thecampster

Now let me get this straight, Diesel says "The guy that scored 34 points on Smoove in a HS game... The guy plays the same position as Smoove. He's picked #2 overall. Don't you think there's a rivalry developing? Listen to Smoove talk in the interview..." Then Diesel says "The posters here got happy about How Smoove played against Dirk.. and immediately starting saying... Smoove can be a Kenyon Martin type PF. First off, Kenyon Martin is more Physical than Smoove and secondly Kenyon Martin Sucks... Moreover... Dirk is a perimeter PF. NOt a PF in the post... What will Smoove do with Duncan, Reef, and Al (if we trade him)... " So Smooth plays solid defense against perimeter pro Nowitski (a top 25 pro player) but has 34 dropped on him the previous year by a high school kid. Selecting the high school kid that put up 34 points against him is a mistake. Did I read that right? I had to get that right. Diesel you have insinuated, said, blared that drafting Marvin Williams was a mistake but admit you know he outplayed Smooth just 1 year previous. You admit Smooth can play with the best pros when as a rookie he did well playing against Dirk Nowitski. I'm speechless!!!!

There's a reason I won't try that comparison. I will compare them based on their projected positions, not Diesel's projected positions. And this is no slight on you. I've told you before I appreciate your posts a ton and respect your opinion a whole heap. Unfortunately you can say "mark my words" and "you can write it down" but that doesn't change the fact that JJ is currently slated to play the point. My comparison is based on their currently projected positions. Had we drafted Deron, our point need would be filled. Like you, I agree he is probably the best of the point guard group. The extra money under the cap would have most probably gone for a center, not JJ. Childress is already at the 2. You scenerio of Deron/JJ doesn't work because it pushes one of the Josh's out of the starting lineup which isn't in the plans. To Compare your scenario is fictional. The only real comparison is Deron as the point, josh and josh at the 2/3, Al Harrington at the 4 and whatever 4 we could throw money at that would sign. Now here's the problem with this. Al Harrington is no longer trade bait. Without the extra Swing man in Marvin being brought along slowly, there is no way/need to trade Harrington for a need later. I say get over it. Live in the now. For better or worse JJ is the point - period. Until the coaching staff says otherwise quit posting that he's the 2. Childress is the 2. Smith the 3 Harrington the 4 and most probably Pachulia the 5. Every time you post that Marvin is a mistake and JJ can't play the 1 you set yourself up to eat serious crow. There is no undoing this path. They are on it. Get on board and for better or worse cheer your fool head off every time Joe Johnson brings the ball up court for the Hawks.

In reading all the crap written about our team and in response specifically to Diesel about how poor the Marvin Williams pick is, I decided to compare the state of the hawks in a fantasy basketball matchup against a last year playoff team I am familliar with. As some of you know, 2 years ago I let the Atl and moved back to Chicago. Let compare the Hawks, roster spot to roster spot with last year's number 4 seed Bulls. Point Guard: Joe Johnson/Tyrone Lue - Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. Knowing little about Johnson's ability to pass, the distribution part of being a point guard would go to Hinrich. Defensively you have to believe the 6'8 Johnson will give every point he plays fits. Few will find the ability to shoot over him and few will find the ability stop him from shooting over them. I think this will be the case all year. I'd take Gordon over Lue any day but Johnson's height creates all sorts of problems defensively for these 2 points and so using the 10-0 scoring system for points I'd rate this a 6-4 win for the Hawks. Shooting Guard - Josh Childress/Salim - Duhon/Pargo/Scrub of the week. Don't get me wrong, Duhon and even pargo played well for the Bulls last year but I don't see either being able to sniff the jock strap of Childress of Stoudamire on the court. I watch both teams guys as often as a I can Duhon would have to call protective services of the beating he'd receive one on one with either of these players. Although he can pass better than Childress and Pargo can shoot while open, neither is as big/strong as Childress. Salim is probably the most underrated player in the draft and as Smith was our big steal at 17 last year, Salim would have been lottery material had his 4 year past reputation hadn't been blown up. This is an 8-2 win for the Hawks. Small Forward - Josh Smith/Marvin Williams - Luol Deng/Nocioni. Mad I love Nocioni's game. He is what Chris Crawford should have been. Deng is a sure fire steady player. That said, Defensively Josh shuts both down offensively. This is the classic Defensive struggle. Were Josh to find his offensive game, this would be a big win for us but as yet he hasn't. Williams is an unknown with crazy athletism that will get him by but in an NBA game where the talent is much more even than in college I see alot of rookie mistakes. Still he has the athleticism to feed off of his team mates. I call this matchup due to Smith a draw. 5-5. Power Forward - Al Harrington/Batiste - Othella Harrington/Tyson Chandler. I have no Idea here. Batiste is unknown but a potential rebounding/scoring beast or a foul machine. Take your pick. Harrington (Al) is much more reliable that Harrington (Othella). Chandler is a rebounding machine with dunk and blocks that change a game. 7-3 win for the bulls. Center - Pachulia/Edwards/Collier - Curry/A.Davis. This one takes a great deal in to account. So given that Curry is healthy and able to play, and that Pachulia is our starter. Curry is an offensive monster. Pachulia is well rounded but not Curry. As a backup, Davis is just better. More experienced, savvy, a super hard worker. The only problem the Bulls would face against the Hawks is their ability to defend. All three big men can step away from the basket to shoot. It a small advantage but one that has to be mentioned. The fact that I have to mention Collier in the mix speaks volumes to how much better the Bulls are here as a whole. This is an 8-2 win for the Bulls. All other players on any given NBA night are inconsequential. Were I, as Diesel has repeatedly suggested, to change this to replace Salim with Deron Williams or another point and replace Marvin with the best remaining big man at #31, we would be no better at PF/C and no Better at PG/SG. More importantly we wouldn't have Marvin Williams on the Bench learning to put his athleticism to good NBA use just like the Josh's did last year.

by the way. Jones has played euroball since.

I Love it when people get their facts wrong. Quote: "Alvin Jones has been in three or four training camps before, and he has NEVER made a 15 man squad, much less a 12 man squad." Per NBA.com http://www.nba.com/playerfile/alvin_jones/ Alvin Jones played in 23 games for the Philadelphia 76ers in 01-02 averaging 5.5 minutes per game. 1.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg, .1 apg and .4 blocks per game. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/john_edwards/ John Edwards played in 25 games for the Indiana Pacers averaging 5.6 minutes per game. 1.2 ppg, .8 rpg, .1 apg and .16 blocks per game. The point is, in almost the same amount of games, in almost exactly the same amount of minutes, edwards is .1 ppg better and .8 rpg and .2 blocks per game worse. so by your own logic, if Jones is a cannon fodder scrub (man I'm liking this term more and more) than Edwards is lesser fodder.

You make it sound like I was flipping out. Just saying, is the signing even worth talking about. Couldn't anyone do this job. There's 3 types of players you sign. 1. Star Player - Guy who comes in and is one of your top 5 scorers or 2 best rebounders on your team. He gets 30+ minutes a game and gets to do postgame interviews. IE - When we signed/traded for JJ. 2. Roster Talent - Guy who comes in and plays servicable minutes in relief of one of the guys above. The roll Deke played for Houston last year or the role Alan Henderson Played. 3. Cannon Fodder - This is a guy who get's the league minimum to get dunked on in Practice, substitutes in to give a breather to a vet during intersquad practice sessions, stands under the basket and retrieves balls during free throw practice, sits on the bench in his warmups and waves a towel in the last 2 minutes of a tight game, has his head blocked out by the guy in front of him during the team photo, get's waived and resiged to 10 day contracts 3 times in a season and typically ends up baggin groceries at your local Kroger or being used as a stunt double in the next Shaqfu movie. He is typically referred to by management in the press release as a project guy who hasn't gotten his opportunity yet in the league. Unfortunately, until proven otherwise I will have to believe that in 5 years Mr. Edwards will be asking "Paper or Plastic?"

Wouldn't Bringing Alvin Jones in make just as much sense. If it's rebounding and blocked shots we're looking for, he was more than capable of both. He just wasn't the brightest lightbulb on the tree.

I got little lips.

You need to remember the proposed deal for Curry would be a sign and trade. At $10 in Cap room, you trade less than $7 million away in Al Harrington. You could sign Curry for $14 million and if my math is correct, 17-14 = 3 million under the cap. I am by no means a cap cruncher but I believe you must also have 14 on the roster now per the CBA. The extra 3 mil goes to sign those 2 players.

Anyone know???

That's the point. No he isn't the second coming but he is a very good center. Better that at least 20 teams will trot out there this year. This is why the center position is at a premium. Couple that with he is only 22. Yes, 22 the same age that Battier came out of college. He's the equivalent of a college rookie now. If Milwaukee get's 16-20 and 6-8 out of Bogut this year they will be happy, why wouldn't we with a 22-23 year old center. Heck, if I could get 16-6 out of Collier I'd be happy but I can't. Secondly, We have to spend about 14 million more than we have spent. We have to. Someone is going to get that money. If you sign and trade Harrington to Chicago for Curry and Curry is signed for 15 and Harrington is currently signed for 7 million, than the difference is 8 million a season. If we have 26 million to spend and you sign Curry for 15 million a season via a sign and trade, we still have to find some way to spend 6 million more just to make the league minimum salary and 18 million more to hit the max. A max for Curry doesn't hurt us at all. It will help us not overpay for another player just to get him/her here.

I posted this the other day as part of a larger post and got the number of days wrong. It was a 10 day sampling. In 29.8 minutes per game over his last 10 games before the heart trouble. Yes fellas, in only 29.8 minutes per game, not the 35 he'd get from us. 19.8 points 6.1 rebounds 1.1 block 2.0 TO 3.5 fouls 42/56 Free throws for 75% 78/131 FG Attempts for 59.54 % Tell me what other center option we have that can put up 20/6 and a block a game with reasonable turnovers and fouls, shoot 60% from the floor and shoot 75% from the free throw line and in only 29.8 minutes a game. In my opinion, this should end the discussion.

Well the point to this was that his Rebounds and Blocks were lower because his role defensively was more one on one with opposing centers leaving Chandler to clear the boards and block shots. Chandler is better at both and this leaves Curry to really change the way the opponents offense ran by taking their center out of the game. Theo Blocked shots and rebounded more but was not a good team defender. How bad could Curry be when the Bulls gave up the 7th least points but also had the most turnovers. This means good team concept defense. His defensive stats would improve if returned to this role of pivot man but I don't see that need. We will have 3 guys on the floor with him (childress, Smith, Williams) that can all block shots and rebound. He fits us quite nicely. Lot's of offense to free up the other guys and the ability to play one on one defense. Body up to any other center in the league. Something the big white stiff Collier can't do. This is from the world's biggest Cracker there is.

How the game is played. There are a number of players out there we are interested in. Curry would a be a solid upgrade over anything we have. Second, the offense ran through Curry alot while he was on the floor. This tends to take a player out of position to rebound some and open up others. With rebounding machine Tyson Chandler on the floor a great deal with Curry, his crashing the boards wasn't necessary. He did other things within the offense. On defense, his main job was to man on man defend the other team's center. Primarily to lay his big body on the other guy and keep him out of the paint. This tends to move the center away from the basket. This and natural athletic ability is why Chandler's rebound numbers and Hinrich for that matter are so good. I live in just east of Chitown now fellas and will be sorry to see him leave town. As evidenced by their slide last year when he went down, he helps create good space for his team. Size will do that. Now on to what matters with Curry. His last 10 games he played in for the Bulls. This is a picture of what you could get. In 29.8 minutes per game over his last 8 games. Yes fellas, in only 29.8 minutes per game. 19.8 points 6.1 rebounds 1.1 block 2.0 TO 3.5 fouls 42/56 Free throws for 75% 78/131 FG Attempts for 59.54 % There is a reason Gordon struggled to find his shot at the end of the year. The guy who hits just short of 60% from the field and 75% of his free throws wasn't there to draw the defense in. Give him 36 minutes a game like a starter should have (Skiles buried the big fella last year) and he goes for 24 points and 8 boards. There are a shortage of lazy guys like this in the league. I give a rat's fat can if he's lazy. I'll take 20/6 from the center spot. The guy touched the ball on almost every trip down the court and turned the ball over an average of 2 times. That last 10 games is a good guess at what the Hawks would be in for if they played the big guy right. However, I'm a big believer in stats per 48 minutes. Per 48 minutes, let's compare to the best center in a millenium from last year, Shaq (who made 30 million). These are full year stats for both from last year. Curry - 28.2 points, 9.4 boards, 1.62 blocks. 54% FG%, 72% FT% Shaq - 32.18 points, 14.6 boards, 3.29 blocks. 60% FG%, 46% FT%. Dalembert - 19 Points, 17.5 boards, 3.9 blocks. 52.4 FG%, 60.1 FT%.

I can't even believe we are having this discussion. When you have the ability to add one of 5 best point guards in the game and he is. With 21 pts, 8 assists and 3 boards you can't argue it. How do you not get him for Delk, a player you aren't using, Collier, a player who is barely NBA quality and Harrington a good player but one who won't be here next year and who you drafted Marvin Williams to replace. 3 players you aren't going to use next year for a player with better stats than Antoine Walker had last year. The only valid argument I've heard is the 21 million owed him in 3 years but that's the last year of his contract. We can easily trade him as an expiring contract if the situation isn't working out. Doing this still allows us the cap space to sign either Curry or Gadzuric and other young filler talent. There would be money left after trying to pry away chandler and ending up with Curry to still work the market and those 2 moves would make us much more appealing to aspiring free agents. I doubt anyone has seriously looked at our lineup this way but here it would be. Marbury/Stoudamire/Ivey Childress/Diaw J.Smith/D.Smith M.Williams/(vet filler) Curry/(vet filler) (maybe David Anderson here) But that possible starting lineup of Marbury/Chillz/Smith/Williams/Curry can rebound and run with anyone. They would run people out of the building nightly. I don't know, but that starting 5 looks awfully scary to me. The middle 3 can all go for 5 plus rebounds and more than a block a game. That's a long, big team.

Interesting thought here. What if they do use the number 2 on Williams, get 19/Williams from Memphis for the laker's future 1st and Diaw and then trade 31/cash for the 22nd. this would allow them to get Marvin Williams, Jarrett Jack, Andrew Bynum in the draft. Get Jason Williams in the trade and Sign Chandler via free agency. Theoretically, the Hawks could lineup: J. Williams/Jarrett Jack Childress/ J. Smith/ Al Harrington/M. Williams Chandler/Bynum and fill in the gaps with what's left on the roster. That is an exciting young core group of players. This is interesting.

You see Diesel, we all sit on this board and pontificate over what the team should do, but after seeing that guard list I had a hard time fiquring out what I would do. I started balancing the short vs long term goals of the team. It's harder one might think. So anyone else. Put together a group of 5 with reasonable salaries and then we'll banter about and see if we can get a group. Must be 5 (so the guy not choosing a small forward cheated) and rather than resign a hawk, just make him one of you other 4 (so the guy signing Danta, cheated). 5 new guys on the squad. The reality is that we have 3 picks that will take up about 4-5 million in salary if they sign so we would really be looking at 2 Free agents but lets see what you GM's could come up with.

Then submit your $25 million dollar suggestion before you criticize. Give it a shot MR. GM. It was harder than I thought.

My way of doing this could easily be PG - Damon Stoudamire -$15 mil/3year $5 SG DerMarr Johnson - $4 mil/2 years $2 SF Toni Kukoc - $6 mil/2 years $3 PF - Kwame Brown $ 20 mil/4 years $5 C - Eddy Curry - $60 mil/6 years $10 I would line up Stoudamire/Lue/Ivey Childress/Johnson/diaw Smith/Kukok Harrington/Brown Curry/Drobnak Not sure if these salaries are even possible under the CBA but you see if you could do better. This team would be competitive. It could most definately score.

In a previous post, JamesDCrockett listed the available guards in an effort to see if we there are any GM's out there in training, pretend you have to improve the Hawks this year. You have no draft picks, Chillz, Smooth, Al and any 4 players on the roster right now. Assume all players listed here would sign for the right price. (1 mil more than their previous team or an average team would/could offer). You need 5 players, one at each position (can either grab our current players backup or someone to start over them.). Given our free agents don't sign (ie drob). You'd have about $25 million to spend. Could you with this list of free agents and current talent build a 2nd round competitive playoff team out of the hawks. Say how you're spending the money. 5 players, $25 million from this list. 1 player per position. Free agent point guards: 1. Marko Jaric (Restricted) 2. Sarunas Jasikevicius 3. Antonio Daniels (Player Option) 4. Gary Payton 5. Brevin Knight 6. Earl Watson 7. Damon Stoudamire 8. Jeff McInnis 9. Chris Duhon (Restricted) 10. Damon Jones (Player Option) 11. Nick Van Exel (Team Option) 12. Dan Dickau (Option Declined) 13. Tyronn Lue 14. Darrell Armstrong 15. Jacque Vaughn (Team Option) 16. Howard Eisley 17. Tony Delk (Player Option) 18. Steve Blake 19. Keith McLeod (Restricted) 20. Milt Palacio 21. Travis Best 22. Frank Williams (Option Declined) 23. Erick Strickland 24. Jannero Pargo (Restricted) 25. Rick Brunson 26. Kenny Anderson 27. Tierre Brown 28. Keyon Dooling (Player Option) 29. Anthony Carter 30. Jamison Brewer 31. Eddie Gill 32. Andre Barrett 33. Luis Flores (Restricted) 34. Lionel Chalmers (Restricted) 35. Junior Harrington 36. Mateen Cleaves 37. Omar Cook 38. Quinton Ross 39. Mike Wilks 40. Anthony Goldwire Free agent shooting guards: 1. Ray Allen 2. Michael Redd (Player Option) 3. Larry Hughes 4. Joe Johnson (Restricted) 5. Cuttino Mobley (Player Option) 6. Eddie Jones (Player Option) 7. Bobby Jackson (Team Option) 8. Kerry Kittles 9. Latrell Sprewell 10. Do not know what happened to their tenth pick? 11. Willie Green (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 12. Jon Barry 13. Casey Jacobsen 14. DerMarr Johnson 15. Juan Dixon (Option Declined) 16. Lucius Harris 17. Raja Bell 18. Keith Bogans (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 19. Maurice Evans (Restricted) 20. Kareem Rush (Option Declined) 21. Shandon Anderson 22. Dajuan Wagner (Option Declined) 23. Anthony Peeler 24. Greg Buckner (Player Option) 25. Matt Carroll 26. Damien Wilkins (Restricted) 27. Richie Frahm (Restricted) 28. Ron Mercer (Player Option) 29. Eddie House 30. Laron Profit 31. Erik Daniels (Restricted) 32. Tamar Slay (Team Option) 33. Romain Sato 34. Steve Smith 35. Wesley Person 36. Horace Jenkins (Restricted) 37. Qyntel Woods 38. Adreian Griffin 39. Kedrick Brown 40. Dion Glover Small Forwards 1. Grant Hill (Player Option) 2. Bobby Simmons 3. Vladimir Radmanovic (Restricted) 4. Kyle Korver (Restricted/Bird Rights) 5. Bonzi Wells (Team Option) 6. James Jones (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 7. Luke Walton (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 8. Eddie Griffin (Restricted) 9. Devin Brown (Restricted) 10. Gerald Wallace (Restricted) 11. Glenn Robinson 12. Bostjan Nachbar (Option Declined) 13. Walter McCarty (Player Option) 14. Jason Kapono (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 15. Brian Scalabrine 16. Scott Padgett 17. Lee Nailon 18. Chris Crawford 19. Matt Barnes (Restricted) 20. Rodney Rogers 21. Josh Davis (Restricted) 22. Ronald Dupree (Player Option) 23. Matt Bonner (Restricted) 24. Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Option Declined) 25. Calbert Cheaney ... Staying with Golden State 26. Devean George (Player Option) 27. Toni Kukoc 28. Ryan Humphrey (Option Declined) 29. Darvin Ham 30. Rodney Buford 31. Theron Smith 32. Ryan Bowen 33. Pape Sow (Team Option) 34. Jamal Mashburn (Player Option) 35. Donta Smith (Restricted) 36. Stacey Augmon (Player Option) 37. Damone Brown 38. Chris Jefferies 39. Bryon Russell 40. Jerome Beasley Power Forwards 1. Shareef Abdur-Rahim 2. Antoine Walker 3. Tyson Chandler (Restricted) 4. Stromile Swift 5. Keith Van Horn (Player Option) 6. Udonis Haslem (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 7. Donyell Marshall 8. Reggie Evans (Restricted) 9. Danny Fortson (Player Option) 10. Kwame Brown (Restricted) 11. Darius Songaila (Player Option) 12. Brian Grant (Player Option) 13. Robert Traylor 14. Chris Andersen 15. Othella Harrington 16. Austin Croshere (Player Option) 17. Tony Battie (Player Option) 18. Mark Madsen 19. Robert Horry (Player Option) 20. Alan Henderson 21. Christian Laettner 22. Malik Allen 23. Michael Ruffin 24. Sean Marks 25. Aaron Williams (Player Option) 26. Tony Massenburg 27. Bo Outlaw 28. Jahidi White 29. Lawrence Funderburke 30. Jackson Vroman (Team Option) 31. Marcus Fizer 32. Brandon Hunter (Restricted) 33. Jabari Smith 34. Samaki Walker 35. Tom Gugliotta 36. Zendon Hamilton 37. James Thomas 38. Jackie Butler (Team Option) 39. Jerome Moiso 40. Ben Handlogten Centers 1. Shaquille O'Neal (Player Option) 2. Eddy Curry (Restricted) 3. Zydrunas Ilgauskas 4. Samuel Dalembert (Restricted) 5. Dan Gadzuric (Restricted) 6. Jerome James 7. Zaza Pachulia (Restricted/Early Bird Rights) 8. Clifford Robinson (Team Option) 9. Steven Hunter (Player Option) 10. Peja Drobnjak (Team Option) 11. Alonzo Mourning 12. Vitaly Potapenko 13. Dikembe Mutombo 14. Andrew DeClercq 15. DeSagana Diop (Restricted) 16. Zeljko Rebraca 17. Francisco Elson (Team Option) 18. Ervin Johnson 19. Scott Williams 20. Greg Ostertag (Player Option) 21. Mikki Moore 22. Dale Davis 23. Jake Voskuhl (Player Option) 24. Jared Reiner (Restricted) 25. Elden Campbell 26. Obinna Ekezie 27. John Edwards (Restricted) 28. Paul Shirley (Team Option) 29. Daniel Santiago 30. Michael Bradley (Player Option) 31. Kevin Willis 32. Vin Baker (Player Option) 33. Vladimir Stepania 34. Wang Zhizhi 35. Bruno Sundov 36. Ha Seung-Jin (Restricted) 37. Cezary Trybanski 38. Michael Stewart 39. Jelani McCoy 40. Jamal Sampson Web Site Link: http://probasketball.about.com/od/newsrumo...reeagents05.htm

But a better Idea is Al, Diaw and the worse of the 2 between our 2 first round picks next year for Charlotte's pick at Number 5 this year. With this pick we take which ever of these 3 players is left and in this order D. Williams, C Paul, G Green. Clearing Al and Diaw off the payroll for another pick (and in this scenario I'll use Williams), gives us the money to sign. Shareef Abdur Rahim (to replace Al and can be had for 8-10 mil a year) Tyson Chandler (Can be had for the same) Say what you want about SAR but he can score and I think a potential lineup of: D. Williams/Delk/Ivey Childress/Pick/D. Smith J. Smith/Pick/ SAR/Collier Chandler/Drobnak/Ekezie This would leave us a good 6 mil to fill the last 2 slots with Vets (vet min and exception contracts) and still be under the cap. This is a team that can score inside and out (Williams, Childress, SAR). Defend Williams and Chandler. Rebound (SAR/Chandler).

this one makes me ill. Trading the second overall pick for Pierce and Lafrentz. We can get equal players to both in Free agency for similar money and hold on to the number 2 selection. No thanks.

Boy did you take that more negative than intended. Was just saying that to say a team with 2 good draft picks, tradable commodities, 2 budding stars (not superstars but stars) and 24 million dollars to spend is a real nice starting place to be in. Alot of teams in the league would like to be in that spot.

I'm really glad you aren't running the Hawks. Here is what the team has as assets in no particular order. On the roster for sure next year and at their "natural" position: PG: Tony Delk, Royal Ivey, SG: Donta Smith SF: Josh Childress, Boris Diaw PF: Josh Smith, Al Harrington C: Pedrag Drobnjak, Jason Colier That's nine players when you should carry 14 (2 on il). 5 roster spots. Cap room: 24 million. Draft selections: 2nd, 31st overall, 2 future firsts (there's one out there for 2007 I'm pretty sure). Collier will most probably be waived. Tradable commodities. Sign and trade of Lue, Diaw, Harrington. What can 2 picks in the top 31 plus Lue, Diaw and Harrington and 24 million dollars net. Diaw and Harrington would be gone in my world clearing another 7 million. Jason Williams is 8 million per. Kwame Brown is 3-5 millions per. Bogut, Jack (moving up by sending Diaw and 31st). Ray Allen at 12-14 million per (most we'll have to pay as there isn't alot of other money out there to sign him. Next year's line up is: PG: Jason Williams, Jarrett Jack, Tony Delk SG: Ray Allen, Donta Smith, Royal Ivey SF: Josh Childress,(Smith and Smith will fill in at the 3) PF: Josh Smith, Kwame Brown C: Bogut, Drobnak, Ekezie Plus player or players acquired in moving Harrington and Lue. Anyone who doesn't think a team of Jason Williams, Ray Allen, the 2 Josh's and Bogut with a bench of Jack, Kwame, Drobnak can't pull more than 25 wins in the NBA isn't much of a basketball fan. Bogut is a passing center (See Brad Miller's improvement for Sacramento) with size. Josh and Josh will be solid second year players. Ray Allen is money from the outside. Jason Williams is a fun to watch, Solid NBA point guard. Not top 5 but highly servicable. I see good ball movement and spacing with this group. Multiple players able to shoot from the outside and pass efficiently, creating athleticism matchups for Allen, Childress and especially Smith cutting to the lane. I see above average trasition game and young legs all around for ball hawking defense. On the substitution end, most teams would like to have the problem of subbing in a Jarrett Jack. Most backup point guards in this league are awful. The starters are great and the backups absolutely stink. This is why Ben Gordon was so good off the bench last year and Jarrett Jack was every bit as good as he was 2 years ago in college (it was the rest of the yellow jackets vs. okafor which was a mismatch). Kwame's homecoming is just what the doctor ordered for him and Drobnak proved he was a very good backup center last year. You can't argue his numbers off the bench last year. Selling this team short at 25 wins would be a diss-service. The real question is what does Billy do with 24 milion dollars, 3 player commodities to trade and great draft flexibility to get us back to the playoffs. That's a lot guys. A whole lot to work with.

in case you haven't noticed, we arent' 10 players deep (see googs getting 25 minutes per game). Glenn can score and this is an opportunity to take the double teams off the young guys so they can get in their reps. Giving a 19 year old the ball and the triple team that follows does him little good.