as a team manager standpoint, what moves would you make in the summer to run you're team into a contender? here are some of my viewpoints: 1. SAS - I don't really know how much money do they have to spend, but they really need to go after Marc Gasol as a replacment for Duncan if he retires. would enter Pop's system right away. like nothing is changed. Lamarcus Aldridge would also be beautiful there. but that will make the team more one on one oriented than the basketball we see from them today. 2. IND - Actually, Gasol instead of Hibbert who finishes his contract is what the team needs to go all the way. 3. WAS - I would try my best to trade Nene. or make him a bench player. as a team manager would want to improve the team so Durant would want to come in 2016. I have strong feelings KLove is leaving CLE and I would go after him. he is perfect for them. 4. CLE - They don't really need someone to win the championship, just exprience. but whatever you look at it, Love does not fit there. Draymond Green on the other end is perfect for them. he and Lebron can switch the 3-4 position, brings defence, energy and dirty work. 5. TOR - They have a problam with thiere bigs. not gonna happen because he will not leave ATL, but Paul Milsap will upgrade the PF position, the passing and the team defence.
The only team I've thought about when it comes to this summer is ours. That being said NY is in a similar situation so for them I think I could see: 1. Draft Towns 2. Sign Love 3. I don't know End up coming out of the summer with a rock solid front court to put alongside Carmelo.
If Duncan retires, Popovich has stated that he will retire with him. Whenever that day comes, I think they'll do a full on rebuild.
Thats not true. Popovich signed a 5 year contract and said he does not expect to finish it, but the retirement will not be this summer. Duncan is a question mark. no one knows, but there is a talk about it. and he will probably want to end it with Manu. Popoich tries to make him stay. And with Kawhi Leonard getting better each day, Parker who will still be only 32 and good replacments on the market like Gasol and Aldridge theres no need to go into rebuild mode. If Green or Belinelli leaves they would find other replacments. The only thing is Ginobili retiring. he was such an important piece for them.
What do you mean? He has stated multiple times that he will walk away when Duncan walks away. It's possible that he changed his mind, but I'm not getting what part of my input is untrue. Edit: Although you're probably right about my take on the rebuild. I should retract my original statement a bit since they do have Leonard, who is really good. Without Duncan/Ginobili though, I just don't see that patented Spurs team. Parker is showing signs of regression and struggled for a good bit this season. Even if they got Marc, they would still need another piece. Ginobili/Duncan (and possibly Popovich) are a lot to lose. With an aging Parker, I think they would start some sort of rebuilding process.
I honestly could see them trading Leonard. Get something of value and just go full rebuild with a blank slate.
pop has said that, but i don't know how serious he was. it's hard to imagine him just walking away whenever duncan decides to do so. i imagine he'd like the challenge of coaching a team without duncan.
They would never trade Leonard. He's 23. He would be the piece you went after with a blank slate. Why give him up? Max him out and build around 2.0.
leonard's not a build-around piece, but I agree that you don't move him...unless you're getting a foundational piece back.
Yeah I think Leonard is a great piece, but not necessarily the kind of guy who to build a team around. The Lakers don't build around James Worthy, you know?
Yeah, but he's still a max level talent and the kind of player you go after in a rebuild. So what if he's a #2 kind of guy. You need a #2. And you have him at 23 years old. Easier to get just a #1 than both a #1 and a #2.
You trade him for a high level draft pick that's a #1 and maybe a future pick that gets you a #2. Worthy was never the #2 he was the #3. Magic and Kareem, then Worthy. What makes Kawhi great is that he's got Duncan, Parker, and even Ginobili around him to take pressure off of him offensively. If this summer Duncan retired and we offered the Spurs a Top 3 pick, an imaginary future pick, and some filler guys like Hill I think they'd take the deal.
Worthy was a two, no question. The last two titles, Kareem was not the same Kareem. Also, there was no Kareem on that Lakers team that lost in the Finals against the Bulls. A series we might have won had we not got hit by the injury bug.
So when we needed Worthy to be a two... we lost! I love Big Game and I think in some situations he could be a two but his ideal spot for us was as the third option. Even in his waning years Kareem's name was still strong enough that Worthy had more space to operate. That's neither here nor there though Kawhi to me isn't a piece to build around. He's the one you have that ties it together but I don't consider him the one to lead you to the top.
I think we kind of agree and it's a bit of semantics. I agree Kawhi is a glue guy that brings everyone together, but I believe that is vital to any team and carries with it #2 type importance. Honestly, you could make an argument that a guy like Kawhi who puts up #2 type numbers, is happy being part of the team, and doesn't worry about "getting his" is harder to find than a #1 capable of leading a team to the top. Pau was the perfect #2 for Kobe. He didn't care about getting the credit. He was skilled and brought things together...how many guys could we have gotten that would have been able to get Kobe's respect, let Kobe do Kobe things and not say much, AND have the skill of a #2 or even #1a option? You need both almost equally. I think we agree for the most part on this. I just think you can build a team around him. The construction would be different, but it can be done. Kawhi, IMO is a top 15 player in terms of overall impact. I think a alpha male superstar would look at the Spurs stability and a player like Kawhi and think, "I can come in there and be the man, and have a quiet second option that won't challenge my authority." To be honest, if you're a dude like Westbrook or someone like that, Kawhi is the exact player you might look for.
