A few NBA related thoughts that I never got out:
1. Orlando blew it by not resigning Turkoglu and instead using the same amount of money on Brandon Bass and Marcin Gortat. That's just insane. Turkoglu was their second best player last year and their clutch guy, and as much as I don't like the way he plays, I can admit that he was integral to their team. With him, they had three 6'10" or taller guys in the starting lineup. The Magic could have trotted out a starting lineup of Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard. Would that have been the best starting five in the league? You could argue that San Antonio, the Lakers or Boston could match that, but that's a pretty damn good lineup. I originally thought they were trying to save money by not resigning Turkoglu, but then they went ahead and matched Dallas' stupid offer to Gortat (five years/$34 million for a backup center averaging 12 minutes a game). Ummm..Why? He would never, ever push Dwight Howard for playing time. Let Dallas sign their newest Erick Dampier. Then they went ahead and gave stupid money to Brandon Bass (4 years/$18 million). I know, I know, he's young, he's got some talent, the price wasn't that high. But for the same price of these two, they could have kept Turkoglu, who's better than both of them combined.
2. Lakers resigned Odom and all is right in the world. Their lineup is scary good, especially if Bynum can improve.
3. Good God, the Celtics have signed every big man in the world. But they pissed off Rondo, and no one knows if he'll be in the right mindset to start the season. But I like signing Sheed, even if he has nothing left in the tank. Getting Big Baby back was another great deal. I like the Shelden Williams signing. They are very, very deep in the frontcourt.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
i think orlando did right by not signing turkoglu, a 5 year deal for 50 million is just way too much for him. at the end of that deal he is going to be 35! i think he is one of those guys that gets a contract and runs. he will never have a season like that again, let alone a postseason. i do agree that 3 6'10 guys in a starting lineup is special, but if he wouldnt be the same, he wouldnt lift them to the same place. now im not necessarily agreeing with where the money was spent. okay, Bass is good for depth, and so is gortat, but not at that price. maybe they want to try to use the polish hammer as trade bait later on? i heard that somewhere, and it still doesnt make sense. i guess they are planning on giving turkey bacon's minutes to carter/pietrus, but can that combo be better...we wont know until we find out. i actually really like pietrus, i think he is better as a 6th man type, but i think he has a lot of potential. he plays good defense, and has a 3 point shot, and is a powerful driver. they have a lot of players that can do damage, but the most important one is the one who needs to improve the most. Dwight's got to develop that inside game, or they will never get past being just a contender.
I agree that the price was high for Turkoglu, but I would take him over Bass and Gortat. And, I think you take the risk of him sucking in two to three years to maximize your championship window for the next two years. The goal is to win championships, and that's what Miami understood a few years back, and they were fine with sacrificing the next few years to make an all out run at the title in 2006. And it worked.
Also agree that this team lives and dies by Dwight Howard and whether he can develop a basketball IQ and low post moves. I'm not sold on either, actually.
its not sacrificing 2 or 3 years from now, its sacrificing now, i dont think turkey bacon will be the same next year, let alone in 2 or 3 years, and in that sense its not really worth it. the question is, can vince carter and michael pietrus (with the added bonus of depth with bass, and gortat) match hedo and courtney lee?
I think if you see a change in Hedo next year, it'll be because he moved to a different offensive system. He was an ideal fit with Van Gundy's system. When they played him at the point in the playoffs, he was hard to defend. I don't see Gortat or Bass offering the unique skills that Turkoglu had.
On a related note, if they can get over the season-long distraction of Bosh's contract (he's going to the Heat, everyone knows this), I think the Raptors are a playoff team next year.
Post a Comment