filling out the end of the bench

[cdif911]

what's Stacy Augmon up to - bring in the plastic man!

(and a walker) (not A. Walker), (a walker for Stacy, because he must be 60)

[footey]

I'd like to see how robert swift does during summer league. He could probably replace mikki moore as the team's third string center. Another intriguing prospect is mike sweetney. I don't know how big he is right now but he's a former lottery pick who did dish out some double-doubles with the knicks and bulls.

Any reports on Swift's current health? He sustained two major right knee injuries in '07 and '08.  Also, he gained too much weight in the gym, which was stressing his knee. Swift is very agile for his size, a VG shot blocker and rebounder (when healthy).  Would be good spelling Perk about 5-8 minutes a game, especially if we want to give Sheed and KG extended rest during the regular season. 

Will be interesting to see how much we try to get the home court advantage by running up a strong regular season record.  Based on last year's play-offs, home court became less of a factor than it was the year before. Especially when you see how dominant Cleveland was at home during the regular season, and how vulnerable they became in playoffs vs. Orlando.

[Jeff]

Oberto is a good name that I keep forgetting about - he's probably better than Swift at this point

[Evantime34]

Oberto is a good name that I keep forgetting about - he's probably better than Swift at this point

Would he sign to sit at the end of the bench when he was a starter for the spurs last year? I doubt it. At the very end of the bench I want players who have upside not a 32 year old pf. I'd take Swift over Oberto for that specific roster spot.

[P2]

We have currently 12 spots occupied (incl. Sheed). I assume that Scal and Tony, who will receive some attention from other teams near the trade deadline, stay for now. House stays, of course, so you already have 9 guys (incl. Sheed) who will start the season.

And then there are the three developing young guys; Walker, Giddens and Pruitt. I'm not quite sure how in the world Hudson is going to win a spot over Pruitt, but Pruitt is pretty useless and I would rather like to take a chance on Hudson. Either way around, only one of these 2 makes it. And unless one of J.R. or Billy is going to play real bad, I don't see either going. So now you have 12 players.

3 roster spots left, and we need a backup 3/2, a backup 1 and another backup 4/5. So Swift can be had at a low cost and for the 13th to 15th spot. That's a win-win situation. And I'm pretty sure that if he doesn't get injured once again, he will be useful - the summer league should tell us a lot. Add Danny's infatuation, and he's practically on the team already.

And then just add Hill/Parker/Jones/Wafer/etc. and Marbury/Lue/decent backup 1 and you have a championship worthy roster:

C  Perk/Sheed/Swift
PF KG/(Sheed)/Scal
SF Pierce/Hill/Walker
SG Ray/House/Tony/Giddens
PG Rondo/Lue/Hudson

Maybe one of Hudson/Giddens/Walker isn't needed at all, and we will keep a roster spot for near-deadline buyouts.

And of course you can always take Big Baby, Fazekas, Joe Smith, Oberto, Leon etc. instead of Swift as the 4th/5th big.

Many options.

[Fafnir]

Oberto is a good name that I keep forgetting about - he's probably better than Swift at this point

Would he sign to sit at the end of the bench when he was a starter for the spurs last year? I doubt it. At the very end of the bench I want players who have upside not a 32 year old pf. I'd take Swift over Oberto for that specific roster spot.

Oberto wasn't a starter for the Spurs, Bonner was. You're thinking of two years ago. Oberto fell pretty much completely out of the rotation.

[Brendan]

(Assuming Hill signs and BBD goes)

It's not a starter backup thing. What we'll see is starters + rotation guys, then reserves/backups and projects.

Starters are obvious: KP, KG, PP, RA, RR
Rotation is set now: RW, GH, EH

House will play "point" with Hill in at the wing, and he also play some SG next to Rondo. Rondo is going to play 35-40 MPG next year. He becomes the one guy that can't go down. Hill will play SF off the bench, PP will slide to SG when they play together. Rasheed will get minutes on the floor with KP and KG.

So that's the 8 people who the season depends on. The next five guys are the emergency plan.

Swift, Scal, Walker, Giddens/Tony Allen, Pruitt/Lester

There's an outright competition for roster spots at the SG and PG. But between Swift and Scal one of them will get 5-10 minutes per game during rotations and the same is true for Walker/Giddens/Tony Allen.

One trade that would make a lot of sense is for the C's is Scal, Tony Allen, Pruitt for Darko. With some $ heading to cover a Scal buyout, but now that he's gone from the cash starved Griz to the cash flush Knicks, that's unlikely. I think any trade that moves Scal needs to bring back a big man who can be counted on, because I don't have faith in Swift (but I like him as a project slash foul giver against big guys.)

Given that Perk, KG, and Sheed all have some shortcomings in the post, I'd love to get a healthy Powe in the post for a postseason run. Being able to dump the ball down low and get some offense is a big luxury when the 3 pt shot doesn't fall.

[Chief]

Dermarr Johnson, Marcus Williams, and Dwayne Jones would be my choices.

[Roy Hobbs]

I'd look into signing Joe Smith, if BBD leaves.  He's the only big man I can think of who may be available for the minimum who could fill BBD's role.

There are other good players -- Wilcox, Rasho, Zaza -- but they're all going to command way more than we have.

Also, I agree with Jeff:  bring back Powe.  (I'm thinking we get Robert Swift, though.)

[Chief]

I'd look into signing Joe Smith, if BBD leaves.  He's the only big man I can think of who may be available for the minimum who could fill BBD's role.

There are other good players -- Wilcox, Rasho, Zaza -- but they're all going to command way more than we have.

Also, I agree with Jeff:  bring back Powe.  (I'm thinking we get Robert Swift, though.)

Roy, can someone else sign Swift while he is playing for our summer league team?

[the_Bird]

Oberto is a good name that I keep forgetting about - he's probably better than Swift at this point

Would he sign to sit at the end of the bench when he was a starter for the spurs last year? I doubt it. At the very end of the bench I want players who have upside not a 32 year old pf. I'd take Swift over Oberto for that specific roster spot.

Oberto wasn't a starter for the Spurs, Bonner was. You're thinking of two years ago. Oberto fell pretty much completely out of the rotation.

What happened with Oberto?  I remember him starting for SA a few years back and being pretty effective, then he pretty much fell of the face of the earth last year.  Did he suddently get old?  Get in Pops' doghouse for some reason?  I'm concerned that he wasn't getting playing time for Popovich.  It wasn't like San Antonio had a ton of depth in the frontcourt behind Duncan, Bonner was getting some minutes but he's more of a PF, and they felt the need to bring in Drew Gooden midseason. 

[Brendan]

Someone else can sign swift until we do.

[Fan from VT]

What about Warrick with the LLE?

Or picture this: SA offers a deal for Davis. He signs it, and we have the right to match. We match the offer, but trade him to Memphis for Warrick, signed at about 3 mill per year. We'd then lose davis, but would get Warrick for 3/4 backup and still have the LLE. And it screws over San Anton.

[toinewalka]

Judging by what we saw last year, I can't put us as a favorite for the title while Scal is contributing anything but situational minutes (no more than 3 or so a game).  If we can add someone with some more defensive athletisism, or some better scoring capabilities, then I would have to agree we are the favorite.  With that being said, it is a small chunk of time, but during the season that allows us to rest the key players, and in the playoffs, if you can buy a rest mid series, or mid game, and not worry about throwing the game completely away, that's huge.

[wdleehi]

Judging by what we saw last year, I can't put us as a favorite for the title while Scal is contributing anything but situational minutes (no more than 3 or so a game).  If we can add someone with some more defensive athletisism, or some better scoring capabilities, then I would have to agree we are the favorite.  With that being said, it is a small chunk of time, but during the season that allows us to rest the key players, and in the playoffs, if you can buy a rest mid series, or mid game, and not worry about throwing the game completely away, that's huge.

Scali is usually good for 10-15 minutes game.


And remember, the Celtics have an amazing record the last two years when Scali starts.