Mike1989

Indeed, he could play an important part in our future, but at the same time we have re-signed Fournier to play SG and have a young talented player in Gordon at SF. If those two are considered the long term starters at those positions, then that may leave Hezonja as a bench player and potential trade bait in the coming seasons if we want to land an upgrade at PG or simply move him on rather than let him leave for nothing (eg. like the Warriors have with Barnes). I wouldn't be surprised if he displaces Fournier or Gordon at some point if he's given the chance to, but if those two continue to get better, then Hezonja's future might lie elsewhere...

It wouldn't surprise me if Wilcox does take a limited role with a minimum of minutes and Hezonja mops up the remaining shooting guard minutes after what Meeks gets. It makes sense to continue Hezonja's development by giving the kid minutes at those two positions. However, we shouldn't rule out the possibility that we could go small ball in some line ups like: - Augustin or Watson / Wilcox / Fournier / Hezonja / Ibaka or Biz In the above line up there would be lots of shooting and even rim protection whether we use Ibaka or Biz at the C position. If we use Ibaka at the C, that would give us an entire line up of players capable of shooting three pointers. So if we did want to go small into a shooting line up, which is a current trend, then that could be a possibility which could see Hezonja getting limited minutes at PF. Granted there would be some risk attached to that line up because is Hezonja really a fit as a small ball PF? Not really, that is potentially more of a role for Gordon to slot in and play, or Green, but the beauty of a player like Hezonja is that there are a number of ways he can be used next season. That said, we shouldn't rule out Wilcox. The kid can shoot. In college he was a pretty good three point shooter and scoring option for them. In his spell n the D-league he was shooting three pointers at a heck of a good rate (.450 in 2014-15; .417 in 2015-16). And in his limited role with the Clippers, he currently has been knocking down three pointers a career average of .381, which is more than respectable from that range. At 25 going on 26, he may not improve into a starting calibre of player, but he could certainly develop into a very useful scoring option off the bench if given the opportunity. When you consider that Jodie Meeks is out of contract next year and what it might cost to keep him, combined with does Hezonja fit in long term (ie if Fournier and Gordon are seen as the long term starters at SG and SF, are we keeping Hezonja in a sixth man type role for two more years then he leaves as a restricted free agent? or is he potential trade bait if we want to land an upgrade at PG?), then it might be worth giving Wilcox a shot at whatever minutes are left at SG when Fournier and Meeks are both off the court because perhaps he develops into a useful scoring option for off the bench. Now that is not me saying Hezonja shouldn't get those minutes at shooting guard, and I wouldn't complain if he did, but if he is slotting in that SG, then that leaves potential line ups with Gordon and Green at SF and PF, which may not be too appealing in terms of consistent outside shooting. Hezonja and Gordon are still developing their shooting range, and Green has never been much of a shooter. So I would rather use Wilcox, Hezonja and Gordon because a year from now I doubt we bring back Jeff Green. Fine, he is getting $15 million so perhaps he gets minutes, but I would prioritise the development of the young core over a veteran like Green. But that's just me. If Wilcox rarely sees the court I won't bat an eyelid, but at the same time, maybe it's worth seeing what he's got.

Unless we see Hezonja as a SG (?), I suspect his main minutes will be at SF, most likely backing up Gordon, with Green getting most of his minutes as the backup PF with some minutes at SF. I don't expect Hezonja to see his minutes reduced overall, but he might see less minutes at SG unless that is seen as his primary position. In hindsight I should have put Hezonja in front of Green at SF, and put Green as the back up PF, with Gordon getting some minutes there as well in certain line ups.

Decent move. Wilcox is a capable young player who can shoot. His addition could see us use Hezonja more at SF... SG: Fournier / Meeks / Wilcox SF: Gordon / Green / Hezonja From the looks of it we may be best off using them in this way because all three SGs can shoot and knock down three pointers. Leaving us with Gordon who does more damage as a finisher at this point , and with more minutes and development, Hezonja could add a shooting threat from the SF position which would be useful if we go with a Ibaka and Biyombo pairing. The awkward one here is Jeff Green. A one year $15 million deal suggests he's going to get minutes, perhaps even starts. I don't want to see him reduce AG or Mario's minutes, so perhaps he shifts to more PF minutes unless we strengthen that depth chart in the coming days.

They should be able to get a deal done. Only place I think Curry would consider going is to the Hornets since he's from that area and is constantly beating the drum for the Panthers. But I think he'll stay and get a new deal, and after a year or two, Durant might be the one leaving if he's got his rings.

1) Cavaliers 2) Celtics 3) Raptors 4) Pacers 5) Wizards 6) Magic 7) Hawks 8) Knicks 9) Pistons 10) Heat 11) Hornets 12) Bulls 13) Bucks 14) Nets 15) 76ers The top three I am pretty confident about, they have kept their cores and strengthened. I would be surprised if these three teams are not the top three at the end of the season. After them, I think the remaining top four seed is up for grabs, but I went with Indiana because they have made some good additions, have experience, and should see growth from their line up. Personally, I fancy us and the Wizards to be the breakout teams this year. The Wizards have got a new head coach who I rated, and have made some smart additions. Trey Burke is a good back up to John Wall. Likewise, adding Ian Mahinmi offers them a strong rotation at center between him and Gortat. Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith are decent bench players. If they get growth from their young players and "star" back court of Wall and Beal, they could be a dark horse in the east. I don't think I need to go over our off season additions, but if everything clicks and Vogel works his magic, we'll be a tough team to beat this season. After that the last two spots are hard to predict. I could honestly see any of the teams I list from 7-12 grabbing those last two play off spots if their line ups stay healthy and gel, but I think the Hawks and Knicks are the most likely teams to round off my play off predictions.

To an extent you are right that you can't take five players PPG, chuck them into a starting line up, and say they will average the same amount of points as last season in this line up. You are right, it doesn't work that way because lot's of different factors can influence whether a player's productivity increases or decreases. The scheme will play a role. Their ability to gel as a unit will play a role. Injuries play a role. So yes, you are right that you can't take the averages for granted. However, it gives you a base line of what to expect and you can project from that, because generally speaking you don't expect players in their prime years or entering their prime years to decline, they either stay the same, similar, or get better. Plus, in my projected line up 3/5ths of last year's starting line up returned. Even if Vogel makes some tweaks to their role, they should still have the same chemistry as last year. So all we need is for Green and Ibaka to slot in and play well, which is not a big ask because we should be expecting good production from two players in their prime years. If either player can't average double digits next year, they have either declined, or have been given a reduced role that hinders their offensive production. Likewise, if Payton, Fournier and Vucevic (if he stays and starts), can't match last year's numbers - either they have declined, struggled to pick up the system, or are being asked to play a different role. So while you are right that you can't use last year's numbers as an exact science, they are generally used to project what we might expect from our starting line up next season. Maybe we see less production from them. Maybe we see more production from them. Time will tell. That being said, my main argument with my projected numbers was simply to point out that we don't necessarily need to be worried about our offensive production if we go forwards with Payton, Fournier, Green, Ibaka, Vucevic in the starting line up and our bench produces, because that line up and rotation gives us shooting and defensive ability. However, we might be worried if Biyombo replaces Vucevic in the starting line up because Biyombo does very little offensively. His career high is 6 ppg in last year's play offs and he can't shoot.So obviously slotting Biyombo in will make things a little awkward, and others would have to step up, or we would need to turn Vucevic into an upgrade at PG or SF that gives us a scoring punch (eg. Bledsoe at PG). So all I was using last year's numbers was to show what we might become with one starting line up and rotation, versus what we might become if we use a different starting line up and rotation. It wasn't 100% accurate. But last year's numbers can still be useful in projecting what we might expect from our additions if they play a similar role, and what we might expect from our existing roster if they play a similar role; and likewise, what we might expect if any of those player's are given an increased role. We have to use some stats to formulate what a player may put up for us...

Last year we managed to average 102 points per game. This year we have upgraded the starting line up and the bench, so we should be able to match that if we go by a scoring by committee type approach unless one or two players become 20ppg players. Payton / Fournier / Green / Ibaka / Vucevic If we say the above is our starting line up. Then it is realistic for Payton, Green and Ibaka to average a dozen points per game. Though potentially we could see Ibaka given a greater role on offense because that was one of his complaints with OKC. If Fournier and Vucevic can average 18 a piece. That brings our starting line up to 72 points. Our bench last year averaged 36 points per game, which our existing bench should be able to match or better. That would be 108 points per game which would rank third in the NBA behind OKC and Golden State based on last year's numbers. Maybe a six point boost is a big ask, but even if Fournier doesn't boost his 15 points per game from last season, that's still 105 points per game which betters last year and would see us ranked in the top ten tied with Boston and Portland who scored 105 points per game. That line up does offer us three point shooting from Fournier and Ibaka. Maybe Vucevic can develop a perimeter game like Horford has done, he's certainly got the shooting touch and range. Payton's shooting has improved, he may never be a major threat, but if his improvement continues he could be a steady outlet. I don't expect much from Green. But our bench has shooting as well, good athleticism and defense. So we've certainly got the players capable of doing the job on defense and putting together a very solid and well balanced offense. However, if Vucevic heads to the bench (or is traded) and we insert Biyombo, then we would need greater contributions from the other starters to make up for Biyombo's liability on the offensive end. Since bringing him into the starting line up would see us lose around a dozen points, which drops us to 60. Depending on whether Vucevic stays or goes (and in turn what we get back), if our bench produces 36 points, that's 96 points per game. That would rank near the bottom in the league and we would need to play lights out defense most nights to win games. At the end of the day I think what we do with Vucevic is going to be key. If he starts, our offense should be fine. If he is benched, our offense could stutter at times. And if he is traded, we need to make sure we get an upgrade to our starting PG or SF position, because further bench depth and picks probably won't help us very much.

Didn't Jennings injury his Achilles? I thought that was what he went down with and why he's still struggling to come back to form.

I guess Kevin Durant made a basketball decision by deciding to join the Warriors rather than stay loyal to OKC or sign for another team to become "the guy" on that roster. The problem is he is likely to receive more criticism and hate than LeBron James did when he joined Miami because at least LeBron James became "the guy" in Miami and took ownership of that team and made it his own. All Kevin Durant has done by joining Golden State is become a supporting cast member to Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors alongside Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. It surely is going to have an affect on his legacy in the league if he does win multiple rings because will it be down to Kevin Durant earning them, or will it be down to him having joined a team that has already proven it can win a championship, nearly win a second, and break the regular season win-loss record? I suspect it will be the latter. Anyway, if Westbrook isn't going to sign an extension with OKC. I hope we decide to throw an offer his way if he would agree to sign an extension with us. But I suspect if he doesn't stay in OKC, he might go to the Lakers; or perhaps look to another eastern team like the Miami Heat who have a track record of landing big name players. It's a tough decision for him long term. Out west he has to get past the Warriors. Out east he has to get past the Cavaliers.

I doubt he'd make headway into either of our guard rotations... Payton, Augustin, Watson, Napier Fournier, Meeks, Hezonja, Marble He'd be in front of Napier and Marble, but not the other trio even from what flashes he showed for the Kings. I don't see us needing any more guard depth, or at most we should sign a veteran shooting guard to a cheap deal if we plan to use Hezonja exclusively at SF, otherwise we should be good to go with our guards unless we can land an upgrade for our starting Pg position.

I think we should keep Vucevic unless we can get an upgrade to our starting line up in return (most likely positions would be PG and SF). I would consider trading him for a boatload/multiple draft picks but the two teams with a stockpile are Boston and Philly, and both have centers under contract. So the only time I would trade him is for a player that is going to upgrade a starting position and make an impact for us. If we can't get that, then we may as well keep him on the roster because look at his cap figures: 2016/17: $11,750,000 2017/18: $12,250,000 2018/19: $12,750,000 That's a bargain under today's numbers. Ryan Anderson has gone to Houston for $20 million a year. Matthew Dellavadova has got almost $10 million a year. Jeff Green got $15 million a year from us. When you consider those three players, Dellavadova is a backup point guard, Jeff Green is an inconsistent forward, and Anderson is a stretch four that has spent the majority of his career coming off the bench - then it all honesty, paying Vucevic around $12 million a year is a bargain. Can we make it work? Of course we can. We can pair Ibaka and Vuc at PF and C, then use Biyombo off the bench. We can pair Ibaka and Biyombo, then use Vuc off the bench. This big three rotation is brilliant because any of the combinations can work. Ok, maybe Vuc won't be happy to go to the bench, but there's enough minutes to go around because Ibaka has averaged around 32 minutes in recent seasons, and Biyombo's career high is 27 minutes and he averaged 25 minutes in the play offs this year. That shows the need for a productive big to come off the bench and play major minutes, and Vuc can be that guy for us. He can average mid to late 20 minutes per game without much trouble because he can rotate in for Ibaka or Biyombo depending on what we go with. And at his current salary figures, $12 million for a potential starter or bench player playing major minutes is a bargain at today's cap figures. So if we can't get a legitimate upgrade to our starting line up, we should keep him.

Looks good. Add in veterans and role players to fill out the roster and we should be aiming for a 5-8 seed.

I guess keeping Vucevic is realistic considering his salary figures for the next three seasons: 2016/17: $11,750,000 2017/18: $12,250,000 2018/19: $12,750,000 Under the new cap this is bargain level money for the production he gives us. Him and Ibaka, or him and Biyomo, could form a really good duo for the front court. Vucevic can offer scoring, the other can offer the rim protection.

Not a chance Lillard is going anywhere. He is the face of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player ascending towards star status. No way would they consider trading him for a solid center (Vucevic), a bench PG (Watson), and two prospects (Payton and Hezonja). If they did it would pretty much kill any chance they have of becoming a top four seed. As it stands, Lillard, McCollum, and their additions could see them compete for a top four seed. That said, if we did manage to pull off a trade for that cost I would be a very happy Magic fan! :D

I would tend to agree, but if we have just spent a big contract on Biyombo, I doubt we are going to use Biyombo off the bench or move Vucevic into a bench role. With that in mind I think we are going to try and trade him for the best possible return. In an ideal world that is going to be an all star, but at the same time, we might have to accept lower expectations and take on a borderline all star or a potential all star if they stay healthy (eg Eric Bledsoe, Jrue Holiday). Gordon is a high energy defense first player, who is unfortunately stuck between SF and PF. He has yet to really prove which position he should play, and while I think starting him at SF should have been the way we go next season, there should be no harm in using him off the bench and giving him significant minutes in the SF or PF rotation. There is no reason he can't average at least the minutes he did last season and spending time continuing to develop could be beneficial to him.

Without seeing the numbers I don't know what role Biyombo is going to fill with us... If it is a high priced contract, he should start and we'll end up moving Vucevic because I doubt we are bringing a high priced player in to sit on the bench. If it is a fairly team friendly deal - whatever that is these days, perhaps Jeff Green level - then perhaps he could have a significant role off the bench while Ibaka and Vucevic start. At this stage I am not sure how I feel about this move until I see the numbers and see whether he is slotting in as a starter or backup. If he is a starter, I think we need to upgrade our PG position through a trade, because Payton, Fournier, Green, Ibaka, and Biyombo is not going to scare anyone offensively. Heck, we slot Gordon into the starting line up and use Green off the bench, and boy does that offensive end look questionable. But defensively lots of athleticism and defensive potential.

Hezonja is listed at 6ft 8", has a good wing span as well. He has the size and the skill set to be a starting SF.

In a sense I kinda feel for Dirk. He sticks with Dallas and every year since they blew up their title winning roster and often takes a significant home town discount to help them recruit players, and time and again they take a swing at big name free agents and miss out. It's a shame since he's a future HOF and his final years have been spent with overpaid second and third tier talent and over the hill talent. I wonder if this is the year he will go join another team to compete for a ring? I doubt it, he'll stay loyal and Dallas will put another lacklustre team together and get beat in the first round.

Duplicate post...

The Mario and Gordon debate depends on what we want to do line up wise, and what happens in free agency or with trades... If we stick with Payton at PG, bring back Fournier, and keep Vucevic. Then adding Hezonja and Ibaka into that line up would give us defense and a fair amount of floor spacing. Fournier, Hezonja and Ibaka are all capable of knocking down three pointers. Payton is slowly improving as a shooter, so perhaps he can offer something if that improvement continues. And Vucevic has nice touch on his shooting and could do what Horford has done and develop a three point shot. If we sign Conley, bring back Fournier, and keep Vucevic. Then I would still add Hezonja and Ibaka into the front court. We'd have defense and shooting ability at every position. If we trade for a PG who is a better shooter and lose Vuevic, bring back Fournier, and move Ibaka to center. Then in that situation we could use Hezonja and Gordon in the front court. Again we'd have defense and shooting ability, with a quartet of capable three point shooters, and in this line up Gordon would be the one still developing and perhaps he could develop his shooting to be more of a threat. Ok, Gordon moving to the bench isn't ideal for a high draft pick, but in today's NBA you can't really afford to have too many players in a line up that can't shoot or shoot consistently. If we can feature a line up with at least three players who can space the floor and knock down three point shots (eg Fournier, Hezonja, Ibaka), then any further shooting ability on the court is a bonus, and it would open up the lane for any of our players in those line ups. It also makes it tough to defend because teams have to account for shooting ability and the ability to score in the paint, something teams didn't have to do as much last year when we had line ups with Payton, Oladipo and Gordon on the court. So while moving Gordon to the bench is not ideal, or Payton for that matter, if we can upgrade our line up with more shooting ability while maintaining defensive ability, that is what we should be prioritising and that's why I'd consider starting Hezonja over Gordon.

I like the addition of Augustin. He is a capable shooter that can knock down three pointers, and he is also a capable ball handler and play maker for a backup PG or a temporary starter if Payton (or another starting PG) misses a game (or games). Ok, he is a streaky player and with that he is going to have big nights followed by some hair pulling nights, but overall he is a good addition to the rotation.

Agreed, if we manage to hit on a big name free agent and some useful rotational players to add to what we've got, and it's exciting to see some of the line ups we could put on the court. Including some small ball lines up which could feature five players capable of knockin down three pointers. It will be interesting to see if Vogel incorporates that into our schemes, or prefers to keep bigs on the court instead of going to small ball line ups. But we've got a good base to build on. All we need now is to hit a home run or two in free agency.

He's a veteran presence and brings three point shooting. Depending on what moves we make he stands to be our second or third string SG behind: Fournier (if he is re-signed and starts at SG) and Hezonja if he isn't used in the SF rotation. As a second or third string SG he provides good depth and shooting, the latter is needed in abundance in today's NBA. Also, he's on an expiring deal. Those types of deals tend to be fairly easy to move towards trade deadline if we wanted to trade him. Or if we keep him, he's a free agent. So there's no long term risk. Plus, we also have around $37 million in cap space including his contract, so lots of space left to make moves.

If we can land Horford and bring back Fournier and Dedmon, then we have a good starting line up and decent looking rotation before add further additions are made: Payton / Watson / Napier Fournier / Meeks Gordon / Hezonja Ibaka / Horford / Vuc / Dedmon It is likely we would need to trade Vucevic because I doubt he would be happy with a role off the bench, or that we would keep someone with that salary as a bench player. But at his existing contract values, we wouldn't have to panic into trading him for less than we feel he is worth, so we could hold off trading him initially to make sure we get the "right" offer. Obviously we would need to fill out the bench, and with the usual contracts teams close to the cap or around the cap offer, we could fill it out with veterans. Or perhaps look at bringing back some our last year's rotation at team friendly deals. Overall, I think adding Horford to this starting line up would be a serious upgrade, and potentially we could see another upgrade when we trade Vucevic.