New Twist on an Old Idea

That’s a toughy. I like your thinking. I’d probably be okay with this trade. Joakim is a little nutty. He and Mikki playing at the same time would amuse me. Damn, that would be an ugly frontcourt though, especially if Gooden is still sporting the ducktail. Spencer Hawes knees will always worry me for as long as he is a King. I see him being a bigger risk than Noah and his personality quirks. I wouldn’t mind a little interior defense on this team either.

Can you see my ten foot pole? It’s way over there. I wouldn’t touch this deal with it.

Hawed represents the future. While he isn’t a lock by any means, he’s relatively no risk when you think about his contract. And while Brad “Cheech” Miller is a little old and a little overpaid, I like the knowledge and experience he brings to our current roster.

Noah for Hawes might (or might not) be a slight upgrade, but not at the expense of Miller. I think Miller is a part of the future, because a top 15 center with passing skills and an expiring contract should fetch a young player or a draft pick at this time next year. We’re not gaining anything by unloading his contract this year, so you’re basically dealing your starting center (and Kevin Martin’s best screen setter/back door passer) to move up one slot in the 2007 draft. And don’t think that dealing Miller opens up playing time for the youngsters, as Gooden would suck up a lot of those up front minutes.

Trading Hawes would be a mistake. He’ll be better than Miller, why lose him too for Noah?

Miller has his ups and downs, and he has a one inch vertical leap, and his defense is completely lacking, but he does have skills. But if you look around the league, who is a center who is all around better without their own flaws in the game?

Watching the Olympics, I can say for sure that if I was trading for someone, why not go for someone like Chris Bosh, (Toronto)? He is scrappy, plays defense, works hard and has a great attitude…..

Aside from Duncan/Shaq/Wallace/Howard and Garnett, who else has shown championship level heart and desire? No one yet. We are still waiting for that player to emerge, I guess.

I think back to watching San Antonio on their way to their first Duncan led championship, and the announcer saying something like “I don’t think any team with Avery Johnson has a real chance at the Championship, to win it all.”

And I remember thinking, when they won, “Well, so much for that prediction!”

The point is, any player can emerge as a winner, a leader, with the heart to go all the way, but that takes time to develop. This is why Ron Artest was a cancer that needed to go to allow the team to develop and see what they can do, without being afraid he was going to go off and fly off the handle…...

Personally, I didn’t get to see enough games last year to be able to say much about Hawes, but giving him a chance for a real look this season is definitely worth the time and money. And there isn’t much we can do to upgrade with Miller at this point either. I guess now that Kwame Brown is off the market, we will just have to wait! He he he!

If we’re getting a big man from Chicago for Brad Miller, I’d much rather have Tyrus Thomas than Joakim Noah. Hawes/JT/Thomas would be a formidable young group of big men that brought very diverse skill sets to the table. I think Thomas is a ton riskier than Noah, but has a much higher ceiling, at least in terms of athleticism. Hawes/JT/Noah is missing an elite shot-blocking athlete in the mix, which Thomas would bring.

Just don’t make me take Nocioni back also as part of the deal, Miller for Thomas and whatever contracts they send back that don’t expire later than Miller would work for me.

Regarding finding a center better than Miller in the short run, that’s not happening. Miller is a great fit for our system, the issue is, by the time we are relevant, he’s going to be too old more than likely. If Miller was young enough that you could project him to be our center for longer than his current contract, we should be finding the big men to pair with him, not get rid of him. But that’s pretty clearly not the case, so we need to find someone to complement Hawes/JT. To me, that’s a shotblocker/rebounder/athletic finisher, which I could see Thomas becoming.