Moe Harkless: Revisited

quote:

---

This begs the question, draft BPA or do we address the elephant in the room that is our need at SF?

---

I would think that they plan on going BPA unless it's a PF or even a SG depending on their future plans with Gordon. SF and C are 1a and 1b in terms of our needs IMO. Both Aminu and Lopez would be great to have off the bench but they are not starter material. An upgrade at PG isn't needed at the moment but I can definitely see us taking a guy like Smart or Burke if Demps thinks highly of them.

Def made a mistake not taking him. Since Afflalo went down for the season he has been on a tear. I'm a huge Paul George fan and that comparison is pretty spot on. He has had some huge nights for the magic. I'm taking huge as in 25 points, 9 boards, 4 blocks, 4 steals type of games. And he's pretty efficient. Shooting 48% on the season as a rookie. Very impressive. And just 19 years old. Kids going to be a player. The Magic are in great shape as an organization. Harkless is going to be a good one. Nikola Vucevic is the best young C in the game and probably the most under rated player in the league. And they got 3 1st round picks and 2 2nd round picks in the next few drafts because of the Dwight Howard trade. If they can get some quality players with those picks, look out.

I do like Otto Porter a lot too and think he is the best fit for us at the moment, but I would be shocked if he turns out to be as impressive as Harkless in his rookie season.

Yea I don't know how I forgot about Tobias. He's basically been averaging 17 and 11 since he was traded and started getting legit PT. Good for the magic. Very rarely does it work out great when your superstar leaves. Nuggets and Magic made the most of it when their superstars left and actually looks like it could work out to their advantage. Especially for the Nuggets.

Porter might be better in college, but I think Harkless is a better overall athlete and translates better to what the NBA is about. Still think Porter will be a solid NBA starter though. And I agree, he is the best fit for what we need.

quote:

---

Monty pretty much said he doesn't have enough spacing to use Gordon as the primary initiator because of Vasquez and Aminu. I think Vasquez shoots well enough that he can probably play off ball, but I think replacing Aminu as a starter will be a top priority

---

The first part of this is kind of odd. Vasquez has shot as well from beyond the arc as Gordon this year, but I guess people could be hedging out to Gordon more. However, given that Vasquez shoots fairly well deep and isn't a hard slasher, you'd think the defenses would tend to hedge out to him, actually creating more space for the rest of the offense. With Gordon's poorer outside shooting and slashing ability, you'd think they would play off a bit to keep him out of the lane.

It could be that they want to keep the ball out of his hands, so they play him tight. I could also see them wanting his defender playing him close so that he can't cross them over easily when they close out hard. Maybe they are respecting Gordon's reputation more than his current performance. I don't know.

quote:

---

But if you replace your best rebounder that will expose Lopez' lack of rebounding even more, so if AD isn't ready to play center you really have to address both the center and SF at the same time.

---

I've been making the same point lately based on my whole "fit" basis of this roster. This is why I think we see multiple smaller upgrades over one big splash. We need about 5 upgrades. It would be silly to blow our load on one.

That said, I'd love to bring back Aminu in a rotation role at the right price. Maybe he and Lopez can man the second unit with Anderson. That would be a damn strong 2nd front court.

Yea I was looking at unrestricted FA list and Blatche caught my eye as well. If we don't want to throw a lot of $$$$ at at a big name guy, I would love to give him a chance.

quote:

---

The first part of this is kind of odd. Vasquez has shot as well from beyond the arc

---

He specifically said teams aren't scared of Vasquez so he doesn't create space for Gordon, but he's shot pretty well from 3, especially the corner, so I think in time the scouting reports would catch up and he would create space as an off ball shooter. Aminu however...

I've been saying Al Jeff too. People will slam his defense but he is one of the most refined post players in the league. Only a year older than a guy like Howard (who still seems young for some reason).

Al Jeff's defense will be fine next to Davis. He can still board and threaten shots with the best of them. His p&r D is what people knock, but Davis will be one of the best p&r defender in the league

quote:

---

People will slam his defense but he is one of the most refined post players in the league.

---

Yep. I personally think he has the best offensive game out of any big man in the entire league. I may be biased because I've always been a fan of his, but his post game is insanely good. Davis will get much better at his on-ball defense and they will complement each other very well.

quote:

---

One of the big named centers will likely cost $60-$70m over 4 years (Al Jeff, Peckovic, Bynum). All are under 30 and would be ok fits. That is a lot of scratch though. (bynums health is obviously a ?)

---

I don't like the big name center route. If they plan to keep both Davis and Anderson long term then I actually think you need to downgrade the center position. Neither Davis or Anderson can play much SF and I don't see Smith going anywhere so there really are only 15-20 minutes available per game for a guy that needs to grab boards and bang with bigs.

quote:

---

The PG options like Jennings and Tyrkeke Evans (if you want him at PG) will likely cost big money like the centers. Do you spend that when you have an adequate pg?

---

I think you spend the big money on the player that is most likely to become a star. That won't happen at center because of limited minutes. That won't happen at SF because the big money star prospects will probably sign with more established playoff level teams. That means if you aren't going to hold onto the money until next year that you go for Jennings or Evans.

quote:

---

One FA that caught my eye is Andray Blatche. Could be a nice, cheap, young option at center. Seems to thriving since he got out of Washington

---

That's an interesting choice. Decent rebounding rate, 260 pounds so he can probably hold his own against the bigger centers. He's still enough of a risk that there won't be a huge market for him but the Nets probably won't be able to afford to keep him even with a modest raise.

quote:

---

Is he a full-time center?

---

According to 82games.com nearly all of his minutes have come at center this year. LINK

quote:

---

those are the positions of question...Isn't it likely that in this offseason, we only upgrade two positions and leave one as is? Which position is the least important to improve for this team?

---

Not sure about position importance, but I think Vasquez has proven the most legit of the 3 (I know, I know. Jester loves some Vasquez). He's pretty much an average starting point guard. You could possibly argue Lopez is average just based on the dearth of top talent at the 5. Aminu, though, is a rotation player unless he takes a really huge, unexpected step.