I do it better:
Starters:
Lin
Shump
Melo
Humphries/Evans
Chandler
Nash (6th man)
Amar'e (7th man)
J.R. SWAGBALLS (8th man)
Fields (9th man)
Jared Jeffries (10th man)
Novak (11th man)
Harrelson (12th man)
Bibby (13th man)
Jerome Jordan (14th man)
Our second round pick (15th man)
That way you bring Amar'e and Nash in together as the second unit.
Lin should be starting, guy is an All-Star point guard next year, and he's our guy for the next 10 years.
Even if we luck out on this Bird rights ruling with Lin and Novak where we'd be able to sign them to X amount and not have use salary exceptions -- would the MLE & LLE be enough to sign Steve Nash AND Kris Humphries AND JR Smith AND Landry Fields AND Jeffries, etc.??? I don't think so, man. In this scenario, Nash would eat up all of the MLE by himself easily (and that's speculating conservatively -- he may want more than that. He still has some gas left in his tank). Where would the money be for the other guys, esp. Humphries, who's been productive the past couple of years? I don't see it..
Again, what we can do is simulate some of what these guys bring to the table with younger and much cheaper alternatives:
5 - Chandler
4 - STAT
3 - Melo
2 - Shumpert (when he's ready)
1 - Lin
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5 - Marcus Cousin
4 - Harrellson
3 - DaJuan Summers or Jamelle Horne
2 - JR Smith (I know he had a bad playoff run but I want him back -- just for his awesome ability to create his own offensive alone. Plus he's an underrated defender. Either he takes the $2.5M player option or he doesn't -- if it's gonna take more, this is where we could use part of the MLE if this Bird rights ruling goes in our favor. More money could then be there for JR. Having Melo, Amar'e & Chandler all defer a little is another possibility to free up a little more cash). Sylven Landesberg would be a good cheap alternative with very good upside if we don't bring back JR and/or Landry Fields. So would Horne.
1 - Matt Janning
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5 - Jerome Jordan
4 - Jeff Adrien
3 - Ryan Wittman
2 - Kim English (2nd round draft pick)
1 - Toney Douglas (I'd sign Ben Hansbrough or Curtis Jerrells if I could trade Douglas, Jerome Jordan or both to move up in the draft to secure English)
This would be my blueprint going into the off-season. We could very easily put this roster together provided we start the process and start reaching out to these guys and their agents right now. Loaded with depth and interchangeability -- 3 deep at every position..Very realistic with regard to the cap too.
I would love to bring in this guy Printezis btw. He looks long, mobile, athletic and skilled but from what I'm reading it'll take something fairly lucrative to get him to come here (a guy like DaJuan Summers, for example, looks just as skilled if not moreso and he wouldn't cost nearly as much). I like the looks of this dude though (anyone else see a little Toni Kukoc/Danilo Gallinari -- ability to put it on the floor at that height, the long strides, shooting ability, etc.?) -- maybe eventually we can bring him over. Too bad that instead of Ahmad Nivins, we couldn't have acquired the rights to Nick Calathes instead in the Chandler deal. Remember him from Florida? Big (6'5") PG with skills. I believe Cuban still has the rights to this guy too. Ahh no matter, I think I might like Janning, Hansbrough and Jerrells better anyway. All of these inexpensive potential additions are just a phone call away.