Ok I love this thread first off because it is a chance for me to outline my thoughts for a 500th time on this subject lol. In the offseason we will have to make a choice of re signing Shaq and Z. If we do that than our MLE can be focused on a SG/SF or a PG/SG. Players that will be available for that type of money are
SG
Roger Mason, Larry Legend......I mean Larry Hughes, Korer, Salmons, Bell
From that list the one that intrigues me the most by far is Korver because of his shooting.
SF
TMac, JHo, Miller, Outlaw
From those options my personal choice would be Miller because he is basically Anthony Parker except better.
PG
Duhon, Alston
Obviously PG is not a very big need for us unless something happens to Delonte with the court hearings. Duhon and Alston are almost compete opposites Duhon being a far better playmaker and Alston being a far better scorer. IMHO Duhon is the better choice if we go down the PG road, but Alston could most likely be had for a part of the MLE instead of the full which would mean we could use the rest of the MLE on another player like we did this previous offseason with Moon/Parker. A combo of Alston/Korver for the MLE would be amazing and Parker and Delonte could be let go to make room for our newest players in the rotation.
If we choose not to resign both Z and Shaq than the C position becomes the biggest need by far.
C
Camby, Miller, J.O
IMHO Camby would be the best player to pursue if an agreement with Shaq is unable to be reached and Z is locked in, but if Z is out and Shaq is in than Miller is our best option. That way we still have the same dynamics for our offense and defense. If we have a C rotation of Camby/Z that is almost equal to, possibly even better than the rotation of Shaq/Z because Camby is a far superior defender than Shaq and he can hit shots out to about 15. But if Shaq is our guy that we keep than I would say going after Miller would be a better option because as like Z he can stretch the floor out to the 3 and he is very similar to Z.
If we resign Shaq or Z and decide that AV is best suited as our backup/starting C instead of pursuing one in FA than the next logical step is to aqcuire a back up 4. There are two good 4s available this off season for around what we can afford.
PF
Harrington, Haslem, JO
Haslem is another player that at least IMO will only command around half of the MLE to play so again he is another guy that would allow us to sign another player with the other part of the MLE. A Haslem/Alston pickup would be phenominal if Delonte has to be cut because of the problems.
In the end I know that people think that we are doomed this off season, but we have a ton of options. S&Ts could always be made for those players that we all really want like Bosh, Amare, etc, or players that would be great in our system like Okafor (hopefully
). While those are not realistic options right now who knows what will happen. All that I know is that Danny Ferry has a lot of options this offseason to complete our roster, but it all starts with the decisions on whether or not to sign our two big guys at C. If he only signs one than we obviously need to find a back up C or a back up PF, but if he signs both than it could lead us to filling our second weakest spot in SG with a lot of nice options (Sfs can count for this one to).
