Thursday, June 30, 2005

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Since the NBA free agency dance begins tonight at midnight, I thought I'd look at the list of free agents and start putting them in places I want them to end up. Mind you, this is an incomplete list since I don't know who all the potential free agents are.

1. Michael Redd: I hope he stays in Milwaukee. The Bucks need a guy to play opposite Bogut and if Bogut is the passer everyone says he is then it should be fun watching him pass to Redd as he cuts the lane.

2. Ray Allen: He's a great shooter and I'd like to see him end up somewhere other than Seattle where no one watches the games. I don't have an exact destination for him but hopefully somewhere that increases his profile as the guy with the prettiest jump shot in the game. The way he keeps his elbow tucked and shoots at the peak of his jump, the way the ball rolls out of his fingers with that perfect backspin -- he's just an instructional video!

3. Samuel Dalembert: I'd love to see him on the Knicks. Now obviously I'm biased here but the Sixers are just entering the point where the Knicks were 2 years ago when they made a foolish trade for an old and overpaid player who will bring the team down with him. CWebb will be the death of the team, the coaches and the organization. So, in the interest of saving Dalembert from staying in Philly for 4 or 5 long and awful years, I invite him to come to New York. He's a great shotblocker, a decent rebounder and an alum of Seton Hall which is closer to NYC than it is to Philly. He'd give the Knicks a legitimate big man and greater flexibility with their roster of smaller players.

4. Kwame Brown: The Wiz made him an offer which means anyone that wants to take Kwame for cheap will have to get into a bidding war with the Wiz. My guess is the Wiz don't really want him but want someone to have to overpay for Kwame the way they did. For that reason, I don't think he's going anywhere. Kwame's stuck on a team that doesn't want him and will have his career further ruined. A lose-lose for all involved.

5. Joe Johnson: JJ should absolutely stay on the Suns. They just traded Quentin Richardson to the Knicks to make room for him and he should repay the team with loyalty. That and he can get more money by staying in Phoenix than he could anywhere else. That team was made for him; he's a natural gunner on a team full of score first, defend later types. They may win another 50+ games this year with JJ starting and Kurt Thomas banging bodies and glass, saving Amare from the dirty work.

6. Eddy Curry: If the Knicks get Dalembert then Curry's out of luck. Curry really wants to get paid and the Knicks would be willing to pay for the 22 year old 7-footer. Of course, paying a career bum who's completely unmotivated to work hard, stay in shape or grab rebounds would be an act of lunacy. Given Isiah's inconsistency (some days he's a genius, others he's a crack addict), the Knicks could very well end up with Curry. Chicago should keep him only because they need a return on their investment.

7. Pau Gasol: Here's an interesting dilemma. The Grizz don't love Pau and he seems to have regressed a bit since his breakout 2002-2003 season. However, the Grizz aren't a team chock full of talent. They rely on hard work and hustle and, frankly, I have no idea how they've been making the playoffs in the Western Conference. Losing Pau might be bad for the team. I'd like to see him move on, though. I want to see him go to a team like the Hornets where, with Chris Paul, they could form a nice 1-2 punch of athletic, up-tempo basketball. Byron Scott uses the Princeton offense and I think Paul and Gasol (that rhymes!) would be perfect teammates in that system. Can you imagine a Jason Kidd type throwing lobs to a 7'1" small forward on back-cuts? They could really restore that piece of crap franchise.

3 comments:

Gutsy Goldberg said...

First, the reason the Grizzlies make the playoffs is that they actually go 10-deep, and use hockey substitutions, which is great for winning 45 games in an 82 game season. The problem is, they have no go-to-guy in the playoffs.

Second, I just thought I'd add some notable Unrestricted free agents:

Larry Hughes - a 6'7" SG who can run the point. If the Cavs get him, it will be like when the Bulls had a tall Ron Harper sharing the PG responsibilities.

Bobby Simmons - an up-and-coming player from the Clippers, who had a breakout season last year at 16 ppg and 43% from 3-point land. A good bargain compared to breaking the bank for Hughes or Redd or Ray Allen.

Dan Dickau - the sweet shooting 3 point specialist has real value for any playoff team looking for a 6th man. As a starter, he's not that great.

Kevin Willis - Apparently he was on the Hawks last year and is a free agent. I thought he retired 5 years ago!

Mighty Mike said...

I think Michael Redd is the catch of this free agency. I'm not as certain he's going to stay. I wouldn't mind him returning to Ohio and running around with Lebron.

Other big names I'd add to the list is :
Shareef Abdul Rahim - Power Foward. Frankly his name always belonged more to pro wrestling than basketball but he might be one of the better big men out there.

Stromile Swift: Hey if Kwame Brown garners attention so should Swift. Does any team not need a guy to come off the bench that can rebound?

Udonis Haslem - While signed with Miami, the fact that the Heat drafted Wayne Simien (who's style and size is a near copy for Haslem) means that this up and comer is probably out the door.

MJ said...

I forgot to add Larry Hughes in my blog. I didn't know about the other 2 being FA's. Kevin Willis was a great comment.