For those who think staying Pat is a good thing

[Diesel]

If we stay Pat, 3 things will definitely happen.....

1. We will watch the fall of our Sf position. Toni will give part time relief but only part time. We need to trade for a scoring Sf.

2. We will not be good enough to make the playoffs nor bad enough to make the lottery. We will be faced with one of those midround picks with Babcock doing the choosing. Watch Babs go for the current fad at the time.

3. Theo will leave us high and dry at the end of the season. Don't think that Theo will not opt out. He's going to opt out and we will look just like we did when danny Manning did it to us.

The problem is that we don't have that 3rd scorer to give relief to SAR and JT. Has anybody ever watched the Lakers?? Horry, Fox, and Fisher are all able to be that guy... Who do we have:

Ira, DJ, and Theo...

Theo/1st for Battier/Lo!

[Traceman]

1) Ira, Toni, CC (and DJ) are not superstars but assuming they stay remotely healthy, they will form the deepest and best group of SFs we've had since Nique.

2) If Theo remains healthy, we will be good enough to make the playoffs. If Theo remains healthy and DJ (or DG) has a breakout season, we will be good enough to ADVANCE in the playoffs.

3) If Theo opts out and management doesn't think he will resign, we will have the same options we had with Deke. We can trade him around the All Star break or we can wait until after the season and do a sign and trade over the summer. The situation in no way resembles the Manning situation as the CBA is totally different than it was then. Theo can't just somewhere for the veteran's minimum and then get a big contract with that team the followig year because that would be circumventing the salary cap.

As far as not having a 3rd scorer goes, I think DJ, DG, Toni or even Theo is capable of filling that role. It would be nice if we could get a proven player for that role but if we can't, I still think we have the talent to get the job done.