Barnes and Batum.

[KG Living Legend]

 If no Durant is in the works I would just love to land one if not both of those guys.

 Imagine if it was No Horford No KD but we landed both Batum and Barnes the B Brothers, to go with Bradley to make it a triple B.

 That's precisely what this team needs 6'7" to 6'9" athletes, that can switch onto anyone, with the little defenders we have plus Crowder we would be a Nerlens Noel away from being an all time Defensive juggernaut.


 Tp's for any good thoughts on how the offense would be with no Durant but adding Barnes and Batum both to this team.

[KG Living Legend]

 Small ball lineups you could actually play them all.

 Batum
 Crowder
 Barnes
 Bradley
 Thomas

 Or if you subbed in Smart for Thomas that would be a beastly Defensive team that could switch anything.

[jbpats]

Would love Batum but I think he stays in Charlotte.. Barnes I'm not sold on, he is going to get a max deal that I'm not sure he's worth.

[chambers]

Batum is too inconsistent for me.
Charlotte will pay an enormous amount to keep him there too. They're desperate to be a perennial playoff team.

Barnes all the way for me if it's between these two.

[Smitty77]

Batum is too inconsistent for me.
Charlotte will pay an enormous amount to keep him there too. They're desperate to be a perennial playoff team.

Barnes all the way for me if it's between these two.

What Charlotte is going to do is TRAP themselves into the dreaded state of "mediocrity!!"

They will have to pay around $20 million starting to keep Batum.  They will have to pay around $12 million to keep Marvin Williams (a highly UNDERRATED stretch four that plays VERY SOLID defense), and they will have to pay Lin around $8 million to keep him.  That is $40 million on top of their current commitments to 6 players (Lamb's $7 million is NOT showing on hoopshype for next year) for $48 million.  That gets them to $88 million for ONLY 9 players and that does NOT include re-signing Big Al, which I think they will HAVE to pass on.

That are in trouble with keeping this team and the CAP and having ANY room to improve.

Smitty77

[pearljammer10]

Both guys are going to make bank next year and I don't want to see the Celts pay either of them. Batum had a great start but was up and down. I would much rather have Crowder as opposed to Batum at this point. He is more effective and a lot cheaper.

Barnes intrigues me due to his youth but I'm still not sold on him as a max contract guy. If I had to choose one of the two I would take Barnes but would be happier with Crowder at the SF spot and trying to use our assets to make a trade to fulfill the other forward spot.

[TheTruthFot18]

Both guys are going to make bank next year and I don't want to see the Celts pay either of them. Batum had a great start but was up and down. I would much rather have Crowder as opposed to Batum at this point. He is more effective and a lot cheaper.

Barnes intrigues me due to his youth but I'm still not sold on him as a max contract guy. If I had to choose one of the two I would take Barnes but would be happier with Crowder at the SF spot and trying to use our assets to make a trade to fulfill the other forward spot.

PASS on both. We have Crodwer. It'd be different if our sf spot was only manned by Turner, Smart, Jerebko, and Young.

Much rather spend that money on a bigger sg or a legit upgrade at the 4/5.

[tankcity!]

Neither for me. Barnes FG % has dipped from last year and he's open all the time. His PER is pretty bad as well. He can't dribble. So no on Barnes.

Batum is and will always be overrated.

[CFAN38]

I like both players but agree with most of the posts that they will be overpayed and are likely to stay where they are.

This does bring up an interesting point in regards to the Cs future roster construction.

As this team currently sits long term the Cs have IT,AB and Crowder as the 1,2 and 3 with Smart and Rozier backing up the 1,2. The likely loss of Turner will create a void at the backup 3. As Smart and Rozier develop they should take the importance away from the backup 3 role and it will be a less prevalent role then Turner has currently earned allowing for a vet role player to fill it. (ie 3-D wing). This is the assumed constant of this roster with the 4 and 5 positions being the huge questions marks.

Moving forward the simplest way for this team to rise into contention is to overhaul the starting 4 and 5. Sully and Amir have played well but a jump in talent is going to be needed to realistically compete. This is obviously why there has been so much buzz around Love, Horford and Okafor. Adding one of these three and then a player who compliments their skill set is the obvious nicely fitting next roster step.

Where I will be interested to see how things play out is if DA cant land the needed upgrade at the 4 and 5 but instead is presented with an opportunity to upgrade 1-3. A prime example would be in the bulls are foolish enough to trade Butler. Lets say Butler is available for all 3 first this year and Smart, is AB ok moving to the 6th man? Same could be said for IT is an elite PG is obtainable or Crowder if a SF becomes available. I do not think the common answer of "just go small and play Crowder at 4" is realistic long term.

I personally think long term adding size to the SG and moving AB to the 6th man may be needed for this roster to compete for a championship. Placing aside trade and roster logistics image a roster of IT4, Middleton, Crowder, Horford, Noah (or other defensive center) starting with AB, KO and either Smart or Rozier on the bench. The small ball lineup would be very effective moving Middleton to SF and Crowder to PF with AB at the SG would be second only to the Warriors in small ball effectiveness.