Looking ahead to the offseason

[moss_is_1]

1)Offer a contact to Dragic(7-8 mil per year), dump Barea to Houston in the process via S&T.

2) Trade Wes for Tay Prince. He gives us a good vet with vast playoff experience, he can shoot, pass and handle the ball and he's the opposite of dumb players like Martell and Beas who should be let go. It gives us time to figure out what role and position Williams will develop into.

3) Sign a defensive backup center and deal with Darko situation. If Taylor agrees to amnesty him then fine we have more money to sign someone, if not then try to trade him for a guy like Chris Andersen. Also bring back Tolliver for a small contract.

Rubio/Ridnour
Dragic/Lee/Ellington
Prince/Williams/Tolliver
Love/Williams/Tolliver
Pekovic/Andersen?

Looks ready for playoff run to me.

I don't think Dragic would be the answer. He'd be another PG(Kahn would get killed). I bet Dragic goes to somewhere like Toronto where he can be the guy.

[NewWolvesOrder]

I like Rubio/Dragic backcourt a lot. Both are about 6'4 and are very good disruptive defenders. They give us the edge in quickness, ballhandling and playmaking over other backcourts and can force other teams going smaller. Dragic is good at creating for himself, he can shoot and get to the rim and is a good playmaker to boot. It will be very tough to sign a true SG who's better that Dragic.

[Devilzsidewalk]

I actually thought a lot about a dragic/rubio backcourt too; I'd definitely be in favor of it considering there aren't any clear cut superior alternatives (Mayo/N Young/Crawford)

[jscott]

I think Dragic is another guy that's virtually a lock to stay where he is. Houston sees what he is doing with Lowry down and I'd be surprised if they let him walk.

[NewWolvesOrder]

Dragic is UFA and he can go wherever he wants, Houston doesn't have any control over him.

[Narf]

You really want to use all of our cap space on Dragic instead of signing someone like Jodie Meeks to a $4 mil contract or Courtney Lee to a $6.5-7 mil contract?

I love Dragic if we're looking for a PG. But we need a SG AND a SF.

[sisibilio]

Every time i see the Spurs i'm liking more the idea of adding Danny Green to this team.

[AQuintus]

From what I've seen, our keepers are Love, Pekovic, Rubio, Ridnour, and Lee.

Derrick Williams is probably the biggest question mark. If he can convert to SF full time, then he's a keeper too. If not, then we'd probably be better off trading him with Darko or Wes for something like Tayshaun Prince and Detroit's pick (Bradley Beal).

If Williams can play SF, then I see our rotation next year as:

C - Pekovic/???/??? (Darko is almost definitely done here and Brad Miller will retire)

PF- Love/Tolliver/ ??? (I think Tolliver has shown enough the past few games that he'll be brought back for cheap)

SF - Williams/???/??? (Webster's QO is too much to keep around, Beasley will go somewhere else to start, and hopefully the FO will trade Johnson while other FOs can still convince themselves they're getting potential)

SG - ???/ Lee/ Ellington (Ellington his solid injury insurance, and I like the idea of a Lee/Ridnour rotation)

PG - Rubio/ Ridnour/ ???

As of right now Utah is outside of the playoffs. If they do get in, I'd use their pick to upgrade the SG position. Personally, I'd be aggressively trying to move up for Jeremy Lamb. Right now, DX has Lamb as the 13th best prospect in the draft and slotted at 12 to Portland in their mock. If we can't move up, I like Doron Lamb's fit with this team.

In free agency, I like the idea of going after Asik to fill in the backup C position. With Pekovic's size and playing style, lower body injuries will likely be a recurring problem, so a good backup C will be essential.

[Devilzsidewalk]

This is heavy on projections, but I think it has a solid chance: after Deron Williams leaves the Nets, Nets will have a heap of cap room and bails of cash to throw around just to meet the minimum team salary. Plus they'll need to make a big splash to quell the disappointment in going from Dwight and Deron to nothing. I'm thinking they give a max offer to Eric Gordon to get him to sign there; nobody else will offer than and Gordon signs w/ the Nets

Which leaves them heavy on SGs with Gordon, Marshon Brooks, and Morrow, and light on PGs.

Cue up Ridnour or Barea for Morrow.

[Narf]

From what I've seen, our keepers are Love, Pekovic, Rubio, Ridnour, and Lee.

Derrick Williams is probably the biggest question mark. If he can convert to SF full time, then he's a keeper too. If not, then we'd probably be better off trading him with Darko or Wes for something like Tayshaun Prince and Detroit's pick (Bradley Beal).

I would rather trade for quality instead of quantity. I'm not that high on Beal and think he'd be a waste of an asset...not to mention Prince is on the decline and signed for a long time.

I'd rather trade Willimas + for a 2nd tier SF (Gallo, Iggy, Melo, Wallace, Batum) and sign Jodi Meeks/Courtney Lee/Bellineli, etc.. Or less likely trade him for a SG (Harden, George, Gordon (if he signs for reasonable)) and sign a SF like AK 47/Jeff Green/Grant Hill/etc.

Otherwise I generally agreed with ya. I'll add that Camby would be a very nice stop gap behind Pekovic/Love making a rather devastating 3 man front court.

[shangrila]

You really want to use all of our cap space on Dragic instead of signing someone like Jodie Meeks to a $4 mil contract or Courtney Lee to a $6.5-7 mil contract?

I love Dragic if we're looking for a PG. But we need a SG AND a SF.

What?

[Worm Guts]

This is heavy on projections, but I think it has a solid chance: after Deron Williams leaves the Nets, Nets will have a heap of cap room and bails of cash to throw around just to meet the minimum team salary. Plus they'll need to make a big splash to quell the disappointment in going from Dwight and Deron to nothing. I'm thinking they give a max offer to Eric Gordon to get him to sign there; nobody else will offer than and Gordon signs w/ the Nets

Which leaves them heavy on SGs with Gordon, Marshon Brooks, and Morrow, and light on PGs.

Cue up Ridnour or Barea for Morrow.

I'd rather have us offer the max to Gordon ourselves.

[Narf]

You really want to use all of our cap space on Dragic instead of signing someone like Jodie Meeks to a $4 mil contract or Courtney Lee to a $6.5-7 mil contract?

I love Dragic if we're looking for a PG. But we need a SG AND a SF.

What?

Lee is a very good defensive SG and a better than average offensive one. IMO he's the equivalent of Ridnour on offense with very good defense. What would Ridnour be worth with stellar defense?

Maybe I'm overvaluing him, but that's my logic

[Krapinsky]

You really want to use all of our cap space on Dragic instead of signing someone like Jodie Meeks to a $4 mil contract or Courtney Lee to a $6.5-7 mil contract?

I love Dragic if we're looking for a PG. But we need a SG AND a SF.

What?

Lee is a very good defensive SG and a better than average offensive one. IMO he's the equivalent of Ridnour on offense with very good defense. What would Ridnour be worth with stellar defense?

Maybe I'm overvaluing him, but that's my logic

Lee's PER is 42nd among SG's. Meeks is 49th.

Players ahead of them include: Vince Carter, Michael Redd, Randy Foye, Leandro Barbosa, Brandon Rush

[eyeteeth]

From what I've seen, our keepers are Love, Pekovic, Rubio, Ridnour, and Lee.

Derrick Williams is probably the biggest question mark. If he can convert to SF full time, then he's a keeper too. If not, then we'd probably be better off trading him with Darko or Wes for something like Tayshaun Prince and Detroit's pick (Bradley Beal).

If Williams can play SF, then I see our rotation next year as:

C - Pekovic/???/??? (Darko is almost definitely done here and Brad Miller will retire)

PF- Love/Tolliver/ ??? (I think Tolliver has shown enough the past few games that he'll be brought back for cheap)

SF - Williams/???/??? (Webster's QO is too much to keep around, Beasley will go somewhere else to start, and hopefully the FO will trade Johnson while other FOs can still convince themselves they're getting potential)

SG - ???/ Lee/ Ellington (Ellington his solid injury insurance, and I like the idea of a Lee/Ridnour rotation)

PG - Rubio/ Ridnour/ ???

As of right now Utah is outside of the playoffs. If they do get in, I'd use their pick to upgrade the SG position. Personally, I'd be aggressively trying to move up for Jeremy Lamb. Right now, DX has Lamb as the 13th best prospect in the draft and slotted at 12 to Portland in their mock. If we can't move up, I like Doron Lamb's fit with this team.

In free agency, I like the idea of going after Asik to fill in the backup C position. With Pekovic's size and playing style, lower body injuries will likely be a recurring problem, so a good backup C will be essential.

I'm not sold on Beal as the answer for us, but otherwise, this makes a lot of sense. One way or the other, Detroit seems like a pretty good trade partner for us.

This is heavy on projections, but I think it has a solid chance: after Deron Williams leaves the Nets, Nets will have a heap of cap room and bails of cash to throw around just to meet the minimum team salary. Plus they'll need to make a big splash to quell the disappointment in going from Dwight and Deron to nothing. I'm thinking they give a max offer to Eric Gordon to get him to sign there; nobody else will offer than and Gordon signs w/ the Nets

Which leaves them heavy on SGs with Gordon, Marshon Brooks, and Morrow, and light on PGs.

Cue up Ridnour or Barea for Morrow.

I'd rather have us offer the max to Gordon ourselves.

Please God, no. If we're going to offer anybody the max anything, can it at least be someone who has played a complete season without a major injury??

[Worm Guts]

This is heavy on projections, but I think it has a solid chance: after Deron Williams leaves the Nets, Nets will have a heap of cap room and bails of cash to throw around just to meet the minimum team salary. Plus they'll need to make a big splash to quell the disappointment in going from Dwight and Deron to nothing. I'm thinking they give a max offer to Eric Gordon to get him to sign there; nobody else will offer than and Gordon signs w/ the Nets

Which leaves them heavy on SGs with Gordon, Marshon Brooks, and Morrow, and light on PGs.

Cue up Ridnour or Barea for Morrow.

I'd rather have us offer the max to Gordon ourselves.

Please God, no. If we're going to offer anybody the max anything, can it at least be someone who has played a complete season without a major injury??

Sometimes you have to take a risk to get an impact player. There's really no chance for us to get a max contract player unless he has a few warts. I might be willing to throw the max at Batum also.

[Krapinsky]

This is heavy on projections, but I think it has a solid chance: after Deron Williams leaves the Nets, Nets will have a heap of cap room and bails of cash to throw around just to meet the minimum team salary. Plus they'll need to make a big splash to quell the disappointment in going from Dwight and Deron to nothing. I'm thinking they give a max offer to Eric Gordon to get him to sign there; nobody else will offer than and Gordon signs w/ the Nets

Which leaves them heavy on SGs with Gordon, Marshon Brooks, and Morrow, and light on PGs.

Cue up Ridnour or Barea for Morrow.

I'd rather have us offer the max to Gordon ourselves.

Please God, no. If we're going to offer anybody the max anything, can it at least be someone who has played a complete season without a major injury??

I tend to agree. I know he has long arms and plays bigger than he is and everything, but it's a very scary thought to give a max deal to a 6'3" SG that can't stay healthy and has a career 15.8 PER.

[Worm Guts]

I just think you have to consider what is going to improve the team the most, especially now that we can't count on high draft picks. How else are we supposed to get a high caliber wing?

[Krapinsky]

I just think you have to consider what is going to improve the team the most, especially now that we can't count on high draft picks. How else are we supposed to get a high caliber wing?

If the only option is to throw the max at Gordon then I would hypothesize that maybe long term we would be better off if we just kept patient and waited til the trade deadline or next offseason?

If we were going to go the all in strategy, then I'd prefer we go after Batum. I think his upside may be higher, I think he's a great fit for us offensively and defensively, and I think the Blazers would be less likely to match Batum then the Hornets would Gordon for the same money.

Now Gordon comes back to night. If he scores 25 ppg plus the rest of the way and has his bounce back, I reserve my right to flip-flop accordingly.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Lee is a very good defensive SG and a better than average offensive one. IMO he's the equivalent of Ridnour on offense with very good defense. What would Ridnour be worth with stellar defense?

Maybe I'm overvaluing him, but that's my logic

Lee's PER is 42nd among SG's. Meeks is 49th.

Players ahead of them include: Vince Carter, Michael Redd, Randy Foye, Leandro Barbosa, Brandon Rush

I agree with Krapinsky, we should sign Redd, Foye, or Barbosa to start @ SG