Beijing Aoshen Off Season Review

[Sarawak]

Team Name: Beijing Aoshen
Last Year's Record: 39-43
Key Losses this year: Hakeem Olajuwon, Scott Wedman, Rick Barry, Rick Smits
Team focus: Contending

Transactions:

Coaching Staff:
06/19/08 Aoshen Hired Clarence Gaines Jr. as Scout for $750,000 for 3 years

Draft:
06/25/08 Aoshen Draft SG Herm Gilliam with pick #4 of round 2.  

Free Agency:
10/22/08 Aoshen Sign PF John Salley for $456,000 over one year.  
08/05/08 Aoshen Sign PG Dante Exum for $1,200,000 over one year.  
07/22/08 Aoshen Sign PG Hot Rod Hundley for $1,110,000 over one year.
07/21/08 Aoshen Re-sign PF Rony Seikaly for $23,462,500 over 3 years.
07/21/08 Aoshen Sign PG Zoran Slavnic for $1,428,000 over one year.
07/21/08 Aoshen Sign C Fran Vazquez for $5,187,500 over 2 years.
07/21/08 Aoshen Sign PF Bill McGill for $1,110,000 over one year.
07/21/08 Aoshen Sign PG Nate Robinson for $14,512,500 over 3 years.  

Trades:
07/22/08 Jazz Trade SG Dick Van Arsdale to the Aoshen
07/22/08 Aoshen Trade PG Zoran Slavnic to the Jazz
07/22/08 Aoshen Trade C Fran Vazquez to the Jazz  

06/25/08 Boca Juniors Trade 2008 Boca Juniors 2nd Round draft pick to the Aoshen                
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade 2010 Raptors 2nd Round draft pick to the Boca Juniors

06/25/08 Knicks Trade C Pau Gasol to the Aoshen
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade SF Scott Wedman to the Knicks
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade C Hakeem Olajuwon to the Knicks
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade 2008 Aoshen 1st Round draft pick to the Knicks

06/25/08 Olimpia Trade SF Mark Aguirre to the Aoshen
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade 2010 Aoshen 2nd Round draft pick to the Olimpia
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade 2008 Olimpia 1st Round draft pick to the Olimpia
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade PG Vladimir Pistelak to the Olimpia
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade C Rik Smits to the Olimpia

06/25/08 Nets Trade PF Jerry Lucas to the Aoshen
06/25/08 Aoshen Trade 2008 Raptors 2nd Round draft pick to the Nets

Review:

Beijing was busy this off-season, adding two of the vaunted Purple players to an already interesting team in seperate deals for SF Mark Aguirre and C Pau Gasol.  Via trade the team also added veteran big man Jerry Lucas, Wing Dick Van Arsdale and a second round pick that ended up being SG Herm Gilliam.  

In Free Agency the team re-signed post Rony Seikaly to a three year deal that starts at 8.5 million but declines from there and brought in some depth free agents in Nate Robinson, Bill McGill and Dante Exum most notably.

Projected Lineup:
C Pau Gasol
PF Bill McGill
SF Mark Aguirre
SG Max Zaslofsky
PG Dave Bing
3rd Guard: Nate Robinson
3rd Post: Jerry Lucas
3rd Wing: Dick Van Arsdale

Summary:

This is a pretty strong starting lineup. The backcourt can do it all offensively and is super atheltic.  Aguirre should plug right in and Gasol is a true anchor of a team at Center.  PF is a little iffy but both McGill and Lucas are proven players in the league and fit what the team is doing.  The bench will be headlined by another athletic guard (Nate Robinson), the aforementioned Lucas an d Dick Van Arsdale who is another good athelte with some positional flexibility.  That seems to be the trend in Beijing they have good athletes, can pass the ball and everybody is capable of scoring in their top 8. I expect this team not only to make the playoffs in a deep Eurasian conference but also to be a threat to make it to the conference finals or beyond.  The team's work this year puts them in good shape and the GM in the early running for GMOTY.

Three Thoughts:

The Good:  Added two studly talents in Pau and Aguirre to bolster a team that already had a dynamic backcourt and some depth.

The Bad:  Wing depth:  After Dick Van Arsdale the team doesn't have much at all and they are pretty thin in terms of rebounding at the wing to begin with beyond Aguirre, so this may be an area they can be attacked by certain teams.

The Ugly: Rony Seikaly's Contract.  Don't mind bringing him back, but at a salary that even in declining starts at 8.5 million with all three years guaranteed he may not be as valuable as he once was.  This was the only misstep of the off-season for Beijing.

Projection:
Projected Record: 52-30 2nd in the Eurasia West, Make Playoffs 
Exceed projection if: They can some of their depth at post for a better backup wing
Does not meet projection if: Massive injuries or excessive trading occurs

[Portland]

Great writeup. Beijing is always one of the more interesting teams to follow, one of the few Eurasia teams I pay attention to during the season. The gm is a good game-planner which is evident when you see the team's record improving as the year goes on while he gets his combinations the way he wants them. I try to pattern myself after that. I really like the Aguirre acquisition and the Bing/Zas backcourt is going to damage most teams they face. The sky's the limit the way I see it.

[Chicago]

Bring the title home Beijing. Good luck.

[Beijing]

Great read. Thanks for doing the writeup Sarawak.

Thanks Portland and Chicago for the praise.

I certainly hope I made these moves for more than 52 wins lol I had 39 last year with a much less talented team and zero effort.

[Sarawak]

Nov 17, 2016 22:00:22 GMT Beijing said:

Great read. Thanks for doing the writeup Sarawak.

Thanks Portland and Chicago for the praise.

I certainly hope I made these moves for more than 52 wins lol I had 39 last year with a much less talented team and zero effort.

Top 5-6 teams are really strong, outside of Piraeus I doubt anybody can top 60 tbh.  I think your ceiling is probably 55, but I would say that for almost every team in the conference.

[New York]

Good stuff

150 x 2 = 300 pp

[Sarawak]

PP Credited