Boob-No-More

Yes, Rudy did play in the Euroleague with his team DKV Joventut. He didn't win the MVP, but was named the 2006-2007 Euroleague Rising Star for being the top Euroleague player under 23 years old. He has also won the follwoing MVP awards:

2006 FIBA EuroCup Final Four MVP
2008 Copa del Rey MVP
2007-08 ULEB Cup Finals MVP

And is currently a leading candidate for the 2008 ACB league MVP.

BNM

kirk_2003

just going on the list that trick has..

Leandro Barbosa - i definately like his game.. i like his composure and his swagger.. he is reminds me of what mike james bought to us a few yrs back if he indeed acquire him.. but definately better then mike james of course [yes]


Paul Millsap - definately brings some toughness and grit upfront that we so desparately need.. [yes]


Josh Childress or Marvin Williams - i find childress just mediocre.. i thought the consensus on this board was we gotta stop adding mediocre player.. i personally feel childress is a mediocre player.. [no]

Marvin Williams on the other hand.. has good upside.. but he is a tweener.. almost like a Villanueva.. i dont watch a lot of ATL games.. but from the little action i see.. his game is on the perimeter.. i definately dont know much of his D-game.. [no]


Travis Outlaw [yes] need i explain more? he is 23 and hasnt even tapped into his potential.. takes big shots in the 4th quarter and can create for himself and other players.. how much times did we see hedo a 6'9 break us down off the dribble and create for his teammates.. Travis can do that for us!


Mike Miller - decent shooter, a scorer and and can create for the team.. [yes]

Desagna Diop or Saer Sene or John Petro - raw bigs? unlimited potential.. great athleticism.. thats a start! [yes]

Charlie Bell - a good replacemet for ford? if he does go and calderon stays..

Andray Blatche - a little more developed then the 3 raw bigs i just mentioned.. [yes]

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some players i feel we should look at are..

Maggette..
Camby.. [denver might wanna change things up?]
Jamal Crawford..
Quintin Richardson.. [just thinking of those LAC days]
Eddy Curry?! [NYK has a lot of individual talent.. dont they? throw in Lee and Balkman too i guess]
Quinton Ross..
Dorrell Wright..

SkywalkerAC

I'm thinking Kwame Brown. Yes, he's a bigger bust of a #1 pick than Andrea could ever be but he's in our price range (split MLE) and he gives us a much needed big-athlete to pair with B&B. He's entering his prime, at 26 years old, with plenty of experience (albeit maligned) and what has to be a desperation to find an NBA home where he fits in. For the right coach (and I see Sam being that guy for many such players), I think Kwame would do the dirty work. Ours isn't a complicated system I know he can set a solid screen. I like his mobility for a potential big line. He's not a great shotblocker or rebounder, merely passable, but he can play defense. The greatest concern is his shot, or lack thereof, in our system.

Again, the price is right. Hired muscle that you don't have to use a draft pick and time developing. Any big man we pick up will be a backup; we should be frugal. Does this guy have any work ethic though? How do you let your free throw shooting get that bad? I also don't like his inability to get off the floor and attack the rim. But I think he's probably a better NBA big man than Hibbert.

Outlaw and a trade with Portland is also tantalizing. Outlaw doesn't have much of a handle but he's got length and athleticism out the ying yang. I want their draft pick too of course.

With two draft picks i think you go with one big one wing. Right now let's say Russell Westbrook and...JaVale McGee.

Go young and then swing for the fences. Jettison your vets and then be prepared to cut Sam if the team struggles. Now we're a strong young team heading into next year's postseason, be it lotto or playoffs, and have a full head of steam heading into 2009-2010.

Pre-consolidation:

TJ/Ukic/Westbrook
Kapono/Westbrook
Moon/Outlaw/Joey
Bosh/JaVale/Hump
Bargnani/Joel/Rasho

I think BC trades AP this season, perhaps along with TJ or Calderon. Of course I'd be happy keeping him, the guy is fantastic, it's just that he's a veteran and we should be able to get great value. Could we trade AP and Jose for Outlaw, Joel, and the 13th?

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AC

SkywalkerAC

oh yeah, forget Kwame.

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AC

SkywalkerAC

and it might be Raef, rather than Joel, but who knows what BC can pull off.

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AC

billfindlay10

Parker would be a great fit on a lot of teams....great spot starter and 6th 7th man. He has very good shooting percentages and is a quality guy. Putting him in a deal with TJ may be the key to getting us someone of good value! He would be great on the Hornets...but they don't need a point guard....Nice fit in Philly and Orlando as well.

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andalusian

You are right, they did play in the top-16 in 2006/2007 - but could not advance to the final 4 (finished last in group E) - it was such a miserable showing for the team that I forgot all about it. It still does not come close to Anthony Parker's achievements:

2004 final-4 MVP
2004 - All Euroleague MVP
2005 - All Euroleague MVP
and team champions 2003 and 2004.

What Rudy has going for him is his age and potential. What he has against him include his weight and body. Parker has an NBA body - I am not sure that Rudy does as well. It is unfortunate that we did not see a prime Anthony Parker in the NBA - but I would be very surprised if Rudy is an upgrade over Parker in the next year or two. Very unlikely, imho.

With all due respect to Rudy, the EuroCup and ULEB Cup achievements are not even close in value to the Euroleauge MVP award. It's like comparing the college player of the year to the NBA MVP. A good achievement, for sure, but no-one mistakes which one is a much harder award to win.

Junkyard Dog13

Ron Artest
Nazr Mohammad
Sheldon Williams
Jarret Jack
Travis Outlaw
Jason Maxciel
Cory Maggette
Josh Howard

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ballocks

honestly, if the raps are to address their areas of weakness, i can't see a solution coming in the form of a complementary piece. i think we tried that already, acquiring a defensive-minded drive-to-the-basket-type in carlos delfino. he didn't change anything about the team. they continued to struggle getting to the basket, keeping players in front of them and grabbing defensive rebounds with or without delfino on the floor. if anything, the team's culture began to affect carlos' game and he became one of them.

my point is that if the team is not going to change the way it develops its players and its attitude- as it's shown that it won't- the culture can only be addressed by shaking the foundation of the roster. i'm thinking corey maggette, paul pierce, manu ginobili, josh smith, andre iguodala- in other words, stars, players who don't just add a small piece to the team, but in fact replace a serious chunk of its identity.

imo, the 'weak' basketball (for lack of a better term) we've played has been around long enough to permeate the team's psyche. i blame everyone for that. the problem now is that it won't just go away by itself, as shown by the resounding disappointment of this season. it needs to be fixed. patience is no longer an option. the thing is, fixing it would require big changes and i'm not sure we're willing to make them- to speak nothing of whether they can even be made at all (acquiring a star is never easy).

if i were in charge, i'd move up to 10 players, everyone but jose calderon and chris bosh. and there are some assets among them that may be able to return a top-flight player, especially if said top-flight player has a bad contract and/or is wanting out of his current home.

rasho nesterovic (still not sure if he has an expiring deal?)
anthony parker (expiring)
jason kapono (imo, big piece)
tj ford
andrea bargnani
jamario moon (wish we signed him for a 3rd yr and got his birds)
carlos delfino s&t
jorge garbajosa (expiring but no value)
kris humphries
joey graham
1st rd pick

those are our pawns this summer. the majority of them are coming off worse seasons than they'll have next year. frustrating. i do not want to endure another season of "underutilization" and/or non-development. long-term, it's a problem that needs fixing. short-term, (imo) we need to get as many of these shellshocked bodies out of toronto as possible.

peace

ballocks

see, i wouldn't mind him. he'd come cheap, too. the problem is, if our primary weakness is rebounding and interior defense and we plan to stick with our pride by starting bargnani and bosh at the 4 and 5, acquiring another big man- rebounder or not- would mean that he'd come off the bench. the raptors will never address their glaring weakness inside by adding bench players, imo. if bargnani and bosh are our starters, this team then by default needs to find a way to address its weakness on the glass and on defense by finding perimeter defenders to do the job! it's like finding a centre who shoots threes!

i mean, sabonises do exist but they're not common. imo, the team either needs to put bargnani on the wing or trade bargnani to another team. developing bargnani (if that's what you call it) in the paint is not worth the risk. b&b are not small but they play very small. absolutely nothing has shown me that that will change. i'm going off on a tangent here.

peace

ballocks

i wonder if there's any way the raps could acquire- wait for it- carmelo anthony. probably not. i don't know if he'd be the right guy but he would seem to fit, imo.

they probably see him in denver the way chris bosh is seen in toronto- i.e. the only untradeable piece- but you never know. although he wouldn't address our defensive shortcomings, he's got a swagger that we lack. he's durable and he's got star power. i would feel comfortable with bosh, melo and a cast of unknowns if it came to that. we'd be able to keep one of our point guards, in all likelihood, so that would leave a devastating trio of players who can get to the basket (melo can actually finish, too- bonus). and we could finally begin to spend our draft picks and free agents on proven rotation pieces instead of trying to find diamonds in the rough.

ford
kapono
anthony
bosh
humphries

garbo and joey on the bench. everyone else to denver (calderon, nesterovic, bargnani, moon, delfino, parker, 1st rd 2008, 1st rd 2010). all kidding aside, i think that team would win more games than we won this year- and that's also assuming ford sits out 40 games again.

peace

spuriousjones

sabonis! we need sabonis!

we don't just have to get talent, we need to develop and exercise the talent we have. i blamed it on sam all year-- not using our guys correctly. but he's not the only one responsible for development.

where the hell's our bigman coach? come on, a scoring guard named alex english is supposed to teach our bigs everything he knows about how to play the position? bynum and howard sure don't have shootingguards teaching them--and they've been playing as bigmen the whole time.

how can you invest the no.1 pick, millions of dollars, and all your hopes in a guy you want to play a position he's never before played (a position some would argue is just as hard to learn as pointguard) and just expect the kid to pick it up as he goes along? that's idiotic.

this is the same team that paid alonzo mourning $10MM for nothing! we need to step up our player development bigtime. bring in sabonis! SABAS! SABAS!

Mr_B

Carmelo on the trade block

http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_9199420

he makes $14,410,581 next year to Tj 8 million, but you can toss in some filler for him if possible

SkywalkerAC