Well obviously I would want PG coming first. Then the choice would be Julius between those two. Do you think we can hide him on defense or mitigate his midgetness in any way? What has to happen there? What did Boston do last year? Is Luke up to it? Zenmaster has good points on Luke seemingly taking way too long to figure out seemingly simple bits of strategy.
The best way to hide his size is to do what we're already doing. Run. The faster we play, IT's size becomes less of a detriment.
If PG comes sans Lebron, we probably could afford both IT and Randle. Maybe someone throws big money at IT, but i don’t envision a ton of suitors so he could get paid a fair 6th man salary and then we go over the cap to retain Jules.
We could do a lot of good things with LBJ's salary especially if PG committed to coming regardless. He would be the first star (super) domino to start the chain reaction going forward and then our own great talent matures and keeps the ball rolling.
I liked what I saw tonight. Pretty good game all around for IT. I hope he can close out the year strong rounding back into something close to his previous shape.
...last night at the free throw line, one of the rare moments when an official stood over a player handing him the ball. Thomas was OK. Good to see he's blending in with the crew not trying to take over, picking his spots and kept the ball moving. He had some nice finds for scores...even fought well on D. Then there was the shoe incident with Ferrell. Feisty squirrels yipping at each other.
I'd want to see Thomas round himself to at least 90% of what he was before... That talent to score off the dribble and shooting is amazing for a player of his stature. Definitely not a novelty. Also Thomas is no diva. He'll be fine. I'm wondering IF Thomas would take a significant (for him) reduction of his pay scale to stay.
He's a double-edged sword. He wants to be great, which is awesome, but the path towards greatness with him controlling the ball is razor thin. You need to be perfect. His ideal role (and I said this when he was killing it with the C Bags) is as a 6th man that gets a ton of control off the bench. If he were willing to just accept this role here, I would absolutely love to keep him around after we scoop up some other great FAs. Having a player of his caliber off the bench would make us terrifying. Either way though, I'd love for him to keep performing well. Not only will it help us win games, but it'll get him a contract which would be a good deal for him. His stock was insanely low before the trade.
IT takes this as an insult. His whole life and career people have wanted to bench him or pay him less - and most of us want to do both. The guy just wants to find a situation where he can give his all for a club, ball out, start, get paid and win. I mean last year he was one of the best players in the league, finished 6th in MVP voting, was averaging 29 points on good efficiency and leading the league in 4th quarter scoring. We act like he is some throwaway expiring bum. If you invest in IT and get him healthy and back to Boston level - man watch out. He is one of the best closers in the league. For the rest of the year I would start: IT Ball Ingram Randle Lopez We get to see what it’s like if we resign both IT and Randle. Run and gun!
insult? last i checked we're not boston, we dont owe IT anything, there's no scenario i can think off where he gets paid, starts AND wins....best case for him is 2 of those 3, getting paid big n starting
I know he's insulted but it's just the truth. If he's not an MVP caliber player, he's not. Making up for his defensive issues. That's why I say the path to success with him is razor thin. I'd love for him to regain that form, but I'm not counting on it. For the record though, my particular type of doubt is exactly what drives Isaiah. I truly hope he succeeds.
I completely agree with you. I hope for his sake he recovers that form, he seems like a good guy. I don’t know the finer details on his injury, but he needs to retain his movement ability to get some separation. If he has that, the confidence thing will take care of itself and he can be a heck of a scorer again.
I’m not sure who said we owed him anything? I’m merely saying he would be insulted by being offered less and not starting. Also your last point, if he is playing at his Boston level, he is adding a lot of wins to whatever team he is at, his ability to close was good for 10 wins for Boston last year. So I think all he wants is to be paid and to start - he believes he will bring the wins.