Honestly what I'd like to see is this:
(1) Continue purging/trimming the fat off this roster. Looks like they're on the verge of cutting ties with Murry---keep going. Decline Tyler's option, trade or buy out Pablo and maybe even buy out Sammy Dalembert too (for around half pay I thought I read somewhere, right? Around $1.8mm?). I firmly believe we could do better than all of these guys, even at league minimum salaries.
(2) Make this James Harden deal with Houston for Melo. It's by far and away our best option (if it's even on the table -- what's the deal here? Is this more fact or just speculation/rumor mill?? I know Melo plans on visiting Houston so there's gotta be something to it, no?). It's so good a deal, I have trouble understanding why Houston would even contemplate such a move...When you consider that we plan to hit FA in a big way after next year---we should be back in contention fairly quick and I'd like to have James Harden in his mid-twenties around to be a part of that... No idea how they make this work though. Harden's set to make a little less than $15mm next year. They've got to come up with something close to 20-22mm....Too bad they ammnestied Luis Scola -- his $6.5mm contract would've worked perfectly here...Harden + Robert Covington, Terrence Jones (or Motiejunas) and cash? Or maybe we involve larger salaries on both sides --- Melo/Bargnani for Harden/Lin and cash (or one of their promising low-salary players)??
(3) I'd like to see more of an upgrade at the point too. Larkin's a good start but we need more. Calderon's older, lost a step and is bad defensively. Would prefer Calderon as the 3rd PG on my depth chart to be honest -- I'd like to see him in the Prigioni role, not as the lead guard (where he is probably better than Prigioni at this stage to be fair -- upgrade over Prigioni). I'd continue to look at guys like Mills and Darren Collison, although the guy that really intrigues me the most is Jerryd Bayless. I'd love to see what this kid could do with a clean slate and the keys to the bus -- I'm talking a starting lead guard role with over 30 mins per. He had that at Arizona as a freshman and was a stud. I know he hasn't done much in the NBA yet but his athleticism, confidence & talent level are all undeniable. This guy could offer a ton if given a real chance to run his own team. I'd take a chance here -- if it didn't work out, he's still a rotation player at a good price (assuming he'd come fairly cheap---maybe even cheaper than Mills or Collison) and we'd have Larkin and Calderon ready to fill in. If it did work out, Bayless becomes a star or close to it, backed up by a very skilled/very quick Shane Larkin (these 2 could be ultra dynamic together) with Calderon around to offer guidance, wisdom and upgraded play over Prigioni if called upon.
(4) My 2 tier 1 FA targets as of right now would be Cole Aldrich and Jerryd Bayless. If we could figure out a way to add both of these players to what we already have, it'd be a straight up coup. I read a few days ago that we may have a chance to open up the full MLE if we could adjust the payroll some more. Anyone know if this is really an option? Fact or fiction? If it's fact, getting Aldrich and Bayless is much more realistic. If not, you try anyway..
(5) Next, fill in with the best tier 2/league minimum talents around, wherever there might be holes/whatever position needs more depth -- backup C (Daniel Orton--how is he on Washington's SL roster and not ours? Marcus Cousin? Call up New Orleans and see if they'd be open to a small deal for either Alexis Ajinca or Jeff Withey??), backup PF (Richard Howell? Trevor Mbakwe?), more depth on the wing (Devin Ebanks? DeQuan Jones? Terrence Williams?), another shooter/even more PG depth (Seth Curry?), etc...Start thinking about quality roster depth in these terms and let's see some talent like this on the SL squad instead of the usual dreck we bring in.
