Most of it's been said before, though I did find the trade suggestion w/ Phoenix interesting. Of course, if you think the Kings have concerns, take a look at the Charlotte Bobcats' roster.
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http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1876099&type=story
Heat, Kings and Grizzlies still have work to do
By Chad Ford, ESPN Insider
The free-agent frenzy is over, and a number of high-profile teams have a lot to show for it. With NBA spending at an all-time high and trades going down at a frantic pace, there is a growing parity in the league that gives hope to franchises that have had little to cheer about the past few years.
From Boston to Utah to Orlando and even Cleveland, GMs can stand up credibly after a busy summer and tell fans hope is on the way.
With all the focus the past two months on what teams have done in an effort to improve, it's just as instructive to look at what some teams have left to do.
Training camps start in less than a month, and a handful of potential contenders -- including the Heat, Grizzlies, Kings and Rockets -- are heading into the season with major holes left unfilled.
Today, Insider takes a look 10 teams that still need to make another move or two before training camp begins. Do the Heat have enough depth to make Shaq happy? Can the Kings add enough depth to make a difference in the West? Will the Grizzlies finally get their hands on a big man? Here's our take.
MIAMI HEAT
Holes: Power forward, small forward
Skinny: Shaquille O'Neal is big. But can the Big Aristotle play three positions? He might have to this year to compensate for the Heat's shocking lack of depth. Miami had to give up three starters for one in the Shaq trade. While Shaq is an enormous upgrade over Brian Grant at center, the team has yet to adequately fill holes at the four and three left by the departures of Lamar Odom and Caron Butler.
The team signed sharp-shooting Wesley Person (5.8 ppg, 2 rpg in '03-04) to play the three and goes into opening day with second-year forward Udonis Haslem (7.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg) as the starting power forward. Their bench players at that position, third-year forward Rasual Butler (6.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg), veteran big man Malik Allen (4.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg) and second-round pick Matt Freije don't exactly inspire confidence on a team that has championship aspirations.
Miami's starting backcourt looks good, but there's little depth there, either. Dwyane Wade is a phenomenal talent, but is he really a point guard? He had better be. Damon Jones is coming off the best season of his career, but he's more of a gunner than a point. Keyon Dooling? He couldn't crack the Clippers' rotation. Eddie Jones has been great for the Heat the past four seasons, but he turns 33 in October and shot a career low 41 percent from the field last season. His backup, rookie Dorell Wright looks like he has a ton of potential. But when you consider he just graduated from prep school a few months ago, how much help is he really going to be?
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
Holes: Center
Skinny: Brian Cardinal might be the hardest-working guy in the NBA, but he isn't going to be the player who puts the Grizzlies over the top next season. Jerry West has been looking for a legit big man for the past two seasons but still keeps coming up empty. Stromile Swift and Lorenzen Wright were good for the Grizz last season, but West still wants an upgrade. The Grizzlies were the front-runners to land Erick Dampier in a sign-and-trade earlier in the summer, but the Warriors weren't interested in what the Grizzlies were offering.
Last month the Grizzlies turned their attention to landing a younger, but riskier big man -- Eddy Curry. The Grizzlies have a ton of assets to throw at the Bulls, and a trade that would send Bonzi Wells and a re-signed Swift to Chicago for Curry, Eddie Robinson and Chris Jefferies works under the cap. Bulls GM John Paxson has grown weary of Curry's inconsistency and lack of conditioning. He showed up at the Bulls' training facility 35 pounds overweight six weeks ago -- after vowing to get in the best shape of his career as the season ended. Since then, Curry has been working out consistently and has gotten his weight down below 290 -- svelte for Curry.
However, talks have cooled over the past few weeks since Curry began working hard. If the Grizzlies don't land Curry -- who's left? The Grizzlies have a ton of assets to work with. The team has an astounding 10 players on its roster who play guard. No one needs four point guards and six players who can play shooting guard, not even Hubie Brown. The team also has Swift, who's hoping a team works out a sign-and-trade for him.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Holes: Depth at shooting guard, small forward and power forward
Skinny: Remember a happier time when the Kings sported one of the deepest benches in the league? Those days are now gone. The Maloof brothers had to spend so much money signing free agents like Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Brad Miller and Doug Christie that they can no longer afford to pay the role players that once made the Kings so successful. While Sacramento continues to have one of the most impressive starting fives in the league, its bench is going to be a big issue this year.
With the exception of Bobby Jackson, who is great backing up Bibby, and big man Greg Ostertag, who the Kings added to help Miller, the Kings are shockingly shallow this year. The team is looking for rookies and one second-year player to help out the rest of the team's starters. That's pretty scary considering the team's injury history. The best of the group is second-year forward Darius Songaila, who was solid in limited minutes backing up Webber and Miller last season. Given that Webber misses, on average, around 20 games per season, will Songaila be enough?
The rest of the group consists of first-round pick Kevin Martin (who lit up the summer league), second-round pick Ricky Minard and international free agent David Bluthenthal. Will he be able to bail them out if Peja Stojakovic goes down with an injury?
While we're at it, let's not forget that Stojakovic is publicly demanding to be traded, and Webber privately supports the idea. GM Geoff Petrie claims the team won't trade Peja, despite strong interest around the league. The Pacers have talked with the Kings about a Ron Artest for Stojakovic swap. Another one that could make some sense? Stojakovic and Christie to the Suns for Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson.
THE COMPLETE TEXT OF THE ARTICLE IS AVAILABLE AT:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1876099&type=story
Heat, Kings and Grizzlies still have work to do
By Chad Ford, ESPN Insider
The free-agent frenzy is over, and a number of high-profile teams have a lot to show for it. With NBA spending at an all-time high and trades going down at a frantic pace, there is a growing parity in the league that gives hope to franchises that have had little to cheer about the past few years.
From Boston to Utah to Orlando and even Cleveland, GMs can stand up credibly after a busy summer and tell fans hope is on the way.
With all the focus the past two months on what teams have done in an effort to improve, it's just as instructive to look at what some teams have left to do.
Training camps start in less than a month, and a handful of potential contenders -- including the Heat, Grizzlies, Kings and Rockets -- are heading into the season with major holes left unfilled.
Today, Insider takes a look 10 teams that still need to make another move or two before training camp begins. Do the Heat have enough depth to make Shaq happy? Can the Kings add enough depth to make a difference in the West? Will the Grizzlies finally get their hands on a big man? Here's our take.
MIAMI HEAT
Holes: Power forward, small forward
Skinny: Shaquille O'Neal is big. But can the Big Aristotle play three positions? He might have to this year to compensate for the Heat's shocking lack of depth. Miami had to give up three starters for one in the Shaq trade. While Shaq is an enormous upgrade over Brian Grant at center, the team has yet to adequately fill holes at the four and three left by the departures of Lamar Odom and Caron Butler.
The team signed sharp-shooting Wesley Person (5.8 ppg, 2 rpg in '03-04) to play the three and goes into opening day with second-year forward Udonis Haslem (7.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg) as the starting power forward. Their bench players at that position, third-year forward Rasual Butler (6.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg), veteran big man Malik Allen (4.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg) and second-round pick Matt Freije don't exactly inspire confidence on a team that has championship aspirations.
Miami's starting backcourt looks good, but there's little depth there, either. Dwyane Wade is a phenomenal talent, but is he really a point guard? He had better be. Damon Jones is coming off the best season of his career, but he's more of a gunner than a point. Keyon Dooling? He couldn't crack the Clippers' rotation. Eddie Jones has been great for the Heat the past four seasons, but he turns 33 in October and shot a career low 41 percent from the field last season. His backup, rookie Dorell Wright looks like he has a ton of potential. But when you consider he just graduated from prep school a few months ago, how much help is he really going to be?
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
Holes: Center
Skinny: Brian Cardinal might be the hardest-working guy in the NBA, but he isn't going to be the player who puts the Grizzlies over the top next season. Jerry West has been looking for a legit big man for the past two seasons but still keeps coming up empty. Stromile Swift and Lorenzen Wright were good for the Grizz last season, but West still wants an upgrade. The Grizzlies were the front-runners to land Erick Dampier in a sign-and-trade earlier in the summer, but the Warriors weren't interested in what the Grizzlies were offering.
Last month the Grizzlies turned their attention to landing a younger, but riskier big man -- Eddy Curry. The Grizzlies have a ton of assets to throw at the Bulls, and a trade that would send Bonzi Wells and a re-signed Swift to Chicago for Curry, Eddie Robinson and Chris Jefferies works under the cap. Bulls GM John Paxson has grown weary of Curry's inconsistency and lack of conditioning. He showed up at the Bulls' training facility 35 pounds overweight six weeks ago -- after vowing to get in the best shape of his career as the season ended. Since then, Curry has been working out consistently and has gotten his weight down below 290 -- svelte for Curry.
However, talks have cooled over the past few weeks since Curry began working hard. If the Grizzlies don't land Curry -- who's left? The Grizzlies have a ton of assets to work with. The team has an astounding 10 players on its roster who play guard. No one needs four point guards and six players who can play shooting guard, not even Hubie Brown. The team also has Swift, who's hoping a team works out a sign-and-trade for him.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Holes: Depth at shooting guard, small forward and power forward
Skinny: Remember a happier time when the Kings sported one of the deepest benches in the league? Those days are now gone. The Maloof brothers had to spend so much money signing free agents like Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Brad Miller and Doug Christie that they can no longer afford to pay the role players that once made the Kings so successful. While Sacramento continues to have one of the most impressive starting fives in the league, its bench is going to be a big issue this year.
With the exception of Bobby Jackson, who is great backing up Bibby, and big man Greg Ostertag, who the Kings added to help Miller, the Kings are shockingly shallow this year. The team is looking for rookies and one second-year player to help out the rest of the team's starters. That's pretty scary considering the team's injury history. The best of the group is second-year forward Darius Songaila, who was solid in limited minutes backing up Webber and Miller last season. Given that Webber misses, on average, around 20 games per season, will Songaila be enough?
The rest of the group consists of first-round pick Kevin Martin (who lit up the summer league), second-round pick Ricky Minard and international free agent David Bluthenthal. Will he be able to bail them out if Peja Stojakovic goes down with an injury?
While we're at it, let's not forget that Stojakovic is publicly demanding to be traded, and Webber privately supports the idea. GM Geoff Petrie claims the team won't trade Peja, despite strong interest around the league. The Pacers have talked with the Kings about a Ron Artest for Stojakovic swap. Another one that could make some sense? Stojakovic and Christie to the Suns for Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson.