The Official 2015-2016 Regular Season Thread

[HeHateMe 697]

Nicholson should be on his hands and knees thanking Skiles for randomly playing him these past couple weeks, because his resent play is going to get him a solid deal somewhere. If he would have just stayed buried on the bench like he was for months, his entire off-season would be different. Not saying he's getting any big deal but he will get interest now for sure, as he should. He has his issues and they're well noted (defense, rebounding, passing) but he can score. Not a terrible bench player.

[magicjed23 12]

We just need to go after Conley and Horford, Horford first and convince them to come together.

Fournier needs to be signed no matter what. If you're ready to part with him it has to be a sign and trade that includes a shooter/quality big. Unless you sign and trade to get Conley in order to save money.

 

As long as Fournier and Nicholson don't quickly sign offer sheets and wait for us to go after Horford and Conley, we should resign them unless Nicholson gets a huge offer. If they want to be here, they should be.

 

Nicholson and Dedmon should be kept. Along with Smith. Jennings can stay at a reasonable price if Conley isn't interested.

 

Vucevic won't want to be here as a backup because he is a starter in this league, and Gordon is going to have to start at the 4. Assuming we keep Fournier and land Horford, Vucevic becomes expendable and will be gone before the deadline.

 

And we need to extend Victor sooner than later.

 

Lineup: C Horford/Vucevic (until traded)/Dedmon

PF Gordon/Nicholson/Smith

SF Fournier/Hezonja/Marble (or draft pick) or Hezonja/???/Marble (or draft pick)

SG Oladipo/Hezonja/??? (or Watson or draft pick)

PG Conley/Payton/Watson

 

??? denotes player traded for Vucevic

 

 

The other option is Horford and Batum (possibly Parsons).

I think with Fournier and Hezonja though, any SF's coming in will be on the bench. Hezonja needs minutes like Gordon is getting. Forget Harrison Barnes, Mario will be better than Barnes will ever be. Hezonja is also cheaper and signing Barnes just stunts his growth.

 

Batum is proven though and shines already. In this scenario, Fournier would likely be let go, likely by sign and trade for similar value (Vucevic would likely be going also, we would be looking for PG, a 3-point specialist, and backup C in those trades, and possibly expiring contracts). Mario would then split time between SG and SF in a 6th man role. If Fournier/Vucevic trades net us a starting PF, Gordon or Hezonja become 6th man depending on matchups. If we get a starting PG, Payton goes to bench. But, saving money to resign our own (Oladipo for one) becomes most important and most likely.

 

Lineup: C Horford/**Vucevic/??? (or draft pick)/*Dedmon/*Smith

PF Gordon/*Nicholson/*Smith/??? (or draft pick)

SF Batum/**Fournier/Hezonja/??? (or Marble or draft pick)

SG Oladipo/Hezonja/??? (or draft pick)

PG Payton/??? (or draft pick) /Watson (or draft pick)

 

??? denotes players traded for Vucevic and Fournier

*If re-signed

**Unless traded in summer or is temporary,unless traded before deadline

 

Either way , Vucevic would be gone before the trading deadline unless Horford took the secondary role. Vucevic has no reason to be on the bench, and he should not be expected to. He would play nice, but would bolt at the first opportunity. Fournier, Jennings, or Ilyasova could be re-signed too.

 

If we don't get Horford then it's anybody's guess.

 

There are lots of questions with bench except for Hezonja, but both lineups fix our biggest holes. We also become very strong defensively. Shooting and quality backup PF would be things to address via trades or the draft if we lose Fournier and/or Vucevic. Due to uncertainty with Fournier and Vucevic, lineups could change vastly. If the ??? players are not significant downgrades, we are surely a playoff team either way. The first suggested duo makes us top 4 in the East right away.

 

If Vucevic or Horford is willing to sacrifice, we would be extremely dangerous.

[Catalina Maria 64]

We've suddenly turned into an offensive juggernaut which is weird when you look at our roster

 

When you have Gasol and Duncan taking over the second unit, it's pretty easy to see why...

[Spaceman 58]

When you have Gasol and Duncan taking over the second unit, it's pretty easy to see why...

That's funny.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

after going on a 12 game stretch where he made 11 out of 23 threes, Payton is now on a 10 game stretch where he's made 1 out of his last 9 threes. He hasn't made a three since 03/08

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Its days like today that remind me the season is ending soon and we're not going to have a whole lot to talk about until May 11th when the draft combine starts.

[Catalina Maria 64]

Its days like today that remind me the season is ending soon and we're not going to have a whole lot to talk about until May 11th when the draft combine starts.

 

It sucks it took us an entire season to realize that a strong defensive presence at the C spot was what we needed to make everyone gel. I really think Vuc, though gifted with offense, took away too many shots from our wings. I think we should keep Vuc but coming off the bench. It has certainly not affected his output whatsoever. I'm dumbfounded how NBA teams don't figure out that having starting caliber players on the bench actually helps spread the wealth and can make teams better. We saw it when Dipo was coming off the bench, and we see it now with Vuc coming off the bench. We "gel" so much better, and I'm beginning to accept that this team has talent and a lot of potential. The more I think about it, the more I want Whiteside. Just hope he is stable enough mentally. Whiteside is shooting for the stars while Horford is the safe bet. I'd be happy with either.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

It sucks it took us an entire season to realize that a strong defensive presence at the C spot was what we needed to make everyone gel. I really think Vuc, though gifted with offense, took away too many shots from our wings. I think we should keep Vuc but coming off the bench. It has certainly not affected his output whatsoever. I'm dumbfounded how NBA teams don't figure out that having starting caliber players on the bench actually helps spread the wealth and can make teams better. We saw it when Dipo was coming off the bench, and we see it now with Vuc coming off the bench. We "gel" so much better, and I'm beginning to accept that this team has talent and a lot of potential. The more I think about it, the more I want Whiteside. Just hope he is stable enough mentally. Whiteside is shooting for the stars while Horford is the safe bet. I'd be happy with either.

 

I think we always knew that Vucevic is an issue, but we also owe it to his talent to see if we can overcome his deficiencies.

 

I'm not against keeping Vucevic around. and we don't necessarily need to play him off the bench. but we need to recognize when it's going to be impossible to play him in certain games and have an alternative player that can play 30 minutes here and there.

[Murphy13 185]

It sucks it took us an entire season to realize that a strong defensive presence at the C spot was what we needed to make everyone gel.

 

There was a vocal crowd that preached frontcourt defense as the primary need from the start, even generalized to frontcourt help period when people still were calling for more pg or sg help.

[Jay Magic 1,251]

If we can keep Vooch. Bring back Evan. Bring in Durant and Dwight/Whiteside we would probably be in the East finals next season if not the NBA Finals lol

 

No joke either. What a turn around haha.

 

One can dream. Dreams do come true now and then.

[Jay Magic 1,251]

Also guys we all know Vucevic can hit the 3.. I've seen videos in practice of him banging them in constantly. Any chance he could play PF and C?

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

So oladipo went from one of the worst players in the league at driving to the basket to one of the best. Pre all star he was shooting 33% on drives. Post all star he's shooting 54% on drives.