Why would the Suns give away Barbosa for nothing? They are dumping, but he's cheap ($6 millon per) and young.

Battie = over the hill

Dice and Parker would be gr8 to land.

Mk

I love the Anthony Parker suggestion and if for some reason the Suns actually consider that deal, that'd be great as well.  But, it's my understanding that the Celtics can re-sign BBD without it counting towards any exception and also (I think it was) Marc Spears reported that Dice is a huge Detroit guy and won't chase a championship.

That would be sweet if we can resign Baby without using the MLE.  There are other guys out there that can be had if McDyess choses to sign with Detroit.  There are some teams that are having financial problems and dont want to spend the money in a bad economy.  Even if we substitute Pachulia for McDyess we are still in very good shape.  Barbosa only played slightly over 25 mins and avg 12-14 pts.  Thats pretty impressive to me.

I like Anthony Parker for the MLE.  We're probably going to have to spend it on a big, though, even if we get BBD back.

I also think signing Quinton Ross, Keith Bogans, or somebody similar to the minimum as a 3rd wing off the bench would be a good idea.

I really like the idea of getting Barbosa.  I think he can play a scoring 1 and a very quick 2 coming off the bench, which he likes to do anway.  However, am I the only one that thinks Dice adds very little to this team?  He is again, we all know that.  But watching him for the Pistons (and we know they had very little to play for, but he still had to prove he's still got it) he did not look good.  He was too slow, too short, and was getting banged around.  The only thing that he can still do well is shoot, and we don't need a big man on the perimeter shooting.  We need another guy that can bang (hopefully with HEIGHT) to help out Perk.  (Powe can help a little if he comes back, and BBD does on offense).  I would much rather see Gortat in green than Dice.  He's younger, more athletic, better defender, and he has just been sitting and waiting for his chance to showcase himself.  Thoughts?

I have a feeling that someone like New York will overpay Gortat and offer him the full MLE.  I think in order for us to fill all of our holes we need to split the MLE.   We have too many holes to fill to give it all to one guy. 

I'd trust McDyess or Pachulia banging with Howard (Shaq won't be playing any more minutes than Perk so I think that's irrelevant) as much as I'd trust Gortat and more than I'd trust Birdman in that situation. So I'd go with the most cost efficient option, which probably won't be Gortat, Birdman or Pachulia.

Then again, if Detroit does what's been rumored and picks up Boozer and Gordon to go with Stuckey, Rip, Prince and Maxiell, I think McDyess will resign there. If they can afford it (they may be limited to a minimum contract at that point).

And I agree that the MLE should be split to fill our biggest needs - a backup big man who's taller than 6'10" and a bigger backup wing (6'7" at least, I hope).