My Case for Greg Oden

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I think its pretty safe to say the ONLY reason Dalembert was making as much money as he was is because the dumb GM in Philly thought he would improve, when in reality he has been the same player for a long time now.

Bajaden, Im wondering where you got the information about his bird rights... Everywhere I have looked just shows him as a unrestricted free agent. I know we have control over Thornton, but I havent heard that about Dalembert anywhere else.

 

[Glenn]

I think its pretty safe to say the ONLY reason Dalembert was making as much money as he was is because the dumb GM in Philly thought he would improve, when in reality he has been the same player for a long time now.

Bajaden, Im wondering where you got the information about his bird rights... Everywhere I have looked just shows him as a unrestricted free agent. I know we have control over Thornton, but I havent heard that about Dalembert anywhere else.

Both can exist. He can be an unrestricted free agent and we have Bird rights. Bird rights simply mean we can offer a better deal than anyone else but Dally doesn't have to accept it.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Both can exist. He can be an unrestricted free agent and we have Bird rights. Bird rights simply mean we can offer a better deal than anyone else but Dally doesn't have to accept it.

Yeah, thats what bird rights are to my understanding, but Bajaden mentioned in his post that we will be in control because we can match any offer. I dont know if he misspoke or was talking about some other rights we may have, but I havent seen it posted on any basketball website and was looking for a source.

 

[hrdboild]

Yeah I know about the OKC comparison, and there are some similarities. But can anyone think of another example of a team basically standing pat and improving their win total by almost 30 games? Is OKC's success a reasonable expectation for next season or is it the exception that proves the rule?

Also they did go through a (rather significant) coaching change midway through the 08-09 season and added the third overall pick (Harden) and another first round pick (Ibaka) who played big roles the following season. We'll have to get lucky in the draft to follow in their footsteps. I expect Tyreke and Cousins to take big steps forward next season just like Durant and Westbrook did, but what happens if they don't? Shouldn't we at least have a plan B?

Last year we added Dalembert, Cousins, Whiteside, and Landry/Thornton and subtracted Hawes, Brockman, Nocioni, and half a season of Martin and our win total went from 25 to 24. Who here expected that? I'm just saying...

 

[ParniValjak]

Yeah I know about the OKC comparison, and there are some similarities. But can anyone think of another example of a team basically standing pat and improving their win total by almost 30 games? Is OKC's success a reasonable expectation for next season or is it the exception that proves the rule?

Also they did go through a (rather significant) coaching change midway through the 08-09 season and added the third overall pick (Harden) and another first round pick (Ibaka) who played big roles the following season. We'll have to get lucky in the draft to follow in their footsteps. I expect Tyreke and Cousins to take big steps forward next season just like Durant and Westbrook did, but what happens if they don't? Shouldn't we at least have a plan B?

Last year we added Dalembert, Cousins, Whiteside, and Landry/Thornton and subtracted Hawes, Brockman, Nocioni, and half a season of Martin and our win total went from 25 to 24. Who here expected that? I'm just saying...

We did have a lot of things go wrong this year though. Dalembert a symbol of longevity was injured and only just got started around the all-star break. Tyreke has been troubled by his foot just about a whole season. Players like JT were played out of position until after the trade deadline. We got Thornton in the second half of the year and we immediately started playing much better.

We closed out the season as a .500 team despite all the troubles along the way and revolving door at SF.

Patch that up and add some depth to back court and front court and we will be a .500 team at least next year.

This team has MAJORITY of the pieces in place. It doesn't need major overhauls just additions to address biggest needs and some heady veteran leadership to show us the way. In some ways, this reminds me of the off-season when we drafted J-Will, got Peja to come over, signed Vlade and traded for Webb. This team does not need too much to push it over the hump and we have more salary cap room than anyone else to make sure were get there.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Yeah, thats what bird rights are to my understanding, but Bajaden mentioned in his post that we will be in control because we can match any offer. I dont know if he misspoke or was talking about some other rights we may have, but I havent seen it posted on any basketball website and was looking for a source.

My guess is that he was referring to the fact that because we have such ample space, we could offer the same amount as any other team. However, I don't think there's any actual formal mechanism, where he'd be forced to stay a la restricted free agency, in play here.

 

[bajaden]

That all well and good BUT players like Dalembert are the highest payed players after the star because they have enormous importance to team's ability to win a title. Dalembert might not be worth 12 million but he sure as hell is in the 8-10 million range and he might well be worth more to us considering how well he fits with Cousins. It is NOT easy to find a player that could fit with Cousins as well as Dalembert does because of his ability to guard PFs.

Its not just a matter of picking up a Oden or Perkins type for cheaper and plucking them next to Cousins. While both are good defensive players, neither of them can guard PFs so your front court becomes slow and less athletic. Dalembert has shown he is a great complement to Cousins. The only other player that comes to mind as being able to provide the same sort of fit is Noah and he is earning the same money that Dalembert is.

I'm not arguing over the amount. I don't know the amount. And, I'll leave that amount up to Petrie. Who, I might add, has had a tendecy to overpay players at times. Personaly, I think he's worth somewhere between the figures you gave. 8 to 10 mil. I do not think he's worth 12 or 13 mil. Lets be clear here. Wade, LeBron, and Bosh are all making around 14 mil a year. I don't think anyone is going to equate Dalemberts worth with any of them.

Is Dalembert worth two million dollars less than Wade? There's reasonable, and then there's desperation based on want. So if anyone wants to pay him what he made this last season, your putting him in the same class with those guys. Last year he made 13.5 mil. Thats just 500 thousand less than Wade. Now I don't know about you, but I think Wade just might be worth more on the market than Dalembert. Blocked shots or not.

You want someone that can guard PF's, then go get Nene. He's more than athletic enough to do the job. You know who the leader in blocked shots was? Andrew Bogut, followed by JaValle McGee, followed by Ibaka, followed by Howard. I can go down that list a ways farther before I get to the name of Dalembert. Now there are reasons for that, but the fact remains that he hasn't been over 2 blocked shots a game for the last three years,

I want him on the team. I like him. I just trying to give some prespective.