LMP
Blue Crack Supplier
Headache in a Suitcase said:
they're not awful. they could bring in another big name free agent if htey wanted to, but that would involve not bringing back any of their free agents (arroyo, dooling, garrity) or signing one of their own free agents to the exemption.
they need to not fuck up this off-season... they gave rashard lewis a ton of dough, and they're eventually going to have to ante up for howard... so if they want to take that next step they need to be smart this off-season, otherwise they'll be stuck in NBA purgatory... 40-50 wins, no shot at a title (unless howard further develops... he was 20 and 14 this year... i'm not sure if he'll ever be a 25+ ppg scorer)
They shouldn't keep Mo Evans and Keith Bogans. If they do, they've gotta trade J.J. Redick and get something in return. Keyon Dooling's gotta re-sign for sure. Tony Battie's been out the whole year and Brian Cook was hurt during the whole playoffs - two other big guys, but not the type to put next to Dwight. Marcin Gortat sort of emerged as a quality bench guy, and I hope he continues to develop. Hopefully they'll get the whole Fran Vasquez situation figured out, too. Send Aluminum Foyle packin'.
I haven't been following college ball or Chad Ford's draft info to see who they could nab at the 22nd pick.
They need 2 types of players:
- a strong big man to bang some bodies at the 4 - like Udonis Haslem or Chris Wilcox.
- a passing point guard to come off of the bench and spark the 2nd Team offense - like T.J. Ford or Brevin Knight
Howard - SUPAMANNNN
Wilcox/Haslem
Lewis - terribly overpaid, but I like his game)
Turkoglu - finally showing his offensive talents, but needs to make better decisions with the ball if he's going to be a primary ball-handler)
Nelson - had a great post-season
---
Redick
Evans/Bogans
Dooling
Gortat
Battie/Cook
Vasquez? - at least sell his rights to a team like Portland, San Antonio, or Phoenix.
I'm pissed off that Otis Smith had all of those expiring contracts to spend on a big guy for the playoffs, especially when it was likely they'd face a physical Pistons team in the playoffs. I still think the Ariza for Cook/Evans trade was one of the best trades of the season (probably some bias there), but the guy's gotta get shit done if they're ever going to improve.
So yeah, this off-season's pretty important.