I am very big on James Johnson on a 2 year vet min deal, despite if CA leaves or not
A LEGIT SF with the ability to defend SF/PF's like Durant/Lebron/Paul George/CA etc for the CHEAP, a previous 1st round talent that is still young that was coached by Chicago's Tom Tibs
IF he can add a baseline 3pt shot like Kawaii Leonard did LAST SEASON then improve to ALL 3pt shooting with consistency in addition to his DEFENSIVE abilities and GREAT REACH/LENGTH/SIZE with average athleticism, it would become a GREATER STEAL for the vet min
To continue to improve for our future and now,
We also still have either the 3.2m MLE to use or the 5m + to use if CA leaves (though we can still sign and trade him and NOT take back salary with a trade exemption with draft picks/future draft picks)
With this trade and Derek Fisher's signing, it seems inevitable that we will indeed look to acquire Durant and possibly Noah in 2016, while building, developing players, and developing coaching/system/philosophies till then
As of now, it looks like AB could be our starting C, with draft picks/undrafted talents/trades in the meantime till at least 2015
If we can grab both Backnaski and Dwight Powell, they would get the minutes needed in order to develop for our future to speed the process up till we can fill in both Durant/Noah, maybe Kevin Love in 2015
I would be happy with one of them, however, would love both players, as a I think Powell can develop similar to how Taj Gibson and a bit of Brandon Wright had developed
Both played some SF with great length earlier in the careers but became PF/C's as they filled out
Yes I still think we can utilize Darko Milic to a 2 year vet min TEAM OPTION deal for the TRIANGLE, as his all round skills would translate, and for a VET MIN player if he STAYED IN SHAPE like he did prior to signing with the Celtics *which received much praise from Paul Pierce at the time and Doc Rivers*
I know many will continue to bash "DARKO" but lets not worry about where he was selected in his draft, think about if his abilities can translate
When he got minutes on the Twolves, he was quite productive, earning him a 3 year 5m per year deal by them
Unlike players his age at 28, he has much mileage left in his tank due to not playing much earlier in his career and has the risk reward
Add that to the development of Backnaski, Dwight Powell, and a rotation of STAT/AB/Tyler at PF/C, and some of them could be kept for MINIMUM salaries for our future, till we fill in the blanks and allow those 2 to fill out and develop in 1-3 years
Also would like Rudy Gay on a 5-8m type of deal in 2015, feel that it is worth the risk/reward as he was once praised as one of the top developing SF's with SG and PF abilities after both Lebron and Durant along with Granger
Anything more and I would not be interested though
6/25/2014 9:08 PM