2009/2010 NBA Depth Charts

[mler1019]

Here we can talk about and debate the upcoming season's rosters and depth charts

Lets start off with the Wizards...whats everyone think their roster will look like come late fall?

[WietersOvechkin]

Here we can talk about and debate the upcoming season's rosters and depth charts

Lets start off with the Wizards...whats everyone think their roster will look like come late fall?

I honestly think that the wizards aren't done dealing. I know they do not have the money to sign free agents but trades are a definite possibility. With that being said we aren't going to give up guys like butler or jamison because we are trying to win this year or next. I feel that the expiring contract of Mike James will give us ammunition to acquire one more piece to the puzzle. I think we could trade James and Stevenson (if that is not enough we could throw in young or next years first rounder) for Marcus Camby. He is the perfect player to target because they have to many guys for C/PF and even after trading Randolph they still have one to many guys there, with Kamen, Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Thorton and Camby they are going to look to upgrade the guard position. If we can pull that trade off our depth chart would look something like this...

Center: Haywood
Power Foward: Camby
Small Forward: Butler
Shooting Guard: Arenas
Point Guard: Randy Foye

Bench:
6th Man: Jamison (I think he plays 30 minutes a night and gives a lot of rest to Camby who I believe will be turning 36 during next season)
7th Man: Miller (would be one of the best 7th men in the league, would provide a lot of bench scoring and a real asset to allow us to rest Arenas and Butler throughout the year)
Other bench guys: Blatche, Crittenton, Mcguire and Mcgee (Young too if he is not part of the Camby trade).
This is a very serviceable bench and will allow us a lot of flexibility if rest is needed or dare I say injuries occur.
This will allow us to play better defense out on the perimeter cause Flip will be able to go to his bench and bring in FRESH bodies which the wizards haven't been able to do for years. Defense is something that starts to fall off when players become tired and if you have a long bench it allows for the team to exert more energy on the defensive end. Not to mention the added interior defense that Camby brings.

This is my opinion on what the Wiz should do and I think this team could definitely make a run in the Eastern Conference.

[isestrex]

Up until today, I was clamoring for the Wizards to make a Miller/James trade to the Clippers for Kamen. It made so much sense I contemplating spamming Ernie's mailbox with daily emails.

But all that has changed. Sadly there will be no more trades with the Clippers this season (unless a miracle happens). The Clippers traded one of their big men today (Zach Randolph) to Memphis for an expiring contract in Quinten Richardson. It was a surprisingly good move for the Clips and in the words of Bill Simmons' Tweet "Dunleavy turns Z-Bo into Q's expiring deal for 8 mill less + copious 2010 cap space? All is forgiven! Red Auerbach lives!"

What this means is that the Clips are set for the start of the year and in somewhat good shape (sorta). There's no reason to assume they'll be making any trades with Ernie this off season :(

[Birds of B'more]

I'll be happy to contribute my input on the Trail Blazers roster but I'll have to wait, because since they were spurned by Turkoglu I honestly have no idea what direction they might go. Most reports have them linked to using their cap space to make an offer to David Lee. But this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. First off, it will take somewhere in the range of $8-10 million per year to scare the Knicks away from matching the offer. Anything less and the Knicks will just wait until the 10th day, match the offer, and the Blazers will be screwed because at that point there will be even fewer options available than there are now. Second, even if they do go high enough for the Knicks to pass, there is no way Lee, a pretty good player, will supplant LaMarcus Aldridge, a future All Star IMO, from the starting lineup. So that would mean the Blazers would be paying an 8-digit salary to a backup power forward. Kevin Pritchard didn't get the franchise from the Jail Blazers to where they are today by being that stupid. So I think the David Lee rumors to Portland are nothing more than that.....rumors.

I've also heard the Blazers could go after Shawn Marion now that the Raptors had to let him go to sign Turkoglu. I don't like that move either. Marion would come cheaper that Hedo and David Lee, but his numbers indicate that the Matirx may be on the downside of his career, and Portland does not run the sort of fast-breaking offense that would take the most advantage of Marion's skills anyway. And finally, even if they really do like him, they already have a younger, cheaper version of Marion in Nicolas Batum....albeit Batum is still 2-3 years away from being what Marion was in his prime. I don't think you'll see Marion out here.

At this point, the only free agent I find worthwhile is Ramon Sessions. But I'm not sure what it would take money-wise for Milwaukee to not match an offer. If they lose Sessions, they'll either have to be ready to start Brandon Jennings at the point from Day 1 or go with Luke Ridnour . Sessions may also be a year or two away from being ready to be Portland's answer at point guard , if he even becomes that at all, and the feeling out here is that they want to try and take the next step right now. So I kind of go back and forth on making a move for him.

Ultimately, I think the answer for Kevin Pritchard might be to use the cap space to try and work a lopsided (in terms of salary) trade with a team that is either rebuilding, cash-strapped, or both. The good thing is that if he takes that approach, he will actually have until the February trade deadline to do it instead of this summer. I think the trade route opens up more intriguing possibilities for the Blazers. The name that keeps coming to my mind is Steve Nash. Phoenix is obviously in rebuilding mode, and there's no telling whether Nash will want to stick around for that at this point in his career, so I would imagine Steve Kerr will seriously consider a fair offer for Nash. And Portland could send several young players Phoenix's way that are cheap now and have long-term potential (Rudy Fernandez, Jerryd Bayless, Batum), plus some stop gap guys whose contracts expire after next season (Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw) so if they want the Suns can be players in the 2010 free agent bonanza. It may also take a draft pick or two as well. It's a risky move for Portland, but the rewards could be very high......picture Nash along side Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden. On the down side, Nash is a free agent after next season, so he could potentially be no more than a one-year rental. Plus, if the Blazers do go all-out to keep him, he will be 36 next summer and at that age probably won't be worth the money it would take to resign him.

Anyway, I've rambled enough for now. I'll be happy to share more thoughts on Portland if you all are interested.