How do we build a contending team?

[Kingster]

You still do it primarily through the draft. That's where you are going to get a star. It might happen in FA, but I just think it's less likely. FA is mostly for complementary pieces, and complementary pieces are overated. Oklahahoma is doing it the right way. They have right now the potential to have three All-Stars on their team, and all were drafted. They are going to be very scary when they mature. Now the Kings need to get another future All-Star in this coming draft.

 

[bajaden]

Trade Kevin Martin for Chris Bosh. The Raptors will totally do it!

What happens if Bosh won't resign with us at the end of the season. It would be a big risk that could leave us with nothing to show for it.

 

[bajaden]

portland is a good model to follow.rebuild through the draft, stockpile talent overseas. if they didn't lose oden, they could be very dangerous. they have the pieces to match up w/ the lakers.

I would think the one team the Lakers wouldn't want to see in the playoffs is Portland. I think Portland has beat them every time this year. For some reason they seem to have the Lakers number.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

I like Portland's model as well, with the stockpiling of assets and young players, but the problem is that over the course of time, if you keep drafting talented young players, they're going to squeeze each other out for playing time and eventually, some of them are going to have to leave. I remember Pritchard (Portland's GM) was desperately trying to cling on to all his young players because he didn't want to have another JO-type fiasco once again, but you can tell he's now starting to realize that he can't hold on to all of them. He's already relinquished one of his homegrown talents to us in Sergio Rodriguez, and it seems like he's willing to part with Outlaw as well. So I think this strategy needs to be amended somewhat here--stockpile on young players at first, give a 2-3 window to get a feel for them/see how they pan out...and if they do pan out, as they did in Portland's case, use your later draft picks for established higher level talent. Incorporate this veteran-youth strategy, rather than go all-out youth.

 

[bajaden]

Hate to burst your bubble, but Bosh is not a contender. In Toronto, they tried all kinds of things and players, to build a contending team around him. And they failed miserably over and over again. What does that tell you?

Bosh is a nice player. I enjoy watching his skills, but he is no warrior. When the things get tough, Bosh gets missing. You don't want that.


And one more thing, I hope you don't want Amare too.

You can laugh all you want but if I would have any saying in this matter, I would try to get Hasheem Thabeet. His ceiling is much higher then Dalemberts. Not to mention his age.
He is raw on offense, his rookie season is rocky as hell, but his college carrier was nice and he has that tough, defensive minded attitude. And you can teach a player a lot of things but you can't teach him size. He is also very mobile for a big guy. Oh, and his trade value is now low as it gets.

As you probably know, I'm not a huge fan of Thabeet's. Yes he's a talented player as far as defense goes, but even there he's somewhat limited. Would I like to have him? Yes! But only if I could get him cheap. He still has bust potential written all over him. At best, he's two to three years away from being a solid player.

Having said that he would be worth the risk if the price was very reasonable. Its not his fault he was the second pick in the draft. Going that high put way too much expectation on him.