Second Trade Coming?

[Adam Suchocki <Twilight@world.std.com>]

I don't understand how we can stand pat with the current set of 
forwards, and I hope another trade is in the works.  

I like Weatherspoon's offensive game and admire his work on the boards, 
but it would be hard to come up with many other starting NBA forwards 
who would be a worse fit with current personel.

First, Weatherspoon is not even as tall as the 6'6" and 6'7" he gets 
listed at.  I've seen several reports put him closer to 6'4 to 6'5.

Second, Weatherspoon has no real perimeter game (which is a liability 
unless some of out other forwards pick up some better outside shots).

Third, he does not run the floor very well at all for a small forward or 
a power forward (Dino is much better running the floor than 
Weatherspoon).

Fourth, Weatherspoon is best at Power Forward (where he has a quickness 
advantage on his inside moves, yet has the upper body strength to 
finish), yet playing him there gives us no inside presence on defense 
(unless we find a very dominant center somewhere).

Fifth, Weatherspoon has a horrible time defending small forwards both in 
transition and on the perimeter.  Players like Kevin Gamble have career 
nights against him.

Sixth, he seems to get frustrated when he is not a serious part of the 
offense.

On top of this, I see Michael Cage as basicly a going on 36 year old 6'9 
irrelavent wide body.  He averaged only 15 minutes a game last year 
playing for a team that really didn't have a center.

Where does this leave us:

We have Walker and Williams, both of which are better Tweener forwards 
than Weatherspoon on defense and offense, but Weatherspoon is a better 
rebounder than Williams.  

With Dino gone, we have no shot blocker, no one who can clog the lane, 
and we are missing are best defense rebounder.  Instead, we have a log 
jam of small players who are in between postions.  Walker is buy far are 
best power forward now.  Weatherspoon has had major slumps when he is 
forced into the small forward role, while Walker seemed to struggle on 
offense and rebounding when pushed to the small forward (not to mention 
he hasn't learned to guard a perimeter shooter).

If we keep Weatherspoon, it means goodbye to Rick Fox (one of our two 
best defenders and a good transition player).  Instead, we have Walker, 
Williams, Weatherspoon, and Minor as possible small forwards...Walker, 
Williams, Weatherspoon, Ellison, and Cage all playing best as power 
forwards...and a contingent of Walker, Ellison, and Cage as possible 
centers (with Ellison and Cage averaging about 20 -25 minutes combined 
over the last couple of years, this means playing Walker 25 minutes a 
game at center)

Moreover, if we don't sign Fox, I see the chances of signing Wesley 
disappearing.  The two are good friends, and publicly expressed an 
interest in playing together wherever they end up next year.  Going into 
the draft, we would have no point guard and no center!!!!!

Even with the two top six picks, we are in trouble position wise (and 
may get inferior players if forces to draft by position).  

Duncan goes first.
Second goes Billups, Battie, or VanHorn depending on which team ends up 
with the pick.  So we possible remove either the best point guard or the 
best inside player from the mix.

Boston then gets a chance to fill one of their weaknesses with either 
Battie or Billups (though I don't think Battie could really be a 
starting center this year).

Next goes Daniels or Van Horn
Next goes the other one.

Then comes Boston - with Tim Thomas and Tracy McGrady and Ron Mercer all 
being players who create more of a log jam.

Foyle might help, but Pitino has made noise he won't take him unless 
they trade down a few spots.

So again, I hope there's another trade coming (but I hope it's not to 
move Walker or Williams).  I'm a little worried about what we can get 
once we exchanged Radja for Weatherspoon.  There is a demand for 6'11 
players who can play both center and forward and can produce 20/10 
numbers.  There is much less demand for 6'5 players who play power 
forward (unless there name in Barkley).  The four most interesting trade 
possibilites (because the bring both talent and a low post player) 
namely Joe Smith, McDeyuss, Kemp, and Baker all are much harder to pull 
of now..because each of those teams have been looking for size in return 
(both Denver and Seattle supposedly nixed deals of Weatherspoon (and 
sometimes Stackhouse) + the two for their power forward (in Denvers case 
they would have also had to give up the number 5 pick).  Likewise, why 
would MIllwaukee want to from Baker and Robinson (a good sized pair 
because of Bakers size) to Weatherspoon and Robinson (one of the smaller 
forward pairs in the league).  Weatherspoon's main value is clearing cap 
space in a year, and all of the big name trade prospect will not be 
given up for that (especially when all but Kemp would clear up the same 
amount of cap space just by leaving the next year).

Ny hope is that Pitino has something in the works with a team that needs 
a small forward (like Indiana, Atlanta, or New Jersey).  Otherwise, 
there will be huge chemistry problems, with log jams at the two and 4, 
and no one comfortable or experienced playing the 1,5 and to some extent 
the 3.

We need some serious moves to ease the log jam, or we are going to have 
some trouble.

Adam

PS.  Is is just me, or does it look like Philly may be about to pull off 
a major trade.  Although Dino helps them (especially if Coleman doesn't 
play, but even if he does as a Coleman/Radja 4/5 combo is pretty 
impressive on the boards and on offense), he could be the final piece 
needed to get Chicago to give up Pippen, or maybe to snag Kemp or 
McDeyus.