Pick one of the following.

[Gremz]

If you could have a chance at any of the following, which would you choose?

The #1 draft pick next year

or

Amar'e Stoudemire on a re-signed deal.

I think there is enough reasoning to say both have similar value. Taking into account Amar'e's injury history, there would always be a little doubt when taking him on board. He is still however an offensive beast in this league and would offer a complete new tangent to this lineup.

As for the #1 pick, it looks pretty certain at this point that John Wall will be the most likely candidate, and would fill a huge hole at the PG spot that we sorely need. He's proven to be a game winner, unselfish and when needed a decent volume scorer. Good size for a PG, and has an vast overall skill set.

Which of these would you prefer if you had the chance to join one of them with the young core and Granger?

[Miller4ever]

Wall to wall Wall.

It's a position of need. Desperate need. The youth is 50% of this, because Amare is extremely prolific, but history has shown that we don't need more offense (at least when everyone's healthy) we need more defense. Wall's weaknesses are a bit scary: substandard dedication to defense, sometimes turnover prone, lack of outside shooting, lack of finishing touch around the rim. I still would take him over Amare. Wall is young and has potential in spades. Amare is an injury risk and will get in the way of maximizing our rebounding advantage with Murphy and Hansbrough.

Wall has great skills already, and a shooting form that lends itself to good chance of improvement. I don't know much about his work ethic, but apparently he's very dedicated. I don't know too much about him and I would take him over Amare. People like to rot for young guys more than a guy with a bit of a rep in the league. It would make more sense for the front office, too.

[jowglenn]

Wall. Stoudemire's injury history just freaks me out too much.

Be glad to have either of them though!

Here's a question - if our pick is high, could we package it with one or two of our expirings and get a superstar? I think we could.

If Amare is looking to leave Phoenix, wouldn't a package of expirings (useful ones, like Murphy) and the # 1 or 2 pick be a pretty good offer in a sign-and-trade?

Or Murphy+#8+Hibbert for Al Jefferson and the Utah pick?

[Dunthreevy]

Gotta agree with jowglenn. I'd love to have either of them, but if I had my choice I'd have to go with Wall, based on Amar'e's injury history.

[Starkiller]

Definately Wall, honestly, I'm just not sure Amare is the same guy w/ out Steve Nash running the show for him.

[Boneman2]

Amare is a beast w/ or w/o Nash. Although, I don't think he'll be worth what his next contract will pay him because few players deserve such a large portion of the cap. On that note we need to draft the best available player with our next first rounder. Right now, unless Stern decides he owes us one, we won't be in a position to draft Wall.

[Scoot McGroot]

Wall. Stoudemire's injury history just freaks me out too much.

Be glad to have either of them though!

Here's a question - if our pick is high, could we package it with one or two of our expirings and get a superstar? I think we could.

If Amare is looking to leave Phoenix, wouldn't a package of expirings (useful ones, like Murphy) and the # 1 or 2 pick be a pretty good offer in a sign-and-trade?

Or Murphy+#8+Hibbert for Al Jefferson and the Utah pick?

Take out the Hibbert for the Utah pick, and that makes a lot of sense for Indy, obviously, but maybe not so much with Minnesota. Obviously they'd love to have Hibbert next to Love, but I see Al Jefferson as a majority PF who might step up to C a few minutes a night. I would see no reason why Jefferson, Hibbert, and Hansbrough couldn't all figure for around 30 minutes a night.

But I think it'd take a bit higher than #8 for Minnesota to bite though. And even then, they might have to really covet someone to consider this.

[basketballwacko2]

Right now I'm saying we take our chances with the pick. You never know what a pick might bring you. If we win the Lottery this year we'd be kicking ourselves for trading that pick.

The #1 over all pick could be worth a ton of stuff even the 2nd pick might be huge trade value so I'd keep the pick and see what happens.

[PR07]

I'd rather have John Wall. He'd bring a lot more buzz to the Pacers, and when push comes to shove, this is a guard's league now...and he could be a great one.

[Scoot McGroot]

I'd rather have John Wall. He'd bring a lot more buzz to the Pacers, and when push comes to shove, this is a guard's league now...and he could be a great one.

Plus, a lotto pick is infinitely cheaper than a max contract to Amare (which he's demanding).

[Gremz]

Interesting responses, althought not too surprising. It would by all logical sense have to be Wall, but I am surprised how much Amare has fallen in terms of his value in the league, it is understandable however.

I would be incredibly intrigued to see Amare and Granger on the same unit, yet would be a little hesitant with most of the issues mentioned above. A big one would be his rebounding for me, something which he has never been stellar at. Of course there's the defensive worries, but it would be hard to argue with that offensive punch.

Wall would be an extremely good get. I really like this kid's game.

[TSC25]

Even thou draft picks come with risk of not turning out,id say id rather take my chance with the pick than bring in Amare

[Scoot McGroot]

Even thou draft picks come with risk of not turning out,id say id rather take my chance with the pick than bring in Amare

Yeah, if John Wall busts, you'll still have essentially only spent as much money on him for four years as you would for one year of Amare (right about there).

[TSC25]

Thats true Scoot,im not sure if this would be the right place to post this,but whats really sad is Donnie has NY playing better while at the same time having players he dont seem to want so he can free up money for this upcoming off season and as much as id like to see Larry turn this around Im just not seeing it at this point,it seems the team he's putting together isnt going to fit the style he wants to play,and as for O'bie ive never understood why we gave him a chance anyway. but thats just me

[Scoot McGroot]

Obie's just a "time filler" as a coach, and I doubt Larry ever had expectations that he was going to lead us to the "promised land".

We hired Obie as we were about to go into a full tear-down and rebuild. No valuable coach on the market in their right mind would come here to face that, nor an up and coming young coach who wants to stay a head coach in this league, as it's essentially a death sentence. You KNOW you're going to be so bad that you're going to be fired sometime in your first 2-4 years in that city, and that you'll have to work EVEN HARDER than EVER to get back to a head coaching job after you've been fired from the first.

Meanwhile, Obie was sitting at home with nothing better to do, and he was known for working his players hard and getting effort out of them. What else are you looking for in a coach that isn't going to last 4 seasons, and is going to be stuck with young guys who need a work ethic shaping?

[PR07]

Well said Scoot.

[spudmonkey31]

Is wall the only descent pg prospect coming out of next years draft though? If theres 2 or 3 others amongst them we might not be looking to bad with a top 5-10 pick. who else is around guys?