Is anyone on board with mailing it in at this point for one more run at a roster that makes sense?

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I say we trade Pek, Brewer and DC to the Bucks for Larry Sanders and the Udoh/Butler expirings. That should officially drop us out of the playoff race, but it would give us the elite rim protector we need long-term who also happens to have a long-term deal in place. We save just over 6 million in the deal which could be used this offseason to spend the MLE on an actual two-way player. We also drop in the lottery to pick up another draft pick to supplement the roster. A guy I like who would be right around that spot in the draft would be Rodney Hood out of Duke. He's 6'8, athletic and is shooting almost 45% from 3 this year with a 36% mark last year. He's gotten better in most facets of his game and could be the two way SF we need moving forward.

I think the Love/Pek tandem, while awesome on offense, just doesn't cut it defensively and if you can't make stops in games you will never be a true title contender. I think this would be a quick way to rebuild around Ricky and Love that would put us in position next year to be a playoff contender while making our long-term prospects look much more promising. At the end of the day I like Pek, but you just can't have a PF/C tandem who can't protect the rim and expect to be a title contender. Pek works if you get a Henson/Davis type guy next to him, but that spot is locked by a perennial All-Star, so Pek is the expendable of the two. You can get away with a lot more lineups with Sanders protecting the rim (i.e. Martin/Bud lineups) than you can with Pek.

I think Corey is a below average shooter and a decent defender, so I think he is better replaced by LRMAM who is a very good defender, but also bad shooter. It makes no sense to have both of them on the roster and LRMAM can be a good situational option in games, where Corey really isn't that useful in any aspect of the game besides transition offense which again hurts us defensively because we have 1 less rebounder at the rim. I think Flip thought Corey was going to take his game to another level by coming back to the team who drafted him after figuring out who he was as a player. Turns out he is the same player he was in Denver, who has no business really starting on a good team. I would be much more comfortable with a starting lineup of Ricky/Martin/Hood/Love/Sanders than the current one we have now which is saying something because Sanders is crazy and I probably am too. Throw in a bench of someone other than JJ/Bud/LRMAM/Blatche (My MLE guy mentioned above)/Turiaf and that is a team I could be confident would be a playoff team.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

It's not a terrible thought, but Pek has more value than that in my eyes and Sanders is a bit overrated. I'm about to go play a series or two of pickup right now, but I'll comment back on this later.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Larry Sanders gets a huge contract and mails it in right after. Sanders is shooting 43% from the field and 45% from the FT line! You want to trade Pek for him?! Really! Sanders gets one more block per game then Pek and literally everything else is Pek in a landslide. Hey let's throw in Love to see if we can get Mayo too while were at it

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Defense isn't only about blocks. How many people are going to keep saying somebody is barely better on D because they only get 1 more block per game? Sanders was in the DPOY conversation last year. Pek wasn't even close. There's more to defense than blocked shots and steals. Sanders would make our other 4 players on the court play better D because they could play D knowing there is actually help behind them. That is huge. Just look at Orlando with Dwight all those years. That is the kind of impact Sanders can have on the defensive end. Get over yourself with you barbarian views of what makes a guy a good defender. Imagine what our record would be if we weren't the worst FG% D in the league.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Defense isn't only about blocks. How many people are going to keep saying somebody is barely better on D because they only get 1 more block per game? Sanders was in the DPOY conversation last year. Pek wasn't even close. There's more to defense than blocked shots and steals. Sanders would make our other 4 players on the court play better D because they could play D knowing there is actually help behind them. That is huge. Just look at Orlando with Dwight all those years. That is the kind of impact Sanders can have on the defensive end. Get over yourself with you barbarian views of what makes a guy a good defender. Imagine what our record would be if we weren't the worst FG% D in the league.

In the conversation? What was he like 7th? Thats your basis for in the conversation? You really think Sander's D is worth more then the 15 points more that peks score per then sanders? really? Just for reference how many games has the opponents C scored more then his avg against Pek? Barely any.

Oh yea Pek had 20-11 against Sanders too this year

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Again, you're comparing just their 1 on 1 defense. Is Dwight known for being a 1 on 1 defender? How about Chandler, Duncan, KG, etc? Oh, that's right, they're all known for their effect on team defense. You know the kind of defense that is played by the 5 guys on the floor at once. Congrats on Pek dropping 20-11 while he and Love give up more than twice that at the rim. Watch any team with a defensive C play and you'll see how everybody else becomes a better defender because of the help they get at the rim. What Pek outscores Sanders, Sanders prevents from going in on the other end with his rim protection, not just blocks. Even Miami uses Birdman to protect the rim. You can't win a title with 2 6'10 guys who can't protect the rim. Clearly the Pek/Love combo is just dominating their way to a .500 record. Give me a break. There's a reason there are more C's in the league with Sanders' mold than Pek's, but you keep bucking the trend and enjoy the .500 play the bash brothers are good enough to get ya.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Again, you're comparing just their 1 on 1 defense. Is Dwight known for being a 1 on 1 defender? How about Chandler, Duncan, KG, etc? Oh, that's right, they're all known for their effect on team defense. You know the kind of defense that is played by the 5 guys on the floor at once. Congrats on Pek dropping 20-11 while he and Love give up more than twice that at the rim. Watch any team with a defensive C play and you'll see how everybody else becomes a better defender because of the help they get at the rim. What Pek outscores Sanders, Sanders prevents from going in on the other end with his rim protection, not just blocks. Even Miami uses Birdman to protect the rim. You can't win a title with 2 6'10 guys who can't protect the rim. Clearly the Pek/Love combo is just dominating their way to a .500 record. Give me a break. There's a reason there are more C's in the league with Sanders' mold than Pek's, but you keep bucking the trend and enjoy the .500 play the bash brothers are good enough to get ya.

That's a fair argument except when you blame Love and Pek for the team record. Really? With better bench play we're easily five or more games over .500. If Kevin Martin doesn't fumble away a win, you can add that. If Love gets that Marion foul call, we might have won that one. If Gerald Green doesn't make an extremely tough, fading jumper, that's another win. We've caught the short end of the luck stick on more than one occation. I get it. I'm not making excuses, we are what are record says we are. To put the blame on Love/Pek is silly, though.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

I put the blame on not being able to make stops down the stretch. Good teams make the stops. We don't have the personnel to make the stops and part of that is the Love/Pek combo is just not going to get you stops at the rim. So they are 2/5's of the problem. If you sub a Sanders type player in, the other team is going to have to beat you with jumpshots which is a much better option to give up than shots at the rim. Sometimes you have to make your own luck and forcing the other team further away from the basket throughout games is a better way of making luck than letting the other team live at the rim. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

I put the blame on not being able to make stops down the stretch. Good teams make the stops. We don't have the personnel to make the stops and part of that is the Love/Pek combo is just not going to get you stops at the rim. So they are 2/5's of the problem. If you sub a Sanders type player in, the other team is going to have to beat you with jumpshots which is a much better option to give up than shots at the rim. Sometimes you have to make your own luck and forcing the other team further away from the basket throughout games is a better way of making luck than letting the other team live at the rim. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

thats an elementary knowledge of the game.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

OK Phil Jackson. Why don't you actually say something as opposed to taking a shot without actually saying anything worth our time? It's not a difficult game to understand. Offense is about getting shots at the rim and hitting the open 3's that result from that inside presence and defense is about stopping shots at the rim and closing out on 3's. The rest is just how well you execute that game plan. At least that is what the good teams are doing if you actually watch any of them play.