MM, can you please explain why we would not want to draft Harrison Barnes? Wouldn't he be perfect next to Gordon (minus Ariza)? What am I not seeing?
Monty and Dell have a track record of wanting high character individuals who do multiple things well on the court- defense being one of those things. Harrison Barnes is a flat out scorer, a guy I can see scoring 22-25 per game in the NBA when he hits his prime, but he makes absolutely no impact on the game outside of scoring. And he does not have low character, but it is average at best, and Demps will fall in love with a guy like MKG who is a team leader, unselfish player, hard worker, defender, etc.
Agree about Barnes being one dimensional, disagree about the trade. We trade a career 13/10 C and the say #10 pick in the draft for a career 7/7 PF, who happens to be an 11/11 guy this year. They are both the same age 29, the same age as Kaman (who people say is too old for the Hornets to keep as part of the rebuilding process). It's more likely than not we are losing Kaman, so this trade gives us zero Cs. Also, if we really need a PF (and I think we have two starter quality PFs, who can play the pick and roll and are locked up at good salaries for a few more years) we can draft one; this is a PF heavy draft. All of the C prospects in the drafts are projects, and maybe one rates being picked in the top 6 where the Hornets are sure to draft. I would never do this trade: we give away more than we get (2 for 1), we don't get younger, we don't get quality draft picks (we lose one), and we trade a harder to fill position(C) for an easier to fill position (PF). [Landry and Jamison don't count as part of the trade, especially for the Hornets, since they are both expiring contracts. If anything, Cleveland has a better chance of signing Landry than we have of signing Jamison. THis makes the trade marginally worse.]
Hornets (and I) would do that trade in a heartbeat, but Cleveland would say no and probably wouldn't even bother countering. Unlike the Hornets with Okafor, the Cavs actually love Varejao and his contract. But I think a guy like Ilyasova is someone who could be had and do a lot of the same things.
I appreciate the feedback. I thought long and hard tonight about what direction the team should/ might go. I think Gordon will get extended even if we have to overpay. He's 23, high character, and lots of upside at the SG position. With him as our vocal point offensively, I think we next need a PF that excells in pick and roll/ pick and pop. Gordon has ball in his hands, comes off the pick from the pf and then either dumps it to his rolling pf, goes for the shot himself, passes to an open Kaman for a jumper, or to his open SF or PG for a shot. Kaman and Gordon are a solid start, but is Ayon and Smith good enough to be that pick and roll/pop pf we need as a starter? I say both are backup. We need a starter. Why not go after Varejao? He has a great contract, is awesome on D and rebounding, works hard/ high energy, and is a nice size to set solid screens for Gordon. Another plus is he's out for this season, so we can continue our tank job. Downside is he might be too old. Check out this trade: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=887g7me Okafor, Landry, our MINN pick for Varejao, Jamison, and CLE's 2nd rounder. This deal would be ugly in the end if we land the #1 pick, but I think it sets us up nicely if we land #2 or after. We would no longer need to draft a PF in the draft with this deal. So that leaves Drummond, Barnes, or MKG as our top guys we go after with our pick. Another avenue is trading Ariza to LAL for a 1st rounder to give us 2 1st rounders still. This would make us go after a SF with our pick. So my question is, what are your thoughts on Varejao considering the direction of the team? Thanks.
CityBrow
In Demps We Trust