good read,
I agree that there isn't a single player on this roster who will ever be a #1 or #2 option on a contending team but I do think AB, Smart, Thomas and Sully have the potentially to be the #3 guy. Also all of this needing top 3 players is relative to rest of the roster. The Big 3 Cs and the Lebron lead Heat have created this view that it takes 3 stars to win. Dallas had Dirk, Kidd and a cast of specialists. Kobe/Shaq and Wade/Shaq where really two super star built teams. The Spurs started with the Twin Towers then became their own big 3 and this last championship was a major team effort. The team often separated in championship blueprint talks the 03-04 Pistons won 54 games with a starting lineup with essentially 5 2-3rd option type players and a solid group of role players.
I think as a GM DA always has to have an eye towards making a big move to land a stud but in reality also needs to build toward that Pistons model. The 76ers are showing a willingness with the MCW trade to continuously hit restart in the hopes of hitting an OKC like lucky spell in the draft. This is great in theory but hardly seems sustainable. With a solid off-season (even if no fireworks) I expect the Cs to continue this years upward movement and establish themselves as perennial playoff contenders who happen to be cap flexible and loaded with trad-able assets.