Addressing the needs of several playoff bound teams including the Spurs and the Rockets and knowing that this is a year where there are going to be many possibility for trades, buying picks, and teams looking to dump salary, I have listed several possibilities for available big men.
Rockets are flush with money and could buy a draft pick. They desperately need another big man. Rockets have a lot of trade assets including Landry, Scola, Lowery although it would take a very special player to let these guys go.
Spurs need another tough rebounding player for Center. Someone for rebounding and toughness on the block and to help out Duncan.
Lakers don't need to do anything. They will probably stand pat.
Hornets are hurting moneywise, they need to get rid of Chandler and get more help scoring. That means they will likely go with a shooting guard or scoring point.
Jazz are also going to be hurting during this recession. I look for the Jazz to dump one or more of their players. Jazz do not need more length as this is a very big physical team already. I look for the Jazz to try to improve their guard play.
Mavericks oh where do I start here. The Mavs have the money with Cuban and could move in any direction. I think the Mavs are going to try to get a big man that could significantly improve the post play. They could also use another shooting guard coming off the bench and get rid of Stackhouse.
Suns- Oh blow this team up already. Sarver is going to have a garage sale. Shaq is available.
Blazers - This team is young but they are also over the cap with Darius Miles factoring into the equation. Could this mean that they are willing to dump salary for an expiring?
Cavs will definately try to get a big man. Does that mean waiting it out and then making an obscene offer to Yao in 2010? Or does that mean the Rockets trade away all their assets for Bron? Interesting possibility of a Yao/Bron pairing in 2010. In any event, for 2009, the Cavs need to try for a big man for more rebounding and scoring punch in the center position. Shaq anyone?
Celtics will probably stand pat with a healthy returning Garnett.
Atlanta has many trade assets too and may be willing to deal Warrick.
Anyway, here we go. Here is a list of players that I think might be obtained by buying a draft pick or through trades.
From the Draft
7ft 3 Hasheem Thabeet
7 ft BJ Mullins
Possible Free Agents
Zaza Pachulia
Varajao(player option)
Chris Birdman Anderson
Antonio McDyss
Kwame Brown
Rasheed Wallace
Nesterovic
Ratliff
Drew Gooden
Etan Thomas
Trade Bait
Bosh
Shaq
Camby
Kaman
Warrick
Randolph
Gortat
Chandler
Okur
Hadaddi
Darko
Europe
Boroussis - NBA ready big man but foul prone.
Vujcic if you can lure him away from Olympiacos.
My first choice for the Rockets is to use some of that money they have and buy a draft pick to get Hasheem Thabeet. If we can't do that, then I think we should package up Landry/Lowry or Scola/Lowry for Bosh. Barring that, then a trade to get Camby of Pachulia would be great.
I think if you play in the West, you can't trade up Scola for Bosh. Specifcally, Scola is a better fit for playing against the Lakers.
I don't think the Rockets have to do much except re-sign Artest and either get back a healthy T-Mac or trade him for a go-to-guy (not sure if it's possible).
Rockets biggest flaw is not having a go-to guy to finish games. Chris Bosh ain't the answer, I don't think.
Which is why they miss T-Mac. If the guy (along with Yao) could stay healthy and develop some chemistry, the Rockets would very likely be in the Finals right now. It's really unfortunate how the prime years of T-Macs career have gone to waste due to injury.
I agree, a healthy T-Mac was exactly the go-to guy the Rockets needed this year and will need in the next. If TMac can be healthy next year, they'll be a team to reckon with.
I think I'm with ginobili's bald spot on this one.
Well we do need a big man and Pachulia is a very reasonable choice since we can just buy him off free agency.
By the way, is Hadaddi that bad or is Memphis that bad at developing big men? Or is it that Gasol and Darko are ahead of him and there's no room on the roster for Hadaddi? If that is the case, then Hadaddi could be a hidden gem.
Or Gortat. I'd rather have him.
Rasho to the Rockets
You forgot to mention the Cav's needs...
You know, every position but LeBron's.
Cavaliers need a big man who can either score or defend and an athletic wing. If they can land Chandler and Posey from NOLA they can fill both needs at once.
The Celts are set for starting positions. But they might look at grabbing another 3-shooter to come off the bench, for when Allen hits his cold spells.
I can't see Celts making any big moves.
Cavs would be much better with Posey, no doubt. Not sure about Chandler... injuries always scare me. If they need an athletic big, I heard Big Baby will be on the market...
Edit: Man... there's not many good big men on the market. If I were Cavs.. yeesh maybe Okur? Or Camby? *shrug*
Spurs could use anyone of the draft choices I listed but they aren't going to be buying any pics soooo. Spurs would be better served at looking at these guys before Bourassis and Gortat.The Celts are set for starting positions. But they might look at grabbing another 3-shooter to come off the bench, for when Allen hits his cold spells.
I can't see Celts making any big moves.
Cavs would be much better with Posey, no doubt. Not sure about Chandler... injuries always scare me. If they need an athletic big, I heard Big Baby will be on the market...
Edit: Man... there's not many good big men on the market. If I were Cavs.. yeesh maybe Okur? Or Camby? *shrug*
McDyess or Birdman from free agency. Other than that, whatever it takes to get someone like Chris Bosh. Only problem with Bosh is that you have to give up one of the big three. Probably Ginobili.
Okur or Camby would be good on any contenting team btw.
camby is underrated. A lot of people say his defense is "fools gold" defense and I'm not sure why. rebounding and weakside help is "fools gold"?
His defensive ratings were excellent once again this year. On a very bad Clippers team.
I read an article today that leads me to believe Bosh isn't on the market. A 2010 plan for a team would be ac ulating assets for a sign and trade in the Summer of 2010, not dumping contracts for cap space.
Who do you think Cuban is going to go for? I"m pretty sure that Cuban is going to be fishing for a Big over the summer.
The rap on him is that his p'n'r defense is not good, which is only a play that all basketball teams run about 95% of the time.
Is Bonner's contract up next year?
hhmm fair. Haven't really followed him closely this year or last. was just going by the ratingsss
I am curious to see how Thabeet plays. It just doesnt feel right w/o a Mutumbo in the league, maybe this kid can be the new Dikembe.
hmmmm...interesting
Thabeet is going to be a good one. He is still raw but his athleticism is off the charts. I watched him in the NCAA tournament and I think he's quicker and more dominating than Oden although that's not sayin much at this point.
If he's not that injury prone, it's sayin' a lot...
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