Calinks wrote:Just thinking things over, besides obvious top 10 NBA superstars, who do you thin we could plug into the 3 and 4 spots next season that would pretty much lock us into being a good playoff team? (3-6 seed). I'm having trouble of thinking of two players that would benefit us that much.
I have been thinking about this lately. The way our roster is constructed with KAT/Reid taking 100% playing time only at C, DLo and Malik being explosive offensive backcourt it leaves us PF/SF slots to bring toughness, defense, rebounding.
1) Its clear that an ideal PF candidate should be mobile, strong, versatile defender with above average for PF passing skills. My first candidate is Justise Winslow. His offense is elite, he can play some point, he will improve his shooting, great contract. However, MEM was a bit faster to get him when his value was the lowest. There is no way they will trade him
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My second choice is Aaron Gordon, for same reasons: mobile, strong, versatile defender with above average for PF passing skills. He is made for our high pace offensive system and will be absolute terror running the floor with KAT/DLo/Beasley, dunking everything. His contract is great, his passing is solid. He is on trading block, our ORL roster is poorly balanced with Vuc, Mamba, Isaac, Aminu all playing C/PF spots.
Grant Williams can develop into such player in future.
2) With regard of SF spot it is a bit tricky. First, I am happy with Okogie playing at SF. He seems to be thriving next to shooters and for will improve more, dedicating whole offseason to develop his individual skills rather than playing overseas. Second, I am okay with using SF slot to give some playing time for FRP such as Avdija/Okoro. Third, we have already cheap options such as Layman (and possible Kelan Martin) to fill SF position.
3) I think it will be combination of trade, good draft and FAs addition, internal improvements that will make us a playoff team. I see us getting one solid starter (Gordon), one veteran backup (Harkless) and one future star (Hayes, Hampton). As I wrote before I think we will acquire high level defense in trades and FA, since it costs historically less high level offense, and we will draft high level offensive creator. I am enamoured with idea of bringing here exPOR defensive wing Moe Harkless, because I feel like it can make us wonder. Familiarity, experience and fit are as much as valuable as pure talent. McLaughlin, DLo have worked with Pablo Prigioni before, Layman worked with Vanterpool before. We need this as foundation. Thats why improved chemistry, consistency in coaching and development are my biggest hopes for the next season. I want us to bring back Malik, Juancho, McLaughlin and Kelan. Yes, they might not be stars, but if we draft well we might finally have a deep, balanced roster, where players really fit each other. At this point of team development I feel that rather than trying to bring here Booker, Beal, FVV, and other top level stars by trading half of our resources(picks, young players etc), we need to grow organically.