good post Michael. I'm all for holding on to our young players and letting them develop but Frye will never reach his potential playing next to or behind Curry. Frye has a decent game around the basket that is never ulilized and he'll definitely improve with time but his only role playing with Curry is to a jumpshooter and its not like he's Allan Houston. We don't need a 7ft shooting bigman who doesn't rebound or defend very well next to Curry who is atrocious.

I would love to get a bruising Brand, Boozer like borderline franchise player next to Curry who can defend with Lee at SF. That would be one sick frontline. Swingman are a dime-a-dozen we don't necessarily have to trade Frye for one

[Edited by - gunsnewing on 01-05-2007 10:14 AM]

if we could get ourselves a shotblocking demon to start at PF, then theoretically you can play D Lee at the 3... as it is now, he's not quick enough to play up on most SF's w/a perimeter shot in the NBA because they'll blow right past him... if he knows there's someone behind him who will patrol the lanes & swat shot attempts away to erase his mistakes on D, then it could work... but that would be counterproductive putting D Lee out on the perimeter because he'll be out of position to grab those rebounds.

the better solution would be to bring in a shotblocking demon like Josh Smith to play the 3 & start D Lee at the 4, his more natural position... that way you keep Lee in the paint where he can grab boards & go up for tipins, which is what he does best.

I like the idea of a big atheltic guy like smith who blocks and can defend the perimeter 3. That would be fine with me.

if only Jefferies could develop an outside shot for that matter... he would be a nice fit if teams would just have to respect his shot... as it stands now, he's left wide open on the perimeter & guys are doubling down low on Curry... he needs to make teams pay for that, but he clanks shots off the rim more often than not.

Q coming back will help things alot because he not only brings perimeter defense, but also can knock down open shots when left open... he's also ten times the offensive player that Jefferies, D Lee or Balkman are, so we can use him to post up down low, or he can get his points off dribble penetration too... Q is a really good player to have, if healthy.

Posted by Michael6835:

Right now Jeffries signing looks bad, because balkman looks so good and partially because jeffries looks so bad right now. But at the time you needed defense and he was available, we basically paid market value to get him from Washington. I forget what they offered him, but NY had to offer him more to sign him. At that time we had no idea Balkman would be the better of the 2. Jeffries is now an expensive bench player, but lets see what happens with him, he got injured early and maybe never got into it. Maybe he will be better. who knows.

jeffries clearly has no offensive game. never did.

and when you look at guys like bowen, raja bell, and artest - they all can score in one way or the other. jeffries can't even take 3's like bowen and balkman has shown more aptitude there.

jeffries is going to turn out to be a bust signing b/c he's not a defensive stopper and we're not good enough to have a guy this inept offensively on the court.

yep its Shandon Anderson all over again. Overpaying for a guy who looked decent on another team but will never develop an offensive game. Jeffries shooting form is atrocious whereas its only a matter of time before Balkman starts hitting shots. He already does every else better as a rookie like rebounding, defending, running the floor and blocking shots

I think the real play and everyone knows it now, many posters were complaining and bitching about sending frye to atlanta for josh smith, frankly i don't care what it takes to get him, they have 18 sf and are a terrible francishe i think that nate and frye could get the deal done.....

Smith is a player that hasn't hit his potential yet and he like dlee has zero ceiling, your looking at a kid that is going to get a jump shot in the next couple of years and will be unstoppable. Frye and Nate don't bring enough of what we need. In this instance you can now wait out Marbury's contract and hope for the best in the free agent market.......

I might be nuts, but give me another team out there that wade or lebron would want to join that will be close to a championship unit......When marbury and francis come off the books

Crawford/Collins
Q
Smith/Balkman
Lee
Curry

you think Lebron or Wade wouldn't like to deliever the ball to three guys that are breaking the rim off, and the best finishing duo in the league your nuts......

exactly