No way. The Magic have spent all the money they're going to spend. Any remaining roster spots will be filled out with veteran minimum types and rookies. Sheed will go to Boston or Cleveland. I've heard that Portland is offering Hedo a contract as well. Marc Stein reported that.
Pistons are hot and heavy after Ben Gordon and maybe Charlie Villanueva. Not exactly my first two choices for how to spend their cap room. You can get by with one awful defender in your lineup and still be okay. But to have two guys who are among the worst defenders in the NBA at their positions? Not so much. I can only imagine someone like Doug Collins trying to coach those two into playing D.
I think you can probably find a rumor of Amare being shipped just about anywhere if you look hard enough. That makes some sense, though I think Houston would have to do more. Both contracts expire after this year, but McGrady's deal will probably be paid by insurance, so that's big savings for that cheapskate Sarver. If Houston sent a prospect the Suns could use with McGrady, they might bite. The GS deal fell through over Stephen Curry, but it's not inconceivable that they could make their way back there. And I'd be a little surprised if the Pistons didn't at least make a token offer. Stoudemire's a hell of a lot better than anyone on the market, and the Pistons can help the Suns with job #1: saving money.
The Jazz are in a real pickle right now. Both Boozer and Okur will hit the 2010 free agent market, but they have to pay them for 2009-10. And that's almost certainly going to mean that Paul Millsap is gone. They might have been better off with Boozer or Okur opting out so they could afford to at least sign Millsap long term. As it stands, they probably lose Millsap this year and almost certainly one of Boozer and Okur next year. They might be without all three of them come 2010-11.
I think you're probably right. It's either him or David Lee. I think Turkoglu will disappoint a bit outside Orlando unless he finds a perfect offensive fit. And I'd be wary of paying Charlie Villanueva anything more than a 1-year contract; the guy's an absolute knucklehead.
So interesting scenario. The triangle is made for a combo guard correct? How would AI fit into it? And could he coexist with Kobe?
Word is that it will be either him or Avery Johnson. Between the two, I'd prefer Johnson, though Collins isn't a bad choice. He's certainly better than Curry, who was horribly overmatched as a head coach. Dumars admitted that Curry all but got thrown to the wolves the moment they got Iverson. Collins is a good coach for turning a bad team into a good one, but isn't the right coach to take a team to the championship. The Pistons have taken a couple steps back from being a championship contender, so that doesn't bother me. I prefer Johnson because I believe you can win a championship with Avery Johnson as a coach. I don't know that you can win a championship with Doug Collins. Collins is a lot like Rick Carlisle that way. In fact, he's like Carlisle in a lot of ways: defense first, last and always, will absolutely chew his players out, favors slow-down basketball and a well-structured, boring offense and who will absolutely wear out his welcome within five years and probably more like three.
Kobe would empty an entire magazine of 9 mm bullets into Iverson's chest no later the third Lakers practice. Phil Jax would clean up the crime scene and coordinate an alibi that Iverson was killed in a drive-by shooting outside. So, to answer your question about how AI would fit with that team: poorly.
Good assessment of Collins, having seen him coach my Wizards thats exactly what he is. Really though the Pistons are hunting around for a turn around coach when the team would have been fine just drafting anyone but Darko and the Iverson move was one of the worst trades I've seen in recent memory, why would anyone want Iverson at this point in his career?
AI won't fit into anyone's team until he figures out that hes not 24 and can't be AI anymore, he could be really valuable as a bench scorer at this point but he still wants 40 shots a night. I wouldn't touch AI at this point in his career.
And AI is not a high percentage shooter, 40 shots a night at 42% means one ugly offense. The team that supposedly likes AI is the Celtics, Ainge puts value on some sort of mindset test and AI supposedly fits the profile and the very nearly traded for AI a couple of years ago.
Thank you. Collins coached my Pistons about a decade ago, so I remember him pretty well. The Iverson trade was a bad trade for 2009, but potentially a good one moving forward. Dumars felt that the team needed a major shakeup. In fact, it needed one after the 2007 ECF, and Dumars realized it a bit too late. He gambled that Iverson would fall in line, with the thought being that if he didn't, all he'd done was help sink a team that wasn't going anywhere anyway, and would accelerate the rebuilding process. It wasn't really a bad move. BTW, I've been harsh on Villanueva, so in the interest of equal time, here's Ric Bucher's analysis: I think highly of Bucher's work, so the thought of Villanueva playing under someone like Collins or Johnson isn't so abhorrent as I thought it might be.
Cv is a relatively solid offensive player who can be a good defender at times. He plays the passing lanes well for a big guy and is a matchup problem for defenders with his ability to stretch defenses or play physical in the post. I wanted the knicks to get him badly over frye a few years back.
Villaneuva's offense is excellent, no doubt about that. He's got a sweet mid-range stroke, excellent handle and is a matchup nightmare for most 3s and most 4s. Having him and Prince together in the frontcourt would be a very interesting combo, and damn hard to match up with defensively. He's an atrocious defender, though. Just terrible. BTW, ESPN reports that the Pistons are hosting both Villanueva and Gordon today.
Both of who are terrible defenders. Geez...I would take one of them, but I dont know about both of them.
I think the Pistons needed a shakeup but I don't understand why the Pistons needed to trade Billups and for a one year player at that. I think Billups is worth a lot more than Iverson.
My sentiments exactly. Billups is absolutely worth a lot more than Iverson. No argument whatsoever. The whole point was cap flexibility and the ability to rebuild the team.
BTW Padre I forgot to add in our discussion last week.....that the heat has spent into the luxury tax again this year with JO opting in. Arison's dictate as printed again in the Miami herald is as per Riley: "spend into the luxury tax for a starter or rotation player."
Not with Orlando though Sect, VC will have more of an opportunity to penetrate with D Howard in the paint and VC is not 6'0.. As for the luxury tax, they did not choose to go into the penalty, JO merely used his player option.
That he was never gonna reject Padre. when they traded for him..they knew they just went into the luxury tax for 2 years straight. In fact...since the inception of the tax...can you find ONE season the heat did not go into the Tax?
Carter has a 45% career FG%, which is pretty damn good for a career jump shooter. He's also cut his shots a bit from the ball-hogging 20+ shots per game guy that he was back in Toronto.
While I like the Magic's pickup of Carter, the vision of Carter as a slashing 2 guard who goes to the hole and wreaks havoc is a myth. He's turned himself into a very good jump shooter but a player with his physical gifts should get to the hole far more than he does. (Look at that plummeting free throw rate.) But Carter's as soft as they come; knock him on his *** a couple times and he's out of the paint for the rest of the night.
He did great in regards to assists for a SG last year. Now that he has more options to feed to ball to I think he is going to feel right at home(pun intended). It's not like teams would be doing themselves a favor by letting Lewis & Jameer open for 3, and there will always be some kind of defensive focus on Howard - or they are asking for trouble....The fact is that Vince has never had these kind of weapons to play with & the Magic haven't had a dangerous 2G since Tmac. The Lakers showed us just how important that can be, especially when up against a team who lacks one.
His game is built to shoot a much higher percentage. he has shot further and further as his career has gone on. he also has a career .418 FG% in the playoffs. Just not a fan. as a third banana in Orlando...hmmm...will he be a third banana? I think he takes the most shots for orlando next year. (leads the team in shots) bet?
No, the Magic have a great chance to sign Rasheed Wallace. It's been reported everywhere. We can afford him.
http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/24980294/ Turkish MSNBC says that Dwyane Wade is courting Hedo to take the MLE to join the Heat. another Heat rumor: Utah will look to unload Boozer since he is opting INTO his last year. heat is rumored to offer expirings for Boozer and his final year at 12.7 Million. that would be too good to be true because it would improve the Heat greatly but at the same time have them retain their cap space for 2010 while gaining rights to Boozer. i say no way...Riley is good at screwing people in trades...not at getting these giveaways. we always give up value.
Boozer and Okur to stay with Jazz. MAvs and Rockets going after Gortat. Ben Gordon and Villenunava meet with the Pistons Hedo meeting with the Trailblazers.