More offseason trade ideas

[360]

Assuming that we can't sign a good free agent...

Rudy + Arthur for Horford
Why for us: We get a tough, rebounding pf.
Why for them: They get a scorer to help out Joe Johnson when he's choking, plus a replacement pf in Arthur.

Darko + #27 (or #36) for Barbosa
Why for us: We get a great backup veteran guard who can score and give great energy.
Why for them: They want to shed salaries. Darko has only 1 year left. They will have more money to spend in 2010. They also get another pick.

#2 for Prince and #15
Why for us: We get rid of the uncertainty surrounding Rubio (will he play for Memphis? will he be any good?). We get a proven winner in Prince. He can score, and most importantly, defend. He does not need alot of shots so we don't have to worry about him competing with Mayo.
Why for them: I believe that Detroit is ready to shake things up. The only guy I can see them not wanting to lose is Rip.

#15- draft Blair
#36 (or #27) - draft a backup sg



Conley / Barbosa
Mayo / #35 (Christmas? I know nothing about him, but most of you seem to like him.)
Prince / Buckner
Horford / Blair (if he falls to #15)
Gasol / Haddadi

Our starting lineup would have atleast 2 full seasons to play together at very affordable salaries. I didn’t add it up, but 4/5 of those guys are on rookie salaries. Assuming that everything works out and we want to keep these guys together, I think that Conley, Gasol, and Prince can be resigned for reasonable prices. Mayo and Horford will probably be the hardest to please.

I think that this gives us a very good balance of offense and defense, plus we add some veteranship with Prince and Babosa. Not the type of veteranship that Buck brings by simply being old. I'm talking about guys who have actually been valuable contributors for title contenders and are still very young. Horford brings good experience as well. He's been to the playoffs twice.

[It_Was_Typed]

Me likes the additions of Horford and Prince.

Not so much Barbosa.

[rak1974]

no way you are getting Horford for anything less than the #2 pick this year or Conely and Rudy or (and I know this is out of the question) Mayo.

[BarbaGrizz]

Barbosa is a SG, and he´s scorer, not a defender...

Didn´t like this team...I think there´s better plan for our team here in the board

[360]

What's wrong with Barbosa? He's an upgrade over Jaric. Remember we're not talking about him starting. I figure he could fill in for both Mayo and Conley. He can even play sg and Mayo play point when Conley is on the bench.

Do you atleast like the starting lineup BarbaGrizz?

[dark-child]

Where is the impact?

Where is the motivation to come and see that team?

Would the team be better than what we have now, of course it would be but that is not saying a lot, it would almost be impossible not to be. The team would be more consistent but not ready to compete with th elite in the Western Conf.

Where is the nightly 20/10 going to come from?

Gettin Horford would be great but not at the expense of Rudy when they already have Josh Smith, sending Conley when they are in the market for a point guard would have been better.

Why draft Dejuan Blair if you are going to have Horford in front of him?

[BarbaGrizz]

What's wrong with Barbosa? He's an upgrade over Jaric. Remember we're not talking about him starting. I figure he could fill in for both Mayo and Conley. He can even play sg and Mayo play point when Conley is on the bench.

Do you atleast like the starting lineup BarbaGrizz?

There´s nothing wrong with Barbosa, but he´s a SG, not a PG. I would love to have his 15-18ppg coming from the bench, and, at this price, he would be a bargain

I´m 50/50 on the starting lineup. Like Dark Child said: It´s an Ok team, but not what we need at this moment. Prince is a good fit, but he´ll never wow anyone. He´ll never fill more seats.

I can see this team fighting for an 8th spot for the playoffs, but that´s about it. We go to the offseason justo be swept again.

[360]

Where is the impact?

Where is the motivation to come and see that team?

Would the team be better than what we have now, of course it would be but that is not saying a lot, it would almost be impossible not to be. The team would be more consistent but not ready to compete with th elite in the Western Conf.

Where is the nightly 20/10 going to come from?

Gettin Horford would be great but not at the expense of Rudy when they already have Josh Smith, sending Conley when they are in the market for a point guard would have been better.

Why draft Dejuan Blair if you are going to have Horford in front of him?

The motivation to come see them play will come once they start winning games. Think about the overall team. Don't worry about the lack of any big names (although Mayo is a big name; Memphis is just a lousy town). Big names do not feel arenas. Winning is the only thing that does that. Look at the Nets, Carter is one of the most exciting players in the game. You pair him up with Harris and at one point they were the highest scoring backcourt in the league, but guess what? They're near the bottom in attendance because the team sucked!

The Grizzlies would be very competitive with that roster. Also note that the Grizz have not spent any money. Once you put a competitive product out there and you start to show some promise as a franchise, free agents will want to come here. I guarantee you that team could win 40 games in just one season.

You can play Blair behind Horford, atleast for two years. Blair will not be a top pick. He's not a guy that is coming in expecting to be one of the main guys like Mayo did. If Blair turns out to be starting quality, then we have a valuable asset. Either we resign Horford and trade Blair or we keep Blair and try to sign and trade Horford or just let him walk. Or, we can start the two together if they're both better than Gasol. Either way, we can't really lose with that big man rotation. You think that the Lakers are worried about having too many good big men?

As for the 20 and 10, how many guys in this league does that? Only a few. One of them is Zach Randolph, but do you see teams fighting to get him on their rosters? No. Horford could give us 17 and 10. As of right now, he doesn't take that many shots. He has a shoot-first pg in Bibby and JJ takes alot of shots. That wouldn't be the case here. He would likely be the second or third option instead of the 4th or something like that.

You want to know where the impact comes from? It comes from having guys on the floor who are willing to compete hard every night. Do you honestly think that Prince or Horford is going to quit on games and make the boneheaded plays that Rudy and Arthur do? No. Plus, Horford is going to give us the rebounding and effort on defense that we need and provide Mayo and Conley with a good option on the pick and rolls. Also, Rudy has not played well next to Mayo, so why isn't Horford worth losing Rudy over? Rudy is like Corey Maggette. Statistically, you would think that he is a good player, but he's not.

This does not have to be a finished product, but I do believe that it would be a great start. Also remember that these guys are all very young. They're good, but they're still getting better. You think Mayo is going to stay at 18.5 per game? Heck no. He is going to be a much better player next year. Conley is going to be a much better player next year. The same for Horford and Gasol. Prince and Barbosa are probably as good as they're going to get, but they're still young and I would take them over Rudy and Jaric any day of the week.

Please realize that I'm not looking at this as being a championship team. I was putting together a team that could make us better immediately, without spending alot of money and coming up with trades that were realistic. I mean, how can you take the Jaric + #2 for Blake Griffin trades seriously? I like Conley/Mayo/Prince/Horford/Gasol ALOT better than Conley/Mayo/Rudy/Arthur/Gasol.

[360]

What's wrong with Barbosa? He's an upgrade over Jaric. Remember we're not talking about him starting. I figure he could fill in for both Mayo and Conley. He can even play sg and Mayo play point when Conley is on the bench.

Do you atleast like the starting lineup BarbaGrizz?

There´s nothing wrong with Barbosa, but he´s a SG, not a PG. I would love to have his 15-18ppg coming from the bench, and, at this price, he would be a bargain

I´m 50/50 on the starting lineup. Like Dark Child said: It´s an Ok team, but not what we need at this moment. Prince is a good fit, but he´ll never wow anyone. He´ll never fill more seats.

I can see this team fighting for an 8th spot for the playoffs, but that´s about it. We go to the offseason justo be swept again.

Rudy gives you highlight dunks every night but he isn't filling the seats nor winning games. Yet some people are strongly opposed to losing him for some reason. I can name teams that has had stars (exciting players) but has had trouble filling the seats because they weren't winning. Do you know that the Pistons had their first non-sellout game in several years this past season with hall of famer Allen Iverson in the lineup? I would say that A.I. is a very big name and can be very exciting to watch. You think people gave a crap about A.I. playing? No, because the team was playing the worst basketball that they had played in years. They would rather see Billups/Rip/Prince/Sheed/Wallace win (and none of those guys is/were superstars) than to see A.I. lose.

Just imagine if the Denver GM said "Oh no I won't trade for Billups because he's not going to sell more tickets than A.I. We're not an elite team with A.I., but atleast he has a big name." Forget that. I want the Grizzlies front office to put together a roster that makes sense. Fill it up with players who complement each other well, understand how to play the game, and will give their all to win.

As for Barbosa not being a pg, he was good enough to back up Nash on a 50+ win playoff team but he can't fill in for Conley over Jaric? Mayo isn't a pg either but half of Grizzlies fans want to see him start at point. I think he will give us exactly what we need off the bench: energy and scoring. I don't care if the point is not his natural position. If it's that much of a problem then just draft a pg with that late pick, or like I said...Mayo at the point when Conley is out and Barbosa at sg.

Every team needs a bench player who can come in and totally change the complexion of the game. I have seen Barbosa do that for the Suns and I'm sure he could do that for us as well. We haven't had a player like that since James Posey. Hak gets his points, but he's not a game changer. When Conley is playing like he doesn't belong in this league or Mayo can't throw it into the ocean, it would be wonderful to have someone like Barbosa to bring in and take either one of their places. Look at what this guy is shooting from the field and from 3pt range for his career. No one on this team is that efficient. Why should we give a crap about him being a tweener? He's good. You guys are starting to sound like Lionel Hollins. "Jaric is a point guard but Barbosa is not." lol

I would rather stab myself in the neck than to see Jaric play pg again.

[dark-child]

You are making very valid points, I just have not warmed tothat lineup, but valid points none the less.

[360]

You are making very valid points, I just have not warmed tothat lineup, but valid points none the less.

Thanks. And I respect your right to dislike my lineup.

[Jajwanda]

I think that's just silly. You keep your team together and stop letting it resemble a REALGM trade board every single year. Let players play and develop chemistry. Your hole in the lineup is the 4 so work towards resolving that. You have cap room and there are PFs available most notably Elton Brand.

Get him and just like that the least you'll have

PG- Conley, Sergio Rodriguez
SG- Mayo, Portland 1st
SF- Gay, Batum
PF- Brand, Arthur
C- Gasol, Haddadi

What you do after that with the #2 is a question mark but it's always possible to use it for adding a number of talented players from the 1-3. Portland would more than help with that. It would at least propel you back into the playoffs.

[360]

I think that's just silly. You keep your team together and stop letting it resemble a REALGM trade board every single year. Let players play and develop chemistry. Your hole in the lineup is the 4 so work towards resolving that. You have cap room and there are PFs available most notably Elton Brand.

Get him and just like that the least you'll have

PG- Conley, Sergio Rodriguez
SG- Mayo, Portland 1st
SF- Gay, Batum
PF- Brand, Arthur
C- Gasol, Haddadi

What you do after that with the #2 is a question mark but it's always possible to use it for adding a number of talented players from the 1-3. Portland would more than help with that. It would at least propel you back into the playoffs.

Yes, I see what you mean. The first thing I want the Grizzlies to do is try to sign a good pf. BUT, Memphis isn't a very desirable team to come and play for. That's why I came up with this plan. I was assuming that no good free agent pf would sign here. I know it's sort of pessimistic thinking.

Brand is not a free agent by the way so how do you expect us to get him without giving something up? Even if the Sixers want to cut costs, they are still going to want something valuable for a big name like Brand (like our picks and maybe Conley).

Brand is 30 years old and has played a total of 37 games in the last two season. He will be coming off a major shoulder injury and is due to make 66 million dollars over the next 4 seasons. I could be wrong, but I think his best years are behind him. I don't think the Grizzlies should go near him unless he's going to be bought out by the Sixers and we can resign him for something more reasonable.

Also, I don't think that I dismantled the team at all. We still have 3 of the 5 starters from this year. Our bench is garbage and needs a total makeover.

I do see your point about trying to avoid changing the lineup too much because a team has to have time to build chemistry, but our so-called core is not that good. I think that Mayo and Gasol should be keepers, but I'm open to losing Rudy, Conley, and/or the #2 pick if it's going to bring us a very good pf.