Right now this team is built around Melo, Stoudemire, Lin, and Chandler (and Shumpert to a smaller degree.) We know Stoudemire will regain some of his mojo next season, and probably be a more productive 20/8 type of player, a borderline all-star at worst. At that point in time we may not get equal value back, but teams will have a general interest in him. If the right trade is there, great, if it's not and he seems to be fitting in, we can keep him and re-evaluated next summer.

Melo is only 28, Chandler 29, and Lin 24. 2 years from now (do the math on their ages) we will have an expiring Stoudemire contract and 3 core players still in their primes and the ability to build around these players for at least another 3 years beyond that point, maybe more considering how teams like the Spurs and Celtics are performing. At that point in time, we will know what it will take to win around Melo, Lin, and Chandler, and if it's possible.

For the time being, i see Stoudemire as a big reason for failure, but i see it as repairable at least in the short-term. As stated before he will look better next season. He, Melo, Chandler, and Lin will have the luxury of spending their first offseason and training camp figuring some things out. We probably owe that to them.

The simple way to work with what we have now is this: Every rotation player alongside these 4 players needs to be able to do one of two things, or both: hit the 3 pointer and/or defend at a very high level. We need the ultimate role players, and they are out there. Shumpert is a top defender and Novak is a top shooter. Harrellson can do a little of both (who knows, maybe he is the answer at PF in 2 years being a stretch-4 and rugged post defender/rebounder.) Jeffries can also defend well. Given Shumpert's injury, i think we need to find a starting shooting guard who can really shoot it, and bring Shumpert off the bench when he returns. Look at some of the FA shooters. Anthony Parker, Courtney Lee, Brandon Rush, Jodie Meeks, etc. Not to say we can get all these players, but with Fields as an assets and some creativity, findihg a player like this to plug in at the 2 would go a long ways. After that, if we find a backup PG like Flynn for instance, i think we are in pretty good shape. Not to say we are winning a championship next year, but getting a stable rotation similar to the one below can really give us a chance to see what this team is capable of before completely going in another direction.

C Chandler/Harrellson
PF Stoudemire/Jeffries
SF Anthony/Novak
SG Meeks (or Rush, Parker, Lee)/Shumpert
PG Lin/Flynn

My point is that although we lack the flexiblity and have that infamous uninsuranced contract, i think we are in a pretty good place for the time being.

We know Stoudemire will regain some of his mojo next season, and probably be a more productive 20/8 type of player, a borderline all-star at worst.

We are in a pretty good place to be a poor man's Atlanta Hawks.

Knixkik wrote:We know Stoudemire will regain some of his mojo next season,

We know this how?

I don't like that we have players that get superstar pays but that do not play like superstars should. But personally, I am pretty much satisfied with what we have because there is no sense in fighting it, we do not make these decisions.

blackisblack wrote:

Knixkik wrote:We know Stoudemire will regain some of his mojo next season,

We know this how?

I don't like that we have players that get superstar pays but that do not play like superstars should. But personally, I am pretty much satisfied with what we have because there is no sense in fighting it, we do not make these decisions.

We know this by assuming a few things: This season won't be a shortened one, meaning he will have a training camp. Also, he is not recovering from an injury as severe as last season. Also, we can hope he won't have a close family member die. Also, we can assume he will come into next season in significantly better shape.

Factor in some, or all of these things, and you should have a better player. Not 2010/2011 good, not 2011/2012 bad, but somewhere in between. Is that fair to assume based on what i stated above?

tj23 wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

We know Stoudemire will regain some of his mojo next season, and probably be a more productive 20/8 type of player, a borderline all-star at worst.

We do?

We are in a pretty good place to be a poor man's Atlanta Hawks.

Poor man's atlanta hawks how?

They never had a PG like we have. Melo is a far better player than Johnson, who you would be comparing him to in this scenario. Chandler and Horford are comparable and Smith is better than Stoudemire right now, but not by a lot. Still, we have these 4 players and atlanta only has 3 in a similar class. Not a good comparison.

Melo is not far better than Joe. Johnson is steady. He gets quality looks and is a far better passer and decision maker. They are pretty close.

He is very steady. He is a steady, well-rounded all-star. But to say he is close to Melo is significantly overrating him. He is not a top 15 or even top 20 player.

tj23 wrote:I would disagree. I'd put him in the upper teens somewhere. Melo is sometimes a top 10 player but most of the time he underperforms and plays down to Johnson's level, often worse.

They are close - both not very efficient players.
But main problem with both of them they do not have harisma and drive to win at any cost like Kobe, Wade, Dirk, and other really great players.
And by cost I mean to sacrefise their game for the sake of the team, ability to make other players better. Not even in this class.

By him opting out early, it could limit some of our moves that year as well.
I don't want Melo to be a Joe Johnson 2.0, if he has the balls to opt out, I would rather trade his ass
if he can give us good value. We should be looking for a athletic SF with some ability to play PF anyway.

Do we use one of our draft picks or trade for for one? I am not looking for Melo drama again, especially at his age, 2 years later.

Amare for Gasol, I just can't see why Lakers would do it, even though their salaries match, Gasol has the edge on Amare in EVERY DEPARTMENT.
Pau Gasol, like KG, have the advantage playing the Center position, at their age, as they physically decline.
We would probably have to eat Metta World Peace's contract and/or give up Iman/1st round picks, which I have no interest in.
I don't know if Iman will recover and continue to improve at the pace that I envisioned him to with this major injury.

As for a more athletic 4, they already have ex Knick, Jordan Hill, at that position, a double double machine which is far more consistent than Amare and cost efficient.
Playing in New York is tough, many players have trouble developing in New York. Ariza and now Jordan Hill both weren't much when they were on our roster but look solid in gold/purple.

I expect Grunweld to try to get a sense of what value teams hold on the players on our roster is worth, especially Amare.
Grunweld will be busy working this summer, deciding on how to build the right players together, with a limited budget.
If there are actually players interest in coming at discounts (or just using us to get better contracts like Grant Hill), who is available in FA and trades, and if Amare's best deal is for a player like Rashard Lewis's expiring or a deal like Gasol/Houston....

Anyone know if Toronto offers Lin a contract and then we match it, would that come out of our MLE or not? That could be a great difference maker, with JR Smith opting out (likely),
adding PGs, G/F that play 2 ways (defense and shooting), a pure shooter, a stretch 4, an athletic 4/5, and a shot blocking center.
If we can retain our MLE, adding a player like

MLE
===================
KG, Speights, Brandon Bass, Hickson

Dragic or Nash or Felton or Andre Miller

Ilyasova or Ryan Anderson

LLE
===================

Camby
Omar Osik
Brandon Wright
Mahimi

Ak47

Shannon Brown
Terry
Kidd
Ray Allen
George Hill
Gary Neil
Danny Green
Billups
Novak??

Vet Min
===================
Reggie Evans
Martin

Greg Stiemsma
Hamed Haddadi
Ryan Hollins

Boris Diaw
Jared Jeffries *I appreciate what he brings, would like to keep him*

Gaines
Delonte West
Tinsley
Keyon Dooling

Mickael Pietrus
Anthony Parker
Redd
Kapono

RonRon wrote:
As for a more athletic 4, they already have ex Knick, Jordan Hill, at that position, a double double machine which is far more consistent than Amare and cost efficient.
Playing in New York is tough, many players have trouble developing in New York. Ariza and now Jordan Hill both weren't much when they were on our roster but look solid in gold/purple.

Did you really think about what you wrote? Jordan Hill, double double machine? Unless the stat is taken from their practice time, Jordan Hill will never in his career average a double double, unless the stats are minutes on bench, and towels handed off to the starters during time outs.