| Memo To Danny: Stand Pat This Off-Season Authored by Elrod Enchilada - March 12, 2006 - 1:09 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
A Melo Behind The SuperstarsCarmelo Anthony has never been one of the league's most efficient offensive players.
 |
Maynor Using Utah’s Resources
Eric Maynor is an increasingly rare four-year, small college rookie. He sat down with RealGM to discuss how his first few weeks of NBA life has gone and what he has learned from Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan.
|
 |
Why LeBron To The Clippers Makes Sense
LeBron James already plays for a perennial underdog in Cleveland, but moving to the Clippers would allow him to do so in a huge market and with a core that will immediately compete for championships while also having an encouraging long term outlook.
|
 |
‘Home-Heavy Schedule’ Brings Question Marks
The Heat have been plagued by inconsistencies, making it difficult to determine how good they really are this season.
|
|
More from RealGM's Columnists
|
| |
Although this is a discussion to be taken up in earnest in May or June, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to do any of the suggested moves necessarily. I think a stronger argument could be made to play the current hand, add a no. 1 pick, and, at most, add a veteran point guard with a one-year or two-year deal.
Let me explain. We saw all the problems Doc had figuring out the rotation before the Minnesota deal. We traded basically four guys who are playing serious minutes for the Wolves in return for one guy who plays at for us. It was a good deal if only because it clarified roles and got set minutes for players like Gomes. The last thing we should do is bring in a few more vets who will need to be in the rotation to be happy. We already have enough talented players who need to be in the rotation, and they need playing time to get better.
We have 13 players under contract for next season. No one knows if Dwayne Jones is worth keeping around, and Dickau may be waive-able because he is paid relatively little. But the other 11 are definite keepers. (Or, in the case of Scalabrine and possibly LaFrentz, untradeable.) We have two draft picks. We will have the MLE slot to use. Now we can try to do a major trade as some have suggested, and swap picks and Big Al and Green to bring back a veteran all-star stud to put in the line-up. That is the idea of playing for all the marbles immediately. It is tempting, and if a Garnett is available on those terms, I would consider it. (But I still might not want to do it.)
I tend not to think that we will win no. 17 in 2007. I think Danny is right that we should aspire to be a 45-50 win team, and a definite playoff team in 2007. 2008 will be the first year I think we can think about going deep in the playoffs, with an outside shot at the title. 2009 will be the first year we can likely win flag 17. When the 2009 playoffs begin, this will be the ages of our core:
Perk—24
Big Al—24
Gomes—26
Raef--32
Paul—31
Wally—32
Green—23
Allen—27
West—25
Greene—27
2006 lottery pick—21-25
That is a damned young team. That is three years from now, and every one of these guys will be a seasoned veteran. And that does not include our upcoming lottery pick, and assorted other first-rounders Danny has accumulated. Obviously Danny may move some of these guys, but he has serious chips to play with. The future is very, very bright.
So my inclination is to show a bit of patience and not try to rush things and make a play to win it all next year. I think we have a good decade of great basketball in front of us. But, again, that would depend upon what sort of deals are on the table.
So short of a blockbuster deal for a Garnett, I would be wary about bringing in a veteran as either a big or an athletic 2 guard this off-season. The only position where I might consider it is at the point, and even there it would have to be just the right person.
Start with our bigs. Next year we have a four man rotation of Perk, Big Al, Gomes and LaFrentz. Those guys can handle the 96 minutes just fine. I would not mind seeing Gomes pick up some of his minutes at the 3. I think that is likely going to be his eventual position in three or four years. But let’s give Perk and Big Al very serious minutes next season.
So bringing in a veteran big only clogs things up. We don’t want Doc to have a clogged rotation where Perk, Big Al and Gomes are not getting all the minutes they can handle. These guys are horses. Let them play. They have shown enough already that they can each play starters minutes.
The idea of adding an athletic scoring 2 guard to the mix this off-season, to back-up Paul and Wally, makes even less sense. For starters there are not very many minutes backing up Paul and Wally. In addition, West and Gomes can both move over and play back-up 3 and 2 respectively if need be. And finally, we still have Tony Allen and Gerald Green. Assuming Tony Allen returns to his rookie year form, he is a superior athlete and an outstanding defensive stopper. He is only 24. Don’t forget that before his knee injury, this past summer, Allen was regarded as arguably the very best of our young players. He tore up the Vegas summer league, scoring at will, and looking like a man among boys. He may never return to that form, but we need to be patient. If he does, we have a starting caliber player who will need serious minutes himself and soon. And, if he doesn’t, we still have Gerald Green.
Yes, Gerald Green. Hmmm. Doc ands Danny want an athletic guy who can score coming off the bench to spell Paul and Wally. I wonder if there is anyone who fits that description on the roster now? Duhhhh. My God, this is like a guy with the prettiest girl at the dance hitting on his best friend’s great aunt. We have no idea what sort of player Gerald Green will become. He may flop. Or he may be a star. We have seen enough already to determine that he deserves more court time. He has unreal tools and apparently a good work ethic. He needs next year to get a shift behind Paul and Wally. He needs to play at least 1,000 minutes, unless he completely bombs out.
So with Allen and Green, not to mention Gomes and West, we are set with the 25 minutes available backing up Paul and Wally. We are more than set. We possibly will have an enormous dilemma just fining time for all these guys. So adding another player to the mix – another guy who needs minutes – will only screw things up for team chemistry and development.
So that leaves us with getting a back-up point guard for Delonte. Delonte is a 35 minute guy so we are not talking about huge minutes, It is more a case of having someone in case Delonte goes down with an injury. Here there are two questions: are we certain Orien Green and Dan Dickau cannot do the job effectively between them? And is there someone better out there that we can get?
I am not a huge Orien Greene fan, nor a Dan Dickau fan. But I would be willing to gibe them one more season to develop their games. The only point guard in the free agent market that tempts me is Mike James. But even if we could sign him to a whopper deal, I don’t see where we get minutes for him, unless Delonte starts playing mostly the 2. And that means Gerald and Tony play not a whit and even Gomes might get his minutes cut back. And in 2009 Mike James will be over the hill and we will regret not having developed our young talent.
If we are going to add a veteran point guard, make it a short term deal for a guy who is content to play 10 minutes max per game.
So, from where I sit, let’s play this hand. Let’s add a lottery pick, and let’s let these guys develop. We have something good happening here. |
