Ok. 30 teams is too many. So let’s go down to 24, 12 in each conference, back to 4 total divisions of 6 each. Which six teams should go? Based on attendance, the worst 6 teams in the league last year based on home attendance and road draw were, from 30th to 26th, Indiana, Memphis, Seattle, New Orleans, Minnesota, Sacramento. Indiana has a pretty deep history, and they were unwatchable this year, so they get a pass. Sadly, I would say the same for Seattle, but they’re moving anyway, so contracting them is no different. Instead of contracting Indiana, let’s go with the 7th worst team: Charlotte. Milwaukee moves to the West to keep them even. Now, what if they had a draft of the newly teamless players? Who goes where? Let’s see. Keep in mind the salary cap would expand a bit, and that players under contract would keep their current contract. Regardless of how much the cap would expand, any newly “drafted” players would be under some type of rule similar to the “bird rights” clause, so teams could go over the cap to sign. The luxury tax would be heavily extended, so that wouldn’t be a deterrent. And let’s go with actual record, no lottery stuff:
Miami: Chris Paul. Then go with Beasly in the real draft.
New York: Durant
Clippers: Al Jefferson
Milwaukee: Chandler: good, still young big to pair with the skilled bogut
Chicago: David West. Some post offense.
Jersey: Okafor. Finally get a real frontcourt player.
Indiana: Kevin Martin. They need a PG, but Martin, O’Neal, Granger’s a pretty good core. Martion’s too good to pass up. (considered Conley strongly here)
Atlanta: Conley. They’re young and need a point.
Philadelphia: Rudy Gay. Can’t pass up that talent. Plus, Philly’s a major uptempo team, Gay fits great.
Toronto: Gerald Wallace. They’d love a center, but not at this spot. They could use a 2 guard, and they take Wallace over Richardson because Wallace is younger, plays D, and makes less money.
Portland: Richardson. Tough pick. They want a bona fide point, but is Felton the pick this high? They could also use a small forward. Richardson may be the best available. But Dudley would be cheaper and fits with the youth movement.
But Jack, Roy, Richardson, Aldridge, Oden is pretty good.
Washington: Mike Miller. Assuming Arenas comes back healthy, they ‘re looking for an upgrade at the 2 and the 5.
Mike Miller’s outside shooting could put them up a few spots in the rankings.
Cleveland: Artest. Assuming he’d pick up his player option to play for a good playoff team, he would be a good defensive player alongside James.
Golden State: Chris Wilcox. G.S. will have only 7 players under contract next year. Wilcox is the kind of athletic forward Nelson would love in the up tempo game.
Denver: Watson. I think they go with Watson here for his defense alongside Iverson in the backcourt.
Dallas: Peja. They’re kind of in it all or nothing with the Kidd trade, and money’s not much issue, plus Finley comes off the books, so they go with best player available.
Orlando: Julian Wright. They’re in an interesting position as a playoff team who could use immediate help, but they’re also fairly young all over. I’m sure they’d look for frontcourt help, but the options are either over the
hill (Nazr, Brad Miller) or pretty underwhelming (Jeff Green, Collison, Milicic, Ely, Moore, etc.), so they go forward developing a Nelson, Turkoglu, Lewis, Wright, Howard athletic starting unit.
Utah: McCants. I think Ronnie Brewer is big enough to play SF for them, and they’ve always been in search for a genuine 2 guard who can actually stretch opposing D’s. Here you go. They can start Williams, McCants, Brewer, Okur, Boozer, enabling Kirilenko to be a pure 4 backup, where he’s strongest, and Korver can play the 3 off the bench and
McCants or Brewer at the 2.
Phoenix: Warrick. When Shaq needs a breather they can slide Amare to the 5 with Warrick at the 4 and just run and finish.
Houston: Foye. In an attempt to give McGrady some shooting/scoring help and help out at the point instead of or right behind Alston.
San Antonio: Cory Brewer. I’m most unsure about this. They are going to be trying to win it all every year Duncand and Ginobili are there. They have Splitter coming in to help the front court, and their only weakness is that they are old and getting unathletic, so I think they bring in Brewer to get younger, more athletic, and carve him into the next Bowen since Bowen has lost about 3 steps by now. I also considered Dudley, Jeff Green, Collison, Lowry, Felton, and even brad miller here. I think Brewer is a bit overrated, but he could be great at D.
Lakers: Felton. They can afford to take a risk and think ahead here. They’re looking at a starting lineup of
Fisher, Kobe, Odom, Gasol, Bynum. Ridiculous. They could upgrade at the backup 4/5 spots, Walton’s a solid 3 backup; their only weakness is Fisher/Farmar as Fisher is 33 and who knows about Farmar. Felton could turn into a very good point on that team. Also thought about Dudley, but with Odom and Walton there, I thought they’d go elsewhere; same for Green. I also seriously considered a project like Sene, but they’re going for it. Oh, and I also considered a rebounder like Collison, but having Bynum back might address that.
Detroit: Collison. This was very hard. Who knows what is happening with Rasheed and the team in general. They are pretty stacked 1-3 with Billups, Stucky, Hamilton, Prince. They could go Dudley to back up Prince, or go with Green to develop behind McDyess and Maxiell. McDyess and Wallace are up there in age, so they need to think about replacing them regardless of trades, but with Hamilton and Billups, they’re really trying to win now, so I think they go with Collison’s steady above average production and hustle.
Boston: Yikes. Assuming Posey picks up his option, I like the C’s at 1-4 and the backup 3 and backup 4 with Powe. The things I would like to see the C’s add are a backup point who can handle and defend, and/or another player with real size to allow KG to play the 4 when Perk is out and help defend/rebound. Milicic has size and can block shots, but his motor is terrible and I think Doc would yank him around and the players wouldn’t like his attitude. He’s had so many chances to step it up in many different situations and he hasn’t yet, so I wouldn’t try him now. Dudley’s probably the best available player, but he’d be behind Allen, Pierce and Posey. I’m afraid of how much Miller has slipped. I think Hawes and Sheldon are stiffs, though either might prove useful alongside KG. For me, it really comes down to Lowry as a solid, ballhandling backup PG, Dudley, the best player available, and Sene, an intriguing project who could thrive in the same role as Perk as a big, athletic defender and rebounder. So if Posey walks, they go Dudley, no question. But if Posey stays, you know what? I’m going Sene here. He’s already been quite productive in small amounts of minutes of NBA play, and I think he’d thrive with great players around him. Plus, with a rotation of Sene, Perk, KG in the middle, that’s a very intimidating paint to try to drive into and shoot. Also big upside potential. It was tough to pass up Lowry here, because I really like him as a backup PG, but I think the C’s would want a backup pg with deep shooting threat, which Lowry definitely does not have. Sene. If Sene’s numbers translated to 25 minutes per game, he’d average: 11.73 pts, 6.12 boards, 2.55 blocks, 3.6 fouls, .5 assts. I’d take that. Ok, fine, I’d probably actually go with Lowry, but I’m in a Sene mood today.
Then I’m not sure if there’s a round 2 or everyone else becomes free agents. I bet there’d have to be a second round. I’d see Dudley go first to Miami, and Lowry to NY. I’d see the Clippers going Ridnour because of all the questions at point. Milwaukee goes best upside available and takes Green. Chicago could afford to take a chance on May’s production vs. injury risk in the hopes for some more rebounding and interior scoring. Jersey takes Mo Pete to help at shooting guard. Indiana could take a chance on Petro’s size. Atlanta would take back Sheldon. Philly could try Telfair as a backup in the up tempo system. Toronto goes with Garcia at SF. Portland goes with Hawes as the offensive foil to Oden. Washington takes Milicic’s size. Clevaland could gamble with Miller’s offensive production to try to keep James happy. Golden State could take a chance on Hilton’s size to replace Busto O’bryant. Denver takes Crittenton as a project with upside. Dallas takes Moore for offense at center. Orlando goes Salmons. Utah takes Nazr. Phoenix could go Kirk Snyder to play the 2 when Barbosa fills for Nash. Houston takes a chance on Robert Swift for when Ming and Mutumbo miss time. San Antonio convinces Pargo to pick up his player option and uses him to backup Parker. Lakers go Donyell Marshall as allround backup/insurance. Detroit takes Carroll to help outside shooting. Boston convinces Wilkins to pick up his player option and takes a chance on his athletic ability.
There. I’m shot. But take a look at who would also be free agents because they had no years remaining with their contracted teams:
Kwame Brown, Navarro, Bonzi, Udrih, Boykins, Gomes, Craig Smith and Elson.
Topic: The Contraction Game/Killing lots of time before Sunday (Read 2076 times)