I was leaning Shav just becasue he's a player with some actual skill at both ends of the court, but 7 footers don't exactly grow on trees ... it's a tough call.
Not that I disagree w/ signing Hill, and for the reasons you mention...but I think it's comical we're debating paying a guy close to 500k per year to get beaten up by Greg Oden, b/c we don't want our "valuable players" to get hurt. Reminds me a bit of Gladiator.
You have to go with Hill. He's pretty bad, but at least he can go in there and take some abuse in practice. Przybilla and Oden are both really physical, powerful centers. And they both have injury histories. We really need a third guy in there to take some of the punishment.
It'll probably work out to about $1000 per bruise. A lot of NBA players have done far less to earn $500k.
I was at that game. It was interesting how Przybilla got hurt. Both went up at the same time, but Greg came down LONG after Joel did. Oden's got some hops, even though he's clearly out of shape. Steven of Nazereth is not ready for the NBA. He looked terrible in warmups, he looked terrible in the game. He's not very athletic, he can't shoot, he doesn't have good hands...Shavlik Randolph would be a better choice. That guy can play and he's not THAT much shorter than Hill. Ike Diogu was the guy who was able to move Greg Oden around a little bit. Hill did not. Why hire a guy to practice against Oden when he isn't even going to put up a challenge?
Man... if Joel can't last through the first two weeks of practice and a supposed fun scrimmage without getting hurt by Greg, then Hill it is. Someone should take a before and after picture of Steven so we recognize what he used to look like when it's June.
I still would take Randolph over Hill. Randolph had some good games for the 76ers before he tore up his ankle. And seriously, who was the last white guy with a beard that was any good? Mike Gminski?
The Blazers are going to play 82 regular-season games. I don't think that having another 7 footer for Oden to bang with in practice is really much of a consideration... Oden is going to be playing real games and getting bruised and battered. I think we should go with the guy who might help us down the line... whether it's Randolph or not, I'm not sure. Ed O.
"Player 15" won't play unless it's an absolute emergency. He is essentially practice fodder. Therefore the best use would be Hill.
someone asked who the 15th man was last year, and suggested Von Wafer. I said that it was either Oden or Miles, since they were always the 14th and 15th roster spots on the Inactive List.
