul of course), the best of which are Wright and/or R1 pick (if not Wright with the pick, somebody else, or R1 pick alone maybe)... they can't give anybody else up. Either because the other players lack value or have too much value to their team.

Regardless, they definitely need more offensive creativity in the starting line-up, with legitimacy (all-star-caliber scoring, at least respectable facilitating), and a couple serious, certain adjustments to the bench. They have no decent, proven veteran big man on the bench, and a question mark at back-up PG with Mike James (will he return to his 05 Rocket and 04 Piston form?), then there will be some time at PG from Devin Brown, maybe a bit of Wright at times.

Because of Peja and Posey, Julian Wright will not be able to make a big impact, the kind of impact he should be able to make, on both ends of the court, until he enters the starting line-up. Also, unless he develops into a star-caliber scorer, he won't be enough of a solution to their missing offensive creativity after Paul and West. Because out of the two main offensive areas, they need more scoring, and a source of scoring in above-average fashion, because of the lack of it they have after Paul and West. As, creating for others-wise, Wright's going to be nice there, as well as playing off the ball for lay-ups and dunks. But if Wright doesn't become enough of a scorer, then they get better to an extent, but still not enough overall.

They also don't really have anybody to guard the quicker wing-players. Posey's weakness defensively is where there's a good deal of lateral movement (every where else he's fine and good). I think Wright is quick enough to fill this, along with what else he'll be able to do defensively - but again, that oppurtunity, that effect, won't come until he's in the starting line-up, and finishing games. Which probably won't come until 1 or 2 years down the line.

[SD2042]

Unless they want to sacrifice their already small amount of youth pieces (excluding Paul of course), the best of which are Wright and/or R1 pick (if not Wright with the pick, somebody else, or R1 pick alone maybe)... they can't give anybody else up. Either because the other players lack value or have too much value to their team.

Regardless, they definitely need more offensive creativity in the starting line-up, with legitimacy (all-star-caliber scoring, at least respectable facilitating), and a couple serious, certain adjustments to the bench. They have no decent, proven veteran big man on the bench, and a question mark at back-up PG with Mike James (will he return to his 05 Rocket and 04 Piston form?), then there will be some time at PG from Devin Brown, maybe a bit of Wright at times.

Because of Peja and Posey, Julian Wright will not be able to make a big impact, the kind of impact he should be able to make, on both ends of the court, until he enters the starting line-up. Also, unless he develops into a star-caliber scorer, he won't be enough of a solution to their missing offensive creativity after Paul and West. Because out of the two main offensive areas, they need more scoring, and a source of scoring in above-average fashion, because of the lack of it they have after Paul and West. As, creating for others-wise, Wright's going to be nice there, as well as playing off the ball for lay-ups and dunks. But if Wright doesn't become enough of a scorer, then they get better to an extent, but still not enough overall.

They also don't really have anybody to guard the quicker wing-players. Posey's weakness defensively is where there's a good deal of lateral movement (every where else he's fine and good). I think Wright is quick enough to fill this, along with what else he'll be able to do defensively - but again, that oppurtunity, that effect, won't come until he's in the starting line-up, and finishing games. Which probably won't come until 1 or 2 years down the line.

Can't help but to agree to that. The Hornets need more offensive power instill to their lineup and on their bench. And it would help if they acquire a big man that can help them in the interior.

[lukeridenour]

i think with james posey poised to steal major minutes from mo pete, mo will have a fire under him to perform again. lets face it he was miserable last year but we all know the type of offensive contributions hes capable of making.

[SD2042]

If Mo expects to contribute a better job to the Hornets, he has to put in the dedication on the court or he will find himself out of the rotation.

[galvatron3000]

James Posey signing with the Hornets maay bite teh Spurs by not signing Maggette. Corey would have given Posey someone to focus on more so than Manu when he returns but now Posey will cover Manu. I really wished the Spurs had made a run at J.R. Smith. I thought that would have been great for the summer. Spurs need scoring off the bench, minimum contract expense, solid guard play (point) and outstanding play from the big (hopefully Ian)

I do hope the Spurs use Bonner as trade bait for a future draft pick or a quality proven player (highly unlikely). Looking at the team right now, I think Mason is a younger version of Barry with better defense ( I remember Barry struggled his 1st season with the Spurs, as does most newbies) but I don't expect much this year unless the injury to Manu gives him a boost due to motivation and more playing time.

I'm hoping Ian proves to be a beast on the floor, he shold be well familiarized with the system having been on the Toros last season. I hope he boards, bang, and scores in the post. If he can stay healthy and consistent, I like this guys as a surprise player next to Timmy.

Spurs need to address the need for what I consider a true Small Forward. I think Hill may prove to be a great backup for Tony as time goes on. Tiago hurt the Spurs more than they care to admit but will bounce back, the plan now is to start preparing for Tim's decline and eventual replacement(yeah right, lol) solidifying the franchise with more overseas pick (which will be hindered by the economy) and looking more to picking up talent from home (USA). That latter will be hard when you are in the top echelon and don't want to spend millions building your team due to your team's market.

[Ballings7]

James Posey signing with the Hornets maay bite teh Spurs by not signing Maggette. Corey would have given Posey someone to focus on more so than Manu when he returns but now Posey will cover Manu. I really wished the Spurs had made a run at J.R. Smith. I thought that would have been great for the summer. Spurs need scoring off the bench, minimum contract expense, solid guard play (point) and outstanding play from the big (hopefully Ian)

I don't think Posey's quick enough laterally and in general, to guard Manu (over the course of a game) or other dynamic wing-men, hasn't been for a couple years now due to a couple injuries. Posey's weakness defensively is where there is a significant amount of lateral movement required man to man. He's a lot better defending the post, team defending, and where there is relatively minimal lateral movement on the wing. Watch some of the Celtics playoffs games (or Hornets games this year) to see his defensive situation displayed.

Besides that, the Hornets still didn't address two of their notable weaknesses: less (not just some) offensive reliance on Chris Paul, and better big man depth. Also, I don't think you can have David West as your lone source of credible big man offense, and as your 2nd option. West to me after watching him a lot, I've come away thinking of him as a third option. He was also contained well in the playoffs against us, which can definitely bode similar against other quality teams in the playoffs.

As far as JR Smith, we wouldn't of been able to get him, I bet we made a run at him, though.

[Ballings7]

Wonder who will get Al Harrington?

Two NBA sources claim that Al Harrington has asked the Warriors to trade him because he doesn't want to play for coach Don Nelson anymore.

He reportedly wants to be traded as soon as possible, but will not walk out on Golden State, who opens their season on Wednesday night.

One source with knowledge of the situation said that Harrington’s agent, Dan Fegan, is "actively working to get (Harrington) out of there" and that a few teams already have proposed tentative deals.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... for_trade/

I bet he goes east to Detroit or New York

[Blame Rasho]

Offseason has come and gone...

[Ballings7]

I just posted it as OT