The rest of the season

[Denny Crane]

Looks to me like the team has 9 bodies it can use in games for a while. You can't bring in a new player without cutting someone on the roster, who would that be? Maybe Howard, if you can somehow come up with a C from somewhere.

I don't see a trade makes sense. You can't trade 2 for 1 without further hurting depth, and I don't see that anyone is going to trade for an injured player.

So here's the list of the healthy:
Roy, Blake, Aldridge, Webster, Miller, Joel, Bayless, Howard, Cunningham. (anyone remember Howard Cunningham from Happy Days?).

All I can see is you have to go small a lot.

Lineups like:
Roy, Blake (or Bayless), Miller, LMA, Cunningham

LMA is going to need some bench time/rest:
Roy, Blake (or Bayless), Miller, Webster, Joel

Or you can try to play a straight up lineup:
Roy, Blake/Miller/or Bayless, Webster, Howard, Joel

You can play 9 guys, it's a decent length for a rotation. The lack of a 10th guy will hurt when there's a need for a guy to miss a game or foul trouble.

 

[maxiep]

For a team with so much length, it's amazing to me that we're now going to have to play small ball.

 

[ehizzy3]

we are like golden state right now lol

juwan howard will be in the rotation

 

[B-Roy]

You cut Mills. That guy was signed for no reason, is injured, and we could really use that roster space.

 

[KingSpeed]

For a team with so much length, it's amazing to me that we're now going to have to play small ball.

With Batum, Outlaw, AND Oden out, we've lost a ton of length and athleticism.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Scoring from our frontcourt is going to be hard to watch.

With inconsistent play at SF and Joel's non-existent offense.

That's why I'm in favor of moving LMA to Center and trading for a scoring/rebounding PF (please, no Z-Bo jokes)

 

[alex42083]

I can see this team simply going back to how it played last season. Roy with the ball in his hands a lot, him and LA the focus, while Joel does the dirty work again. And back to being 'scrappy'.

 

[Denny Crane]

You cut Mills. That guy was signed for no reason, is injured, and we could really use that roster space.

That's fine. You might cut him and Howard.

Who are you going to bring in? If you were in KP's shoes, who would you bring in?

 

[drexlersdad]

With Batum, Outlaw, AND Oden out, we've lost a ton of length and athleticism.

basically 20 feet or so.

 

[B-Roy]

That's fine. You might cut him and Howard.

Who are you going to bring in? If you were in KP's shoes, who would you bring in?

Try to find a good player from the D-League like the Warriors, or trade 2 for 3, or something.

 

[drexlersdad]

That's fine. You might cut him and Howard.

Who are you going to bring in? If you were in KP's shoes, who would you bring in?

freeland and claver, and see what we have in them.

 

[PapaG]

With Batum, Outlaw, AND Oden out, we've lost a ton of length and athleticism.

Outlaw sucks though, remember?

 

[B-Roy]

freeland and claver, and see what we have in them.

You can't sign them during the middle of the season.

 

[Denny Crane]

I look at the team and still see a decent big 3. Miller may have only shown flashes of what he's good for, but now he's got to be the #3 guy, at least.

B-Roy... What kind of 2 for 3 can you see with the Knicks?

 

[maxiep]

We may be able to get an injured player exception.

 

[Denny Crane]

DISABLED PLAYER EXCEPTION -- This exception allows a team which is over the cap to acquire a replacement for a disabled player who will be out for the remainder of that season (if the player is disabled between July 1 and November 30) or the following season (if the player is disabled after November 30). This exception can also be granted in the event of a player's death. This exception can only be used to acquire one player. The maximum salary for the replacement player is 50% of the injured player's salary, or the average salary, whichever is less (see question number 24 for the definition of "average salary"). Approval from the league (based on a determination by an NBA-designated physician) is required for this exception to be used. This exception can be used to sign a free agent, or to create room to accept a salary in trade. When used for trade, the team may acquire a player whose salary (including any trade bonus) is up to 100% of this exception plus $100,000 (not 125%). Also see question number 20 for more information on the availability and use of this exception.

If a player is disabled between July 1 and November 30, the team must acquire the replacement player within 45 days. If the player is disabled between December 1 and June 30, then the team has until October 1 to sign a replacement. If the disabled player comes back sooner than expected, then he may be activated immediately, and the replacement player is not affected. However, if the disabled player comes back before the exception is used, then the exception is lost.

Teams sometimes have had difficulty getting the NBA to approve an injury exception. For example, Danny Manning tore an ACL toward the end of the 1997-98 season, yet the NBA did not approve the Suns for this exception. More recently, the Magic did not receive this exception in 2003 for Grant Hill. However, this exception was granted in the 1999 offseason to San Antonio, so they could replace Sean Elliott, who was disabled due to kidney problems. This exception was also granted to Charlotte soon after Bobby Phills was killed.

Don't confuse this exception with the salary cap relief teams can apply for a year after losing a player to a career-ending injury or death (see question number 53). This exception allows a team to acquire a replacement player. The salary cap relief removes a contract from the books.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

thanks for the info on injured player exception; I don't have any 2 for 1 trades but I think we need more bigs so one trade that would work after Dec 15 is Steve Blake for Brandon Bass.

 

[Denny Crane]

^^^ Yeah, I think if the exception is granted you still have to cut a guy, and clearly you can't do a 1 for 2 kind of trade.

If you go the waivers route, it was tough enough to find a backup backup PF - Howard's pretty old and mostly washed up. Who else is there? Luke Schensher still playing somewhere?

 

[MARIS61]

Exceptions to the roster limit have been made in the past when injuries decimated a team.

 

[maxiep]

Exceptions to the roster limit have been made in the past when injuries decimated a team.

This is what I'm talking about. I may not have the proper terminology, but I do seem to recall the ability to exceed the 15 player roster limit because of injuries with a couple of 10 day contracts.

 

[Shooter]

Who cares about the rest of the season? I mean, really. Sure, we'll find a way to win a few games, and we'll be a scrappy team, blah, blah, blah . . .

Oden is done for the year, and maybe for his career. You just can't keep coming back from serious knee injuries. This is a huge blow to the history of this franchise, so I just don't see how trying to cheer ourselves up about this year is even relevant.

It's all about winning championships, and our chances just went down the drain.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I'm not sure if for me it's all about winning championships. It's more like life itself; doing your best to improve your situation by acquiring and balancing your assets, then making the best use of those assets. Striving for the championship is great, but if you do the best with what you have, you are also a champion.

 

[Buzz Killington]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11262/not-again-oden-out-for-year

hollinger's take.

 

[Shooter]

I'm not sure if for me it's all about winning championships. It's more like life itself; doing your best to improve your situation by acquiring and balancing your assets, then making the best use of those assets. Striving for the championship is great, but if you do the best with what you have, you are also a champion.

I appreciate the sentiment. But the dream we all share is for this team to win an NBA championship again someday, and with Oden we had a real chance. Now, we have no chance.

 

[KingSpeed]

Who cares about the rest of the season? I mean, really. Sure, we'll find a way to win a few games, and we'll be a scrappy team, blah, blah, blah . . .

Oden is done for the year, and maybe for his career. You just can't keep coming back from serious knee injuries. This is a huge blow to the history of this franchise, so I just don't see how trying to cheer ourselves up about this year is even relevant.

It's all about winning championships, and our chances just went down the drain.

A) You may not care. But some of us do. By all means, jump ship if you want because our 3rd (maybe 4th) best player got hurt.

B) Oden is not done for his career. He's only 21. This may be a setback for a few years, but I see him playing sensational basketball in his prime years, ages 26-32.

C) It's not as big a blow as you are makinng it out to be. Our two best players, one of whom is a top 5 talent in this league, are completely healthy. If you saw tonight's game, you saw that we have a star who can carry us against a very good opponent. We can win without Oden.

 

[KingSpeed]

I appreciate the sentiment. But the dream we all share is for this team to win an NBA championship again someday, and with Oden we had a real chance. Now, we have no chance.

Not true. Lots of teams win championships without dominant centers (not that Oden was all that dominant). If Roy and Aldridge play like the stars they should be, we can certainly win with a rebounding/defensive center like Joel.

 

[Shooter]

Not true. Lots of teams win championships without dominant centers (not that Oden was all that dominant). If Roy and Aldridge play like the stars they should be, we can certainly win with a rebounding/defensive center like Joel.

I have to disagree. I have seen no signs that this team can win a seven-game series against teams like the Lakers, Celtics, and Cavs.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Hollinger has some pretty interesting points. Nicely written and very thought provoking.

 

[Minstrel]

Hollinger has some pretty interesting points. Nicely written and very thought provoking.

Yeah, but I think he's a bit too rosy on this season and too pessimistic on Oden's long-term future.

The main problem I see this year is depth, not lack of "star power." Roy and Aldridge and Miller returning to form would definitely make up for Oden's lost production, but it won't make up for the lack of depth. The team actually still has a nice top-five...Roy, Aldridge, Miller, Przybilla, Fernandez (assuming he's back soon, oy) is still quite good talent. And Bayless has looked good this year so far.

But after that, boy, the team is in trouble. Blake can provide competent minutes, Cunningham might be NBA-caliber...eh...and that's that.

 

[Miksaid]

The team will be fine in the short-term so long as Roy stays healthy. I predict we might even win at a greater rate than when we did with Oden. But we needed this season to incorporate Oden into how the team played-- not play identically to how we played last year. Oden's proven he can't be relied on. Even if Oden comes back 100%, this is another year removed that we may be able to get the team used to playing with a high-level center (which so far, we've seen is not something easy). Unless we somehow trade for Lebron or Kobe or Dwight, or our defense improves by a factor of a million (both equally unlikely) our chances for a championship with our "core" is pretty much shot.