Grant Hill would take the veteran minimum. Which would be great depending on what trade we make.

I think Nene really is the play here. He is tough can finish and I would rather give him 11 million then Melo 22 and deplete our entire team. If AR can develop having a rotation of Amare/Nene/Moz/AR is a lot of shotblocking and toughness.

Big Baby is another great option, Martin I think you are right on target. I don't think that kid gets enough credit. He outside jumper is very good and he brings a lot of energy to the table they won't be able to afford him.

TMS wrote:i think we need someone who will actually fit into the system MDA is trying to run... he seems to favor more athletic guys who can run the floor & play multiple positions, not lumbering big body Centers that will slow down the pace... someone like Tayshaun Prince, Jonas Jerebko or Andre Kirilenko would be perfect additions to run in this system.

I think that is the model--trying to emulate the Dallas bench--meaning you have four high caliber guys that make sense and can play without question. A sixth man a big who can play D and score some another scorer and a high quality back up PG.

Create as much cap space as possible from non performing assets. target 10-14 guys(maybe some on teams who have a contract but want out of salary) do NOT overpay anyone resign Chandler to a reasonable contract--i.e 6 years 42mm

Put some effort into making the bench better now and stop being scared that well use assets that Denver never wanted anyway for a trade that isnt happening.

BRIGGS wrote:

TMS wrote:i think we need someone who will actually fit into the system MDA is trying to run... he seems to favor more athletic guys who can run the floor & play multiple positions, not lumbering big body Centers that will slow down the pace... someone like Tayshaun Prince, Jonas Jerebko or Andre Kirilenko would be perfect additions to run in this system.

I think that is the model--trying to emulate the Dallas bench--meaning you have four high caliber guys that make sense and can play without question. A sixth man a big who can play D and score some another scorer and a high quality back up PG.

Create as much cap space as possible from non performing assets. target 10-14 guys(maybe some on teams who have a contract but want out of salary) do NOT overpay anyone resign Chandler to a reasonable contract--i.e 6 years 42mm

Put some effort into making the bench better now and stop being scared that well use assets that Denver never wanted anyway for a trade that isnt happening.

FistOfOakley wrote:they had a lot of luck building that kind of success.

they basically recycled a lot of bad contracts into veterans who were fairly lucky to be as good as they are now. jason kidd is an example. haywood is an example of a bad move.

also they did do well with late draft picks with beaubois and who was undrafted i believe.

they have a lot of money tied up long term so it's not a strategy for a young team like us to follow.

they also have been building that team for years & they still haven't won a chip... this is our first year we've ever even had any kind of core to build around in the past decade... it's going to take multiple seasons worth of MLE type signings & trades to assemble a championship contender worthy bench that would have the same kind of impact that adding a star player would, & even then it's no guarantee we'd even win going that route.

meanwhile, the Celtics went for it all, traded away their youth & draft picks for established veteran stars & they won a championship & almost won another... i'd rather follow their model than follow the plan that a team like Dallas who has been a perennial bridesmaid but never the bride has followed... IMO the quicker path to yield the biggest returns is to target an impact player... you can focus on assembling your bench after you have the 2 stars to build around... guys like Haywood, Kidd, etc. are WAY more likely to come to a team where they'd have a chance to compete for championships.

TMS wrote:
they also have been building that team for years & they still haven't won a chip... this is our first year we've ever even had any kind of core to build around in the past decade... it's going to take multiple seasons worth of MLE type signings & trades to assemble a championship contender worthy bench that would have the same kind of impact that adding a star player would, & even then it's no guarantee we'd even win going that route.

meanwhile, the Celtics went for it all, traded away their youth & draft picks for established veteran stars & they won a championship & almost won another... i'd rather follow their model than follow the plan that a team like Dallas who has been a perennial bridesmaid but never the bride has followed... IMO the quicker path to yield the biggest returns is to target an impact player... you can focus on assembling your bench after you have the 2 stars to build around... guys like Haywood, Kidd, etc. are WAY more likely to come to a team where they'd have a chance to compete for championships.

first, they had Al Jefferson. no one on our team has anyone near his perceived value. So no, we're not going to get anyone near the caliber of KB on the trade market.

second, they had a high lotto pick to get ray allen. we do not have a pick to trade for another few years.

third, they had kendrick perkins, leon powe and most important rajon rondo. our pieces are around that level but after trades who knows what we'd be left with. shawne williams?

it's going to be hard to replicate. the big guy on the trade block is melo now, but he's no where near the player KG is so it'd be hard to get anyone with the same kind of impact.

& before KG & Ray Allen got to Boston, Pierce was putting up Melo type #'s while his teams missed the playoffs in 2 consecutive seasons posting up 33 & 24 wins... Melo put up those types of #'s on winning teams his entire career in much tougher conference & got them to the playoffs in each... of course you have to consider the surrounding cast, but it's not like Pierce was playing with a bunch of scrubs either... Al Jefferson was a 16 & 11 guy in Boston... Melo has never once played with a top frontcourt player in his NBA career & still good enough to get his teams to 43 wins or more in every single year playing in a tougher WC... i think that's very impressive for a perimeter oriented player to do... you can't say the same for Paul Pierce.