Fresno King
Starter
Keep Bibby, Artest, Abdur-Rahim, Martin, Garcia, Monia, and Miller. (7 players)
Re-sign Bonzi Wells to a 4 year, 36 million dollar contract (I'm on board with that one). (8)
Trade Thomas, next year's second round pick, and cash to the Bobcats for RFA Melvin Ely. (9)
Trade Hart and Williamson to the Sonics for Danny Fortson. (10)
Sign UFA PG Speedy Claxton to a 3 year contract. (11)
Draft Louisiana Tech PF Paul Millsap. (12)
Sign rookie free agent PG Chris Hernandez to a 1 year contract. (13)
Release Price and Sampson.
Trade Potapenko to anyone for cash considerations.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN:
PG-Mike Bibby, Speedy Claxton, Chris Hernandez
SG-Bonzi Wells, Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia
PF-Ron Artest, Danny Fortson, Paul Millsap
SF-Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Sergei Monia
C-Brad Miller, Melvin Ely
MY TAKE: The Kings would have been at least a 4 seed in the playoffs this year if they had Artest all season, so why get rid of Miller? He's still one of the top 5 centers in the league, and makes other big men do what they aren't used to: guard the perimeter, making backdoor cuts and pick and rolls a lot easier to execute.
Anyone heard of Ely? (Fresno State's career scoring leader):
9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg
6-10, 208 lbs. - 28 years old
-Terrific up-fake move and hook shot
-Can play center or forward
Claxton is the best PG on the free agent market:
12.3 ppg, 4.8 apg, 1.5 spg
5-11, 180 lbs. - 28 years old
Millsap is the next Ben Wallace:
03-04 (freshman) - 15.6 points, 12.5 rebounds per game
04-05 - (sophomore) - 20.4 and 12.4
05-06 (junior) - 19.6 and 13.3
-NCAA Rebounding leader all three years (first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in rebounding 3 years in a row)
-NCAA Honorable Mention All-American
-First team All-WAC 2 consecutive seasons
Hernandez is a poor man's John Stockton:
Started in all 30 games for the Cardinal ... Averaged 14.0 points and led the team with a .901 free throw shooting percentage ... First-team Pac-10 All-Conference honoree ... Became the 34th player in school history to reach 1,000 points for his career ending with 1,265 ... First-team Pac-10 All-Academic selection ... Led the squad with 35 steals on the year and 99 assists.
You may not like Fortson that much (I HATED him during the 05 playoffs), but can you picture him on the front line with Artest? Fortson can rebound and bring even more toughness. He's burned his bridge with the Sonics, so getting him won't be too tough.
Financially, I think this works. Williamson, Thomas and Hart come off the books, leaving salary space to re-sign Wells, and bring Claxton and Fortson on board. Millsap makes low 1st round money like Garcia did, and Hernandez gets the minimum, like Price did.
Best of all... I didn't think about the Whizzinator during this entire post until now!!! Talk about a cleansing!!!
Could we win a championship with this team? I think so... if Mario Elie coached it!
Re-sign Bonzi Wells to a 4 year, 36 million dollar contract (I'm on board with that one). (8)
Trade Thomas, next year's second round pick, and cash to the Bobcats for RFA Melvin Ely. (9)
Trade Hart and Williamson to the Sonics for Danny Fortson. (10)
Sign UFA PG Speedy Claxton to a 3 year contract. (11)
Draft Louisiana Tech PF Paul Millsap. (12)
Sign rookie free agent PG Chris Hernandez to a 1 year contract. (13)
Release Price and Sampson.
Trade Potapenko to anyone for cash considerations.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN:
PG-Mike Bibby, Speedy Claxton, Chris Hernandez
SG-Bonzi Wells, Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia
PF-Ron Artest, Danny Fortson, Paul Millsap
SF-Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Sergei Monia
C-Brad Miller, Melvin Ely
MY TAKE: The Kings would have been at least a 4 seed in the playoffs this year if they had Artest all season, so why get rid of Miller? He's still one of the top 5 centers in the league, and makes other big men do what they aren't used to: guard the perimeter, making backdoor cuts and pick and rolls a lot easier to execute.
Anyone heard of Ely? (Fresno State's career scoring leader):
9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg
6-10, 208 lbs. - 28 years old
-Terrific up-fake move and hook shot
-Can play center or forward
Claxton is the best PG on the free agent market:
12.3 ppg, 4.8 apg, 1.5 spg
5-11, 180 lbs. - 28 years old
Millsap is the next Ben Wallace:
03-04 (freshman) - 15.6 points, 12.5 rebounds per game
04-05 - (sophomore) - 20.4 and 12.4
05-06 (junior) - 19.6 and 13.3
-NCAA Rebounding leader all three years (first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in rebounding 3 years in a row)
-NCAA Honorable Mention All-American
-First team All-WAC 2 consecutive seasons
Hernandez is a poor man's John Stockton:
Started in all 30 games for the Cardinal ... Averaged 14.0 points and led the team with a .901 free throw shooting percentage ... First-team Pac-10 All-Conference honoree ... Became the 34th player in school history to reach 1,000 points for his career ending with 1,265 ... First-team Pac-10 All-Academic selection ... Led the squad with 35 steals on the year and 99 assists.
You may not like Fortson that much (I HATED him during the 05 playoffs), but can you picture him on the front line with Artest? Fortson can rebound and bring even more toughness. He's burned his bridge with the Sonics, so getting him won't be too tough.
Financially, I think this works. Williamson, Thomas and Hart come off the books, leaving salary space to re-sign Wells, and bring Claxton and Fortson on board. Millsap makes low 1st round money like Garcia did, and Hernandez gets the minimum, like Price did.
Best of all... I didn't think about the Whizzinator during this entire post until now!!! Talk about a cleansing!!!
Could we win a championship with this team? I think so... if Mario Elie coached it!
