The way I look at this team is we have a 3 year window. That's how long Haliburton (& Nesmith) is under contract and I believe we will extend Siakam, Zubac, + Nembhard into that timeline as well. The reason I say 3 years is that is the end of the 2028-29 season when we hand that pick over to the Clippers. On top of that, I think it fits nicely with Siakam's likely timeline.
So my question is, what would constitute success?
Obviously the draft could change this and if you want to throw the pick in there, then be my guess, but given we have a chance to bring the entire roster back how would you rank the players in terms of importance both as we start this season and beyond.
Tyrese Haliburton
Pascal Siakam
Andrew Nembhard
Ivica Zubac
Aaron Nesmith
Obi Toppin
TJ McConnell
Ben Sheppard
Jarace Walker
Johnny Furphy
Jay Huff
Micah Potter
Quenton Jackson
Kobe Brown
Kam Jones
Nembhard + Zubac are very interchangeable to me and Nesmith isn't far behind. I've probably put Nembhard 3rd as he is my favourite.
Toppin + McConnell are a tandem as far as I'm concerned, so again no real gap between, but Toppin can play a little bit of C + SF (very small amount, but we remember him vs. Miami and Jimmy Butler) and is younger.
Sheppard has a defined role for me, the shooting appears to be rounding into form, and he shouldn't be too expensive compared to Walker. Walker is nice, plenty to like, but I don't see his fit at this point.
Furphy could be the best defender on the team. His versatility is pretty impressive as he played SG, SF, PF, + C during the season. Health and outside shooting being the key things for him.
The next 4 are similar, I like Brown the most, but is is the 1 free agent. Kam Jones is a guy I don't see sticking around, but his contract does have a partial guarantee.