2. Trade for an interior presence.
- Tyson Chandler
- Marcin Gortat
- Greg Monroe
- Robin Lopez
- Jonas Valanciunas
- Jahlil Okafor / Nerlens Noel
First of all, it is IMO important to bear in mind this is not very likely to happen.
For instance, getting the 5th or 6th pick is 30.5%
The other variables are much harder to quantify but all of them going wrong at the same time seems implausible, certainly below 10%.
Absolutely, and I'm not suggesting the scenario I've outlined is especially likely. I just want to say, OK, even if nothing goes our way, how do we make the best of it? I find that comforting. Maybe I'm weird.
In that case, I would not want more than one 25+ yo big in the team, ie if we somehow managed to trade for a Robin Lopez or a Marcin Gortat, I would pass on Amir.
I see no reason to invest lots of mins on a player that is unlikely to be of part of the long term plans of the team.
Trust me, I understand the desire to develop players. But if the "young bigs" we're talking about are guys like Bender / Ellenson / Mickey / Jones / Sabonis / etc, developing more than one of those guys at a time would likely mean shaving 5-10 wins off of the record from this past season. This team is already weak up front as it is.
I agree that running with Amir, Jerebko, and another guy who's already 27 or older is not ideal up front. Not many of the names listed above would be a long term solution.
But in the interest of maintaining a solid frontcourt and continuing to compete into the playoffs while other parts of the roster (hopefully) develop, I think pairing Amir with a guy like Gortat or Chandler could be a perfectly fine solution until a better long-term answer presents itself.
If you can't have an All-Star at center, I think you try to find two guys who can play at least 20-24 minutes a night at a high level.
Point taken about the need for interior presence.
Still, if we got someone like Bender (and if he left Maccabi for the NBA and if... you get the idea
) IMO it would be a good idea to give him playing time like Denver did with Jokic. In general, we have a huge amount of picks incoming and not all can be traded, we need mins for these rookies.
Another thing is that I'm not very excited with Amir. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate his defensive presence. He is also a smart player who chooses which games to play best at. But again a big with an injury history approaching his thirties what he is at this stage; I would like us to at least consider some alternative scenarios first.
I know that many people will hate the idea, but I would like us to at least test the water with Sully and Zeller. I'm pretty sure with Zeller you can get a three year deal for cheap. With Sully, it's hard to say, maybe some other team will come with an offer. But if we can get him in a reasonable two year contract (7-8 mill), why not? The key thing here is that these deals are hardly a burden on your salary cap, and you can use these contracts as insurance policy: if nothing else works at least you have these two players (and if they turn out better than expected lucky you).
A third option is a veteran on the cheap: David West was such a player last year; Pau Gasol might be one this year. There might be others too.
Finally, if we
do decide to go on with Amir, I would consider renewing his contract before it expires; iirc we did this with Bradley. If we decide to invest on the player, better make sure he can be part of our long term plans. Players leaving the team after a couple of good seasons is not something I am very fond of.
Again, not saying there is something wrong with Amir, but even in the 'best worst case scenario' I would like to see us examining all possible options: after all this is the best thing about having a team option; you can check all your options before choosing to go on with it.