re: What are you guys actuall expecting from our rookie?

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I'm telling you- regardless of what a rational fan might think, the Pels think there is an opportunity to skyrocket up the WC standing with a solid offseason

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then we know this organization is certifiably insane and in deep, deep denial, from benson on down

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I think you have to pitch Batum if he'll talk to you.

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Are you willing to use all of your capspace on him? To get him here we probably need to offer $23M-27M per year for him because that is what it will take to make him interested in NOLA. He is 27 and had some injury issues this past year. Not sure I want to commit that much money to one player with our injury luck.

I think signing S. Hill who is a 3/4 (I think he will be $7-10M) is a great idea. He played the 4 well to clsoe the year in a small ball lineup. Adding someone like Fournier as a 2 or Bazemore or Crabbe as another 2/3 depending on how the draft goes seems necessary considering Qpon is coming off a lost season and we still aren't sure what we have in a rookie or BDJ. That path (Hill plus a 2 or another 2/3) seems more realistic and less risky than maxing or near maxing Batum.

Charlotte has $40M in cap space and is not going to just let Batum walk to a place like New Orleans.

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The moves are there to be made to get them back to that just above .500 level,

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of course they are
as i said before, we've seen this movie already

i dont want any of those players...they'll be cap clogging veterans without upside. i want what minnesota has, what portland has, what utah has, what phoenix will have (remind me what conference those teams are in? oh, right...)

i'm done with gordon, evans, anderson, asik, ajinca, gee, cunnigham, et al. i want frazier, BJD, davis, holiday and an influx of blue-chip young players that davis can grow with. and if that causes davis to bolt in four years, then sham on this team for miserably failing given TWO triwes to get it right

sorry but making the same mistakes, over and over and over again, is maddening and we must demand a better plan

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We won't have 27 million in capspace any. I think its like 21 million or something if we get rid of most of our capholds. I'm sure ATL can correct me.

Spending that 21 million on two players makes more sense than Batum, personally. If you can get Hill and Fournier that's a potentially great offseason. Looks like the Magic are going to do everything they can to keep Fournier though.

So if you can get Crabbe/Hill, you're taking a serious chance that those guys will take the next step. Its not sexy, but I would be ok with it. Continue to get depth and slam into FA a bit more next year.

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It seems to me we have to gamble that these young guys can take steps. Fournier, Crabbe, and Hill are 23,24,and 25 so they all mesh with AD's and Jrue's time horizon and still have potential to grow (or fail) as they have limited exposure to full time minutes. Signing Batum puts all eggs in one basket and I don't want to do that (not that I think we will even have the opportunity).

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Monroe + 10 for 6

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Monroe +10 for 6 + Asik

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Sign me the frick up. Otherwise bucks can GTFO.

According to BREF, there have been 63 G or GF to play 1500 minutes in their rookie seasons since 05/06-15/16. 17 hit the 43/37 threshold, so 27%.

Again, it's not outrageous to think it happens. But it's more of a hope than an expectation. Rookies most often are wildly inefficient and are typically net negatives. You look for signs of growth, not necessarily actual production.

That said, if they draft a guard and he hits that threshold, the list signifies a solid career, barring injury.

Curry, Thompson, Irving, Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday, Thornton, Courtney Lee, Collison, Mayo, Roy, Wes Matthews, IT, Augustin, etc.

its not too late

1) draft a good player at #6
2) don't blow a nut on a max or near-max free agent
3) let anderson & gordon walk
4) take as many fliers on D-leaguers as possible
5) trade holiday mid year for a pick or young player + expiring
6) secure a high lottery pick next year by not winning
7) draft another good player next year

now you've got three lottery picks, 2 on rookie deals with three more years of davis. the cap will be astronomical and you'll be able to go whale fishing

all of this depends on two things, both without evidence of prior success...the ability to select and develop players and the ability to keep them on the court

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IF you draft and trade well, but you just added another lost year to the equation, and you know they don't have the stomach for that.

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i know they dont
i dont have the stomach for three more years of flailing around only to watch davis leave though

davis raised expectations and its time to step up. id rather they lost with men on base than swinging away at everyone else's high fastball

i realize it is sub-optimal to be talking about tossing the first season of your superstar's 2nd contract, but i do not see another way to cobble together anything interesting enough to convince him to stay

at the end of this deal he'll be seven years in, have 200MM dollars or so, and will be looking to win. its now or never

and not to go all 20/20, but look at who they could have had if they'd just been patient. masochistic, i know, but it was all right there for them. time to try again

honestly, as a fan and ticket holder, i'd trade rosters right now, davis included, with either minnesota or utah or portland

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realize it is sub-optimal to be talking about tossing the first season of your superstar's 2nd contract, but i do not see another way to cobble together anything interesting enough to convince him to stay

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If they trade away one of their few + players for lottery position, Davis is gone anyway. They would be banking on picks being good in 2 years instead of 4. That's just tough to bet on. They do that 4 years ago and those guys are now maturing into quality (hopefully) players with Davis still around for the rest of the decade. Or are assets (again hopefully) to be flipped

Hypothetical-

Benson realizes it's fricked and decides they need to blow it up. They decide to trade Davis and hit reset; forget how crazy or dumb that may be. What type of offers do they get? What would you want them to take?