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chris mihm is gone this summer imo. even if kwame develops a midrange shot i dont envision him coexisting with chris much better. the nearer to the basket he is the more rebounds he gobbles up, the more active and involved he seems, and the more confident he is. on both ends of the floor he's best off at the 5. Chris is a great center, top 15 easily, and its hard to send him off but his foul issues coupled with his poor man on man defense really messes up our consistency. when your offense sputters or strives based in part on one players play on both ends of the floor, you cant have a foul prone person be taken entirely out of the game because of just that. we wont be able to afford resigning him next summer, and he's our only valuable trading piece.
all in all we have chris mihm as a core, draft picks, and semi appealing players like brian cook, smush parker, etc.
just like the midseason trade deadline where ron artest's destination held up a bunch of trades, KG will hold up a bunch of trades and free agent signings this offseason. compile your realistic chris mihm trade ideas.
1. there are VERY FEW powerforwards available with a decent post game, jumpshot, and defense. the only one with the first two is carlos boozer, although his defense is questionable. regardless the combo of lamar, boozer, and kwame would provide us with a REALLY intimidating frontline, all of them very strong for their positions.
2. mihm packaged with miami's first rd pick, brian cook, smush parker (resigned), and a future first round pick for ben gordon. yes everyone would much rather have hinrich, but gordon brings scoring, a jumpshot, and a consistent 4th qtr scorer to complement kobe. i dont think fga would be an issue as kobe would much rather exchange the scoring title for a ring. we need someone to take the scoring load off of kobe. you saw int he first few games of the suns series kobe was much more capable of handling himself in the 4th qtr because other players were helping to carry the load. a scorer like gordon would help add some longevity to kobe's career. why would chicago do it? they need a player with a solid post game to draw attention away from chandler. a hinrich/deng backcourt would be fine once deng gets a jumpshot, and nocioni is developing into a solid sf. will they have money to resign hinrich, deng, and nocioni as well as gordon? not likely.
3. the first two werent trades you could really hope to happen. but i think a trade of mihm for chris duhon and michael sweetney improves things for us greatly. sweetney isnt an ideal pf at all, lacks defense, but gives us size as well as a rebounder. duhon is key because he provides defense we desperately need as well as a player who has a solid head on their shoulders. even if his shot isnt falling he still has an impact on both ends of the court. good attitude is always better than a player with a bad one.
4. if minnesota keeps kg then they need to find a solid center, mihm for rashad mccants and change. again, this would be a difficult trade to pull off, especially with minnesota, but its worth dreaming about. mccants could give us a shooter to throw alongside kobe.
5. an easier trade to pull off would be mihm, brian cook and smush parker for eddie griffin, marcus banks, and a future first (or just mihm for griffin and a resigned banks). theres a lot of hate towards eddie griffin, he's not a great man on man defender, but gives us some rebounding and desperately needed shotblocking. offensively he lacks a post game but gives us shooting. im not a huge fan of this but it improves a few areas that we lack.
6. amare isnt going to want to play center for the rest of his career and marion wouldnt mind playing sf. the suns could really use a big who can run the floor and be a good role player. imagine the lineup of mihm/amare/marion/bell/nash. its difficult to see us trading with the suns. but if it involves chris mihm for leandro barbosa then thatd be worth it for both teams. hell i'd even include cook as well (he'd be great in the pick and roll with nash). they get a big to sure up their frontcourt. and we get a deadly pg who can penetrate, as well as hit the outside shot with consistency. the suns dont lose that much as they still have a solid bench. barbosa will eventually want to get a starting role. although this seems the most implausible, to me it also seems to make the most sense for both teams for some reason.
6. obviously we could deal mihm for a higher draft pick but we really need help now, not in a few years.
7. excluding mihm we could package b. cook with some other role players for some decent pg prospects like steve blake, juan dixon etc. but again this doesnt improve us that much.
my favorite options.
1. chris mihm and brian cook for leandro barbosa and a 2nd round pick. sign melvin ely for mle
-starting five- kwame/ely/odom/kobe/barbosa
-bench- bynum/turiaf/luke/profit or rush/sasha
2. chris mihm, brian cook, and our first rd pick for ben gordon and filler. sign ely w/ mle.
-starting five-kwame/ely/odom/kobe/gordon
-bench-same
3. chris mihm for michael sweetney and chris duhon.
-starting five- kwame/ely or wilcox mle/odom/kobe/duhon
-bench-turiaf or bynum/sweetney/luke/profit or rush/sasha
--this all was pretty long, i apologize. what do you honestly thing we can attain with chris mihm in a package to fill the voids at the 4 and 1.
we arent far from competing. mihm and cook for barbosa do it mitch.
