FanPost

What about our players in Europe (Freeland, Koponen) contributing?

This is one is quick and dirty B'Edgers...

With our roster as shallow as it is right now with all the injuries, and with the extended nature of Batum and Outlaw's injuries, I started thinking about our veritable "farm team" in Europe. We have some guys over there that can play, and while they haven't come over yet, maybe it's time to look at some of these guys as more relevant possibilities. I'm not up on their contract situations with their European teams, but with Freeland and Koponen in particular, they have skill sets that could help our team.

With Outlaw down, and Greg out, we are thin in the frontcourt, and need a banger/rebounder with some athleticism. Love Juwan Howard in an Obi-Wan role, but we need some Luke Skywalker action for the majority of the minutes. Freeland is big (6'10"), athletic, and rebounds the heck out of the ball. He's still pretty raw and won't be pressing LMA or Outlaw once he's back for playing time, but don't you think he might be a little more potent than Juwan Howard out there? I mean, good lord, we signed Anthony Tolliver. He'd only have to play 10-15 minutes a game or so, and I think he'd be decent in that role.

Koponen is the other guy, if we were to make a trade with Blake or Miller, that I think could come in and play. He's just as good as Sergio Rodriguez, who got some PT for us last year. I know fans want to scream "Bayless" here, but he's just not a PG. He can be a great compliment to Roy in the half-court if he can keep hitting the open J, but he's not a creator/distributor. Blake's deal expires this year, and Andre is only on the hook through next season, so we're going to need to address it at some point.

My whole point is I think we shouldn't pull an Arvydas Sabonis move and bring these guys over when they're past their prime. It's great to have some assets over there, but you can only let a guy "develop" for so long before it's evaluation time.

Anyway, what do you all think? When should we give a hard look at maybe getting these guys over here? Should we at all?