Our biggest glaring need, starting SF.

[lakersin4]

How are we going to get a real starting SF? We got 1 year of Ron being a starter level player, before that Ariza. But mostly we've been below average at the position for a very long time. The Lebron, KD, & Melo's of the league are clearly the way to win right now. So how do we get a starting SF? Maybe sign Pierce after he gets bought out?.. Trade Pau for someone like Granger, Deng, Iggy.. Or one of the huge crop of SF's on the rise right now.. Paul George, Batum, Barnes, Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Parsons, MKG.. & some of the lower tier guys Gallo, Turner, Thad, Ariza.. I hope Mitch gets us 1 of these guys this offseason.. I think it'd go a long way to making us a contender.

[Kilroy]

I'm thinking Kobe may be too slow at this point to stick with the current crop of SGs, so I think one solution is to get a pick and pop and Defensive specialist at the 2 and move Kobe to the 3... We saw in the all star game that Kobe can still defend the bigger 3s, and is quick enough to hang with them on D (or at least he was)...

Actually, what I'd like to see is us get an athletic freak at the 1, move Nash to the 2 and Kobe to the 3.

Because defensively, our biggest need is a quick defensive minded guard.

Nash at the 2 and Kobe at the 3 isn't a perfect solution... It has a lot of problems... Chief among them, will Kobe be anywhere near what he was last season...

But if we're stuck with Nash and Kobe, I think we need either a lock down defending, sharp shooting combo guard, or a defensive specialist 1 that can take the defensive pressure off Nash when we face smaller/quicker teams.

[EArl]

Trevor Ariza.
You're Welcome.

[moonpie]

Luke Walton is a free agent.

[EArl]

Luke Walton is a free agent.

[KB24TBOTB]

We need a leonard type of player. Dude is a gem. Man are the Spurs ever good at getting these type of players

[KB24TBOTB]

I'm thinking Kobe may be too slow at this point to stick with the current crop of SGs, so I think one solution is to get a pick and pop and Defensive specialist at the 2 and move Kobe to the 3... We saw in the all star game that Kobe can still defend the bigger 3s, and is quick enough to hang with them on D (or at least he was)...

Actually, what I'd like to see is us get an athletic freak at the 1, move Nash to the 2 and Kobe to the 3.

Because defensively, our biggest need is a quick defensive minded guard.

Nash at the 2 and Kobe at the 3 isn't a perfect solution... It has a lot of problems... Chief among them, will Kobe be anywhere near what he was last season...

But if we're stuck with Nash and Kobe, I think we need either a lock down defending, sharp shooting combo guard, or a defensive specialist 1 that can take the defensive pressure off Nash when we face smaller/quicker teams.

I think if we can get an athletic 3 we'll get a player that can guard 1,2, and the 3. Leonard is those type of player. Or if we can get a bigger 2 then the norm

[BEazy]

Would love to dump MWP for somebody serviceable. But with that ridiculous players option MWP has I doubt we can get anything for him...

[lakersin4]

Paul George would obviously be my first choice but that's completely unrealistic.. After that I like.

1. Leonard
2. Batum
3. Barnes
4. Parsons
5. Butler
6. MKG
7. Deng
8. Granger
9. Gallo
10. Turner
11. Thad
12. Ariza

I hope Mitch is going down that list from top to bottom & offering Pau for these guys + throw ins. I think Chi might be willing to part with Butler if we take on Boozer. They aren't going to keep Butler & keep paying Deng. Or the option that allows us to keep Pau, sign PP after he's bought out. I'd still shop Pau though.

[crazyeights]

Why would any team--especially in the East--trade a wing defender?

We'd have to find a specific, over-paid/underrated guy, playing for a team that's not trying to "contend," or trying please a budding "franchise player," and definitely not a rival.

1. As with Paul George, Leonard is probably untouchable.
2. Doubt Portland lets go to Batum after how hard they went after him/they're a "rival."
3. Barnes...do you mean Matt Barnes? Or Harrison Barnes?
4. Parsons is way too cheap (like 800K) for Mr. Moneyball to let go.
5. Butler...is that Caron or Jimmy? Caron, I can't imagine trading with the Clippers (and I wouldn't put him above most of that list if we're looking for defense), and Jimmy is worth way more than Pau being that he's on his rookie deal.
6. MKG -- no way are they giving up on him after one season. No matter how mediocre it was. He has all the tools and he's on that rookie contract. Way too much value.
7. Deng...why would Chicago do this? Sure in the past there have been rumors, but it's been years now and tell me the way he played last season that Thibs is gonna give him up. He's a wing anchor.
8. Granger...you'd have to think that seeing as the Pacers' problem was a lack of scorring off the bench, they're pretty damn excited at the prospect of convincing Granger to be their 6th man, or moving one of their starters to the pine.
9. Gallo...you mean arguably their best player? For Pau?
10. Turner (see: Andrew Bynum)
11. Thad (see: Andrew Bynum)
12. Ariza....well I don't know enough about the Wizards to know if they're willing to trade Ariza, but IIRC wasn't their reasoning for the Nene and Ariza/Okafor deal to pacify John Wall?

[5ertwenty]

Jeffery Taylor? He's under the radar on the bobcats and was sitting behind MKG in his rookie season. He has massive potential. He can shoot and is uber athletic. If the bobcats draft at the SF/SG position, maybe he becomes expendable for them? The only question is what do the Lakers give in exchange...

[lakersin4]

Why would any team--especially in the East--trade a wing defender?

We'd have to find a specific, over-paid/underrated guy, playing for a team that's not trying to "contend," or trying please a budding "franchise player," and definitely not a rival.

1. As with Paul George, Leonard is probably untouchable.
2. Doubt Portland lets go to Batum after how hard they went after him/they're a "rival."
3. Barnes...do you mean Matt Barnes? Or Harrison Barnes?
4. Parsons is way too cheap (like 800K) for Mr. Moneyball to let go.
5. Butler...is that Caron or Jimmy? Caron, I can't imagine trading with the Clippers (and I wouldn't put him above most of that list if we're looking for defense), and Jimmy is worth way more than Pau being that he's on his rookie deal.
6. MKG -- no way are they giving up on him after one season. No matter how mediocre it was. He has all the tools and he's on that rookie contract. Way too much value.
7. Deng...why would Chicago do this? Sure in the past there have been rumors, but it's been years now and tell me the way he played last season that Thibs is gonna give him up. He's a wing anchor.
8. Granger...you'd have to think that seeing as the Pacers' problem was a lack of scorring off the bench, they're pretty damn excited at the prospect of convincing Granger to be their 6th man, or moving one of their starters to the pine.
9. Gallo...you mean arguably their best player? For Pau?
10. Turner (see: Andrew Bynum)
11. Thad (see: Andrew Bynum)
12. Ariza....well I don't know enough about the Wizards to know if they're willing to trade Ariza, but IIRC wasn't their reasoning for the Nene and Ariza/Okafor deal to pacify John Wall?

Sorry for the confusion.. I meant Harrison Barnes & Jimmy Butler.. I agree most if not all are longshots, with Ariza probably being the most realistic (& The least appealing), but nonetheless, Mitch traded Pau for CP3.. I wouldn't put it past him to land one of these guys.

[Mirjalovic]

Agree with Jeffry Taylor, this guy can play. We need start looking for decent roleplayer, as we already got enough stars.

[TARIQ]

Chris Copeland ?

[dockingsched]

How are we going to get a real starting SF? We got 1 year of Ron being a starter level player, before that Ariza. But mostly we've been below average at the position for a very long time. The Lebron, KD, & Melo's of the league are clearly the way to win right now. So how do we get a starting SF? Maybe sign Pierce after he gets bought out?.. Trade Pau for someone like Granger, Deng, Iggy.. Or one of the huge crop of SF's on the rise right now.. Paul George, Batum, Barnes, Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Parsons, MKG.. & some of the lower tier guys Gallo, Turner, Thad, Ariza.. I hope Mitch gets us 1 of these guys this offseason.. I think it'd go a long way to making us a contender.

lebron james played more minutes at pf than at sf by healthy margin.

http://www.82games.com/1213/12MIA9.HTM#bypos

carmelo anthony played so much of his minutes at pf that it would be accurate to say that kobe played 3 times as many minutes at SF than melo

http://www.82games.com/1213/12NYK11.HTM#bypos

durant actually did play SF most of his minutes, but he also played some pf, about twice as many minutes at pf than melo had at sf.
http://www.82games.com/1213/12OKC10.HTM#bypos


what am i getting at? game is getting faster, kobe needs to be the starting sf, mwp/clark are now pf bodies, not sf.

[lakersin4]

How are we going to get a real starting SF? We got 1 year of Ron being a starter level player, before that Ariza. But mostly we've been below average at the position for a very long time. The Lebron, KD, & Melo's of the league are clearly the way to win right now. So how do we get a starting SF? Maybe sign Pierce after he gets bought out?.. Trade Pau for someone like Granger, Deng, Iggy.. Or one of the huge crop of SF's on the rise right now.. Paul George, Batum, Barnes, Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Parsons, MKG.. & some of the lower tier guys Gallo, Turner, Thad, Ariza.. I hope Mitch gets us 1 of these guys this offseason.. I think it'd go a long way to making us a contender.

lebron james played more minutes at pf than at sf by healthy margin.

http://www.82games.com/1213/12MIA9.HTM#bypos

carmelo anthony played so much of his minutes at pf that it would be accurate to say that kobe played 3 times as many minutes at SF than melo

http://www.82games.com/1213/12NYK11.HTM#bypos

durant actually did play SF most of his minutes, but he also played some pf, about twice as many minutes at pf than melo had at sf.
http://www.82games.com/1213/12OKC10.HTM#bypos


what am i getting at? game is getting faster, kobe needs to be the starting sf, mwp/clark are now pf bodies, not sf.

Yes having a starting SF that can play as your 4 & allow you to go small is part of it.. But look at all of those SF's I listed.. All of those guys are really good players & we have MWP, who is a likely amnesty candidate, Earl Clark who is more effective as an undersized 4, & nothing else at the position. Some of the guys I listed like Batum, Leonard, Barnes, Granger, Gallo, Thad have all also played some PF & are capable of doing that if we need them to. These are the type of players we're lacking & adding 1 of them is going to go a long way to getting back to the finals.

[dub81]

I would honestly think about amnistey Ron and roll with Earl Clark as the starting SF. If he know's that he's going in as the starter it might motivate him all thru out the offseason to prepare. He's young and he can consistently hit that J.

[crazyeights]

For some reason I don't see us amnesteing Metta. I think he had too solid of a year to do that. Especially when it's gonna be so hard to replace him with almost anyone.

Unless Dwight moves, I see this team largely staying the same.

[Kilroy]

MWP is gone... Either via amnesty or just opting out so he can choose his own situation.
He started the season great, but was just awful most of the way.

Clark can play some SF in certain matchups but that's not how you choose a starting SF... Kobe is a good matchup for us for 95% of the teams out there/

Nash has shown he's pretty good at the 2, but still a defensive liability. But with Kobe at the 3 and an athletic 1, maybe it won't be that big a deal.

Our bigger problem is at 4/5... Either Pau comes off the bench at the 5, or we trade him, or we S/T Howard for Griffin or whatever, but until we have that nailed down, we can't even really think about SF.

[Kobean]

I've seen a few mock drafts that see us picking Deshaun Thomas, has anyone seen this guy play? would he be a good fit with this team?