I'm glad your number one in likelihood is my number one, period. Lee is very efficient with his game shooting over 55% from the field. I would be thrilled to head into this season with him as our starting 4.

Oh, and was I the only one who thought it odd the way in which Hollins hijacked the question of what else needs to be done in the offseason? It happened in the draft pick press conference. The question was addressed to Wallace or Heisley but from the other end of the table came Hollins. He tried being sarcastic about acquiring Shaq almost as if to say I'm sick of hearing what else needs to be done.

I'm still amazed we hired a coach for 1.5 seasons!

No Paul Millsap??

I tend to think Okafor still makes sense for the Grizz. He could shift over to the 5 when Thabeet is out of the game and provide a continued defensive presence. In addition, Thabeet is not an elite rebounder, so Okafor's toughness on the boards would be useful.

Although the starting lineup would lack scoring punch, this would be somewhat mitigated by keeping Warrick and giving him significant minutes whenever either Okafor or Thabeet is out of the game. I think that would be a pretty good three man rotation.

Of course, I have no idea how Gasol would fit in, but I haven't ever had a good sense of how Gasol and Thabeet would work together.

Assuming Boozer opts out, I don't think Utah lets Millsap go.

Another great post, Chris. Thanks for this timely article. David Lee is a guy that Memphians would love. Charlie Villanueva is an interesting possibility.

So we pay lee 10m/ year for 4 years, and roll into next year with a 58m payroll after we buy out buckner.

Conley, mayo, gay, lee, gasol.
Thabeet, carrol, young, Arthur, QRich off the bench. Carroll will steal minutes from Arthur

Chris - what about AK47. He's a slightly older Josh Smith type that could likely be had at a reasonable price. I'd expect he could regain form an produce at close to the level he was at prior to Boozer's arrival in Utah. If you could package Jaric, Buckner and DA together...

He'd definitely fit the defensive shift of the team.

would we be able to lock OJ up long-term? What about Gasol? Gay and Conley I see as more expendable pieces down the line, as OJ moves over to play more point ... So, at that point, we'd be in line for three big contracts ... OJ, Marc and David Lee ... with Thabeet (if he merits it - here's praying he does) a couple of years behind him. Don't see how we could keep Conley, OJ, Gay, Lee, Gasol and Thabeet together for the long-term, unless we were willing to spend a whole, whole lot of money.

Maybe I'm thinkin' way too far ahead.

CH seems to be the hardest working guy at the Flyer.

Chris... I'm with GGF. What are chances with Okur (who will probably opt out) or AK47???

@ MattH

Check your math again... The Grizz's cap number should be about $54 million, if you offer a FA contract starting at $10 mil. Are you including Warrick's Qualifying Offer??? I'm not sure you will see Warrick in a Grizz uniform unless the deal is 2-3mil/year...

Chris, I love your column, you do an excellent job.

I know it's way too early to speculate but, do you get the sense that the Griz are prepared to go into next year with an Arthur/Warrick/Carroll/Gasol/Gay combination at the 4 and just take their chances in the 2010 draft?

I believe the one guy that fits the Griz perfectly is Chris Bosh. A package of Bosh, KHumphries, MBanks for a combination of 2010 1, Lakers' 1, SYoung, MGasol.

But with Bosh, like Stoudemire, you run the risk of him being here for just one season. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that, if the Griz vastly improve this year, Bosh would sign as a free agent. It can be argued that Memphis has more pieces in place - and upside - more than Toronto has at this point.

Also, what have you heard on Quentin Richardson? Is he exercising his ETO/Player Option? I think he can come in here and just have the mindset of scoring big off the bench. He might not like getting into this kind of situation though.

Lastly, I've read in the Griz board that the FO might be looking for a backup PG, preferably a veteran not named Marko Jaric. What are the Griz' options here? I personally think a hybrid 1/2 would be ideal to come off the bench and provide more scoring. Luther Head or Damon Jones could be had cheaply. More so Head, who is younger (26) and wouldn't mind playing for the Griz.

Joseph:

1. Well, the point of this post is that I think they'll try to go after an upgrade at the four position this summer. The attempt to trade for Beasley and the deal for Randolph the Clippers backed out of suggests that. But I wouldn't be shocked if they came up short and stood pat either.

2. I think Bosh would be great for the Grizzlies and I think the Griz have the pieces to put together a very good package for him. BUT I don't think that would happen without Bosh agreeing to a contract extension. With the prospect of teams like the Knicks and Heat having max money to throw at Bosh next summer, I'm guessing he wouldn't commit the the Grizzlies. Not a realistic scenario.

3. I can't imagine Richardson not taking his $9 million-plus option for this year. So not plausible it hadn't even occurred to me.

4. My next post -- hopefully sometime tonight -- will be breaking down some of the illustrious candidates for the back-up guard position the team has made clear they plan to fill this summer. So look for that a little bit later.

Excellent point on Bosh and Richardson, Chris. Richardson can both earn his $9 million and increase his value for next offseason - questionable, but possible. It's a win for both sides if he does indeed becomes a threat off the bench.

I guess however way you look at it, Bosh has the potential to maximize his earnings by going to a bigger market. Not too mention the prospect of playing with another elite superstar.

David Lee it is. He's looking more and more perfect for this team. I have a feeling that the Knicks resign him though simply because he's the kind of player that wouldn't mind and would succeed playing with a superstar. What price do you think is both fair value for him AND would discourage the Knicks from matching the offer?

It would be sweet if we could get D lee, i always liked his game and think he would be a perfect fit.

hehe backup PG... two words

Ramon Sessions.

He would slide in and take over the starting job though lol

Potential suckage: The money we saved the Knicks goes to resign David Lee, and (for the price of "cash considerations") we fail to get our 4.

The extra 1-2m that the Knicks saved will not help them sign David Lee. They're worried about their cap next year, not this year.

We're at 36m. Somewhere around 6m for our 3 picks, that puts us at 42m. We frontload the contract to 11m this year, we're at 53m, with 12 roster spots filled. I guess my math was off. We could buy out buckner and bring that down under 50, if we wanted.

The Bucks did not give Villanueva a qualifying offer. Go after him we need someone who can score.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/49448…

Sounds like he may be willing to play for the MLE or less in order to play for the Cavs.

They were talking about Villanueva on the CV show as if he was an allstar. Oh, the versatile 4's are in vogue right now, he can do everything. Then Roser looked up his stats.

46% from the field, 34% from 3. 6rpg. Few blocks and steals. I mean, if we could get him for MLE money that would be fine, bc he's more athletic than our other frontcourt options, but I'd rather see us frontload an offer to david lee for 4 yr, $40m.

I'm not pushing for Villanueva, but put his numbers into context of about 26 minutes per game, which makes his 16 point scoring average extremely impressive. He's not a great rebounder, but was slightly better (14.7 rebound rate to 14.5) than Darrell Arthur last year and much better than Warrick.

If the debate is Villanueva vs. Millsap vs. Lee, Millsap gives you the best mix of scoring and rebounding, but really needs to be in more of a halfcourt system and may be the most expensive.

If it's Lee vs. Villanueva you have two players who both fit well in an uptempo system but are otherwise very different: A big-time rebounder with limited offense (Lee) vs. a big-time scoring threat with mediocre rebounding (Villanueva).

I honestly think you need a limited scorer at the 4 with high rebounds and energy and bruiser ability on this incarnation of the Grizzlies. David Lee is probably the man there. Though I imagine you have to overpay for him 11-12mil a year. I don't know if he is worth that.

With that said, Amare all day long lol. No matter the need you design the team around him and OJ (given Amare signs an extension of course)

I didn't think you were necessarily pimping villanueva, I just want to fight the villanueva momentum so that we don't sign him to a 5 yr. $38m contract that everyone exclaims that we've found the missing link. I mean, the freaking bucks are letting him walk, bc they know someone is gonna overpay him this summer. I'm just hoping that someone is not the grizz. I feel like hes worth 6.5m a year or less. Anything more and it's too much.

I would think that we should offer a large contract to Boozer in hopes he opts for free agency. He is by far the best PF out on the market, assuming he opts out. Pair him with what we have, and we are talking playoffs. I can get excited about that.

Well in the latest CBSsports.com article... sounds like we may find out very soon that Lee will be either with the Grizzlies or the Thunder. My guess would be the Grizzlies, because the Grizz have a better pair of centers for Lee to play next to.

I also think Lee is exactly the type of player that Heisley is willing to overpay for.

article: http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/1…

Chris,
Any insight or words through the grapvine going into tonight???

What about Von Wafer for the back up pg? Probably can be had cheap, would get solid production, he's young, and probably wouldnt mind playing backup so long as he's getting decent minutes. Also I havent heard Lamar Odom's name come up for PF. The man can do anything asked of him.