What I like about what we did, targeting and approach;
No top target should want to come to a 17 win team. Adding the third pick doesn’t move that needle. Those guys get rookies (Shabaz), they don’t join them.
You can convince a player to take fewer years for more money or control. You can get him to take less money for more years or control and less control for more years or money.
In every case, we upped the dollars for shorter contracts with team control. No one-and-dones unless the Knicks want them Done. For Randle that would make him a two and done. We had the money and slots to play it that way. It was an approach that lets you get worthwhile players while maintaining flexibility.
We wasted no time on the biggest ticket guys and gave the next most productive, healthy, age appropriate guy a call right away. Our targeting started with Randle. He does a lot for a guy playing his position and the things he’s not good at he’s above average at for his spot and improving. We should be asking him to do less on O, setting up other guys and letting them set him up, and balancing his effort and focus more on both ends. He had at least one good defensive year for The Lakers. His focus should be on maxing out his potential as a two way player.
We got a guard and a big with productive skills, who’ve been well coached, who can hang by supplementing average physiques with knowledge, instincts, determination, and confidence. On the downside of their careers, they can’t be expected to carry career average loads, but the know a ton about playing and preparing and the personnel in the league and the situations that can arise over the course of a season. Taj & Wayne are frontcourt and backcourt platoon leaders respectively. They are also the smallest guys we signed to each platoon.
Next we got productive young vets with track records in very definable roles. Elfrid is a distributing point. Reggie is a wing sniper. Bobby is a stretch big. Between the draft and our holdover young players, we have predominantly slashers in need of lanes along with the rim runner in Mitch. If the new guys keep doing what they’ve been doing, it gives the kids the support to succeed.
If these guys condition right and find a decent scheme, they may score or not and will probably play a little ugly, but they should wear teams down by making them work just with pace and physicality. Our worst defensive frontcourt is probably Portis and Randle, unless we have a better coaching staff thanI think. They both rebound and one handles like an off guard and the other shoots like one. If we don’t get a grind we’ll have a track race.
I’d like to see us get one more big as insurance, but I think we can get by if we stay healthy. The roster spot and exception or remaining cap room can be used then. The roster spot also reminds players that a guy to replace you can be brought in tomorrow with no further moves. Carrots and sticks.
When looking at the cap numbers remember these guys came to a 17 win club on team friendly terms and decided right away.
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