Post by DERRENMATTS on Aug 21, 2006 3:23:32 GMT -5
My initial thoughts for this thread came as I was reading FL12's terrific article on Loy's Place Blog. We are stacked to the limit and beyond with players on our roster. We'll need to cut down our roster size down to 15 by the time October rolls around--which is only a month and some change away--whoohooo!!!
No doubt that this is one of the rare times this decade where we actually have players on the end of the bench who I like and think have a shot to stick in the NBA. Whereas in 2002, JR Bremer was our starting PG, on our current team, he'd be behind Allan Ray, who currently isn't guaranteed to be on the team past October. That's how many potentially solid players we have on the team.
But there comes a point where having a team full of solid players is overkill since they won't ever see playing time. Instead, you want to streamline the roster down to about 12 and have more impactful players in the upper part of the order.
Ainge mentioned it in a recent article that there's going to be some strong competition for the 6 - 10 spots in the lineup. Whoever wins those spots, we keep. Those who can't make the cut, we should trade for a player who can compete for a spot in 6 - 10 player rotation. If Allan Ray can't beat out Delonte West or Tony Allen, if Kevin Pittsnogle can't beat out Dwayne Jones, or if Leon Powe can't beat out Ryan Gomes, it'll be more profitable to trade these 3 young, potentially solid players, for a player who might be able to win a spot in the 6 - 10 man bench rotation.
Right now, the lineup looks something like this:
1). PG- Telfair
2). SG- Wally
3). SF- Pierce
4). PF- Jefferson
5). C- Perkins
Bench
6). PG- Rajon Rondo
7). SG- Delonte West (or Tony Allen)
8). SF- Gerald Green
9). PF- Ryan Gomes
10). C- Theo Ratliff (or Dwayne Jones).
As you can see, even trying to streamline the team down to the 10 best is hard because Tony Allen could very well be the immediate backup SG, or SF in a small lineup, and I expect nice things from DJ (plus Ratliff is not in the long term plans).
So if Allan Ray, Leon Powe and K-Pitts cannot beat out the guys in the 6 - 10 range, Ainge should do his best to reduce our roster size by doing a 3 for 1 to get a bench player from another team who may be good enough to break into our 6 - 10 rotation. I like Allan Ray--I think he has exceptional shooting ability and can be a nice scorer off the bench. I like Leon Powe and think he can be an effective post scorer off the bench in spot minutes. But rather than have these 2 guys play 1 or 2 minutes a game (if that), I'd rather trade for a guy who may push Ryam Gomes for backup minutes, or a guy who will give Rajon Rondo a hard competitive rub for the backup PG duties. Maybe getting Melvin Ely from the Bobcats, or Damon Jones from Cleveland, or Luther Head from Houston, or Chris Mihm or Luke Walton from the Lakers, or Eddie Griffin from the Wolves, Malik Rose or Maurice Taylor from the Knicks, or Corliss Williamson from the Kings, or Matt Bonner from the Spurs, or Darius Songaila from the Wizards. A package of Allan Ray, Leon Powe, K-Pitts and Brian Scalabrine may be enough to get one of these guys. And its not like the guys who we'd trade for are going to knock down our doors with their basketball skills. But I can see guys like Luke Walton, Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor, Corliss Williamson and Darius Songaila push Gomes for playing time. Damon Jones is not a super PG, but he's a wily veteran who can still be an excellent player as a backup.
Another way to look at this is including a high quality player in the mix with Ray, Powe, K-Pitts and Scalabrine. Say we add Wally into the mix along with these guys. I'm certain we can pull in a starting caliber player, or a very good bench player.
Rather than have 3 or 4 players rotting on the bench, getting absolutely no playing time, getting a player who may have a solid role off the bench will make us that much better. Our whole goal is to put together the best 12 man rotation we can. It makes more sense to have a stronger 12 man roster than to have a 15 man roster that is not as strong in the top half.
No doubt that this is one of the rare times this decade where we actually have players on the end of the bench who I like and think have a shot to stick in the NBA. Whereas in 2002, JR Bremer was our starting PG, on our current team, he'd be behind Allan Ray, who currently isn't guaranteed to be on the team past October. That's how many potentially solid players we have on the team.
But there comes a point where having a team full of solid players is overkill since they won't ever see playing time. Instead, you want to streamline the roster down to about 12 and have more impactful players in the upper part of the order.
Ainge mentioned it in a recent article that there's going to be some strong competition for the 6 - 10 spots in the lineup. Whoever wins those spots, we keep. Those who can't make the cut, we should trade for a player who can compete for a spot in 6 - 10 player rotation. If Allan Ray can't beat out Delonte West or Tony Allen, if Kevin Pittsnogle can't beat out Dwayne Jones, or if Leon Powe can't beat out Ryan Gomes, it'll be more profitable to trade these 3 young, potentially solid players, for a player who might be able to win a spot in the 6 - 10 man bench rotation.
Right now, the lineup looks something like this:
1). PG- Telfair
2). SG- Wally
3). SF- Pierce
4). PF- Jefferson
5). C- Perkins
Bench
6). PG- Rajon Rondo
7). SG- Delonte West (or Tony Allen)
8). SF- Gerald Green
9). PF- Ryan Gomes
10). C- Theo Ratliff (or Dwayne Jones).
As you can see, even trying to streamline the team down to the 10 best is hard because Tony Allen could very well be the immediate backup SG, or SF in a small lineup, and I expect nice things from DJ (plus Ratliff is not in the long term plans).
So if Allan Ray, Leon Powe and K-Pitts cannot beat out the guys in the 6 - 10 range, Ainge should do his best to reduce our roster size by doing a 3 for 1 to get a bench player from another team who may be good enough to break into our 6 - 10 rotation. I like Allan Ray--I think he has exceptional shooting ability and can be a nice scorer off the bench. I like Leon Powe and think he can be an effective post scorer off the bench in spot minutes. But rather than have these 2 guys play 1 or 2 minutes a game (if that), I'd rather trade for a guy who may push Ryam Gomes for backup minutes, or a guy who will give Rajon Rondo a hard competitive rub for the backup PG duties. Maybe getting Melvin Ely from the Bobcats, or Damon Jones from Cleveland, or Luther Head from Houston, or Chris Mihm or Luke Walton from the Lakers, or Eddie Griffin from the Wolves, Malik Rose or Maurice Taylor from the Knicks, or Corliss Williamson from the Kings, or Matt Bonner from the Spurs, or Darius Songaila from the Wizards. A package of Allan Ray, Leon Powe, K-Pitts and Brian Scalabrine may be enough to get one of these guys. And its not like the guys who we'd trade for are going to knock down our doors with their basketball skills. But I can see guys like Luke Walton, Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor, Corliss Williamson and Darius Songaila push Gomes for playing time. Damon Jones is not a super PG, but he's a wily veteran who can still be an excellent player as a backup.
Another way to look at this is including a high quality player in the mix with Ray, Powe, K-Pitts and Scalabrine. Say we add Wally into the mix along with these guys. I'm certain we can pull in a starting caliber player, or a very good bench player.
Rather than have 3 or 4 players rotting on the bench, getting absolutely no playing time, getting a player who may have a solid role off the bench will make us that much better. Our whole goal is to put together the best 12 man rotation we can. It makes more sense to have a stronger 12 man roster than to have a 15 man roster that is not as strong in the top half.