tiderulz wrote:slamjunkie wrote:
1-Dwight is aging? He is 24. He has averaged 34 minutes a night for his career. I wouldnt look for that to change until he is in his early 30's.
2- yes, he does get in foul trouble sometimes. But you cant keep spending large money for a backup on the chance that your star player gets in foul trouble. It isnt smart spending.
3-a smart GM does have a bench, but you also need a very good starting 5. Boston didnt have much of a bench when they won 2 years ago. LA basically had Odom this past year, and even he didnt do very well in the Boston series. Name 1 player that played off the bench during the Michael Jordan years in Chicago. Name one really good bench player in SA besides Ginobli. Orlando doesnt need to have a big bench, just 1 or 2 decent players and other role players that can just hold their own for a few minutes.
As for who you play if you trade Gortat, remember that Gortat was a developed player. He didnt even make the 15 man squad 3 years ago, barely made it 2 years ago. We could draft a player or trust Otis to find another project big to work on.
um, you have heard of the term freak accident, right? happens to the best of them, no matter how physically gifted they are. that's why i feel its crucial to have an insurance policy. just in case we have to go through an extended period of time without dwight. doesn't matter how old dwight is, i'd feel better knowing we have an adequate backup-but that's just me...
i guess smart spending means overloading a certain position with players that more or less bring the same goods to the table. like the duo of barnes and pietrus cannot duplicate whatever deng would bring? like most have said already - he's too oft injured and chances are we'll be riddled with yet another bloated contract. i'd feel better sticking with our duo from last year.
and lastly, yeah, we developed him. when was the last time we were able to develop a late 2nd rounder or a virtual unknown. fact is, gortat is a dime in a dozen. its been a while since we uncovered an important asset like him so pls excuse me if i would rather wait for a bigger move than this. that said, this is all just speculation and i doubt it even happens, well, i really hope it doesn't the more i think of it...
at: "We have plenty of guys that can do better in that role, i.e. Nelson, Howard, Carter, and Lewis. So really on our team he would be getting paid to primarily defend and rebound, while using his substantial offensive skill set in only the best situations."
