Posted by TMS:
Posted by Bippity10:
The problem with many of these lottery teams is they just slap potential on top of potential and never go out and find veterans to teach them. We haven't had a person that could lead by example since the days of Allan and KT. we need to bring in guys like that in order to prevent the repeat of the chaos we have had for so long.
I do think Donny will continue to bring in young guys. He will continue to jettison some of these guys like Hughes and Wilcox and Q and Jared and bring in young guys, but at the same time he has to go after some vets that can lead. Otherwise we will spin our wheels.
TMS: Why the impression that Donnie doesn't want to rebuild? Other than tanking every game to get the top pick what have we done to suggest we don't want to rebuild?
i think u misunderstood me, i'm not saying Donnie's not trying to rebuild, just that he's going about it in a way so that he can try to stay competitive while rebuilding, which isn't really going all in on a rebuild effort in the classic sense... he's still trying to acquire stopgaps of productive players for his veterans instead of dumping contracts for picks & young prospects... if he'd resolved himself on an all out rebuild he would have traded Zach, Jamal, D Lee & Nate for whatever picks he could get his hands on last year... instead he traded for guys like Tim Thomas, Al Harrington, Cuttino Mobley, Larry Hughes & held onto D Lee & Nate to try & compete for an 8th seed this year w/the long range vision of cutting longterm payroll... that's all i'm saying, it's not the same.
See I don't agree. First, teams were asking for draft picks in order to even take Zach so he shouldn't be part of the discussion. I think the thought behind D.Lee and nate is that they are young, talented, have upside and value around the league. They aren't exactly vets, they are young players with trade value and upside. You would essentially be trading them with the ame thing. Not much of a difference other than the fact that you know what Nate and David can bring.
As for the rest of the guys brought in like Hughes and Wilcox. I do think they were brought in to help us compete. I think if Lebron and Dwade were available in the draft I think Walsh would have behaved entirely differently. But in this draft there are no guaranteed franchise level stars. So there was no need to lose as many games as possible. Pick 10 will have the upside of pick 4. Nothing wrong with getting short term contracts to compete in my view. This franchise needed it. Another 23 win season brought on by "intentional losing" would have just further pro longed our "rebuilding" process.
I think we are jaded because in the past we continually brought in vets with long-term contracts etc. This year we didn't bring in vets with long-term contracts, we brought in vets that will allow for cap space sooner than any of us expected. Vets that allow us to get in the trade and free-agent markets. Walsh also brought in at least 5 or 6 fringe NBA players(similar to Green) to see if they could provide some outside shooting or shot blocking in the paint. Unfortunately it didn't work out, but the attempt was real. As we clear off some of the veteran fodder(which I guarantee is coming) I am sure you will see more of this as well. They have not shied away from young players at all. More will come.
To me they are clearly rebuilding. They are committing to Danilo, Wilson and possibly Lee and no one else. They are clearing cap space and trading for reasonable contracts in order to get in the game to provide these guys with more talent. The only thing they have not done is jettison every veteran player possible to bring in nothing but draft picks and young guys. A plan that is universally accepted but never works unless one of those young players is named Lebron or Michael Jordan.
6/4/2009 10:56 AM