Where do you see this all thing going? What should we do? **POLL**

[RexBoyWonder]

Feels like most of us expected a much better start, both in record and level of play.

Want to check the collective pulse, how do you see things developing?

Reminder : our pick is top 8 protected this year, so any pick from #9 to #30 will go straight to the Suns. Pick in the 1-8 range stays with us. but this means that if we keep the pick this year, next season we'll have to give the Suns our pick regardless of where it falls (1-30).

[Bishop45]

Either first half shambles turns to trade (s), top of the financial totem pole first... Or Heat unlikely gets back on second half of the season speed and makes opportunist trades that may or may not restructure the roster


Evident to me that not all three of Waiters, TJ, and Rich will be here long term, so one of them at deadline seems necessary

[BaDaBo]

I'm a bit disappointed with the record but hugely disappointed with our play!

Rant in spoilers...

Spoiler:

1. My god the TO, how can a team have so many TO. And such stupid TO, game momentum swinging TO.

Dion Kelly JJ JRich

2. Stupid decisions. We're changing the momentum of the game, we're one roll and then we try a tough pass, throw up contested shots early in the shot clock, etc.

3. Dion 4qt ISO. Dude has 40% usg rate in the 4th qt. That's too much for a team that is designed to play TEAM BASKETBALL.

4. Dragic is our most consistent player, and at times we look him off, he doesn't touch the ball for minutes on offense, especially in the 4qt. Last night at the start of the game in the first 4-5 minutes, he touched the ball twice ( brought it over and initiated the offense, and then went to the corner ). No wonder he started 0/4. In the 4qt he was open multiple times on the 3pt line and we elected to take the harder way, usually ending with a missed shot.

5. Most of our players seem to want to coast to wins. Don't give 100% effort all the time. At least that's how it feels watching the games. If we're not giving 110% for 48min we're not winning anyone over .50.

6. Can we pretty please teach Hassan to pass out of double & triple teams. It's hard to watch him trying to shoot over 3 players falling down while at least 2 of our players are open somewhere. I mean if he starts passing it'll be easier for him since they'll stop guarding him with 2-3 players.

It feels like last season, with a bit of a better record. Nothing really worked, then it clicked and we were good. I don't know if it will click this season & if it does I hope it's sooner than at 41 games in.

I still think we make the PO since I'm optimistic we will start playing better as the season goes on & some teams are a bit overachieving atm & some will start tanking at half of the season.

[IggieCC]

just say the word Rex

[contract]

Feels like most of us expected a much better start, both in record and level of play.

Want to check the collective pulse, how do you see things developing?

Reminder : our pick is top 8 protected this year, so any pick from #9 to #30 will go straight to the Suns. Pick in the 1-8 range stays with us. but this means that if we keep the pick this year, next season we'll have to give the Suns our pick regardless of where it falls (1-30).

Yes I expected a better start, but we're only 2 games out from the 5th seed, and only 3 games from the 3rd seed. We're still OK. We just need to get our **** together BEFORE midseason this time. If we're not playing at least .500 ball by game 30, then I'll start to panic.

[Kobewade11]

If we want to salvage the season at all they have one month to turn it around. Can't wait until the trade deadline because at that point it'll be too late.

Dragic, Whiteside, Waiters are going to net the most on a return - individually or any 2 man combination of the 3. So any trade is going to start there. Try to unload TJ if you can.

[GameTime_3]

What interesting about this season, is that to start the year, we look very lost on offense as if we never played together. Last year, the team was fighting to get paid and individually made strides that helped team. Since Spo has been HC, I've always wanted him to sign an offensive minded assistant to help him with this. We go small yet, we have little ball movement, that won't work.

Tyler or Josh need to be moved for a SF with length. Neither of them get in a rhythm and when they do, they get minutes split with other as Spo will never ride a hot hand for more minutes, he always keeps it consistent.

Would love to see Justise get more aggressive more often. He has made a few moves this year where I go, OK do that. But doesn't follow it up.

[gom]

What interesting about this season, is that to start the year, we look very lost on offense as if we never played together. Last year, the team was fighting to get paid and individually made strides that helped team. Since Spo has been HC, I've always wanted him to sign an offensive minded assistant to help him with this. We go small yet, we have little ball movement, that won't work.

Tyler or Josh need to be moved for a SF with length. Neither of them get in a rhythm and when they do, they get minutes split with other as Spo will never ride a hot hand for more minutes, he always keeps it consistent.

Would love to see Justise get more aggressive more often. He has made a few moves this year where I go, OK do that. But doesn't follow it up.

Tyler's contract explodes to $19.2M per annum for 2 seasons in July 2018, and his play has been mediocre at best. Richardson cannot be traded until March 15. Neither player can be traded, nor are they playing well enough to garner interest. If Riley moves a wing, it will be Winslow (maybe one of the reasons he's being given minutes?) or Waiters. Ellington is an expiring who also holds value.

I only expected to scrape into the playoffs with this team, hoping that incremental improvements would give us 3 or 4 wins, but where we have improved (such as getting Winslow back from injury), have been offset by the turnover machine that our offense has become. This is a collective problem, affecting all players, that comes down to three related issues: our offense doesn't present good options because it's too predictable, players attempt unnecessary plays that are well beyond their capabilities, and players get desperate when they fall behind and take terrible shots because they think they'll catch fire. All of this is spurred on by the mentality that you want to push through bad shooting, so 0-30 is better than 0-9. It's only better if you eventually fix the issues that made you 0-30, not if it becomes the normal day at the office.

Here are our needs in the order they should be addressed:

1. Point guard for when Dragic is off the court. Waiters and James Johnson are our team leaders in terrible distribution. It gets worse when they are pressured. This worked last season, and it might work again if we add a primary ball handler. But as it stands now, it's not working. When the game gets tight, Waiters goes into hero-mode and James Johnson tries to make drives that lead to getting stripped or bad passes.
2. We're not playing Whiteside enough. It's frankly criminal. Moreover, Kelly Olynyk is not a backup center. We need one pretty badly if we're not giving the keys to Bam, who (and I know most will disagree) isn't ready to take a primary role. I'd send Bam to Sioux Falls to develop so at least he's playing. After Dec. 15, I'd target a disgruntled professional basketball center.
3. The effort on the court is just not enough. We see flashes of what these players can do (like in the extra attempts to get rebounds in the third quarter last night), but we are lax when we cannot be. We're not finishing games well at all. This is a coaching/front-office issue that comes from unfairly parceling out minutes for slack play. If we bench Whiteside for 22 minutes because of nonchalant performance on the court, why play James Johnson or Dion Waiters when they are delivering the same crap?

My suggestion:

1. Trade 1:
Joakim Noah and Jarrett Jack for Wayne Ellington, Tyler Johnson, AJ Hammons, & Okaro White
Noah is Whiteside's backup. Olynyk becomes a PF. Dumping TJ's contract for Noah's can help both teams.
Jarrett Jack is experienced point guard who can play behind Dragic.
Opens 2 roster spaces.
New York can waive White without penalty. Ellington is an expiring who can help them in a playoff run. Hammons has another year.

2. I'd try Matt Williams for TJ's spot first. Play him for 30 days or so in a backup role (we control his rights). If he shows promise, give him part of the MLE (like we did with McGruder and JRich) to guarantee bird rights. Otherwise maybe try Aaron Harrison who is playing well for Charlotte's D-League affiliate.

3. I'd leave the other spot open, though I'm tempted to sign Matt Barnes for SF backup (behind Richardson) at veteran minimum. Thomas Robinson is also available but plays PF, not SF.

4. Trade 2 (at end of season): Josh Richardson for Jahlil Okafor. Noah will have many injuries. Adding Okafor and resigning him in the off-season will allow us to run him beside Winslow, which worked well at Duke.

C: Whiteside/Noah/Okafor/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison

1 open roster space (or sign Barnes or Robinson)

Also, trade 2 (Richarson for Okafor) doesn't have to happen if Noah shows any sign of being in basketball shape by March. In that case:

C: Whiteside/Noah/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Richardson/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison


Thoughts?

[Kobewade11]

1. Trade 1:
Joakim Noah and Jarrett Jack for Wayne Ellington, Tyler Johnson, AJ Hammons, & Okaro White
Noah is Whiteside's backup. Olynyk becomes a PF. Dumping TJ's contract for Noah's can help both teams.
Jarrett Jack is experienced point guard who can play behind Dragic.
Opens 2 roster spaces.
New York can waive White without penalty. Ellington is an expiring who can help them in a playoff run. Hammons has another year.

2. I'd try Matt Williams for TJ's spot first. Play him for 30 days or so in a backup role (we control his rights). If he shows promise, give him part of the MLE (like we did with McGruder and JRich) to guarantee bird rights. Otherwise maybe try Aaron Harrison who is playing well for Charlotte's D-League affiliate.

3. I'd leave the other spot open, though I'm tempted to sign Matt Barnes for SF backup (behind Richardson) at veteran minimum. Thomas Robinson is also available but plays PF, not SF.

4. Trade 2 (at end of season): Josh Richardson for Jahlil Okafor. Noah will have many injuries. Adding Okafor and resigning him in the off-season will allow us to run him beside Winslow, which worked well at Duke.

C: Whiteside/Noah/Okafor/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison

Thoughts?

I like No. 2 Matt Williams

Not interested in Barnes or Harrison, and I don't believe Philly is petty enough to hold Jah hostage for the entire season. He'll probably be gone before the summer, in the event that he isn't I would consider that trade.

The Knicks trade isn't the worst idea if we're hellbent on dumping TJ but then we get back Joakim who has played an average of 47 games the last 3 years. Not McRoberts bad but its pretty close.

[KingDavid]

We are in too deep with cap and owed assets.

You can't be this far over the cap and this bad. This is what I was worried about after the all-star break. We had the easiest srs in the league after that point and we blew over expectations, Riley bought into it and had to since he invested assets into Dragic already.

[eddieheatfan]

i love polls :lol

yeah but i voted for blowing the roster up.this thing isnt going anywhere because the pieces barely fit or are under used

[RexBoyWonder]

What interesting about this season, is that to start the year, we look very lost on offense as if we never played together. Last year, the team was fighting to get paid and individually made strides that helped team. Since Spo has been HC, I've always wanted him to sign an offensive minded assistant to help him with this. We go small yet, we have little ball movement, that won't work.

Tyler or Josh need to be moved for a SF with length. Neither of them get in a rhythm and when they do, they get minutes split with other as Spo will never ride a hot hand for more minutes, he always keeps it consistent.

Would love to see Justise get more aggressive more often. He has made a few moves this year where I go, OK do that. But doesn't follow it up.

Tyler's contract explodes to $19.2M per annum for 2 seasons in July 2018, and his play has been mediocre at best. Richardson cannot be traded until March 15. Neither player can be traded, nor are they playing well enough to garner interest. If Riley moves a wing, it will be Winslow (maybe one of the reasons he's being given minutes?) or Waiters. Ellington is an expiring who also holds value.

I only expected to scrape into the playoffs with this team, hoping that incremental improvements would give us 3 or 4 wins, but where we have improved (such as getting Winslow back from injury), have been offset by the turnover machine that our offense has become. This is a collective problem, affecting all players, that comes down to three related issues: our offense doesn't present good options because it's too predictable, players attempt unnecessary plays that are well beyond their capabilities, and players get desperate when they fall behind and take terrible shots because they think they'll catch fire. All of this is spurred on by the mentality that you want to push through bad shooting, so 0-30 is better than 0-9. It's only better if you eventually fix the issues that made you 0-30, not if it becomes the normal day at the office.

Here are our needs in the order they should be addressed:

You you Gom I always enjoy reading your articulated posts but You suggesting we'll have Hassan +

1. Point guard for when Dragic is off the court. Waiters and James Johnson are our team leaders in terrible distribution. It gets worse when they are pressured. This worked last season, and it might work again if we add a primary ball handler. But as it stands now, it's not working. When the game gets tight, Waiters goes into hero-mode and James Johnson tries to make drives that lead to getting stripped or bad passes.
2. We're not playing Whiteside enough. It's frankly criminal. Moreover, Kelly Olynyk is not a backup center. We need one pretty badly if we're not giving the keys to Bam, who (and I know most will disagree) isn't ready to take a primary role. I'd send Bam to Sioux Falls to develop so at least he's playing. After Dec. 15, I'd target a disgruntled professional basketball center.
3. The effort on the court is just not enough. We see flashes of what these players can do (like in the extra attempts to get rebounds in the third quarter last night), but we are lax when we cannot be. We're not finishing games well at all. This is a coaching/front-office issue that comes from unfairly parceling out minutes for slack play. If we bench Whiteside for 22 minutes because of nonchalant performance on the court, why play James Johnson or Dion Waiters when they are delivering the same crap?

My suggestion:

1. Trade 1:
Joakim Noah and Jarrett Jack for Wayne Ellington, Tyler Johnson, AJ Hammons, & Okaro White
Noah is Whiteside's backup. Olynyk becomes a PF. Dumping TJ's contract for Noah's can help both teams.
Jarrett Jack is experienced point guard who can play behind Dragic.
Opens 2 roster spaces.
New York can waive White without penalty. Ellington is an expiring who can help them in a playoff run. Hammons has another year.

2. I'd try Matt Williams for TJ's spot first. Play him for 30 days or so in a backup role (we control his rights). If he shows promise, give him part of the MLE (like we did with McGruder and JRich) to guarantee bird rights. Otherwise maybe try Aaron Harrison who is playing well for Charlotte's D-League affiliate.

3. I'd leave the other spot open, though I'm tempted to sign Matt Barnes for SF backup (behind Richardson) at veteran minimum. Thomas Robinson is also available but plays PF, not SF.

4. Trade 2 (at end of season): Josh Richardson for Jahlil Okafor. Noah will have many injuries. Adding Okafor and resigning him in the off-season will allow us to run him beside Winslow, which worked well at Duke.

C: Whiteside/Noah/Okafor/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison

1 open roster space (or sign Barnes or Robinson)

Also, trade 2 (Richarson for Okafor) doesn't have to happen if Noah shows any sign of being in basketball shape by March. In that case:

C: Whiteside/Noah/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Richardson/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison


Thoughts?

You know Gom I always enjoy reading your articulated posts but You suggesting we should get Hassan + Noah + Okafor + Adebayo makes me believe you're completely drunk on some Brazilian ass/coke. Or both.

[RexBoyWonder]

I would counter with - Trade Hassan for the best wing possible, Play Adebayo next to Kelly as our front court starters.

I think Hassan is the wrong player to build around in todays NBA for a variety of reasons.

Dragic/Real backup PG
TJ/Dion
Star wing(Hassan trade)/Justise
Kelly/JJ
Adebayo/Mickey

Adebayo quicker, higher motor then Hassan, better attitude and can switch better on D. Also might have long range shot. Better suited for the style we should play IMO .
And we need that star wing that Hassan could (hopefully) net us in a trade.

You don't win with slow Centers no more.

[MettaWorldPanda]

Spoiler:

What interesting about this season, is that to start the year, we look very lost on offense as if we never played together. Last year, the team was fighting to get paid and individually made strides that helped team. Since Spo has been HC, I've always wanted him to sign an offensive minded assistant to help him with this. We go small yet, we have little ball movement, that won't work.

Tyler or Josh need to be moved for a SF with length. Neither of them get in a rhythm and when they do, they get minutes split with other as Spo will never ride a hot hand for more minutes, he always keeps it consistent.

Would love to see Justise get more aggressive more often. He has made a few moves this year where I go, OK do that. But doesn't follow it up.

Tyler's contract explodes to $19.2M per annum for 2 seasons in July 2018, and his play has been mediocre at best. Richardson cannot be traded until March 15. Neither player can be traded, nor are they playing well enough to garner interest. If Riley moves a wing, it will be Winslow (maybe one of the reasons he's being given minutes?) or Waiters. Ellington is an expiring who also holds value.

I only expected to scrape into the playoffs with this team, hoping that incremental improvements would give us 3 or 4 wins, but where we have improved (such as getting Winslow back from injury), have been offset by the turnover machine that our offense has become. This is a collective problem, affecting all players, that comes down to three related issues: our offense doesn't present good options because it's too predictable, players attempt unnecessary plays that are well beyond their capabilities, and players get desperate when they fall behind and take terrible shots because they think they'll catch fire. All of this is spurred on by the mentality that you want to push through bad shooting, so 0-30 is better than 0-9. It's only better if you eventually fix the issues that made you 0-30, not if it becomes the normal day at the office.

Here are our needs in the order they should be addressed:

1. Point guard for when Dragic is off the court. Waiters and James Johnson are our team leaders in terrible distribution. It gets worse when they are pressured. This worked last season, and it might work again if we add a primary ball handler. But as it stands now, it's not working. When the game gets tight, Waiters goes into hero-mode and James Johnson tries to make drives that lead to getting stripped or bad passes.
2. We're not playing Whiteside enough. It's frankly criminal. Moreover, Kelly Olynyk is not a backup center. We need one pretty badly if we're not giving the keys to Bam, who (and I know most will disagree) isn't ready to take a primary role. I'd send Bam to Sioux Falls to develop so at least he's playing. After Dec. 15, I'd target a disgruntled professional basketball center.
3. The effort on the court is just not enough. We see flashes of what these players can do (like in the extra attempts to get rebounds in the third quarter last night), but we are lax when we cannot be. We're not finishing games well at all. This is a coaching/front-office issue that comes from unfairly parceling out minutes for slack play. If we bench Whiteside for 22 minutes because of nonchalant performance on the court, why play James Johnson or Dion Waiters when they are delivering the same crap?

My suggestion:

1. Trade 1:
Joakim Noah and Jarrett Jack for Wayne Ellington, Tyler Johnson, AJ Hammons, & Okaro White
Noah is Whiteside's backup. Olynyk becomes a PF. Dumping TJ's contract for Noah's can help both teams.
Jarrett Jack is experienced point guard who can play behind Dragic.
Opens 2 roster spaces.
New York can waive White without penalty. Ellington is an expiring who can help them in a playoff run. Hammons has another year.

2. I'd try Matt Williams for TJ's spot first. Play him for 30 days or so in a backup role (we control his rights). If he shows promise, give him part of the MLE (like we did with McGruder and JRich) to guarantee bird rights. Otherwise maybe try Aaron Harrison who is playing well for Charlotte's D-League affiliate.

3. I'd leave the other spot open, though I'm tempted to sign Matt Barnes for SF backup (behind Richardson) at veteran minimum. Thomas Robinson is also available but plays PF, not SF.

4. Trade 2 (at end of season): Josh Richardson for Jahlil Okafor. Noah will have many injuries. Adding Okafor and resigning him in the off-season will allow us to run him beside Winslow, which worked well at Duke.

C: Whiteside/Noah/Okafor/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison

1 open roster space (or sign Barnes or Robinson)

Also, trade 2 (Richarson for Okafor) doesn't have to happen if Noah shows any sign of being in basketball shape by March. In that case:

C: Whiteside/Noah/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Richardson/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison


Thoughts?

We can definitely get rid of TJ but it's going to have to come in the form of a salary dump and a team that has an opening for a starting two guard or PG cause not many teams can afford to have 19 million sitting on the bench. The Blazers got rid of Crabbe's deal for an under performing young player in Nicholson who was then waived. It is also possible that TJ and Winslow could be packaged together for a disgruntled player like Mirotic and the Bulls seem well equipped to take on TJ's balloon deal and meet the requirement of being able to give TJ a starter's role.

No way do I want anything to do with Noah as it only continues to bury Bam further away in the depth chart. Olynyk would seem to me as a good piece to include in a deal with the smaller salaried players like TJ and Winslow in order to free up the backup center role. I do not consider Olynyk the long term answer at PF either. We need to try and see if we could trade for a PF using the likes of TJ, Winslow, Olynyk, and Ellington. Right now the only stretch PF i see available is the disgruntled Nikola Mirotic. Thaddeus Young is also another option.

[leoshes]

Too early guys. The season just started last month. Give them some more time.

[MettaWorldPanda]

I would counter with - Trade Hassan for the best wing possible, Play Adebayo next to Kelly as our front court starters.

I think Hassan is the wrong player to build around in todays NBA for a variety of reasons.

Dragic/Real backup PG
TJ/Dion
Star wing(Hassan trade)/Justise
Kelly/JJ
Adebayo/Mickey

Adebayo quicker, higher motor then Hassan, better attitude and can switch better on D. Also might have long range shot. Better suited for the style we should play IMO .
And we need that star wing that Hassan could (hopefully) net us in a trade.

You don't win with slow Centers no more.

I truly believe that Adebayo teamed with Olynyk would be a very good pairing. Both seem to compliment each other's strength's and weaknesses on both ends of the court.

[leoshes]

Whiteside is not a player you build around offensively. I prefer a star wing scorer for that. But you can build around Whiteside defensively. It takes both offense, & defense to win not just one.

[gom]

Spoiler:

What interesting about this season, is that to start the year, we look very lost on offense as if we never played together. Last year, the team was fighting to get paid and individually made strides that helped team. Since Spo has been HC, I've always wanted him to sign an offensive minded assistant to help him with this. We go small yet, we have little ball movement, that won't work.

Tyler or Josh need to be moved for a SF with length. Neither of them get in a rhythm and when they do, they get minutes split with other as Spo will never ride a hot hand for more minutes, he always keeps it consistent.

Would love to see Justise get more aggressive more often. He has made a few moves this year where I go, OK do that. But doesn't follow it up.

Tyler's contract explodes to $19.2M per annum for 2 seasons in July 2018, and his play has been mediocre at best. Richardson cannot be traded until March 15. Neither player can be traded, nor are they playing well enough to garner interest. If Riley moves a wing, it will be Winslow (maybe one of the reasons he's being given minutes?) or Waiters. Ellington is an expiring who also holds value.

I only expected to scrape into the playoffs with this team, hoping that incremental improvements would give us 3 or 4 wins, but where we have improved (such as getting Winslow back from injury), have been offset by the turnover machine that our offense has become. This is a collective problem, affecting all players, that comes down to three related issues: our offense doesn't present good options because it's too predictable, players attempt unnecessary plays that are well beyond their capabilities, and players get desperate when they fall behind and take terrible shots because they think they'll catch fire. All of this is spurred on by the mentality that you want to push through bad shooting, so 0-30 is better than 0-9. It's only better if you eventually fix the issues that made you 0-30, not if it becomes the normal day at the office.

Here are our needs in the order they should be addressed:

You you Gom I always enjoy reading your articulated posts but You suggesting we'll have Hassan +

1. Point guard for when Dragic is off the court. Waiters and James Johnson are our team leaders in terrible distribution. It gets worse when they are pressured. This worked last season, and it might work again if we add a primary ball handler. But as it stands now, it's not working. When the game gets tight, Waiters goes into hero-mode and James Johnson tries to make drives that lead to getting stripped or bad passes.
2. We're not playing Whiteside enough. It's frankly criminal. Moreover, Kelly Olynyk is not a backup center. We need one pretty badly if we're not giving the keys to Bam, who (and I know most will disagree) isn't ready to take a primary role. I'd send Bam to Sioux Falls to develop so at least he's playing. After Dec. 15, I'd target a disgruntled professional basketball center.
3. The effort on the court is just not enough. We see flashes of what these players can do (like in the extra attempts to get rebounds in the third quarter last night), but we are lax when we cannot be. We're not finishing games well at all. This is a coaching/front-office issue that comes from unfairly parceling out minutes for slack play. If we bench Whiteside for 22 minutes because of nonchalant performance on the court, why play James Johnson or Dion Waiters when they are delivering the same crap?

My suggestion:

1. Trade 1:
Joakim Noah and Jarrett Jack for Wayne Ellington, Tyler Johnson, AJ Hammons, & Okaro White
Noah is Whiteside's backup. Olynyk becomes a PF. Dumping TJ's contract for Noah's can help both teams.
Jarrett Jack is experienced point guard who can play behind Dragic.
Opens 2 roster spaces.
New York can waive White without penalty. Ellington is an expiring who can help them in a playoff run. Hammons has another year.

2. I'd try Matt Williams for TJ's spot first. Play him for 30 days or so in a backup role (we control his rights). If he shows promise, give him part of the MLE (like we did with McGruder and JRich) to guarantee bird rights. Otherwise maybe try Aaron Harrison who is playing well for Charlotte's D-League affiliate.

3. I'd leave the other spot open, though I'm tempted to sign Matt Barnes for SF backup (behind Richardson) at veteran minimum. Thomas Robinson is also available but plays PF, not SF.

4. Trade 2 (at end of season): Josh Richardson for Jahlil Okafor. Noah will have many injuries. Adding Okafor and resigning him in the off-season will allow us to run him beside Winslow, which worked well at Duke.

C: Whiteside/Noah/Okafor/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison

1 open roster space (or sign Barnes or Robinson)

Also, trade 2 (Richarson for Okafor) doesn't have to happen if Noah shows any sign of being in basketball shape by March. In that case:

C: Whiteside/Noah/Adebayo
F: James Johnson/Olynyk/Richardson/Winslow/Mickey/Haslem
G: Dragic/Jack/McGruder/Waiters/Williams or Harrison


Thoughts?

You know Gom I always enjoy reading your articulated posts but You suggesting we should get Hassan + Noah + Okafor + Adebayo makes me believe you're completely drunk on some Brazilian ass/coke. Or both.

That's fair, but you need to understand, I'm trying to fix a medium-term problem. Tyler Johnson is a tradeable asset as long as we're bringing back a liability. In this case, I'm trying to make Noah a positive.

Joakim Noah is a known quantity. He'll give you 15 minutes of solid backup center. I'd try to develop Adebayo as more of a PF. Edrice can shoot 3's well enough to develop that skill. I don't think we should try to turn him into Whiteside. Okafor can be that guy, though.

I think Noah is a limited player but never will I doubt that he is a competitor. He seems exactly the type of player we can milk for good performances. Reminds me of Birdman (though softer, everyone is...)

Winslow/Adebayo/Okafor might work pretty well. Okafor and Winslow played really well together, granted Winslow was PF there.

Also, our cocaine is mostly imported. Not a big fan, but not judging.

* Also note that I got a good backup PG in Jarrett Jack. He's an expiring contract too.

[KingDavid]

I would counter with - Trade Hassan for the best wing possible, Play Adebayo next to Kelly as our front court starters.

I think Hassan is the wrong player to build around in todays NBA for a variety of reasons.

Dragic/Real backup PG
TJ/Dion
Star wing(Hassan trade)/Justise
Kelly/JJ
Adebayo/Mickey

Adebayo quicker, higher motor then Hassan, better attitude and can switch better on D. Also might have long range shot. Better suited for the style we should play IMO .
And we need that star wing that Hassan could (hopefully) net us in a trade.

You don't win with slow Centers no more.

You could be a good team with a center like Hassan. When we decided to pay him that money, the franchise should have shifted to making moves that would help his game like a distributing pg and a bunch of shooters. When we decided to give up two firsts and a max for Dragic, we should have made moves to make Dragic our centerpiece. He had his best season with Channing Frye as the center. That is not Hassan. They instead tried to make the two of them coexist and so far it's been middling at best. Now they threw in Dion in the mix at a high price and now we have a disfunctional big 3.

It's like the front office is operating with no direction. I mean for **** sake, we're running a drive and kick offense with a center that specializes in post play and garbage points, a high usage point guard that is significantly more of a scorer than a distributor, a high usage shooting guard that likes to take bad shots, a revolving door at SF and pf. A rookie that's getting practically no burn when we have needs at his position and a 3rd year player who we can't figure out at all. And a bench that's just as confusing as the starters...and is about to spike up to $19 million for no good reason so far.

We have no direction. Just wait until Mcgruder is back. Then it'll REALLY get confusing.

[RexBoyWonder]

Whiteside is not a player you build around offensively. I prefer a star wing scorer for that. But you can build around Whiteside defensively. It takes both offense, & defense to win not just one.

That's the thing - I don't think you can build around Hassan DEFENSIVLY either.

Too many quick, outside shooting big man on other teams. They draw him out of the paint, and then he becomes a sub par defender due to lack of speed and being uncomfterable.

On offense, he can't pass, and basically very underutilized because we don't have the necessary elite shooting to put around him.

I think You have to be quick/decent passer/outside shooter to be a legit corner stone in todays league.