Forget pursuing Marc Gasol or DeAndre Jordan (as much as I like them) for too much money.
I would concentrate on trading a player for a late first round draft pick. Everyone is expendable in this regard except Stat, Melo, Billups, and Fields.
Then I would pick Kenneth Faried at #17 and Lucas Noguiera at #20-something.
Then I would sign Dalembert for the MLE, preferably only a one or two year deal. I would bring Jerome Jordan back from Europe and now you have four bigs with rebounding, shot blocking, and defensive ability (one veteran, three young projects). For very little money.
Sign a veteran point guard who is a distributor and defender, but not a scorer, for the veteran's minimum. Maybe Shawn Williams and Anthony Carter also at veteran's minimum, or the equivalent role players out there.
Then trade Billups and Dalembert (before, at, or after the trade deadline next Spring) for Chris Paul and Okafor. You probably need to add a solid role player or two (possibly including one of the young bigs) into the deal, but I do not care who at that point.
You end up with:
C E Okafor
PF A Stoudamire
SF C Anthony
SG L Fields
PG C Paul
as your starting five, with some young defensive bigs and veteran backcourt backups.
Does ANYONE have a problem with that?
I would concentrate on trading a player for a late first round draft pick. Everyone is expendable in this regard except Stat, Melo, Billups, and Fields.
Then I would pick Kenneth Faried at #17 and Lucas Noguiera at #20-something.
Then I would sign Dalembert for the MLE, preferably only a one or two year deal. I would bring Jerome Jordan back from Europe and now you have four bigs with rebounding, shot blocking, and defensive ability (one veteran, three young projects). For very little money.
Sign a veteran point guard who is a distributor and defender, but not a scorer, for the veteran's minimum. Maybe Shawn Williams and Anthony Carter also at veteran's minimum, or the equivalent role players out there.
Then trade Billups and Dalembert (before, at, or after the trade deadline next Spring) for Chris Paul and Okafor. You probably need to add a solid role player or two (possibly including one of the young bigs) into the deal, but I do not care who at that point.
You end up with:
C E Okafor
PF A Stoudamire
SF C Anthony
SG L Fields
PG C Paul
as your starting five, with some young defensive bigs and veteran backcourt backups.
Does ANYONE have a problem with that?