Official Countdown Grunfeld Era-2nd SuperStar?

[miller31time]

The 1:00 mark of this video is how I feel the discussions went with Ernie Grunfeld and Dell Demps.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/ind ... r-shopping

[hands11]

I've been thinking how good this team would be if EG had only made a few obvious decisions in the post Pollin era.

2010: EG made the right moves:
* Draft Wall: Obvious move. I supported it at the time. So did the rest of RealGM
* Hinrich/Seraphin acquisition: Good trade. I supported it at the time. So did the board.
* Draft Booker: Good move. I supported it at the time. The board opinion was ambivalent.
* Arenas for Lewis: Good trade. I supported it at the time. The board opinion was mixed.
* Dump Hinrich for cap room, Crawford and a pick: Good trade. I supported it at the time. So did the board.

2011: EG blows it big time:
* Draft Vesely: I supported Kawhi Leonard at the time. I don't know if Leonard was really the Real GM consensus pick, but he was liked more than Vesely.
* Draft Singleton: I supported Kenneth Faried at this spot, so did nearly everyone else on the board.
* Trade McGee for Nene. Good move. I supported it at the time. So did most of the board.
* Trade Young for 2nd rounder. I would have pushed for Eric Bledsoe, even if we had to include a 2nd round pick.

2012: EG still screwing up
* Okariza acquisition: An incomprehensibly stupid move. Most on this board disliked it.
* Draft Beal. If the Harden trade was on the table, I would have pulled the trigger.
* Draft Satoransky. Everyone here loved Crowder
* Sign Martell Webster. A good move, perhaps better than board consensus. EG deserves credit here.

If EG would have just avoided the moves that we all hated, and traded for Harden, we could have the following roster right now:

PG Wall/Bledsoe
SG Webster/Crawford
SF Leonard/Crowder
PF Faried/Booker
C Nene/Seraphin/Barron

Plus unknown draft pick lower then second. Who know where they would have landed. But it wouldnt have been second so there is no Harden.

This isn't fantasy 20/20 hindsight here. These are all simple moves that made more sense at the time that what EG actually did. The only element of fantasy is that if we had drafted Faried and Leonard in 2011, we may have been a bit too good to land the #2 pick and instead ended up with #5 or so, which might not have been enough for Harden. (It's debatable though. I don't know if Leonard or Faried would have helped much early in the year when we were still invested in McGee, Blatche and Young.)

The Beal deal for Harden would never have happened because if they did those other deals, they would not have had the second pick.

As for the instead of Vesely, I wanted them to trade down and get two later picks. Who knows if anyone would have done it. One of the players I wanted with those two picks was Marshon Brooks. Another on the list was Nikola Vucevic as a plan to replace McGee who I know would likely be leaving.

But I also liked Bledsoe. Kid was a baller in college. But I have no idea if we could have gotten him. Maybe they could have keep Livingston. But that was no sure thing either consider the conditions at the time. But we clearly could have him now.

PG Wall/Livingston
SG Crawford/Brooks
SF Webster/Crowder
PF Seraphin/Booker
C Nene/Vucevic/Barron

Plus unknown draft pick lower then second. Who know where they would have landed. But it wouldnt have been second so there is no Harden. Maybe a Dion Waiters, Thomas Robinson, Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb, John Henson, Royse, Zeller, Barnes, Drummund.

I would have even taken a shot at Jeremy Tyler instead of Mack.

But hey, I didn't go down like that did it. The above also assumes Ted bought out Lewis which he didnt want to do.

If and buts.

[hands11]

By that standard, I can confidently state that I judge EG to be a sucky GM. I say this because I am certain that whatever deals we will be able to make next year involving Okariza will not be as good as the deals we could make if we had pure cap space.

Except Ted didn't want to do that. So what better deal was there to land for the Lewis contract ?

[closg00]

I've been thinking how good this team would be if EG had only made a few obvious decisions in the post Pollin era.

2010: EG made the right moves:
* Draft Wall: Obvious move. I supported it at the time. So did the rest of RealGM
* Hinrich/Seraphin acquisition: Good trade. I supported it at the time. So did the board.
* Draft Booker: Good move. I supported it at the time. The board opinion was ambivalent.
* Arenas for Lewis: Good trade. I supported it at the time. The board opinion was mixed.
* Dump Hinrich for cap room, Crawford and a pick: Good trade. I supported it at the time. So did the board.

2011: EG blows it big time:
* Draft Vesely: I supported Kawhi Leonard at the time. I don't know if Leonard was really the Real GM consensus pick, but he was liked more than Vesely.
* Draft Singleton: I supported Kenneth Faried at this spot, so did nearly everyone else on the board.
* Trade McGee for Nene. Good move. I supported it at the time. So did most of the board.
* Trade Young for 2nd rounder. I would have pushed for Eric Bledsoe, even if we had to include a 2nd round pick.

2012: EG still screwing up
* Okariza acquisition: An incomprehensibly stupid move. Most on this board disliked it.
* Draft Beal. If the Harden trade was on the table, I would have pulled the trigger.
* Draft Satoransky. Everyone here loved Crowder
* Sign Martell Webster. A good move, perhaps better than board consensus. EG deserves credit here.

If EG would have just avoided the moves that we all hated, and traded for Harden, we could have the following roster right now:

PG Wall/Bledsoe
SG Webster/Crawford
SF Leonard/Crowder
PF Faried/Booker
C Nene/Seraphin/Barron

Plus unknown draft pick lower then second. Who know where they would have landed. But it wouldnt have been second so there is no Harden.

This isn't fantasy 20/20 hindsight here. These are all simple moves that made more sense at the time that what EG actually did. The only element of fantasy is that if we had drafted Faried and Leonard in 2011, we may have been a bit too good to land the #2 pick and instead ended up with #5 or so, which might not have been enough for Harden. (It's debatable though. I don't know if Leonard or Faried would have helped much early in the year when we were still invested in McGee, Blatche and Young.)

The Beal deal for Harden would never have happened because if they did those other deals, they would not have had the second pick.

As for the instead of Vesely, I wanted them to trade down and get two later picks. Who knows if anyone would have done it. One of the players I wanted with those two picks was Marshon Brooks. Another on the list was Nikola Vucevic as a plan to replace McGee who I know would likely be leaving.

But I also liked Bledsoe. Kid was a baller in college. But I have no idea if we could have gotten him. Maybe they could have keep Livingston. But that was no sure thing either consider the conditions at the time. But we clearly could have him now.

PG Wall/Livingston
SG Crawford/Brooks
SF Webster/Crowder
PF Seraphin/Booker
C Nene/Vucevic/Barron

Plus unknown draft pick lower then second. Who know where they would have landed. But it wouldnt have been second so there is no Harden. Maybe a Dion Waiters, Thomas Robinson, Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb, John Henson, Royse, Zeller, Barnes, Drummund.

I would have even taken a shot at Jeremy Tyler instead of Mack.

But hey, I didn't go down like that did it. The above also assumes Ted bought out Lewis which he didnt want to do.

If and buts.

Even if a trade-down failed, I was taking Vucevic, Marcus Morris, Knight, Leonard and Kemba before Yawn Vesely.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Unrealistic, Nuggets just extended Lawson, I don't see anyway that would happen CCJ. If Wall breaks out, why would we trade him? If he doesn't improve or regresses or if he eventually needs surgery, why would anyone trade anything of value for him at that point?

Denver traded away Afflalo. Iguodala is not a dynamic offensive player. If anyone slumps, it could be that Lawson will suffer a dip in his numbers. The Nuggets might struggle with outside shooting, and teams can work harder at taking away Lawson's jumper since Iguodala doesn't spread the well. The net result is Lawson will not be as effective and efficient as he was last season.

John Wall needn't regress or break out. If Wall needs surgery, that will set him back a season. Next season, his potential is still going to be considered great but the Wizards could have doubts. The Wizards could end up wanting to avoid a max contract to Wall at the same time the Nuggets regret their contract to Lawson.

Dat, this may be unrealistic but it is not impossible.

[hands11]

Closg

Marcus Morris was also on my short list. We needed players in lots of places.

But hey, look at this.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400277770

Orlando is not rolling over like many predicted and Nikola Vucevic is producing really nicely in year two.

I want to see what Brooks ends up doing this year.

Nikola Vucevic was my McGee replacement pick
Brooks was my Nick Young replacement pick.
Justin Harper was my late pick risk pick to add another 3 ball shooter.


Orton is sleeper I want to watch longer term. Interesting he landed in OKC. He is a big boy and still very young. I think he will make some noise on of these days. Not sure what is holding him back so far but he can become a useful banger role player.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/4263/daniel-orton