2011/12 trim the fat/fill the bench fest...

by bucketsncents on Mar 27, 2011 4:31 PM EDT

as mentioned by others, we're kinda sorta back in "look ahead mode". this year is done and frustrating (and if we get to the playoffs, i'll root for, but not expect anything). clearly, this years team won't be our team next year... thank jesus.

once we're outta the playoffs (which will most likely be sooner than later), i wanna clean house... as i'm hoping everyone does. we can keep amare, melo (though i'm not opposed to trading him), TD, fields and maybe... maybe derrick brown (young with upside) and shawne (specialist). everyone else should go. time to trim the fat. and i'd love to start over and fill out the roster with youth, athleticism, hunger and size.

and since i'm tired of talking about stars and starters, i'd love to hear from you guys who your top 5-10 cheap, young depth targets would be... not including the draft (unless you wanna in which case, knock yourself out).

here are my "non-star" depth targets... just looking at the free agents:

- swings- sonny weems/shannon brown/cj miles/battier/thaddeus young

- bigs- josh mcroberts/earl clark/dante cunningham/joey dorsey/nazr/etan

- PG's- ronnie price, dragic, barrea

so who would you want your bench to include... on the cheap (relative, i know)

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Some potential diamond in the rough type guys who would thrive with this team that we can get IMO

Bigs: Robin Lopez (trade), Brad Miller (trade), Yi Jianlian (FA), Troy Murphy (FA), Kwame Brown (FA), Reggie Evans (FA), Glen Davis (FA) and Nenad Kristic (FA). Chris Kaman and Emeka Okafor are some expensive, big name centers we could maybe get via trade, but it def be a risk. (probably give up Turiaf and some fillers)

Wings: Matt Barnes (if he opts out, FA), Grant Hill (FA), DeShawn Stevenson (FA), Marquis Daniels (FA), James Jones (FA), Raja Bell (trade) and Shane Battier (FA).

PGs (some combo Gs too): Shannon Brown (FA?), Carlos Arroyo (FA), Randy Foye (FA), and TJ Ford (FA).

by hvino on Mar 27, 2011 7:24 PM EDT reply actions

I appreciate the work it took to find these lists

but I hate every single name on them

by Dutchmarau on Mar 27, 2011 8:19 PM EDT reply actions

remember guys

if you don’t like what a post has to say, “ignore” it.

"They say when he runs past people on screens......he burns people."

by total hermination on Mar 27, 2011 8:57 PM EDT reply actions

You're totally right

Sorry folks

by Dutchmarau on Mar 27, 2011 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I like the idea of Shannon Brown or Thaddeus Young.

Also, Dragic would be nice but if I’m not mistaken he’s under contract for some time. Not really a fan of any of those bigs but I don’t know a bunch about Clark.

by fsucj2431 on Mar 27, 2011 9:57 PM EDT reply actions

sigh... irony

and i’d love to start over and fill out the roster with youth, athleticism, hunger and size.

I think it was Bobby V who said: "You are never as good as you are when you are at your best, and you are not as bad as when you are at your worst."

by gbaked on Mar 27, 2011 10:45 PM EDT reply actions

D'oh!

by flossy on Mar 28, 2011 7:58 AM EDT up reply actions

Not sure which way to go honestly. And D'antoni will probably stick to an 8/9 man rotation, so this might not be entirely needed.

If we are going after a PG, it’s going to be a starter imo. Tdouglas should highly likely be the unopposed backup 1 going into next season, and billups will be back or gone. No idea who to go after as billups for a replacement if we choose so. Best option is likely to resign billups cheaper(2yrs at $7mil/yr?) and lower his min/gm so he’s fresher on the court.

For a big, I like Turiaf as a backup and us getting any Chandler/Gasol/Okafor(if possible) as a starter to help us there, dalembert/kaman as worst case scenarios to fall upon I’d guess.

After that, our lineup should look like:

Douglas-Billups/replacement
Fields-Battier(also playing some time at the 3)
Melo-Battier/Extra E
Stoudemire-Extra E some time here possibly(She-will could fit this role well at 10-12min/gm)
Turiaf-Chandler/Gasol/Okafor/Kaman/Dalembert

and that leaves us with 1 more guy that will get a good amount of use on our bench. Brown is interesting as a resign if we get a better look at him, but honestly we should probably go after a 2 or a big 4. We lacked size and rebounding this year, so a 4 would be good. Then again, another scoring punch at 2 wouldn’t be bad. I don’t have anyone in mind, but battier’s name has been thrown around by people here and he would be a welcoming addittion to our bench as landry/melo backup spending time at the 2 and 3 playing big minutes. Money situation is another problem.

Proud Islanders fan, the organization that iced the greatest team to ever play the game and won 4 straight cups.
I'm also an optimistic Knicks fan, pessimistic Mets fan, and a happy Jets fan.

by OzzyFan on Mar 27, 2011 11:39 PM EDT reply actions

I like some of these players

definitely some interesting MLE targets. In order:

Shannon Brown
CJ Miles
Sonny Weems
Goran Dragic
Earl Clark

Miles above Weems because he can shoot (he’s also younger than you realize)
Dragic fourth because PG isn’t as big of a need and the Rockets will re-sign him
Clark only listed because I’ve always been a fan of his but don’t the Magic have a team option? or did Phoenix already decline it?

and I’m always in favor of signing Nazr or, even better, Kurt.

weak class overall, though. what can you do.

"I feel like this: You can't hate me." -Toney Douglas

by The Rooster on Mar 27, 2011 11:56 PM EDT reply actions

i'd take kurt back...

in a heartbeat. he’s probably got a good 12-14 years left. that dude has shocked the league with his longevity.

by bucketsncents on Mar 28, 2011 6:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Remember he didn't play like his first 4-5 years in the league much cause he was always hurt.

When we got him the first time, it was for basically peanuts! Would take him back now for the same price. That kind of nasty doesn’t get old it justs ferments!!!!!

by Robert Curre on Mar 28, 2011 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

When he retires we have to replace Herb with him

what player won’t have nightmares about messing up on D, then walking back to the bench only to be greeted by his scowl?

"I feel like this: You can't hate me." -Toney Douglas

by The Rooster on Mar 28, 2011 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Billups/dragic
Fields/TD
Melo/Extra E
W.chandler/ Stat
Stat /Baron/turiaf

i hope we can afford ill will and dragic and baron im not good at counting salary cap but this team would be better and upto 9players can play on this system effectively.

by Teutoknicks on Mar 28, 2011 1:56 AM EDT reply actions

There are too many

Young players on your list. Young players don’t play for cheap. Its the veterans that does that.

The greatest player ever!!!

by terellchewy on Mar 28, 2011 3:09 PM EDT reply actions

probably true for some...

but hopefully we’ll be able to scrape up at least a couple of them who still haven’t quite proven themselves. i’d hate to have a roster of old’heads playin’ for cheap… except for kurt… he’s always welcome.

weems is the one i like… kids got hops and a lot of room to grow.

by bucketsncents on Mar 28, 2011 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Nazr Mohammed

He is an available cheap big ugly who if nothing else is physical and will do some dirty work on the boards. He’s no star but he is better than anything we got at center right now. and though he is 34 he actually has been productive when he has gotten consistent minutes.

by Robert Curre on Mar 28, 2011 3:59 PM EDT reply actions