Roster
C- Darko Milicic, Nikola Pekovic, Kosta Koufos
PF- Kevin Love, Michael Beasley, Anthony Tolliver
SF- Wesley Johnson, Martell Webster, Lazar Heyward
SG- Corey Brewer, Wayne Ellington
PG- Jonny Flynn, Luke Ridnour, Sebastian Telfair, Jason Hart
Analysis
Ryan: Well is there a NBA team that did more to shoot themselves in the leg(Is a Plaxico joke still relevant?) multiple times over the summer and had no tie-ins with the free agency circus?...Like it seemed as if every move they made was a bad one..then I look at the roster and I was pretty much right..
-Get rid of legit center Al Jefferson for salary space -Bring in Wesley Johnson,Martell Webster and Mike Beasley to minute crunch the emerging Corey Brewer -Keep Darko? -Bring in Luke Ridnour -Oh...and still no sight of Ricky Rubio There has to be a bright side to all this right?Brad: Pretty much spot-on with this one... I'm not sure how KAHHHHNNNN!! (copyright Bill Simmons) managed to jettison his best player for cap space, but use that subsequent space to overpay 2 european centers who have done nothing in the NBA (Darko and Petrovic)... and that's from my perspective as a guy who thinks Darko actually could contribute... the Ridnour move is made to be okay because they rid themselves of Ramon Sessions' albatross, but the path to Rubio is blocked, and the giant logjam on the wing is fairly comical... especially considering Beasley isn't really a power forward...
Ryan: I wondered how many back and forths we'd go before someone yelled KAHHHNNNN lol..anyways I think that something that could help this mini disaster(pun intended) is that they run the LA Laker triangle offense..so its equal opportunity in terms of shot distributions..but I would have to stand to think that having Jefferson as a focal point would've served them better than having Love and Darko underneath...I love Wesley Johnson but that logjam is brutal if we believe that Beasley won't see minutes at the 4..but in the interest of rational thinking(stretch here I know) but he has to be the primary backup to Love...who do you think will breakout on this team?
Brad: Beasley's gotta get minutes at the 4 due to lack of options... and deep down, I don't think that was near the bottom of the list of Kahn's moves... taking a flier on a guy that talented could pay off, but you can't do it and then bury him... I think Love takes a major step forward on this team... he's now the focal point up front, and really the only option for front-court scoring in any way... I would've said Corey Brewer until they went out and got Webster... I see a fairly balanced minute distribution from Brewer/Johnson/Webster and when you throw Beasley's minutes at the 3 in there... there's not alot of minutes to go around... the offense doesn't highlight Flynn's strengths at all just because the triangle doesn't need a real point guard... Overall, they'll be semi-competitive, but I don't see a go-to scorer in the bunch, and that's definitely an issue...
Ryan: Yeah I guess I would agree with it being Love just because he's the guy who isn't taking the biggest jam in minutes or shots..I just don't know if he is the guy to be the number 1 scorer at this point in his career..I mean he was on the bench getting like 20 or so minutes a game..I'm just leery regardless.
Brad: Done and done... we agree on the lack of #1 option.. and I'm definitely not touting Love as that.. he's just about the only guy on the roster that isn't being threatened for minutes and has a defined skill set... I see less than 20 wins... Prediction: 15th (Last) in the West
Ryan: Right...less than 20 wins but high teens..like 17-19... Prediction: 15th in the West
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