red2play

THe problem I have is that we are spending available cap on mid tier players when we should be in rebuilding mode.

No, Lin was the flavor of the day much like Tim Tebow was, everyone wanted to be associated with him. Why can't we build through the draft? Why do we ALWAYS have to pick up mid-tier crappy agents?

more interested in the Draft rather than FA's We would first get the draft picks and then fill holes/add vet leadership with FA's. Andrew Wiggins is a franchise player and also Jabari Parker and Glenn Robinson III.

I say Howard or bust. If you don't get Howard (which I hope we don't do) we move money around to gain picks. Sure, help the bucks out for their first rd pick by sending them Teague. Then ship Horford to the Magic for there's too. You want Josh Smith for a five yr contract? No problem. You see, 2014's draft is the same kind of draft that we were able to see with Carmelo, Lebron and Wade, its going to be packed with all-stars, Andrew Wiggins? Jabari Parker? Glenn Robinson III? Andrew Harrison? Willie Cauley? Has anyone looked at the 2014 FA list? Paul George, Rudy Gay, Lebron James, Evan Turner, Derrick FAvors. The list goes on. Why go banannas this year? Wait another year and put together a rock-star team for the next 10 yrs.

What we want is draft picks from a sucky team. Then we need to trade Teague and Horford too.

If it were me I'd go to the Clippers with Doc Rivers and see if they can trade D Jordan and one more person to free up cap space. Then you'd have Griffin, Paul and Howard. I think the Rockets suck with Jeremy Lin running the show and Harden dissappears against good comp. If not the Clippers, I'd honestly try to hook up with J smith and Horford. Push Josh to the three and Horford to the four position. Heck no to Dallas too for obvious reasons.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-am-wholl-have-salary-cap-space-in-2013/print/ Atlanta Hawks – $18.483 million in salary commitments The Hawks are set up to be massive cap players in July. They will have to work out the contract situations with Jeff Teague and Josh Smith, but beyond those two almost everyone else is expendable, giving the Hawks what could be as much as $30 million to spend depending on how they manage their rookie scale contracts and pending free agents. New Hawks GM Danny Ferry has been preaching that his moves this summer were about positioning for July of 2013, so it is safe to say the Hawks plan to be aggressive and they should have ample money to pull it off . Like Dallas Mavericks ($27.898 million in commitments), Max deals are like 20+ mil a yr and with the cap being 60mil, after you sign draft picks/minor FA the cap is like 52 mil, so Dallas would have to free up at least 7-8 mil to get both (not happening). Add that you would only have CP3 and Dwight and DNow. You still need other pieces like a Jamal Crawford, etc. Therefore, going to Dallas would have to take at least a 4-6 mil pay cut each (Not happening).

I would take 2014/2015 + a decent center for Josh from anyone. I want to contend for a championship and with LJ and KD for the forseeable future, why not wait a yr or two for the next big thing? 2015 Kd will be 26 and LJ will be 30. Perfect time to pick up the next best thing.

Amare - no used to be but he can barely jumpBrand - NOThomas Robinson - NODirk -2011 yes, 2012 no but I'd still say he's top 5Blake - NO ask Chris Paul and he will confirm that Blake istn' that goodKLove - uhh HELL NO.KG - Way older, are you for real?Anthony Davis - NOAldridge - no defense and no rebounding, noLee - NOZebo - NOBosh - hmmm yep, he's top 10.Pau - old and disappears.Bargnani - wow, NOScola - Are you SAYING you'd rather have SCOLA than JSMOOTH?Duncan - WAY OLD are you for real?Milsap- Scorer no defense - noBoozer - When you get benched for Taj Gibson ... uhh NOFaired - more of a SF than a PFAndre Drummond -Rookie? NODavid West - all offense too short and no hops, NOso you have Bosh and Dirk and JSmooth ALWAYS owns Bosh, so no. With JSmooth alone your practically a playoff team when you had JJ playing his worst season and Horford out and you still make the playoffs, now you down him? Makes no sense.

D Wade has the worst injury history but look at what he did. Horford and JSmooth were both injured last year. It's apart of the NBA. Believe it or not, Bynums been ok enough to make it to the playoffs the last two years.

http://www.lakersnation.com/dwight-howard-in-purple-and-gold-i-still-wouldnt-bet-on-it/2012/07/22/ When ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher reported Thursday that Dan Fegan, Dwight Howard’s agent, told him that Dwight will test free agency at the end of next season, many Lakers fans dismissed it. The reason being that Dwight can sign for much more money at the end of next season than if he were to sign an extension right now. While that’s absolutely true, you have to realize that the same applies to Andrew Bynum and Bynum is he only blue chip asset the Lakers currently have that anyone wants. Even though I totally agree with the reports saying the Lakers feel confident that Dwight will re-sign with them, the same can’t be said about Bynum in either Cleveland or Houston. Not when Dallas will have plenty of cap space again next summer. Same as Atlanta, where Bynum lives in the off-season. Bynum can tell Cleveland that he’d strongly consider signing an extension, but that won’t prevent him from entertaining offers elsewhere. Bynum lives here and we have the money. THIS IS COMING FROM LAKER NATION who has the inside track on Bynum's wishes. Who else lives here? Chris Paul. Who wouldn't like to see CP3 (good defensive SG) JSmooth Horford Bynum

If I had a choice between the potential to be a very good team to a championship team vs being an above 50% team, I'd rather have potential. That being said, I loved JJ, he had a full range of shots and good defense and good techniques. Again though, if he were even 27 or 28, I'd love the contract but at 31, a lack of leadership, he wasn't recruting more talent and his play wasn't consistent (some nights 10 for 15 with 30 points and others 9 for 23 and 20 points) enough for the pay he demanded. One more time, age, intangibles, lack of cap when you keep a player like that, etc just said no to keeping him.

IF JJ were 26, I'd be mad if we traded him but he's 31 and "pretty good", not great. What good is it to have an older Iso-joe and get bounced out of the playoffs every year in the first round. Didn't we see the same thing with Nique? We kept him too long and got nothing after he left. I want the prospect of getting better FA's and seeing just how good Horford and JSmooth are without JJ.

WE don't need 7 footers, Ibaka is getting tutored by the DREAM and he's only 22. He could be our Center for a LONG time.

Hold up, you think Dirk is "greatest power forward of all time", really?

I don't consider Dirk a Superstar, I don't think San Antonio in 2005/07 is packed with superstars. You can win as a team.

Some people think Horford isn't a Center but he is a combo PF/C and so is Ibaka. He played Center throughout the playoffs, they practically left Perkins on the bench 60% of the time. If JJ were 25 or 26, I'd bet we wouldn't have traded him but at 31 and losing speed and hops, it was a BAD deal. Ibaka is TWENTY-TWO and "The Dream" has requested to teach him. IF Olajuwon sees greatness in him, why can't you? We pay Horford 10 mil a yr and we pay Josh even more, why not Ibaka? How do you stop the Heat? Stop them from getting to the basket and with Ibaka, Horford and JSmooth, you can EASILY do that. Ibaka isn't 26 or 27 he's 22 meaning he will be good for a LONG time.

He's already named it, Dallas.

Rinse and repeat,Dwight Howard doesn't want to be hereHe told the Lakers, NO!!He told Houston, NO!!He told Atlanta, NO!!He's even said his second option is Dallas. Would you trade Teague, Horford, a wealth of draft picks, and take on bad contracts for that? Rinse and repeat,Dwight Howard DOESN'T WANT TO BE HERE.He grew up here, he has kids in Atlanta but he wants NO PART OF US. If it were me, I'd BEG to move back to Atlanta, but he, for whatever reason, truly dislikes or Hates ATLANTA. Josh is his friend, and he still won't come. Morrow is his friend, and he's not coming. Chris Paul says he wants to come, Josh Smith says he loves Atlanta (and not the former management), Horford loves the ATL. GO AFTER THOSE GUYS. You know the ones who WANT TO BE IN ATLANTA.really???REALLY????Rinse and repeat,Dwight Howard doesn't want to be here. PERIOD.

Dwight has baby momma's all over Atlanta. He doesn't want to be here. I'd bet Ibaka would be a Star AND I think we would have a better chance getting Chris Paul, and with that, I think we would be a contender. I'm not so quick to sell the whole TEAM just to get a one year player. If he wanted to be in Atlanta, we would know by now. In that case, I'd change my mind but NOT for a 1 yr player, no way.

Its the team that they can deal him to. Who else would take him without a gurauntee that he would stay after one year? Who would give up their best players, three or four years of draft picks AND take on Jason Richardson, Turkogalu, etc effectively bogging down your cap space?

Let's put this into prospective, the thunder can't match for a decent contract for him. He comes cheaper, younger, without BACK SURGERY, he can hit jumpers, shoot free throws, we get to keep Horford AND WITHOUT LOSING HIM IN A YEAR AND WITHOUT THE DRAMA. Would you take Dwayne Wade over Kevin Martin if you had to lose Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers AND you only kept him for ONE YEAR and AFTER BACK SURGERY? You do realize Dwight Howard won't even start next season right?

Hakeem Olajuwon reaches out to him, sees his potential, why can't we get him instead of Dwight? and KEEP Horford? http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/hakeem-olajuwon-wants-serge-ibaka-224049570--nba.html;_ylt=AvWy1cIbwO_W7KOP3s9UqJm8vLYF;_ylu=X3oDMTN1azU3ZjJwBG1pdANGRUFUVVJFRCBNZWdhdHJvbiBOQkEEcGtnA2M0ZGRiMjM5LTc2ZDAtM2Y0OS1iMWRkLTJiNTFlMzFjZWU0NwRwb3MDNgRzZWMDbWVnYXRyb24EdmVyAzdmNDgwMzgwLWNiYzQtMTFlMS05ZGI4LWUxZTNhNWI3NDIyMQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFoNjVvZWVyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANuYmEEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnM-;_ylv=3 With him, we are a lock to make it to the playoffs. Move Harford to the 4 and JSmooth to the 3 at times, a star rotation.

Dwight is NEVER wearing a lakers uni. Kobe doesn't pass the rock, especially for a game winner. Dwight called Kobe and asked what his role would be and Kobe told him a defensive person and a rebounder (in other words, Kobe's trash man). I'd believe Dwight going to Houston before I believe he would go to LA.

They should have the salaries reflect those who stay in the city that they were drafted in. When you leave to go to another city, you should lose 40% of your salary and they shouldn't be able to transfer a max contract player either. Let's see if a player is willing to lose (instead of 20 mil getting 12 mil thusly losing) 8 million per year and one less yr on their contract too.