Russy is gonna be on the decline by the time his contract with OKC is up with the way he plays.
Feel the same way. Look at what happened to all the other super athletic guards - Steve Francis, Marbury, AI, TMac, VC. They fall off a cliff quickly. Plus if he ever does leave, I can see him wanting to be Kobe's replacement in LA more than wanting to play w/ Melo.
I'm not sure I see any of the big free agents coming here (which is why I mentioned reaching for Larry Sanders the other day if he'd be willing to come), but thinking about it realistically, we only have 3 legitimate rotation players on our roster (Jose, Tim, Melo) and we should probably be trying to move Jose.
Best case scenario, we get a top 5 pick and get 1 impact FA this offseason, depending on who our pick is. Since talented bigs are more scarce, and more expensive, it'd be ideal to get Okafor/Towns/Caullie-Stein and sign Rondo or Dragic, or maybe for a little less than the max, Wes Matthews. If we get Mudiay/Russell, try to sign Monroe or a cheaper big, though Kanter, Amir Johnson, Robin Lopez aren't really all star level players. But at least then we'd be looking at next season with 3-4 decent players around Melo, and can make another move the next offseason, depending on what happens w/ the new cap.
The new salary cap could have a huge impact on the league. If the cap is going to shoot up immediately in 2016, teams are all going to look to lock up FAs this summer and max contracts aren't even going to look that bad, relatively.
