Andrei Kirilenko sounds intent on returning to the NBA next season, and confirmed that the Jazz and Nets are his "priority."
Kirilenko doesn't expect to choose a team until after July 1st -- for now, he will bask in his success with CSKA Moscow, where he won league MVP and his team won the championship. In other AK news, he missed the last two games of the Russian PBL finals with an ankle injury, but it doesn't seem too severe.
http://rotoworld.com/headlines/nba/18167...
3 Big reasons I really would feel trading Amare for Joe Joe Johnson would work for us.
1) Assuming, Toronto or another team, offers Lin a contract, we just might be able to retain, our MLE depending on this hearing
but we might have to let players like Fields, Jorts, JR Smith go (if he opts out), trade TD for early 2nd round pick, if we cannot retain any of these players at 1-1.5m or less
possibly even sign and trading some of these guys to Atlanta to give them youth.
It improves our defense instantly, just by subtracting him for the lineup, while adding players like
A) Looking to spend the amount of the bi annual exemption to about 3m *splitting the MLE*, we can find a much more cost efficient player with
Maybe even target 2 of these players *with maybe adding another shot blocking center like Camby* so with all the exemptions look to acquire 3 players,
2 MLE, LLE, 2nd round pick
Ak47 *I like what Ak47 can bring with his ability to block shots, play good help defense with length/speed, has good balanced game, and would be part of our 3 defensive players with
Tyson Chandler and Iman*
Odom
Mahimi
Kenyon Martin
B) or with the Full MLE
KG
Ilyasova
are all FA's which can have better defense, way better shot blocking ability, rebounding, and better all around games to compliment the team.
2) Joe Johnson might be over payed, but so is Amare, as we see he does not fit well with Tyson and Melo together. While Joe Johnson's contract is one year longer than Amare,
he has the abilities to fit with Knicks much better, allow Melo to be the alpha dog, and give him the room/spacing to POST UP. JJ has some ability to post up for mid range too.
Tyson Chandler got much more looks, when Amare and/or Melo was out, with much better spacing to cut to the rim, and they were all high % shots.
A) has good versatility to play point/forward *one of our problems/holes that would compliment our poor decision/facilitating guards in JR Smith, Iman, TD, and even help Lin*
B) he can be one of our assets to spread the floor, especially if we lose out on JR Smith, losing Iman for at least part of the year, possibly Novak as well
C) he might not be a great defender but he was once a good defender
D) he was once the 3rd option type of player in Phoenix, I believe he can still play this role, he wanted much more $ by being the Alpha dog in his earlier years in Atlanta but
he obviously wasn't good enough, and should be happy to be able to get payed as a max players, and while being a 3rd option, he will get the opportunity to win a ring
3) It is time for Atlanta to rebuild their roster, with an aging Joe Johnson *max player, they can get rid of a year of him for Amare*, they are not a high market team to afford to be over the tax, and to find players to fit in with their future with Jeff Teague. Josh Smith will be in his final year of his contract and this will be a great opportunity for
Atlanta to package him to a team for 1st round picks and/or young players. Amare has shown some of his athleticism back towards the end of the season, but he doesn't fit with
Melo and Tyson together, when Tyson was out, he put up numbers like he did before Tyson got here. So in a sense, he is like ZBO when he got traded, his production is actually
greater than his value as long as it is in the right system. Horfid will be healthy by next year and Ivan Johnson is a FA, which they seem to like, and would resign.
