Simple way back

[Hemingway]

Couldn't we just overpay for a top Center and keep the rest of the team basically as is and have a great team next year?

Throw max deals at Gasol and LMA, if that fails make hard to say no offers for Cousins, Drummond, Howard, Noah and Chandler.

If we could have the team we have now but swap out Wallace with picks for one of the guys listed above I think we'd have a real shot at a title.

Wallace, Young, our pick this year and all 3 nets picks for Cousins? They'd have to at least think about it right? Same for Drummond.

If we are willing to overpay and have 5 or 6 targets I bet we can get someone.

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

To put it bluntly, no we are not the Brooklyn Nets

[clover]

Couldn't we just overpay for a top Center and keep the rest of the team basically as is and have a great team next year?

Throw max deals at Gasol and LMA, if that fails make hard to say no offers for Cousins, Drummond, Howard, Noah and Chandler.

If we could have the team we have now but swap out Wallace with picks for one of the guys listed above I think we'd have a real shot at a title.

Wallace, Young, our pick this year and all 3 nets picks for Cousins? They'd have to at least think about it right? Same for Drummond.

If we are willing to overpay and have 5 or 6 targets I bet we can get someone.

I don't think you're that far off. Except I don't think Sacro and Detroit think about trading one of the best young centers in the game for 4 mid-level 1sts. Stevens either has to have an incredible run in the playoffs or Danny has to pull off a RA-type move before he can hope to land LMA for his KG-type centerpiece. With some better drafting, the C's could actually be there already--e.g., Jordan, Gobert--but no matter.

Still, can he land Stevens a Horford-level frontcourt beast? Someone with the length and strength to go against the best young frontcourt competition? Perhaps, with a great offseason, he does land a center not on the first, but on the second, tier. Hopefully not over the hill, but perhaps a placeholder until someone like Cousins reaches FA.

A really good defensive center could get the C's into the top tier in the East, IMO, which is pretty amazing.

[Hemingway]

I just really like our team now and think we could keep most of it. Our current team+ a top center + another year of experience = a real shot at a title.

We need to be ok with an overpay for a top talent. Then we just need to keep upgrading parts, adding assets and waiting until we can get a legit top tier guy. I think we mostly agree on that strategy (I hope no one is still thinking blow it all up and try for a top pick next year), its just the waiting and not knowing. Last time around we had a pretty good idea that KG was the guy Danny wanted and was doing everything he could to make sure he had the best deal for. Rumors we wantd KG for years. Sightings of Danny and McHale talking. The general idea that KG would eventually leave Minny because they were wasting his last great years.

But this time around? There is no clear cut guy. There have been Cousins talk for a while and a general idea that Sac will never turn it around and he will eventually be moved. But the timing doesn't look right for us to get him this summer. Then there is Durrant. Danny has wanted him for a while and was the only GM to rank him number 1. But he is a year away and certainly a long shot. I'm not sure with the new TV deal if guys will want Sign and Trades to get the most money or not. If not, and Durrant can choose from a lot of teams with the new TV money then it seems unlikely we would be his first choice.

I just hope we can keep this snowball rolling. Have a good showing in the playoffs, make some noise in the playoffs, upgrade somehow in the offseason and be a team that is taken seriously next year. Sorry for the stony rant.

[manl_lui]

to be fair, Gasol or LMA are worth max deals and overpaying for

with that said, I think it's difficult for us to steal LMA and Gasol considering how good of a situation they are at right now. Griz got stronger with the Green trade, giving them a 4th option on offense.

Lillard can only keep improving and is still very young. A healthy Portland squad with a few more trades should make them a serious playoff contender.