I take it that you don't think that Cisco, Martin, Hawes, Douby, and Udrih are gaining any skills as time goes by.
They are, but a lot of it has been due to injuries and suspensions.
Part of getting youngsters is the willingness to wait until they grow up. I don't understand why having 5 young skilled players is not considered to be "rebuilding."
Martin is a skiiled young player. Hawes may become one. Udrih has been very inconsistent in the past, yet may become one. Cisco is no longer very young, and may not improve much more, i.e., he may never be more than an energy guy off the bench. Douby is also a question mark, not only in regards to how good he will become, but also whether he will ever fill a significant need on our roster. So far, he has only shown that he can be a backup SG, and we're not really in need of those.
Martin, Hawes, and Cisco aren't bandaids as far as I'm concerned. Martin may become a major star and Hawes looks pretty good. I have my doubts about Douby.
Agreed, I never meant that they were bandaids. The bandaids (without even going into the Webber trade) have been Ron, Shareef, John, and Mikki. Players that ate up cap space and kept us from getting good draft picks, without ever giving us any remote shot at a championship.
I doubt that Artest will leave. I don't think he ever said he would.
I believe that last year he text messaged teammates saying that we wanted out, but that's just it with Ron, you never know what he'll do from one day to the next.
We can offer him the most money if he stays three years.
That's not really an option. He has a player option this summer, which he will either accept or walk. After the option year is done, whether he accepts it or not, his contract is over. There's no provision for a third year.
If he leaves this year, we free up money and isn't that the point of many discussions? We have this need for cap space?
Cap space would be nice, but it's not key to anything, because the FA market has been pretty horrible the last few years, and shows no signs of improving. So it alone is not very useful. What we really want are youngsters and draft picks. Trading Ron for a bag of (expiring) chips gets us the same cap space, but gives us a much better shot at a good lottery pick, because a bag of chips is not going to pull out any last minute wins to mess up our chances in the draft. Trading Ron for a bag of chips and a draft pick is better still.
We also can offer Bibby as much money as he wants.
Only if we pay massive luxury tax, otherwise we have nothing to spend. But it's a moot point, since nobody seems to want to give him an extension.
Oh, and finally, I don't necessarily believe there are only three things that teams are doing. That mindset simplifies chatter but ignores the complexities of running an NBA team.
Maybe I am misunderstanding something. Why would we have to let Bibby walk if we kept Ron. Bird rights allow us to sign both.
Because signing Shareef, John and Mikki ensured that we would have no money until the 2011 season. If we kept both Bibby and Ron, we'd be paying double for at least one of them (luxury tax).
