Three to Four year plan?

[BlackHawkDown]

Every time I post in regard to rebuilding the team I make recommendations for the next 3 years. GM's plan as much as 4 to 5 years in advance. Many posters here make plans for three weeks to a champion. LOL. I would like to hear what you feel this franchise should do in the next 2 to 3 years to become a champion.

[capstone21]

Well I posted this a couple weeks ago but it is a rebuild for a year:

I don't think we should be trading for a big star instead look to multiple players that will add chemistry and depth.

Here is a trade I propose at midseason:

Walker/Diaw 1st rounder

to Memphis for

Lo Wright/Miller/Battier.

This will free up their log jam at the sf/sg positions. Miller is not getting any PT and Diaw will make up for Battier since they have Posey and Wells. They want to get rid of Wright's contract and it opens up for Swift at center. This also gives them a solid player in Walker who can help in their playoff push and give them a ton of cap space at the end of the season.

It gives us a solid guy who can play sg/pg and sf in Miller, a backup PF/C in Wright and Battier gives us defence, effort and depth.

In the offseason draft Chris Paul and sign Marko Jaric and Samual Dalembert or Kwame Brown.

Team:

PG: Chris Paul/Marko Jaric

SG: Mike Miller/Josh Childress

SF: Shane Battier/Josh Smith

PF: Al Harrington/Lo Wright

C: Samual D. or Brown/Collier/Peja

Deep team that should have some good chemistry with us having players that will accept their roles and give effort on D. It is more along the Denver/Utah model then trying to go out and get one star player.

[Iman]

The road to a championship basically is simple, you just have to get 2 superstars on your team. Getting those 2 superstar is the hard part and really can not be the basis of a GM's longterm plan. A GM has to be an asset manager and through hard work and scouting hope to get lucky.

Billy Knight seems to have my kind of plan:

1. Draft efficiently(includes get as many good picks as possible)

2. Dont overpay

3. Look for agressive, long, players until you find a superstar

I think we have some good, young talent. We need to continue to look for more. Save our cap space so we can pay them as they improve but more importantly so we can buy a young future all star or two. As for me, I'm just gonna watch lotsa college basketball and the young NBA players so I can root for Billy Knight to make a move for who we need. Right now, Chris Paul looks pretty good tonite, his size worries me though.

[NvHawksFan]

Completely agree Iman.

One of the keys to getting more draft picks is keeping cap space available for making trades. If we can use cap space to grab a pick or two at the trading dealine, it makes all the difference.

Last year we added Josh Smith to the team by making one of those deals.

At this point, I think we have a better chance of getting a superstar by landing a top 3 draft pick than via sign or trade.

[Gray Mule]

Not many "Stars" can carry a team alone. Shaq probably

can. Who else?

Any building must have a solid foundation if it is to

stand when the storms hit. If not, it is "Gone With

the Wind." Same thing, I believe, with building a good

team. First, you build a solid foundation.

Right now, we are working on the foundation of our future.

Look at our youngsters we have drafted. With experience,

they will become solid N.B.A. players. If we end up

with three or four good players drafted again next year,

we expect to have not only our foundation but much of

the building in place.

Perhaps, out of all this, a real star player will emerge.

If not, at that point, when we are ready for the third

year, we should find ourselves only one or two players

from being a top team in the N.B.A.

Slow? Sure it is. Instant gratification doesn't last.

Super stars, being merely human, are subject to injury

or worse. Loose them and you sink to the bottom. Fast.

With a solid foundation of better than average players,

maturing into that, we have something good to look

foreward to.

Until then, hold on and enjoy the ride. Good things

happen every game, whether we win or loose. Bad things

happen, too. As the season goes along, Hawks will

continue to add more good things and eliminate a lot

of those bad things. Count on it.

Go Hawks !!!!

[Weez]

that's most always true. I mean...Shaq leaving Orlando...was that the last time a true superstar simply uprooted to another town? without a trade (of which we probably don't have the assets this year)?

they simply aren't moved often. sure, you can list a few others, but I don't think Walker has that 'luster' this year (like say when GP was moved for Ray Ray).

drafting a superstar is almost the only way...but you have to be smart, and competitive until that time...

[Diesel]

To answer your question Hawksquawk Mace... I think that in order for our team to succeed... We have to draft Smart... It's unlikely that we will get a top FA to come here without throwing a whole lot of money at them... We have to draft for need in these next two drafts... With special emphasis on best player...

The Booby trap in it all is that the owners are going to go for the lockout so that they can change the amount of time a rookie contract lasts and so that they can change some of the FA rules... i.e., it will become even harder for a FA to move from his preexisting team without the team getting some compensation.

However over the next season, this is the main question that must be answered.

Walker/Harrington... Who stays? Do we keep Both? Do we trade Both? Do we trade one over the other?

I'm starting to think we can keep Walker. Offer him a 6 yr 68 million dollar deal. He's still a young player.

We can use Harrington in a trade. I would love to trade Harrington for a shooter.

Finally, we draft Smart. The next few drafts should be people who are more than Glue.

Childress is Glue.

Ivey is Glue

J-Smooth could be a star.

We need another definite...

[Russ]

He looked ok but his size is a issue. Of course JT is playing undersized in a perfect role for Dallas.

We need good young low post players. By that I mean a tough guy who can rebound and play defense, Dan Roundfield for you old timers like me comes to mind. Walker seems to have the game to play the 3 and I personally don't think Harrington is a 3.

It's a long process.....but in the process the right decisions at each level are critical.

[Nicholasp27]

we need a big who can rebound and block some shots...whether that is dalembert or swift or some draftee, i dunno...hopefully bk can work some sort of magic there...

much of it depends on how ivey/chill/smooth/al/diaw improve this year as well...if al can step up some more to show he can be a future starting all-star, then we trade walker for a point or center...smooth/al will hopefully be our forward foundation for many years, if both pan out...if diaw nor chill pan out, then go for redd, tho that's far from a guarantee of getting him...ivey should be kept as, at the least, the backup pg...collier and drobs are decent offensively, but we really need some bangers in the paint...and someone that can shut down the lane so we CAN play a detroit-style defense

also on the radar in my plans are going for dhoward in 3 years after his rookie contract...he loves atlanta, it's his home team...unless he decides to stay with Orlando, we should be his #1 choice...at that point we can trade harrington for someone else or use him to backup smooth/howard for 30mpg

so

a) look to trade walker for pg or center (hopefully center)

b) look to sign one of redd/dalembert/swift this offseason, depending on need

c) look to get some more draft picks with our cap space

d) give diaw ultimatums to shoot at least 5 times per game or get reduced minutes

e) look to sign dhoward in a few years to complete the championship team

we need to work on 1,2,5 positions the most...we have smooth/al and hopefully later on smooth/howard at the 3/4, so concentrate on those other 3 positions so if we do get howard or when smooth/al blow up, the rest of the team is ready for them...

[TheDude]

assess areas of future potential need...

SF- covered by Harrington

PF- covered by Josh Smith(can also be switched with Harrington)

SG- covered by Josh Childress

C & PG are areas that need to be addressed with young talent, although Royal Ivey has impressed so far it sounds at pg...

so for the next few years, we add pieces to our team for depth and for potential, specifically targeting our areas of need but not limiting it to such.

how?

-trade Walker for high pick or combination of midpick and young potential

-we'll suck this year so we'll have a high pick next year, comb the college players, no high schoolers this year if possible so they are further along in their development

-offseason 2005, use extra salary cap to bring in YOUNG star potential at a position of need(Dan Gadzuric, Kwame Brown if we real lucky, Juan Dixon, Marco Jaric).

-offseason 2006, use salary cap money if available on STAR to put us over top.