Greg Lentz wrote:
>> Yeah, I figured SJax for the 2. Maggette as the 3. Not too bad, actually.
>> Would like to see some real PG help though.
>
> Yeah, but from where? And is it someone that can play with Monta or
> someone to replace him so you can sign and trade him elsewhere?
_That's_ the problem. Last year, we were at the same point: "we need a
veteran PG". Plus we had a $10MM trade exception.
The problem isn't that the team isn't willing to go out and get one, so
much as what's available, relative to what we're willing to give up to
get it.
It's too bad we let the trade exception expire, but I think Mullin
really was convinced that there wasn't anything available that was
really worth it.
As for a veteran PG, the only name that's turning up is Stephan Marbury,
and as I noted separately, I don't think that's an upgrade, even if he
were to be signed for the Veteran Minimum.
Hey, I'd love to have Steve Nash, but even if age is beginning to slow
him a bit, there's no way the Suns will let him go, and certainly not at
a price that we can afford.
Several weeks ago (before BD's opt-out), I noted that although I want to
see us re-sign Monta, I'm not sure that keeping him is necessarily the
thing that is essential for long-term success. Monta was a second-round
draft choice, and a high schooler. Yes, we developed him, and we
definitely want to see the fruit of that investment, but the bottom line
is that he's still a SG, and those (and SFs) are the easiest to
develop/replace.
Since BD opted out, I do think we do need to keep him, but if BD had
stayed I think I would have been amenable to doing a sign-and-trade that
returned a PF (assuming that that kind of deal could be made). Speaking
of sign-and-trade deals, it's useful to note that an SG is generally
going to get you less back than one of the other positions.
Thus, going a step further, I'm of two minds of whether we match the
Clippers' offer to Azubuike. On on hand, I like Kelenna, and I think he
does have a future in the NBA, and it would be nice if it was with us.
and for this year's team (and next year, as well), his contract and role
fit the team. However, if we let him walk, I think we can replace him
in more or less the same way that we got him: somebody from the D-League
or trading for somebody else's second round draft choice (this year or
last year), on a team that's going to have a numbers situation when it
comes down to getting the roster size, come the regular season. For
that matter, we may be able to find a person that can be developed off
the waiver wire. However, for Kelenna himself, he's still a
complementary player. Nice to fit into the team, but not somebody you
build around.
We can hope that the Warriors might be able to pull off a playoff berth
this season, but I think this is more likely to be a developmental year,
where the focus is in maturing our young players, and the payoff will be
in the following year or two. I do think we're going the right
direction on overall talent, but we're going to have to wait for that
talent to mature.
I noted sometime last year that I would be OK with enduring one more
year of losses, no playoffs and the lottery, if doing so were
foundational for the team being a good contending team, for several
following. I still would prefer that trying to get it all together for
a run right now, and where it turns out that the high water mark is a
team that barely makes the playoffs, pulls an upset to get to the second
round, and then that's the high water mark, where everything falls
apart, and we go back to another decade in the wilderness, of being a
directionless team that's routinely playing for lottery positioning by
February.
Unfortunately, it's nearly as rare to be able to put together a megadeal
that suddenly makes us contenders as it is to be in position to be
serious contenders Right Now, as it is to be in a place to draft a Hall
of Fame caliber franchise player. For everybody else, it's a matter of
hoping you can draft well, drafting and developing young players (and
knowing that some won't develop), and shuffling rosters with
complementary players.
I do think that Mullin is on the right track, of acquiring young talent
that can mature more or less at the same time, and will allow for a run
of several years of contenting teams. And I do think it was the right
thing to let BD walk, if he wanted more money (and another max deal,
especially 6 years) to stay.
But we're still going to have to be patient for a little while longer.
At least we don't have Garry St Jean still trying to build around
complementary players, and making multi-team trades to acquire talent
that doesn't fit.
Smith
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