Sign Larry Hughes

[likwitdesi]

We desperately need another scoring option and someone to share ballhandling duties with Foye who has been struggling lately. Furthermore, we really could just use a legitimate NBA player in the backcourt. We need someone to make sure guys like Boykins and Ross never see the court.

I would give him a minimum deal for the rest of the season. I think he signs here too, because he is instantly the #2 scoring option and would potentially have a chance to score a MLE deal with some sucker team in the offseason.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I agree, likwitdesi.

Cut Ross to stop Flip's latest infatuation with a player who cannot help much on either end. Sign Hughes, who posted a 21.6 PER one whole season playing with Gil, who will be back as a Wizard.

Hughes here on a minimum contract is what I'd hope for. Larry's made good money and he's proven to be a slightly less-than-average since leaving the Wizards.

Larry had nothing buty success as a Wizards. Grant Hill beat him out for an all star bid, but Hughes IMO was deserving in 2004-2005. That season, the Wizards advanced a round in the playoffs, and Hughes played a key role.

Now would be an entirely different context for Hughes. Flip's system and Flip being a veteran-loving coach both seem to point to Hughes being a solid pickup. As does his rapport with Gil.

[nate33]

I see no value in adding an aging vet to the squad. Hughes might help us get a few more wins, but is that really what we're looking for? I'd rather Flip just play Young, Livingston and Foye in the backcourt until they drop.

If you want to add another guard, it should be a young guy out of D-League.

[FAH1223]

We need more ping pong balls, not Hughes

[hands11]

I see no value in adding an aging vet to the squad. Hughes might help us get a few more wins, but is that really what we're looking for? I'd rather Flip just play Young, Livingston and Foye in the backcourt until they drop.

If you want to add another guard, it should be a young guy out of D-League.

Agreed. Move forward. Evaluate what we have and trim the tree where needed.

If their is any move I would like to see us make it would be about continuing to dump players that have no part in our future. The most glaring player left on the team that fits that description is Fabio. We need to buy him out and open that spot to evaluate someone who may actually be here next year.

If nothing else, we have done a lot of house cleaning this year. It wasn't sexy, but it was needed.

[Pradamaster]

Agreed. Move forward. Evaluate what we have and trim the tree where needed.

If their is any move I would like to see us make it would be about continuing to dump players that have no part in our future. The most glaring player left on the team that fits that description is Fabio. We need to buy him out and open that spot to evaluate someone who may actually be here next year.

If nothing else, we have done a lot of house cleaning this year. It wasn't sexy, but it was needed.

You can't buy anyone out anymore because they can't sign with another team if they're bought out after March 1. That ship has sailed.

[hands11]

Agreed. Move forward. Evaluate what we have and trim the tree where needed.

If their is any move I would like to see us make it would be about continuing to dump players that have no part in our future. The most glaring player left on the team that fits that description is Fabio. We need to buy him out and open that spot to evaluate someone who may actually be here next year.

If nothing else, we have done a lot of house cleaning this year. It wasn't sexy, but it was needed.

You can't buy anyone out anymore because they can't sign with another team if they're bought out after March 1. That ship has sailed.

I knew you have to buy them out before March 1 so they could playing in the playoffs but I never heard you couldn't by them out after if you wanted.

Do we have any cap space left over to bring anyone else in ? He is clearly a wasted roster spot. Just make him inactive or if needed cut him. The dude is done at 34. Not sure who would take him next year but he is eating up a roster spot. It would be hard to imagine almost anyone we added not providing more then he is providing. Hell, I would rather see Paul Davis who we hate here already.

[mzaretsk]

yes! sign hughes. at this point, im up for anything to prevent wins and he's sure to shoot .350, while killing all of our fast breaks with pop up bricks.

[miller31time]

yes! sign hughes. at this point, im up for anything to prevent wins and he's sure to shoot .350, while killing all of our fast breaks with pop up bricks.

I don't disagree that Hughes would undoubtedly be a detriment to the team.

But I still don't want to bring him on-board. Our strategy the rest of the season is simple - develop the youth. Signing an old, broken down chucker is not the way to accomplish this.

[Ruzious]

We desperately need another scoring option and someone to share ballhandling duties with Foye who has been struggling lately. Furthermore, we really could just use a legitimate NBA player in the backcourt. We need someone to make sure guys like Boykins and Ross never see the court.

I would give him a minimum deal for the rest of the season. I think he signs here too, because he is instantly the #2 scoring option and would potentially have a chance to score a MLE deal with some sucker team in the offseason.

Okay, but then cut Hughes so we never see him on the court.

What nate said is the correct answer.

[likwitdesi]

I see no value in adding an aging vet to the squad. Hughes might help us get a few more wins, but is that really what we're looking for? I'd rather Flip just play Young, Livingston and Foye in the backcourt until they drop.

If you want to add another guard, it should be a young guy out of D-League.

You don't want this team to end up 0-23 either. That might just happen with this team as is. Such a scenario might break Blatche's confidence and we certainly don't want that to happen.

The key here is that I believe Hughes can help Blatche's and McGee's development. He can help Blatche's development by possibly taking some scoring pressure off him. For McGee, remember how Haywood used to say that Hughes was the only guy that set him up? It would be nice to have someone throw a couple alley-oops to McGee every game.

Yes, he is broken down, is an inconsistent shooter, and shouldn't be on this team beyond this year. However, I'd rather use him to help out our important young players' development rather than continue on this path and give lost causes like Young playing time.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I don't think Hughes affects the wins either way this season.

Hughes next season off the bench would be a solid player. I'm looking at Juwan Howard, who at 37 is 6 years older than Larry Hughes, making a positive contribution to a western playoff team. Hughes was actually a good defender for D'Antoni.

I think Hughes is better than Foye. Foye is a guy who can shoot the ball. But what else? He can pass but isn't a playmaker. He's a bad defender at SG and not a true PG.

Hughes is a solid defender at PG and SG (except against Wade). Comments about him aging I don't think are quite accurate. He's got another couple NBA season left.

[nate33]

I see no value in adding an aging vet to the squad. Hughes might help us get a few more wins, but is that really what we're looking for? I'd rather Flip just play Young, Livingston and Foye in the backcourt until they drop.

If you want to add another guard, it should be a young guy out of D-League.

You don't want this team to end up 0-23 either. That might just happen with this team as is. Such a scenario might break Blatche's confidence and we certainly don't want that to happen.

Dude. We on a 2-game losing streak. It's no big deal. Heck, recordwise, the team post-trade is better than the pre-trade team. We're 4-5 since the trade.

I'm not saying we're good, or even mediocre; but we're not NJ Nets bad either. We'll continue to lose to good teams and we'll continue to win a few games against bad teams. That's pretty much all I want at this point. We need lotto balls plus enough wins to keep everyone's spirits up.

[montestewart]

^
I hope we don't have many more 30 point losses at home, but I'm not too worried about losses right now. I'm more interested in calling up players on 10-day contracts to see who has some promise then in bringing in a possibly very short-term and possibly disruptive addition to the current roster. (Not saying Hughes is a chronic problem, but just adding anyone into the current mix could be disruptive.) Maybe add a true point guard (although maybe Livingston's enough) or depth at the bigs, if just to help the logistics of finishing out the season, and otherwise play it out and see how they do. I'll never root for losses for the Wizards, but they will come no matter what I want, and that will help them in the lottery.

[MJG]

As others have said, there is no reason to sign a short-term veteran. For the rest of this season, our open roster spot(s) should be filled entirely with rotating 10 day contracts, at least until we find guys that we like enough that we want to bring back next year.

[jivelikenice]

I'm fully on board with this. Yes, I want more ping pong balls but I also more importantly want to see our young front court players continue to develop. I think Hughes can help us there because I think the Bucks games evidenced that our current point guards are unable to initiate the offense and create opportunities for our front court guys to score.

And while I do want to pick higher, I think being terrible to end the season can have a much greater negative effect and with our current stable of guards, I just don't see us winning often at all down the stretch. I don't think long-term we benefit at all from having our players not learn how to win. Hughes can possibly help there.....

[nate33]

Good grief people! When did Larry Hughes become Magic Johnson?

I still don't understand what happened. Two games ago, everybody was ecstatic about the performance of the team. Blatche was a soon-to-be superstar. McGee was showing some promise. Thornton was solid. The team was unselfish, moved the ball, and played defense.

Now, after two games, the team is possibly the worst in league history. They're projected to go 0-23 down the stretch and the guards and wings are so unbelievably incompetent that it's going to be impossible for the big man to develop one iota.

People on this board need to get a grip. The truth is somewhere between. There is no need to panic. The Bucks were a bad matchup. Skiles is a good coach. Two bad losses against the same team is not the end of the world.

[Ruzious]

But... Larry Hughes is bad and old, would be a lousy fit in our offense, and got cut by the Knicks. We neeeeeeed him!!!

[Hoopalotta]

I do think there is a point to the argument that the team is so lacking in firepower as to diminish our developmental potential for the rest of the string. Blatche in particular was stymied silly by the traps the Buckaroos threw at him, and him passing out wasn't coming up with much either.

McGee is a great finisher, but only 'when it's there'. When it ain't, well...
Foye is streaky. He can get a shot whenever he wants, but that's not always a good thing.
Thornton can't really work off the ball very well.
Miller, well, everyone knows about that situation.
I don't even know who's next in the pecking order.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that there's a decisive masterstroke that could rectify that now, short of fashioning a disguise for Gil.

[montestewart]

I do think there is a point to the argument that the team is so lacking in firepower as to diminish our developmental potential for the rest of the string. Blatche in particular was stymied silly by the traps the Buckaroos threw at him, and him passing out wasn't coming up with much either.

McGee is a great finisher, but only 'when it's there'. When it ain't, well...
Foye is streaky. He can get a shot whenever he wants, but that's not always a good thing.
Thornton can't really work off the ball very well.
Miller, well, everyone knows about that situation.
I don't even know who's next in the pecking order.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that there's a decisive masterstroke that could rectify that now, short of fashioning a disguise for Gil.

Yes, there's a point to that argument, but this thread spends too much time talking about Larry Hughes to ever find a solution.

When Hughes was in his prime, he had a few good years here, which may have been as much his teammates and his role in the system as anything else. It was enough for him to be so overrated that he got a huge contract that he never lived up to. If you've looked at his game and his numbers since that peak...

He is a decent veteran, and signed at a minimum, some team might find a place for him. I was happy that Ilgauskas didn't stay, although I could see the argument for keeping him just to show young bigs how to use a 7-foot body. I could see the argument for keeping an aging defender (a Bowen-type) who can still show how it's done. I just don't know what Hughes' presence would actually bring to this team, and without Arenas, there isn't much to this team that he would remember anyway.