FanPost

Immediate need? Short term fit? Long term fit? Star potential?

The way I see it, there's no clear cut favorite between the tier 2 guys based on individual merit, so it really comes down to whether the team is thinking short term or long range. So I'm going to rank the tier 2 guys based on the four criteria listed in the title of this fanpost.

Immediate Need:
  1. Beal
  2. Barnes
  3. MKG
  4. TRob
  5. Drummond

Rationale: its clear what our biggest needs are for the upcoming season (shooting/finishing/slashing/shot creation from the wings). Beal and Barnes best fill that need, with MKG being the lesser shooter/shot creator. Almost every team could use more scoring, shooting and rebounding in the front court, but we have much bigger needs than that, so TRob ranks behind the wings. We're well manned at the center position, so Drummond comes in last.

Short Term (next 2 years) fit:

  1. Beal
  2. Barnes
  3. TRob
  4. MKG
  5. Drummond

Rationale: With Ariza here for at least 1-1.5 years, there's a strong possibility that Beal and Barnes will be great fits for that length of time. TRob would be fighting for minutes in a crowded frontcourt, but MKG and Drummond are the players least likely to get PT over that stretch, until Ariza and Oak are gone.

Long term fit:

  1. TRob
  2. MKG
  3. Drummond
  4. Beal
  5. Barnes

Rationale: Nobody in our frontcourt duplicates TRob, and like I said before, Ariza is likely gone in the next 1-1.5 years. So TRob and MKG represent the players most likely to fit in a couple years. While our frontcourt is stacked with defense and rebounding right now, its not hard to see Oak and one of Serf, Book, and Ves (all potential trade chips) not being on the team in 2 years. So I have Drummond third. Beal and Barnes finish last because its easier to acquire wing scoring than pretty much anything else in the NBA.

Star potential:

  1. MKG
  2. TRob
  3. Barnes
  4. Beal
  5. Drummond

Rationale: I think this is the most subjective of the criteria, so before I get into my rationale, let me just say that nothing is for certain, and we don't have much to go on with these guys.

MKG is the best wing slasher/defender/rebounder/passer on the list IMO. His shooting is not nearly as terrible as people make it out to be (he does have range out to 17 feet). Thing is, he doesn't need to be a great shooter to be a star. If he can be a solid shooter (or really anything above decent) in a few years, then he's potentially scottie pippen (who also came into the league as a weak shooter with a hitch in his shot).

Its not hard to see TRob turning into a legit 18/11 guy in the league. Nuff said.

Barnes, at 6'8, could be a star-level shot creator at SF if he improves his passing. So if he can combine good-to-great shooting with good-to-great shot creation and solid fundamental defense then he could be a star.

As for Beal, he has to be an elite shooter to be a star. He doesn't really do anything else well enough to project as a star if he's not an elite shooter. But elite shooter is quite possible for him.

Drummond can fall anywhere from bynum to darko... But at this point it looks like 'solid center' is the most likely outcome for him. That's valuable, but that's not a star.

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After all that, there's still no clear favorite, but because we have enough to make the playoffs right now, I personally think we should be looking at the player who will be the biggest difference maker 2-3 years down the road. So I tend to favor long term fit and star potential over need and short term fit, and thus, I'm leaning towards MKG and Trob (in that order). Thoughts? Feedback? What are your short/long term rankings?

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.