Free Agent Big Men

#1
Not exactly a bumper crop of free agent big men- except of course for Big Ben. Some names out there who may (or may not) meet the Kings front court needs.

Melvin Ely
Joel Pryzbilla
Francisco Elson
Lorenzen Wright
Chris Wilcox
Nazr Mohammed
Drew Gooden
Kelvin Cato
Bo Outlaw

I really think the goal should be to find a defensive minded guy who can play alongside Brad, and bring SAR, and another defesive-minded big off the bench. I know a lot of you are down on Brad right now, but he isn't as bad as he showed against SA, and he is a real asset on offense most of the time.

Pairing Brad with a Melvin Ely, Pryzbilla, or Lorenzen Wright in the frontcourt might do the trick, and I can't see any of them requiring more than the MLE. Any of those three guys would be adequate at doing the dirty work (rebounding and blocking shots, clogging the lane), and may actually light a fire under Brad. Ely in particular played very well down the stretch and shows a lot of promise. Then you could get a Cato or Elson to come off the bench with SAR and give you a frontcourt rotation of 4.

It is a pretty weak group of frontcourt guys, so maybe a trade is a better way to address the problem, but these are some options if you want to keep the core intact and try to add on...
 
#4
chris wilcox is a pretty solid PF. probably a step up from KT in size and rebounding, and he has an ok offensive game. he put up good numbers as a starter for the Sonics. him and SAR would be a good 1/2 combo at the PF.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#5
jeffjcalweb said:
chris wilcox is a pretty solid PF. probably a step up from KT in size and rebounding, and he has an ok offensive game. he put up good numbers as a starter for the Sonics. him and SAR would be a good 1/2 combo at the PF.
SAR/Wilcox = still no interior defense.

We desperatrely need interior defenders, moreso than any other trait.
 
#9
Um... I think Big Ben will probably be offered more than the MLE... which, for the record, is all we're allowed to offer, being over the cap and all. So the fact that Ben is a free agent really doesn't help us at all.

Also, it looks like DJ Mbenga is a free agent. A legit 7-footer, great shotblocker with no other skills. Should command far less than the MLE.
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#11
Kings113 said:
Out of those: Elson/Pryzbilla/Mohammed/Ely/Wright/Cato.
Do 2 smaller $ guys = 1 big $ guy ????? :D

This is a pretty good list as is the one to start this thread, we definatly need 1, but 2 would be much better a starter and backup PF/C with SAR in our mix.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#13
Alacron said:
Um... I think Big Ben will probably be offered more than the MLE... which, for the record, is all we're allowed to offer, being over the cap and all. So the fact that Ben is a free agent really doesn't help us at all.

Also, it looks like DJ Mbenga is a free agent. A legit 7-footer, great shotblocker with no other skills. Should command far less than the MLE.
~~
I've actually seen Mbenga show some offensive potential in his garbagetime.

His favorite move (From about the three minutes I've seen him total, so take this with a grain of salt) is to back down, then shoot a fadaawy over the defender.

Seemed to make it more often than not.
 

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#14
Wouldn't mind Mbenga, as you said he is showing a lot of promise offensively too. Just very very foul prone because he tries to block every shot.

Przybilla would be great.

Eddie Griffin would probably be my #1 choice.
 
#15
If were gonna re-sign Bonzi how can we get any of these guys. Big men are usually expensive. I'd rather get a big man in the draft, there's alot of good ones this year. Then sign a cheap backup PG.
 

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#17
In part I suppose it depends on who the Kings draft, but it's NOT very likely they will be able to get anyone who will even have impact from the bench much less be a serviceable big man. The other factors are being able to move some contracts and make roster room for a new big man. As much as we would all love to see a change at the 4 it requires that at least one of the curnet Trio (Brad, SAR, Kenny) go. Im not sure what the situation on SAR's contract are but he is probalby the easiest to move. Kenny or Brad will be much harder to trade and for what/who? In the end some paper will need to be shed in order to sign Bonzi (assuming the Kings are forced to pay market value for him) So I just don't see a lot of money available to sign a top FA Big man. So As a Fresno Homer I'd definalty like to see Mel on the Kings. He may not get a lot of offers, and is small for a 5, but he rebounds, does not seem to have a huge ego and he will paly down low. Not a great defender or shot blocker but might be about as good as the Kings can get. With either SAR or Kenny moved he would complement Brad ok, not perfect but better than most of the other guys the Kings will be able to get at arround the MLE.
 
#18
I thought Ely's a good post defender? I wouldn't mind him, but would prefer we go after Griffin/Magloire/Elson (cheaper) first. Along with drafting a big man, disagree on one not being solid at least though.
 

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#19
Kings113 said:
I thought Ely's a good post defender? I wouldn't mind him, but would prefer we go after Griffin/Magloire/Elson (cheaper) first. Along with drafting a big man, disagree on one not being solid at least though.
My assment is good-not great post defender, margianl out side the paint due to lack of quickness. Has not really had a great chacne to work on team D givne the Charlot one on one style, but like a lot of guys who come to Sac we might all be surprised what his game could delvelop into with the Sac coaching.