Some realistic and affordable names to fill in as a fifth starter or bench player at the PF position: Malik Allen Brian Skinner Marc Jackson Joe Smith Corliss Williamson Melvin Ely Of all those names, the one I am most intrigued with is actually Joe Smith. Say what you will about him, but he's a solid veteran who plays good defense. He's about two years younger than Juwan, an inch taller (6-10), with a similar offense game and with better defense. Coming off his large contract, he may be available for the LLE to play with a contender. Personally, I think he'd be a good fit. If not Smith, then Marc Jackson or Brian Skinner could be the "bruiser" type we've been looking for. Neither is all that great, but Jackson does have some offensive game and Skinner can block some shots. Corliss could provide a post option off the bench. Ely and Allen are examples of young PFs with size who could be decent complementary players. Look, I'm all for getting an All-Star PF on this team, but I live in the real world. Plus, I'm far less enthusiastic about trading Shane Battier away for some "stat-stuffer". I'll take Battier's defense, hustle, high percentage shooting and leadership over offensive stats any day of the week.
I'd rather trade 10 first round picks for Artest and gamble with him before i'd try the "throw a bunch of crap against the wall and see if it sticks" approach with any of these guys.
Darko is looking to get paid somewhere in the ballpark of 10M. no way we should be investing that much money into a PF with "potential" who isn't already putting up consistant numbers. battier is at the present a much greater asset and known commodity as far as what he is going to produce on the court. just say no to darko
We have mle, sura's contract, head/snyder to fill the PF void. It looks to me it will be just like pg situation. We will have two servicable big men, so quite possible two of the name s you listed.
if we were to sign jackson and skinner on the cheap and resign chuck we could always take a page out of Utah's old C philosophy in which they just had a deep rotation of big physical guys would basically just beat on the opposing C, the sole intention being to wear them out...if I remember correctly this was actually relatively effective against the likes of hakeem. in this case it would be implemented against the plethora of star PFs in the west. if you can't get an all-star of your own you might as well have some guys who will make the ones you play against work for their points.
I dont think darko in his dream could look for that kind of money. I'm saying i would start at 6.5 and go up from there. If someone offer him that kind of money, he better not even put a rubber on. I think he's going to be a good solid player and it will take some looking ahead by the rox to make a move like this. Darko could be ur 5th scorer which is insane.
Now, with Yao in the post do we want a 4 that has a low post game or a guy like Horry that is ahtletic enough to play some D and shoot with some range to clear space for Yao to work on the low block?
I would like a guy that can not only post but his a midrange shot. If Yao dominates, unlike he did against Utah and guys are cutting and moving, guys can get shots. We have seen Yao get tired easily also, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a guy that can post up also. If you get Darko and Artest, now you have guys that teams have to maybe respect on the blocks. Also in limited time, darko has shown to be a very good shot blocker. Otis thorpe didn't space the floor for Hakeem. How much spacing did Dave and tim do for each other? Teams had to respect the high/low pasing game between the bigs. Plus with Darko, you would always have size on the floor.
I couldn't agree more...!!!!!!! I like him better than CWebb, a lot quicker. the last thing we need next to Yao is slow CWebb!
We need a PF who can play defense, period. Cover Yao's weakness and protect Yao from fouling out. See the Spurs? They have Oberto and Elson to be sacrifical lambs for Duncan when they are up against teams with tough PFs and Cs. Any other skills the PF can provide (midrange jumpers etc.) will be a nice bonus
Varejao is a free agent this off season I think. Plus, after seeing him in the championship...I'm not sure I want him.
Like I said earlier...the PF landscape will become alot clearer after the draft. Chances are if we are making a deal for a PF our pick will be included. But it's not likely we will actually trade it beforehand so much as pick for the team we are dealing with (i.e., battier last draft). Once the draft passes, where we go with our MLE, LLE, etc... will become alot clearer.
