Barea's price tag: $3m http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas-mavericks/post/_/id/4705301/mavs-bid-or-bye-j-j-barea
To be honest I think Duncan would have been as great as he is regardless of the Admiral. The great ones, like Kobe and Jordan, figure it out themselves. I don't agree with your take on Malone, but I rather not get sidetracked. As for Gasol, he won't work with Okafor and I rather not spend max dollars on tutorage. The experiment would be a net negative because Okafor would learn more from actually playing. A net positive would come from spending on a quality wing. You could only have 5 players on the court at a time.
There's room for both tactics. Gasol is already on the other side of 30 years old. Okafor isn't even 20 yet. Within 5-6 years Okafor is entering his prime as Gasol is retiring. I don't see this as "rebuild now" vs. "rebuild long-term". I see this as be as good as possible for as long as possible. If we've got a shot at Gasol, Aldridge, or maaaaaybe Love then I take that chance and run with it. There's worse problems to have than a lack of talent. We should know all about that after these last couple of years.
I hear he wants to stay in Dallas, but I think even they are skeptical. He's way undersized and his athleticism is leaving him. I'm not even interested honestly unless we need bargain types to fill in around a big money player.
I'd only run with that if we view them first and foremost as a trading chip. If they work out, fine. If they don't, trade asap.
Barea is definitely a settle for type backup, but we've done far worse with PGs in the past decade than JJ. He plays hard and with a lot of heart. Nowhere near the top of my list for a backup, but definitely not off the list either.
You're going to find a lot of takers for guys of their talent and at their price tag once the cap blows up, so I guess that's fine. I find it odd though that you'd want to trade a guy so quickly when they're proven in the NBA but you want to build around the young cats who have a lot to prove still. I totally understand wanting to build through the draft but it took years and a lot of luck for OKC and San Antonio to get where they are. We need to move quicker than that. There's a balance to be struck here if we CAN get a high level FA. I don't even think we can, so it's all kind of moot. At this point I'm preparing for the Lakers big get to be Carroll at 12-14 million or something where we overpaid a little bit.
Prediction: Randle and top 2 pick are brought along slowly from the bench. Whether or not, they will eventually start is to be determined. The Lakers want to contend for the POs next year. As high as I am on Randle and even Okafoe, starting two rookies is not going to contend for the POs.
I think one of them has to start out of necessity, but I definitely think that's the way the Lakers would rather play it. I don't know that we can find a starting PF, SF, and Center all in FA this summer though... Not to mention a backup PG.
It depends on what you're asking those rookies to do and who the rookies are. I think they both stArt, and if we land gasoline/Lma/love then rankle shifts to SF. If we don't keep at PF and we most likely have Carroll battle it out with a rook and swaggy.
@RandleROFY Only way that happens is with a max FA big then they use them as a 3 man rotation covering both spots. I fully expect both to start because they're that good and we don't have any other option (will have too many holes to fill). That said, I expect about 40 minutes to be available per night for the backups...you could give 30 mins to one guy or spilt it up between Black, Kelly, and whatever low dollar veteran signing you make there.
It's not that I prefer a rook over an allstar. I just think it kind of sends the wrong message to both players. I don't think Gasol would want to come here anyway, with a prodigy like Okafor blowing down his neck. And yeah, it's moot because he seems totally happy in Memphis. Thumbs up to Carroll.
Agreed. There's plenty of minutes to go around. I am going by our history. Mitch will bring in vets at the 3 and 5. If Okafor/Randle earn starters minutes, do it. I just don't expect that to happen at the very beginning of the season. Spend every dollar you have on improving this team with legitimate starters, ease the young talent in, and create an environment of winning basketball.
Well we did something like that last year when we picked up Carlos Boozer. I think it's fine. Even these high picks need a learning curve. Having Randle off the bench last year did a lot to help take the pressure off of him. I'd honestly rather have Okafor start, but I wouldn't be opposed to having him come off the bench either if we picked up a stud.
I see the point, but Boozer is not the same thing. Taking a 3 million dollar, one year flier is a lot different than signing the best player at his position to a max deal.
Well sort of. But it was out of necessity because we had zero depth at PF. And Boozer was cheap on a one-year deal. (goes back to my stance of signing 1-2 year deals to vets like Pierce) Not to mention Gasol is twice the player Boozer is at this point of their careers. But I get your point and I agree that we need some leadership in the frontcourt.
LMA news (Also he put his Portland home up for sale)... We have a top 2 pick, JC, Randle, Kobe with max space now and x2 next season. Might not be a bad gig LMA.
Actually my main focus this season would be getting Tyson Chandler but I've been saying that for a while now. I understand not wanting to get crowded but I'll take what I can get!
