dnbman
09-06-2008, 11:48 AM
That's what I'm hoping for.
Don't get me wrong, if somehow we could circumvent the CBA and land Brand for Morrison or something like that, I'm on board.
However, given the cap situation and what we'd have to lose to acquire a player of substance, I really want to keep what we have. I know this is not remotely a new idea, but I think it's worth revisiting since a lot of the market has sorted itself out.
Here's why we should keep what we have:
1. The Captain Obvious Reason: We have a new coach who should be able to get a lot more out the existing roster than our previous guy who was given the head coaches pay check. I'd really like to see what our core guys can do when playing in a quality system coached by a quality coach. That being said, I've watched the Gamecocks struggle with a few years of Steve Spurrier, so I'm not expecting miracles. Just the same, we should improve a great deal under this coach, giving our guys much more value on the trade market. (And, unfortunately, on the free agent market.)
2. Most of the guys who are being discussed in trades are undesirable contracts that most teams would be happy to rid themselves of. We don't need to take on a bad contract just to marginally fill the PF position.
3. While the PF position could be crucial for us, we still don't know how Brown plans on addressing the situation. Nazr and Emeka COULD be a relatively o.k. starting 4 and 5, given that they are properly coached on how to play defensively as a unit. (We got beat for interior feeds at obscene levels when those guys were on the court together last year. The issue seemed to be coaching rather than individual defensive awareness.) We could also get some quality minutes at the 4 from a rotation of Dudley, Davidson, Wallace, and Ajinca (optimism, folks. optimism) that wouldn't deteriorate any of them. Of course, IF May is healthy, he's the guy at the 4 spot. Obviously, we need to make something happen at the 4 spot to have a legitimate shot at a playoff run. However, I think right now we need to have a little patience. Let's get all of the other parts in working order, and then go get the missing piece. Plus, we'll have a year (or a few months, at least) to figure out who on the bench fits into our plans and who would fit better elsewhere.
4. Along the lines of what I mentioned above, we need to see what we really have. We already shipped off a guy who might have been a significant contributor (Fabio). We don't want to make the same mistake.
Now, again, if a great trade comes along, of course we take it. I'd even take a low budget even swap of a guy like Carroll for a quality 4. However, we need to be careful about taking chances on guys out of desperation to fill the 4 spot. I'd much rather wait and get the right guy than just any guy.
It's slow in the off season, so trade speculation is pretty natural just to have something to talk about. However, I think we need to have some patience and let the group we have play for a few months before figuring out who we should ship out.
Don't get me wrong, if somehow we could circumvent the CBA and land Brand for Morrison or something like that, I'm on board.
However, given the cap situation and what we'd have to lose to acquire a player of substance, I really want to keep what we have. I know this is not remotely a new idea, but I think it's worth revisiting since a lot of the market has sorted itself out.
Here's why we should keep what we have:
1. The Captain Obvious Reason: We have a new coach who should be able to get a lot more out the existing roster than our previous guy who was given the head coaches pay check. I'd really like to see what our core guys can do when playing in a quality system coached by a quality coach. That being said, I've watched the Gamecocks struggle with a few years of Steve Spurrier, so I'm not expecting miracles. Just the same, we should improve a great deal under this coach, giving our guys much more value on the trade market. (And, unfortunately, on the free agent market.)
2. Most of the guys who are being discussed in trades are undesirable contracts that most teams would be happy to rid themselves of. We don't need to take on a bad contract just to marginally fill the PF position.
3. While the PF position could be crucial for us, we still don't know how Brown plans on addressing the situation. Nazr and Emeka COULD be a relatively o.k. starting 4 and 5, given that they are properly coached on how to play defensively as a unit. (We got beat for interior feeds at obscene levels when those guys were on the court together last year. The issue seemed to be coaching rather than individual defensive awareness.) We could also get some quality minutes at the 4 from a rotation of Dudley, Davidson, Wallace, and Ajinca (optimism, folks. optimism) that wouldn't deteriorate any of them. Of course, IF May is healthy, he's the guy at the 4 spot. Obviously, we need to make something happen at the 4 spot to have a legitimate shot at a playoff run. However, I think right now we need to have a little patience. Let's get all of the other parts in working order, and then go get the missing piece. Plus, we'll have a year (or a few months, at least) to figure out who on the bench fits into our plans and who would fit better elsewhere.
4. Along the lines of what I mentioned above, we need to see what we really have. We already shipped off a guy who might have been a significant contributor (Fabio). We don't want to make the same mistake.
Now, again, if a great trade comes along, of course we take it. I'd even take a low budget even swap of a guy like Carroll for a quality 4. However, we need to be careful about taking chances on guys out of desperation to fill the 4 spot. I'd much rather wait and get the right guy than just any guy.
It's slow in the off season, so trade speculation is pretty natural just to have something to talk about. However, I think we need to have some patience and let the group we have play for a few months before figuring out who we should ship out.