sturt

The GM off-season specified one priority, which was an upgrade at PG. Not difficult to read between the lines that he's about as eager to go into post season with Lou as the back-up as I am eager to do so with a rookie at back-up. Neither are attractive options. Patience, people. Had to preach that about Bogi this time last year as I recall.

Not buying the idea of carrying a rookie back-up PG into a post-season. Just not, period, end of sentence. Also, if a person is nervous about our wing situation... I'm not, but seems some might be... then the solution is to get a healthy one to replace a chronically unhealthy one.

Okay, had to figure out where you were getting that. Now see that he was with us for one week in training camp. To the other... he has about 600 minutes of NBA experience in two seasons... and he's yet to have a defensive rating above his team's average. But all of that aside, unless the GM mentions that he's inclined to look for a specific position to fill, the reasonable assumption would seem to be that he'll look to fill Hill's slot with someone who projects to a SF/PF role that Hill held... and all the more, given that Hunter's not been available for most of the season, and the team's already thin there. But let's say Schlenk wants to add a SG to the roster. Seems from here that Mays gets the call ahead of anyone else.

Because?

Kenrich Williams gives you a 3 pt shot that RHJ doesn't. Then again, he's got significant FT issues, and while he's a good defender, RHJ is a step above him defensively. I wouldn't be too upset either way, Could live with Ennis, but prefer Williams, me. The tradeoff is mainly that while Ennis is an average FT shooter to Williams' below-averageness, Williams has a definite leg-up on defense over Ennis. All have some degree of reputation as hustlers. But, of the three distinguishing factors, I value making sure you have someone who is both a superior defender and solid FT... 3 pt shot is important, but for this particular role on the team, if you can't have all three, then that's the element I'm most willing to forego.

1. Aminu made a lot of sense to me coming out of training camp, but about two months later, I feel like if I'm Schlenk I'd really prefer to get someone who comes to that first practice already in game shape. 2. Whoever the new player would be, may I propose that he should replicate one of Solo's most important but least mentioned roles... one that he didn't display very often, but every team needs that contrary, protector, enforcer guy who won't shy away from mixing it up if need be.... https://twitter.com/BasketNews_com/status/1465792328271110148?s=20

Not sure what the point would be of keeping a player on the roster who you're going to have to pay anyhow, but who won't see the floor because he's physically unable.... ??? And it's not even as-if there's some terrible tax implication to signing RHJ or whoever to a vet min contract. So, it's really just a matter of who's available now versus who might be available later. But you might as well give Solo his lovely parting gifts.

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/what-does-disabled-player-exception-mean-nba

I should have added to my comment above last night... "Juggernaut," no, but is he a superior defensive asset... absolutely. That's how the guy lasted in the league as long as he has.

Not real sure why it matters, friends (?). The exception is only important if the injured player isn't on an expiring deal, and thus, you're intending to have him back at a future point in time... Solo's contract is only for this season, of course. Almost certainly whoever you would sign to replace Solo on the 15-man is going to be on a minimum contract, which you can do anyhow. But you do have to create that roster slot first... which would make it necessary to cut Solo. (If I'm missing something, certainly correct me.)

That was one quick recovery. Hope so. But the point remains, it's a wasted roster slot. And the end of the bench never matters... until it does.

I ask myself... what to do about this roster slot now filled by someone who can't contribute for, at minimum, the regular season? I answer... can't do nothing. Have to cut Solo, and sign someone off the street to a vet minimum contract... But who? Ah-ha. I know. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, I knew you'd be a Hawk at some point.

Aside: It's funny to me how desperate our friend Dies has always been to sneak his trades onto the main traffic board... the subject titles he comes up with to avoid any quick judgment of the mods.

(Dunno what that means for certain, but if you're just acknowledging that GrayMule shared that same want, though, why yes he did.)

Two different players, two different things. Spud, you started on this by (again) talking about my Ingram posts. This (again) applies: Wood was a different conversation. I had no reason to believe he would be on Schlenk's free agent shopping list like I did Ingram. It is correct to say I "wanted" Wood, believing he had turned a corner and emerged as a viable 3rd big... which, though, I probably did argue at the time was a need that surely Schlenk wanted to fill someway somehow. The same could be said that I "wanted" Haliburton, and in that case I know I argued at the time was a need that surely Schlenk wanted to fill, ie a PG who could also get minutes at SG. On both counts, I was right, but so were practically all of us... those were two needs that were hard to ignore. And Schlenk just chose to attempt to fill them differently.

Too bad you really don't need defense so much... right?.... ... that is until the post season.

*sigh* Nope. Reading is fundamental. Whatever number of posts there were (maybe 50, probably more like 25, but let's make you feel better and call it 100)... the actual content of those posts was around the theme of what the general manager was likely to do, based on his quotes, and based on an assessment of the free agent and trade market field. I've only corrected this Big Lie now maybe a half dozen (???) times, so I'm not naive enough to think even this attempt will make any difference... but no.... once again... it was never about what sturt wanted to happen, it was about what sturt projected was likely to happen based on what sturt had read.... read. (What a concept.) (And had cited.) Wasn't wrong. The general manager did follow that tack. Didn't end up with Ingram, and we'll never know... like we never could know w/o bugging his office, of course... who all the general manager had on his list. But the core of the debate wasn't about a particular player (I thought Ingram a candidate, but I also thought others, just depending on what week it was, eg, Oladipo), it was about whether the general manager was going to look to add at least one player who was a major-enough get that he would be penciled-in to the starting line-up. That is, as opposed to those opposing that viewpoint... having convinced themselves that the general manager would only be adding to the bench, sold out that he would not impose on the previous season's young core... the line of reasoning being, you're not going to supplant Tre, nor JC, nor CC, and God knows, you've got three young wings in Kev, Cam and Dre already vying for just two starting spots. Thus, to sign or trade for a starting wing would be to cinch off vital minutes from them and surely he would never do that. So, sturt was nuts. And what actually was nuts... a handful of posters here (who, of course, know as they read this, it applies to themselves) flat out refused to acknowledge the general manager's words were not consistent with that hypothesis they'd cooked up in their heads. Not sure why people get so headstrong that they ignore a+b=c reasoning, but it happens. Who knows, maybe I've done that at some point given some topic, so I have to grant some latitude. I should leave it there. I really should. But its 4 am here and I'm still not sleepy enough to go back to bed, so I'll add... what was galling, for me anyhow, was that one poster in particular... won't say who, but it was not the Big Lie poster actually, nor the poster who so typically acts as his or AHF's wing "man"... took it upon himself to make it all personal, ostensibly b/c he was so defiant that his uninformed inclination was just a smarter approach, and ended up making some accusations attacking not merely what I said, but my character... which, in reality, could only be taken to be psychological transference on his part. That was too far over the line. He's the one poster who is dead to me these days (and ever since then). (If you think you know who I'm talking about, don't be so sure of yourself, but feel free to buzz in by IM if it's important to you for some reason.) Back to bed.

(The other, somewhat Big Lie that won't go away for as long as its originator thinks he has a gullible audience)

Did someone say Cowboys?

I'm no expert, but I've read what you have. My guess, fwiw, is they may have been offered more by, say, the Padres, when you add up all the talent, but perhaps none of those players were rated as highly by Rizzo as Ruiz. My working theory, then, is that Rizzo was predisposed to take the offer that would give him the highest rated talent as part of the package, regardless of the quality of the rest of the haul. And Ruiz truly could be the catcher in DC for the next 5-10 years.

Kiebert Ruiz got a lot of ABs this season, and will be the full-time starting catcher beginning next season. If memory serves, he'd been considered the #13 prospect in baseball. Josiah Gray got several starts this season, and had been a top 60 prospect. He's certainly a lock to be in the rotation, and worse-case scenario for us, could be the #1 if Strasburg doesn't get back to 100% and Corbin remains so inconsistent. Best case, he's the #4 or even #5, because Rizzo made a trade or signed a legit starter, or two. Then we received two others who are good-not-great prospects whose ETA will become more apparent with their performance in the minors in 2022.

Hmmmm.... not quite sure how that would work out, given that he was too expensive for us to keep in the first place, and all the more so now that we're aiming to keep Soto off the open market. Yeah, I think he's been injured quite a bit since he went to LAA.

Keep? Invite them all as non-roster invitees except for the Franchise Icon, who, like your own franchise icon, should expect to mainly get whatever he asks (within reason, of course) just because he's who he is. But don't shut the door on the plausible return of Max. There's a way that that could work out to both sides' benefit. No kidding, some of us... and I do say "us"... see a lot of Nolan Ryan in Max... ie, in terms of his stamina and discipline and health routines, he's a unicorn who could be pitching productively into his 40s. Similar but different, there's some chance that Josh Harrison also gets an offer from Rizzo. Truly, our 2022 season probably won't be that competitive, but if it is, it will be because (a) Stras came back healthy and putting up 2019 Stras numbers (b) Corbin makes the 3.82 ERA he posted in the last month of 2022 (and June for that matter) the norm (c) One or both of MLB top-100 prospects Cade Cavalli and Josiah Gray emerge as legitimate middle of the order SPs (d) Rizzo signed Freddie Freeman to be our full-time 3B.

My name is not Sol, nor is it Tucker. And I wouldn't have done this because I think you should let your enemies have their day in the sunshine undisturbed. And, moreover, I wouldn't have done this because it actually only calls attention to the fact that your enemy is having a parade, while you're, in effect, flying a kite or other such mechanism... they achieved something you didn't. Having said that... the adolescent prankster in me apparently hasn't completely been extinguished because, yeah, I still chuckled when I saw this just now... hehe...