Addressing the hole at center

[priceFTW]

Denver plays Memphis tonight, so a good chance their losing streak hits 4 in a row. Hopefully they are getting closer to blowing it up.

From the looks of things, Nurkic seems to be getting as many minutes as Mosgov and looks to be a really good prospect. The Bosnian is a monster on the boards and has rim protection capabilities. He has to learn how to not foul but on e he does, he's going going to be the starter and not Mosgov.

On another note, Memphis hasn't looked like a contender of late. I know they don't have Randolph, but GS doesn't have Bogut and they're churning along. I can see them dropping and perhaps making immediate use of that pick (not waiting on it) more attractive.

 

[priceFTW]

He is already getting there.

Got the start tonight and had 13/11/6 blocks in 31 minutes.

He's really made a nice progression in the last 10 games as he's gotten minutes.

When I wrote a big difference maker, I was thinking this guy has the chance to be a +4 or +5 RAPM player, who are few and far between. I wants this guy in the draft but we didn't need a center.

If teams redraft the 2013 draft, who goes before Gobert?

Noel? Giannis? Dipo? Bennett (fuck!)? Nobody really has a clear cut edge over Gobert right now.

 

[Birdy89]

I know they don't have Randolph

Losing Bogut to the Warriors is the equivalent of us losing Andy.

Losing Z-bo to the Grizz is the equivalent of us losing Love.

The situations aren't even comparable as Randolph is such an integral part of what Memphis does.

Memphis is 24-9, they aren't going anywhere. If Gasol re-ups with them in the summer that pick is basically going to be worthless until 2017.

 

[kovanovich]

I agree that I don't see Memphis falling out of the playoffs this year.

That's an old team though, and even if they re-sign Gasol they are going to fall off one of these years. I thought it might be this year, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's next (2016). It will almost certainly convey in 2017, when Gasol will be 32, Randolph 35, Allen 35, Vince Carter 40 (!), and even Courtney Lee will be 31.

 

[TFIR]

I've been lobbying for Sammy, but this perhaps explains the delay. Hey, he's a limited big man, no star or close to it. Just a small piece they certainly can use though:


Samuel Dalembert - C - Knicks

Samuel Dalembert is a candidate to be waived by the Knicks in the coming days.

He only has $1.85 million guaranteed on his contract so the Knicks may decide to waive him in order to save some money. Dalembert has fallen out of the rotation in favor of Cole Aldrich so any NBA team willing to gamble on him probably wouldn't have to give up much.

Dalembert is questionable for Sunday's game against the Bucks with an ankle injury.

If he is waived, then we can get him REAL cheap.

I am guessing that the Cavs are waiting for that January 7 deadline when teams have to waive players they don't want to guarantee money too for the rest of the year. Cavs will probably cut 1 or 2 of those themselves and maybe a serviceable defensive big man might get waived (Sammy)?

Obviously if they can get a real big man, Sammy would be a nice backup, where he belongs. We are talking cheap stopgap type.

Was listening to Sirius XM and both guys on the broadcast said they thought Waiters was too much to give up for Koufos.

 

[*L-Train*]

I've been lobbying for Sammy, but this perhaps explains the delay. Hey, he's a limited big man, no star or close to it. Just a small piece they certainly can use though:


Samuel Dalembert - C - Knicks

Samuel Dalembert is a candidate to be waived by the Knicks in the coming days.

He only has $1.85 million guaranteed on his contract so the Knicks may decide to waive him in order to save some money. Dalembert has fallen out of the rotation in favor of Cole Aldrich so any NBA team willing to gamble on him probably wouldn't have to give up much.

Dalembert is questionable for Sunday's game against the Bucks with an ankle injury.

If he is waived, then we can get him REAL cheap.

I am guessing that the Cavs are waiting for that January 7 deadline when teams have to waive players they don't want to guarantee money too for the rest of the year. Cavs will probably cut 1 or 2 of those themselves and maybe a serviceable defensive big man might get waived (Sammy)?

Obviously if they can get a real big man, Sammy would be a nice backup, where he belongs. We are talking cheap stopgap type.

Was listening to Sirius XM and both guys on the broadcast said they thought Waiters was too much to give up for Koufos.

the Cavs should be all over him if the Knicks consider buying him out. use the DPE and save the Knicks some money.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

Idk guys I'm having a hard time with this one. We're closer than we think.

Right not, we look so bad because we've got a gaping bullet hole, we're bleeding out with this center situation.

If we had a true C who could alter shots, I could see the opposition scoring 10 less points off of easy looks per night.

This Memphis pick, sure Memphis is old, but experience is golden. If Z-bo and Gasol stay healthy, they can rotate wing players in and out like SA has done. They're a tough team, they're experienced, they know how to play the fucking game. If that's not apparent to you by now, you haven't watched Memphis the past 3 seasons. I don't expect them to just drop off a cliff.

My question would be why should we wait on that Memphis pick, when it's uncertain which year we'd actually get it? It's an unpredictable asset. You can trade an unpredictable asset for an established player. Then again, if that pick could net us a young big like Steven Adams, that pick is more valuable than I understand.

I'm thinking our ideal future might be something like this:

Bring Sam Dalembert in using the DPE.
Use Haywood to somehow get Brandan Wright. That's the quality of player I see that asset fetching. I don't see it getting you someone of Robin Lopez, Mason Plumlee, Gortat level quality.

Keep Dion.

Keep the Memphis pick.

Is there anyway we can use Haywood's contract to get Wright off Boston? Boston is clearly in rebuild mode, Wright would be a GREAT compliment to Sam Dalembert, who we can net easily using Andy's DPE.

We might have to match salaries somehow with them; do they have any old contracts they'd like to shed themselves of? I'm thinking they're going to instantly want the Memphis pick, but if you offered them massive salary relief, maybe they'd part with a young asset that we desire.

All of the sudden if we had a veteran center who could rotate and alter shots, then have a rim-running lengthy guy to throw oops to off the bench, we'd be set. We have enough firepower here already between LBJ, Kyrie, Dion, Kevin, Mike, Delly. We don't need more guys to put the ball in the hole; we need DEFENSE desperately.

I remember Wright tested through the roof on a length, agility, explosiveness, quickness test; he actually beat out LeBron James and claimed the #1 spot on that test. He's longer than Tristan, he can elevate just as well to block shots.

Those two guys could really bolster what we already have here. Lineups with Love and Wright could prove lethal because Kevin is constantly getting doubled, Kevin can pass and Wright can rim-run and we'd be seeing some interior Blake to DeAndre action.

 

[priceFTW]

We look like warned over vomit right now, but I'm willing to bet things would look much different with a defensive center and a 3 and D guy. We still would be severely lacking in athleticism, but the team that got to 17-10 added to a a little better defense, more resistance at the rim, chemistry, Love playing better when loaded with a center, and a healthy James could still compete well for an ECF title. We need more to have a realistic chance at a title, but these things would help. Detroit is night and day with a SUBTRACTION--nothing is out if the question.

If the Heat can find a guy like Whiteside (9/7/3 at halftime today), we have to be able to find someone.

 

[The Red Viper]

Yes. A good rim-protector would create hesitation if not anything else in the mind of opposition guards while driving to the basket. Currently they are attacking the rim fearlessly like they are Mike and LeBron. A good rim-protector won't stop it all but would at least make them work for it.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

I've been lobbying for Sammy, but this perhaps explains the delay. Hey, he's a limited big man, no star or close to it. Just a small piece they certainly can use though:


Samuel Dalembert - C - Knicks

Samuel Dalembert is a candidate to be waived by the Knicks in the coming days.

He only has $1.85 million guaranteed on his contract so the Knicks may decide to waive him in order to save some money. Dalembert has fallen out of the rotation in favor of Cole Aldrich so any NBA team willing to gamble on him probably wouldn't have to give up much.

Dalembert is questionable for Sunday's game against the Bucks with an ankle injury.

If he is waived, then we can get him REAL cheap.

I am guessing that the Cavs are waiting for that January 7 deadline when teams have to waive players they don't want to guarantee money too for the rest of the year. Cavs will probably cut 1 or 2 of those themselves and maybe a serviceable defensive big man might get waived (Sammy)?

Obviously if they can get a real big man, Sammy would be a nice backup, where he belongs. We are talking cheap stopgap type.

Was listening to Sirius XM and both guys on the broadcast said they thought Waiters was too much to give up for Koufos.

Good post and agreed. If we can get Sammy D that helps. We don't really need a world beater, and if we can get him for the DPE it would be nice because we could still perhaps consider using our trade exception to bring in a wing.

Problem is without any 2nd rounders, it's hard to juice up any deals. We will have to be bargain hunters like you suggest if we want to hold on to Waiters and the MEM pick.

 

[Los216]

I think our best bet is to use the DPE and TPE on bigs and trade Dion for a Wing/backup PG.

I like CJ Watson as a backup PG option. Once we get closer to the trade deadline and Indy starts playing for the lottery he should be available. He's only making 2 million this season.

 

[kovanovich]

I didn't realize Dalembert's contract was only partially guaranteed, so it makes sense the Knicks would waive him in the next few days to save some money. (By the way, Basketball Insiders had Dalembert's contract situation right. Hoopshype didn't.) Of course, Dallas will be interested too, and he has a history there, but the Cavs do have the DPE to offer.

If the Cavs do manage to sign him (or someone else) in the next week or so, they likely will be looking to waive two players. Kirk is presumably one of them.

 

[spydy13]

I hope we can get some decent stop gap options this year, but we need to remember that this summer will offer a lot of options to address our center problem, including the draft, which has a ton of depth at the position. All we need is somebody like Cauley-Stein or Upshaw (below, and more likely to be around at our draft pick) as offense from that position is not really needed.

 

[Birdy89]

more likely to be around at our draft pick

We'll be drafting at the very back of the 1st round most likely, so the list of guys available at that point who can help us immediately will be extremely limited chances are.

 

[TFIR]

Sammy update:

Samuel Dalembert - C - Knicks

The Knicks have been "actively" trying to trade Samuel Dalembert and may opt to waive him on Wednesday.

Obviously, they're not getting any takers here. Dalembert had an ankle injury last month, but he was available to play against the Bucks on Sunday and received a DNP-CD. It's pretty clear Cole Aldrich is going to hold down the starting job at center most nights, especially while Amare Stoudemire (knee) is out.