Upgrade for OKC?

I was reading through Yahoo! BDL's preview of the OKC Thunder, and two glaring weaknesses that could be construed are PG and C slots, granted you could argue that every position not currently played by Kevin Durant is weak. Some would argue the SG slot if you consider Russell Westbrook a PG type player, something of a defensive minded 1, kind of like Rajon Rondo, however, it could also be argued, as Zorgon from Blue Blitz points out, that Westbrook might be better suited at a 2 slot than the 1 (see item 9). As much as we try to talk ourselves into believing that Robert Swift is not a bust, the fact that you oftentimes have to start Nick Collison at center leads me to believe that hte center position is weak. Here's my call, and if you disagree, you disagree, but I think it gives the Thunder a legitimate shot.

Send Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith to Charlotte for Raymond Felton and Nazr Mohammed.

While I mentioned that sending Wilcox and Wilkins to Golden State for Al Harrington seemed like a good idea, to more than just me, beyond purely financial reasons, Al Harrington doesn't really address a whole lot of the problems that OKC beyond maybe perimeter shooting. Deal breaker? Well in this one it would definitely have to be Nazr Mohammed's $18 million contract over the next 3 years, but given the roster construction of the current roster, I don't see that it's that big of deal, OKC develops over the next couple of years (which they will need to develop) and Mohammed becomes another expiring contract that Sam Presti can magically turn into some trade exception or 5 draft picks, all first round.

Ok, all joking aside let's look at how this works out. We have Russell Westbrook develop as a defensive minded SG, a defensive stopper, something akin to Raja Bell, and then we start Raymond Felton at the PG. For all our woes about Felton, he's a solid point, just a little overshadowed by his draft class, you know, like by Deron Williams and Chris Paul. However, Felton I believe is a major upgrade and I believe will definitely help facilitate an offense that is ridiculously stagnant. Furthermore, with Westbrook sliding into a 2 slot Durant can move to where we all believe he will be better suited playing, at SF. By trading off Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith, the PF slot platoon is also cleared and you have fewer people playing out of position. For the moment I'd startNick Collison and have Jeff Green kind of work his way in off the bench. While Nazr Mohammed isn't exactly the most sexy name in terms of centers, he's shown he can start. After being traded to Charlotte for Primoz Brezec and Walter Hermann, Mohammed started for a bit with Emeka Okafor sliding over to the PF slot. He averaged 17pts, 9.4rbds, 0.8 blcks, and 0.8 stls in 5 games on 74.1% shooting. Okafor didn't do horribly either, posting 14.4 ppg and 11 rpg during that same stint, then, to the confusion of many fantasy owners, Mohammed was abruptly benched. However, that I believe is enough of a glimpse to show that Mohammed can make himself effective as a starter. Regardless of any reservations you might have about him, he is at worst serviceable, and in my opinion a significant upgrade over Swift and Petro. The depth chart ends up looking something like this:

PG- Raymond Felton, Earl Watson

SG- Russell Westbrook, Damien Wilkins

SF- Kevin Durant, Desmond Mason

PF- Nick Collison, Jeff Green, Steven Hill

C- Nazr Mohammed, Robert Swift, Johan Petro

Not great by any means but an upgrade to what they have now.

I don't think Larry Brown would've lobbied so hard to draft DJ Augustin that high if he was just going to be a backup to Raymond Felton, that pick could've been much better spent on something else. Which leads us to conjecture that Raymond Felton is not the Bobcats' PG of the future, aka Larry Brown doesn't really like him. From all the reports I've read, Larry Brown doesn't really like anyone on the team, except maybe Jared Dudley. So the Bobcats add to their frontcourt depth, and bolster the PF slot at least a little which I think needed the most work. Worst case scenario, perhaps Gerald Wallace and Joe Smith can be packaged together to make another trade, either way, they get cap flexibility and an improved roster in the frontcourt, which is what they're looking for. Personally, I'd start Wilcox and then work Joe Smith into the rotation allowing both to see some time at center should Brown decide to run a smaller lineup, this also allows Sean May a little more time to fully recover and perhaps become the player he's supposed to be, gives Alexis Ajinca some time to develop, keep Emeka Okafor where he is most effective, in the paint, and keep Gerald Wallace where he won't get concussions, at SF. This creates a lineup that looks something I think, like:

PG- DJ Augustin

SG- Jason Richardson, Matt Carroll, Shannon Brown

SF- Gerald Wallace, Jared Dudley, Adam Morrison

PF- Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, Sean May

C- Emeka Okafor, Alexic Ajinca

It does leave the Bobcats a little thin at the PG slot, but I think you can package something to get a backup PG of some sort. Though I supppose good ones are hard to come by, maybe tack John Lucas III onto the trade for a draft pick? Anyway, this is the brunt of it, I think maybe it works? It doesn't make either team a contender right away, but it definitely is an upgrade, I think.

Season Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder

Finally, we're done after this, and right before start of the season too.

Starting 5:

PG- Russell Westbrook

SG- Kevin Durant

SF- Jeff Green

PF- Chris Wilcox

C- Nick Collison

Off the bench

Guards: Earl Watson, Damien Wilkins, Kyle Weaver

Forwards: Desmond Mason, Joe Smith, DJ White

Centers: Robert Swift, Johan Petro

I have to cringe every time I think about this team, I really do. I went to school in Seattle, and while the Sonics sucked, they at least had the heydays of The Glove tossing up alley-oops to The Rain Man, and Detlef Schremph, and Sam Perkins jacking up 3s at the end of the 4th quarter. They were a team that sucked, with history. Now, they're just a team that sucks. Ok, ok, so maybe I'm not being fair, I'm not considering everything that happened and the legislation and the whole Key Arena scenario and schmo that Howard Schultz is for selling the team in the first place. Alright I'm going to try to be more objective now and not be too abrasive on the Oklahoma City fans out there, but honestly speaking, there's not much in store for them out there, especially this season.

Besides both having coached under Greg Popovich, PJ Carlesimo shares another thing outside of being defensive minded with Mike Brown, that is, they both run the same offensive sets, in essence, have your PG bring up the ball, and give it to your best player. Mike Brown got lucky with this one, because his best player is LeBron James. As great as Kevin Durant is and/or may be, he's no LeBron James. Considering that Durant is only 20, I see a possibility of Durant developing into a trigger happy gunner that is horribly inefficient on the floor, maybe I'm just pessimistic, but it's how he's being taught to play. Seriously, the only time I've seen this team "dominate" was when Durant decided to suit up for a Summer League game. Wilcox and Collison are solid players, but when they're your 2nd and 3rd most effective players on the floor, then I think you're in trouble. Collison to me is like those hustle player that goes for the boards and just does the dirty work, like a... white Udonis Haslem. Wilcox is basically like a more-effective Ronny Turiaf, hair and all, to me something an energy guy, he just scores a bit to go along with it. Jeff Green has shown flashes of great play, but his game is also still raw and unrefined, it's gonna take some time for him to get into it. Damien Wilkins has shown streaks of being able to take the ball to the hole, and has played well during the preseason, I might remind you he played exceptionally well at the beginning of last season before abruptly disappearing from the face of the planet. Russell Westbrook is untested and was drafted more for his defensive abilities so anything he does contribute on the offensive end would be a plus, whereas Earl Watson, well, no one's ever really been sure what to make of Earl Watson, but since Luke Ridnour's gone, I guess that makes him the point man until Westbrook comes of age or if Carlesimo starts his rookie, the backup.

Desmond Mason was brought in as a sort of marketing thing since he's from OKC, and Joe Smith is serviceable but also a non-factor on defense. Either one could snag a starting spot I suppose if things don't work out with Green and Smith outplays either Collison, Wilcox, or the both of them. Finally, if we look at the center rotation, we have Robert Swift, who hasn't been healthy enough to show to us that he really is in fact, bad, and Johan Petro who has shown us that he's somewhat worse than not good, Sene has been relegated to D-League because he's that much worse than Petro, and Ibaka will stay in Europe, because... he's not ready for the NBA? Not really sure about that. Seriously though, when a team has 2 7-foot center eligible players and is forced to start Nick Collison at the 5, not a good sign. So my call on Robert Swift, bust. I'm not going to touch the tatoos and the emo getup.

Season Preview: New York Knicks

Honestly, it wasn't the quote itself that I found interesting, but more that it's Zach Randolph saying it for some reason, and maybe that it's the Knicks.

Starting 5:

PG- Chris Duhon

SG- Jamal Crawford

SF- Quentin Richardson

PF- David Lee

C- Zach Randolph

Off the bench

Guards: Nate Robinson, Stephon Marbury, Fred Jones

Forwards: Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Patrick Ewing Jr, Jared Jeffries, Malik Rose

Centers: Jerome James, Eddy Curry

Being from New York (granted upstate) I really want to root for the Knicks, I really do, but the whole roster and the Isaiah Thomas thing, and all that, just make it really, really hard. Anyways, in looking at the roster, the thing that frightens me the most isn't necessarily the talent level, they're a decent bunch, but the fact that Jamal Crawford is getting lost in a run-and-gun system. The issue ends up being that Crawford isn't getting the touches he's used to to create his shot, he's taking almost 7 less shots per game and that's not allowing him to get into a rythm and get consistent, something he struggles with from time to time. What that means, is that very soon we could see Stephon Marbury starting in place of Crawford if this doesn't work out. That'd be interesting.

Another portent could be the packaging of Crawford with Curry and shipping them both off somewhere, clearing up some roster space for the highly anticipated 2010 free agency, especially with Randolph looking more and more like he fits the D'Antoni system quite well. Another player that thrives in the new run-and-gun system appears to be David Lee, who's hard work and hustle has always merited him to be a fan-favorite but never really got him a enough playing time under Isaiah Thomas to see his potential. Eddy Curry on the other hand has been fighting off a bacterial infection, but more importantly than that, came to camp completely out of shape. As hard as he tries now, I don't think he'll be more than the backup center at best, 3rd string at worst, which he is now. On the plus side, I don't know that he'd qualify for Yahoo!'s Eddy Curry Line should this persist. To continue along views of pessimism, beyond flashes of brilliance we saw at maybe one preseason game, 1st round pick Danilo Gallinari has been sidelined with back issues, not promising, especially considering all the scrutiny and skepticism he came with when he was drafted. However, when healthy look for him to crack the rotation, the big question is, when he will be healthy.

Nate Robinson remains another bright spot in an increasingly glum situation, however, his play hasn't merited him to be much aside from the energy 6th man, as good as the numbers he's putting up, he won't thrive as a starter, though I expect him to get a lot of minutes, like when he played behind Fred Jones last season. Wilson Chandler has been another bright spot, playing well, and producing. With Renaldo Balkman gone to Denver, he's the key SF/PF backup until Danilo Gallinari gets back. A lot speculate that since Quentin Richardson has been so unimpressive, especially for someone who's played for D'Antoni before and is familiar with the system, could lose a lot of playing time, that and the fact that he was pretty consistently injured last season.

Like the Nets, I doubt the Knicks care much about this season or the next, it's all one big project for the 2010 free agency sweepstakes. I hope something about this team makes me like them again.

The Al Harrington Project: A New Prospect

So previously, I had ranted all about how Al Harrington is untradeable, etc... etc...  However, I had also addressed that one idea that would make a lot of sense would be Al Harrington for Chris Wilcox and Damien Wilkens in a trade between OKC and the Warriors.  Throw in a draft pick from OKC and a mascot from Golden State and it would've worked out nicely.  Others thought it had a lot of merit too.  

Now as the season progresses and teams are becoming more than just paper theories, it looks Harrington might find a fit in a couple more places, well, at laest one.  Portland.

I know, I had said that they didn't want anyone.  However, they have a large glut of young talent and it's becoming almost redudant how many people they have.  Depth is definitely a strength, however, while I believe they're trading some of it away, I don't believe that it's enough to warrant it a no go.  

So here's my call: 

Golden State sends Al Harrington and a draft pick

Portland sends Sergio Rodruigez, Travis Outlaw, and Ike Diogu

So if we look at the Blazers' roster as currently constructed we get something like this going across the depth charts:

PG - Steve Blake, Jerryd Bayless, Sergio Rodruigez, Jamal Tatum

SG- Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez

SF- Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Nicholas Batum, Luke Jackson

PF- LaMarcus Aldridge, Ike Diogu, Channing Frye, Steven Hill

C- Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, Raef LaFrentz

That's a pretty nice looking roster.  Ok, granted, most people don't know Luke Jackson, Jamal Tatum, or Steven Hill, most people probably have only heard of Batum and Rodruigez in passing, but I really don't see them getting that far into their depth chart.  If they do, it means that a lot of people are injured, and there's a problem.  So right now, we have Webster out due to a stress fracture in his foot, Frye out due to a surgery on his ankle, and LaFrentz out with a shoulder injury.  Frye won't really miss all that much time, and Diogu and Przybilla can fill in his shoes quite well.  With Oden on the roster, they have a lot of solid big men, and should Frye come back he'd have to fight with Diogu for playing time, very limited playing time.  LaFrentz was never really anything of a factor, since he hasn't really cracked the rotation in like 2 years, and probably won't when his contract expires.  Having Webster out hurts the most because it limits Portland in removing their key 3 point threat.  Rudy Fernandez will likely look to fill that role, and Outlaw could see some more playing time.  However, there are talks taht Batum is progessing nicely, and could start over Outlaw, leaving Outlaw to take charge of the scoring load in the 2nd squad.  So that covers the center and foward positions, what about the guards?

Well, arguably, the Blazers are weak at PG, Steve Blake is serviceable, no more, no less.  However, they will probably try to develop Jerryd Bayless into a combo guard that fills the 1 spot, especially with Brandon Roy taking over the ball handling capacities toward late game scenarios.  As much as everyone likes how Rodruigez has developed as a PG, he's pretty expendable.  So what we end up having is several serviceable, and expendable pieces.  What do we do about that?

Enter, Al Harrington.

With a starting lineup based around Roy, Aldridge, and Oden, the SF slot basically is relegated to 3 pt shooting and defense.  I would argue that Harrington answers those issues as well as Webster does.  Some would argue that Harrington only shot 37.5% from beyond the arc last season, however, I would argue that Nellie swapped him around the roster so much that he never found a rythm in a lot of games and couldn't find his shot.  I would then point out that the previous season he was hitting 43.3% from three-point land, a statistic I think is more indicative of how well Harrington performs.  While he's supposed to have the post moves of a 4, I actually would like to see Harrington run with a team that plays him as an SF.  I don't know that Harrington is a stop plug defensively, but I think with Nate McMillan's team defense tactics it's just as good if not better than starting Batum and hiding him on some matchups.  With this trade, you jettison some excess players, and then fill an immediate need.  This way, when Webster returns, he can come back slowly as a 6th (or 7th) man behind Harrington thereby adding to the 3pt weaponry that the Blazers have.  Additionally, during the 8 month period that Webster is out, you don't have to rush the development of Batum by foisting a starting slot onto him.

For the Warriors, maybe bringing back Ike Diogu isn't a great idea, but he does add size to a frontcourt thin lineup.  You can replace Harrington with Outlaw in the starting lineup, while a little smaller, is still a scrappy player, and I think can bang it.  Outlaw gets the starting slot he wants, and gets to play in a run-and-gun system that would fully utilize his athleticism.  Rodruigez would bolster a PG spot where neither DeMarcus Nelson nor Marcus Williams have been able to beat out CJ Watson, which is just plain sad, so it could potentially be an upgrade to both of those.  If that doesn't work out it's ok, because the only player you keep is the best player of the bunch, and that's Outlaw, just let Rodruigez and Diogu walk.

Granted the Blazers might have that problem with resigning Harrington should he prove an asset, but I don't see a huge problem what with Raef LaFrentz's expiring contract.  

It makes sense to me, but that might not mean it works.  Still, it's something.

Update: I sent the post over to the Blazers experts at The Rip City Project, here's their take:

Onto the actual Al Harrington trade...That's giving up way, way too much on the Blazer side of things. Those three names you mentioned are on the 'expendable' side of the Blazer spectrum. That being said...it's too much to give up all three for just Al Harrington. You had some points that he could fit in roster wise with his ability to shoot the three and play defense. That being said...too much going against him. In the past two years we've let Ime Udoka (the king of three's and defense) and James Jones (stroke and a half and tried on D). Harrington doesn't fit into the timeline. Outlaw, Webster and Rudy are young. Al....not so much. Also...he's too expensive. Travis Outlaw (while overrated by many Blazer fans) can give just as much value at a much lower cost. Sergio has this weird vibe going with Rudy Fernandez that is rejuvenating his career and Ike...well we haven't seen much of Ike. And I doubt Golden State would take him back. 

So, I can definitely see how that's a lot for Al Harrington, he does command a bit of money for the skill sets he brings.  Considering that they weren't too hesitant to let Udoka and Jones walk leads me to believe that Harrington would be a quick fix solution at best, which perhaps isn't something you'd sacrifice your youth for.  Guess it's not going to pan out in this case.  The $9 mil price tag does seem to leave me inclined to believe that Harrington will just play out this year and walk.