You're making me giddy. Clarkson/Watson Kobe/McDaniels Harris/Young/Anderson Randle/Black/Kelly Okafor/Dalembert/Upshaw/Sacre
I don't think Anderson and Upshaw is too realistic... In fact if we go after Harris I doubt very strongly that we keep either the #27 or the #34 pick on the roster. That's too much young blood, not enough old man wisdom. I'm definitely liking the idea though the more I think of it. Harris and Randle are both big, versatile and could likely switch on the perimeter. They're the kinds of guys who should be able to cover ground as well on the perimeter. If we go after Harris, I really want to see us use the rest of our money on veterans. Gimme Mo Williams, Ronnie Price, and probably Ed Davis. Finish up with Ryan Hollins or Nazr Muhommad or even Emeka Okafor. Clarkson/Williams/Price Bryant/Ellington/Brown Harris/Young Randle/Black/Kelly Okafor/Davis/Hollins That team probably isn't making the playoffs next year, but they'll be exciting and fun to watch for sure.
He is asked to play a certain way in Orlando. He ends up having to do A LOT on his own. The BB Breakdown one discusses his tendencies defensively. They're so bad it's hard to judge him - and he's so young. He was a bit gimpy last season, too. He has the tools to be a good defender (There's a nice clip of him going against Blake Griffin); he's best at ball denial and preventing players from taking shots in the post.
I'll have to watch the video when I get off work. At 22 years old, it's hard to judge. I know working with Byron will at least get him into the defensive mindset and he's young enough to still listen.
Depends I suppose on what we're looking for. I think Carroll is better short-term as a way to get to the playoffs. Even though people have a fear he's a system guy, he's coming from a good team as a key player. Harris would be the long-term fit. You get a guy who's only 22 years old. Throw him with Clarkson, Randle, and Okafor and they have an average age of 21 years old. They'd have a good 10-12 years in them playing together if we could get them to stick around. Black is only 23 years old as well. They would probably take 2 or 3 years to really be a threat in the playoffs, but when they got there they'd stay there for a while.
I live in Orlando; I know much more about Harris than Carroll. I saw both of them looked good on various lists about how many points per possession/shot type. Carroll is coming off a great year, and he's a legit 3 and D guy. Harris is probably more ball dominant (he definitely is in Orlando, for obvious reasons). Carroll might well be better now, but he's six years older than Harris. I suppose it depends on many factors.
I tracked Carroll pretty well this season, but I'm not in Atlanta. Maybe @JSM can give better insight than myself. What I saw: - Excellent defense. He bounced around the league before it sunk in that he needs to be a lock-down defender to stay in the NBA. Once he realized it, he transformed himself into an amazing defender. - Consistent three. He has turned into a legitimate three point threat. He was always pretty good, now he's very good. He shot just under 40% from deep last year. Korver gets all the attention, but this dude was incredibly valuable for their team outside the three point line. - Soul. The guy plays with passion. He plays banged up. He plays hard the whole game long. Not dirty like Dirtyvedova, just hard. - Good decisions. He's not prone to making mistakes like Draymond Green. I love Draymond, but man he dumb sometimes. Carroll makes good decisions and doesn't try to do too much. - Knows his role. He's no star, he knows that, but he'll fit his play to his role on the team. For us: D & 3 and he'd embrace it.
Carroll sounds like a great fit for our team. We have enough ball-dominant players in Kobe, Clarkson, Randle, and possibly Okafor. @trodgers Could Harris be as effective with a lower usage rate?
I'd pay very close to the max for even a 2nd-tier SF this offseason. The way I see it, we are decent at every other position just by adding cheap vets. If we were to rate each position on a scale of 1-10, I'd say we are: 5 at PG with Clarkson/Lin, 7 at SG with Kobe/Young, 6 at PF with Randle/Black, 6 at C with Okafor/Davis, and 0 at SF. I see more value improving the 0 to a 6 or 7 at the SF position than signing Gasol/Aldridge and improving the 6 to a 9 at the C position.
That's a really interesting way of looking at it man. Nice! Using your approximation, I'd adjust it slightly. Firstly we no longer have Lin or Davis... RIGHT NOW without adding anything in FA we're at: 4 at PG with Clarkson/??? 7 at SG with Kobe/Brown 6 at PF with Randle/Black 4 at C with Okafor or Towns (we just don't know enough about the rookie to say more than that) 2 at SF with ???/Young I definitely agree your first look MUST be at the SF spot. We need a competent starting SF more than anything else after the draft. Then we need depth at the PG and C spot.
Exactly, it's a simple equation. We should spend the majority of our cap space for a SF, split the rest on a backup PF/C, and we're back in business!!
looks like an undersized 4, right? lots of PFs there, plus i'm guessing the best names on that list did considerably more than 15/5. also: joe smith shot 35% from three? howard? we'll see, i suppose. i think he'll eventually settle in as a sixth man and not sniff stardom. but hey, i'll be glad if the lakers sign him and he's who you say he is!
This is what I've been advocating for the most part as well. Spend the biggest chunk on a good starting level SF and then split the rest between backup PG and C/PF. If we could keep Davis and add Mo Williams with that remaining money we'd be very solid. Granted, backup SG would have to be vet min. Hopefully we could retain Sir Duke there cheap. If Mo is too expensive but we could strike a deal with Lin and Davis I'd be happy to keep them together as I think they play well with one another. Lin proved himself a serviceable backup PG. But no way I'd overpay him. I'm hoping to upgrade to Williams but it might not be possible.
You could sign Ellington to the BAE which is what we did with Ryan Kelly last year. It's worth something like 2/3.8-ish million.
Ellington,brown and Nicky as well can play the 2, all good strokes, all combine for give or take 8 million and give you the option to go with the hot hand. The way I see it, SF,backup C, backup PG in that order. End of story.
Switch backup C and backup PG and I'm with you. I need a guy who can step in for Clarkson on nights when the young kid is a little shaky. One of my top priorities is Mo Williams. I think he'd be perfect for what we need. For me it's Carroll, Williams, and Davis. Or something along those lines at least.
I would welcome ANY starting caliber SF. Just please God, no more Wesley Johnson or anyone of that limited skill set as a starter. We'll sink before opening tip of opening night. That has to be the focus of free agency. I'd even go after them above the bigger names at other positions (Love, LA, Gasol, Monroe, DJ, etc). We won't, because LA always goes after the name. but they're not coming here and it's a waste of frequent flyer miles. I like Harris, but I'm not sure he's right for our team next year. I think he'd get lost and discouraged on nights where he would be the 4th option. Granted if he's hot, he might be option 1b some nights. But I'm not sure that's a concern we need to take on with already such a young team with a handful of other young men who will need their touches to stay upbeat and engaged. I don't think JC, Randle, or Jah would pout if they don't get x number of attempts (they all want to win), but it's a big transition from what they were used to at Kentucky, at Duke, and on the Lakers last year. That said, I wouldn't be upset if we got Harris, he's a vast improvement. On to my Carroll observations... -a fantastic glue guy. He can hold a unit together and accountable. He's not a vocal leader who's going to get after a teammate. But he plays with a ton of heart and kills himself out there. It's contagious, otherwise you're out there looking like a chump (I'm looking at you, Pero!). He and Horford were the defensive leaders for the Hawks. -you don't have to run plays for him. He'll get his, if he doesn't he's going to find other ways to contribute -- D, spacing, cutting, crashing the glass. More often than not, his primary scoring came from an open 3 or from an offensive board. If he's not scoring, he's not going to let up in another aspect of his game. -his teammates call him the junkyard dog. He's going to get after it on both ends. Unless he's hurt, he's not taking a play off and even then (as you saw against Bron), he's still out there doing the best he can. -coaches loved him. He did everything they asked. He's open to putting in the work to adjust/improve his game on how they want to use him. I know Kobe would love going to battle with him. Having them keeping these kids accountable (good cop to Kobe's bad cop ), showing them the right way to do things, hard work, love for the game...it'd go a long way in helping Scott mold these kids into men.
