What's up with Mike Scott? He sign anywhere yet? Big fan of his emerging offensive game...I'd take this guy in a heartbeat. No-brainer if we could get him at a good price. If he hasn't signed anywhere yet, he's probably holding out for a halfway decent contract -- and rightly so man, he's really made some nice strides as a player since college. If I'm Scott, I might be irked a little at ATL's reluctance to bring him back up to this point. Kinda like, 'OK, I did some nice things for you and you don't want me? No problem, I'm gone." If he feels that way, that could eliminate ATL as a league minimum return destination and allow more teams to enter the equation, maybe the Knicks...I actually see him as more of a 4 anyway which would be great -- if anything, I feel we could use a little more depth there, maybe more than out on the wing. Think about the following: Amar'e/Bargs/Jason Smith have all been injury prone in recent years, not to mention having Melo play more traditional SF this year might be the way to go -- I dunno man, Melo playing against bigger guys every night with all the pounding that comes with that, playing inside trying to help out on the glass which he did because we needed him to (and may not as much anymore), etc. -- maybe playing some more 3 this year might be able to keep him fresh and cut down on the chance of injury over the long haul (think about those shoulders, the contract he just signed and the reality of the Knicks becoming a top team in the NBA with Melo may come after next season when the big cap space finally opens up). Another 4 could help clear up these concerns.
I like CDR also -- another good option if there really turns out to be a need for more SF depth. Dude is one hell of a crafty scorer. Gotta put the ball in the hole, that's the name of the game and this dude can do that. I feel for players like this -- guys that definitely have enough talent for the NBA (more than a lot of the dreck some teams are carrying at the end of their benches in fact), but for one reason or another, don't get their chance to showcase and stick. Sometimes I feel there's more than enough good talent out there where the league could easily expand to another city or two (Seattle wouldn't welcome the chance to have another NBA team?). Wouldn't even have to have an expansion draft that would water the league down necessarily--there's plenty of talented players already out there looking for work. One or two NBA rosters could easily be assembled out of that pool of players.
Just curious though, I watched most of our SL action but didn't see every play -- what was it about Early's game in Vegas that's changed everyone's perception of him? He looked OK to me -- talented yet a guy who was understandably feeling his way...I know everyone loved the pick -- everyone was saying he was 1st round material. Did he really regress that badly to the point where he's no longer a legit rotation option? There are a lot of names out there that could fill in admirably at backup 3, we all have the guys we like -- but maybe we show some conviction in the Early pick and throw him out there and let him learn/develop on the fly. Thanasis too maybe (although if we really could stash Greek Freak 2 in Europe for a year, maybe that's the way to go with him in terms of alleviating roster congestion). Early though, I dunno man -- we drafted this guy to be a backup SF, no? A rotation player. Or to be a primary cog if Melo bolted on us...4-year player here who's had success -- maybe we just pencil him in and let him develop on the fly with that 2nd unit, and instead concentrate on other positions that could use some shoring up (PF, an upgrade over Prigioni at backup PG perhaps, etc..).
7/23/2014 10:33 PM
