Posted by Masterplan:

The MLE by definition is the average salary of everyone in the NBA....that doesn't mean 1/2 the league has that salary, it is just an average.

yes. if you read my post, i said half the league makes the MLE or less. two thirds of our team makes more than that, and like 90% of our players who have a contract past this season. that cuts down our trading options, unless we keep taking on bad contracts, which i don't want to do.

I don't understand your last part. There are plenty of Hassell type players out there, each on a team with a unique financial structure. There are ways anything work. Trading for players making the LLE or whatever, and if that is the only way you plan on rebuilding our assets and getting our cost under control, I think it is narrow thinking. Signings and such should be taken into account...How many midlevel players would you like on this roster?

I don't think trading for a star is the answer. I would love for this team to see what the Pistons did as a team with 3 or 4 above average players, and players who know their role.

stars do win championships. but they need the right supporting cast around them. to keep using the hassell example, he was a cheap signee that took minutes from guys like spree and szczerbiak, guys making way more than him. we currently have the mindset that, if we need a pure shooter, we have to get ray allen. if we need a post scorer, let's give curry the money he wants. i think it's a troubling mindset when other teams find those guys in the draft or early on in their careers. we're stuck making moves for big money players, and yet all the real stars are on other teams. i think that unless we can get one of those championship players for TT, penny, mo, whoever, we need to replace them with reasonable role players so that when we do get that star we have the flexibility to put the pieces in place around him to win it all.

Sorry about the first part, I'll read more carefully next time.

I agree with your points about Curry and Ray Allen. They are not pieces we need, I would much rather blitz this draft get Taft, Simien, Graham or Green and Jarret Jack, but that won't happen. What will happen is Zeke is trying to patch up some spots and rebuild while at least trying to be competitive.

Seriously, not one player is untouchable on this roster, but I would like to keep Ariza especially, but noone is untouchable, even Sweetney. I agree with the whole principle you have stated, but I also do not expect teams to be lining up to help us out of our problem...Sometimes you have to take a step back to move 3 steps forward, IMO.

Posted by Rich:

Delete this thread.

Posted by fishmike:

Agree Guns... Jermaine is a stop gap until the end of the year. Moochie was much better. He's got good size.. but thats about all I can say thats positive. I would rather have a sparkplug type like Barrett.

Hopefully Butler sticks, not because I like him but because that means he's worth keeping.