this works... http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cjqnyr We're left with this... Blake/Conley Roy/Bayless Gay/Batum/Webster Aldridge/Frye Oden/Przybilla of course, we also have Jaric and his 6.5m over 3 seasons. The biggest concern is left with our undersized 2nd unit. TBH, if we did pull something like this, I would have to think Amare would be included in a 3 team deal. The suns probably could be bought off for a cheaper price than Memphis given Sarver's track record of being the cheapest in the league.
If I was to base my opinion of players strictly off of forums, blogs and papers then there would likely be only 20 legit players in the NBA and the rest would be scrubs who should be thanking god they aren't playing in the Latvian pro-am league. As for Rudy Gay specifically I can't comment on him based on this season because I've only seen him play 3 times, so maybe he really has fallen off and sucks a big fat one, but I have to seriously wonder if part of his woes haven't been the utter disaster that coaching staff has been during his brief career; have the Grizzlies actually been doing their best job at developing all that young talent simultaneously? I don't know if there is any way to answer that question satisfactorily, but if I was a betting man I'd wager Rudy's best days are ahead of him and not behind him. The PER comparison is interesting, but I don't think it really tells you the whole story about how a player gets their points. In Travis' case I know his numbers are skewed heavily by his reliance on the corner three pointer and the fact that he's hitting it at a very good clip this year, take that away and I seriously wonder if Travis would have a PER higher than 11. It doesn't really matter, I can't imagine Memphis would be in any great hurry to dump Gay unless there was some pretty substantial talent coming back and major cap relief
i think Gay and Luol Deng are experiencing the same problems. there should be no doubt that they are very, very good players and have shown even more potential. but their situations w/ each team has been disastrous. OJ Mayo has been a drain on Gay and i think Rose and Gordon never can help w/ Deng. i'd love to have either one on the Blazers. each is a bona fide starter.
in terms of production vs. cost rudy f. is one of the most valuable bargain players in the entire league, we have him locked up for at least 3 more years at peanuts, the fans LOVE him, and he seems to be a great fit with roy. i seriously doubt we'd even consider including him for anything short of a superstar deal, which gay/conley certainly is not.
We agree about that. There was a knock on Gay coming out of UCONN about his attitude and it has to be a concern when he's not giving his all for the team he's on. With his size and athletic abilities...being on a bad team...he should be dominating the league.
I wasn't comparing them. Rudy Gay was a gifted basketball player that suceeded in one of the best college programs in the nation that was drafted as a franchise player. He's on a bad team. Travis Outlaw was a raw high school basketball player that was drafted as a project. He's on a good team. Rudy Gays PER should be so much higher than Travis but it's not.
outlaw shot pretty well from 3 most of last year too. no reason to think it's not something he'll continue to do. gay doesn't take quite as many 3's, but he does similarly live off of jumpshots, and actually averages less FT per possession than outlaw.
Look at what Conley has been doing since Iavoroni was fired. Some folks might view it as showcasing him, but the change is quite dramatic.
individual talent and upside have almost nothing to do with wins and losses ... just because our extremely young team has been having some success doesn't mean that's the norm or that other young teams should be expecting similar levels of success. The main difference I see between Rudy Gay and Travis is that Gay is similarly athletic, but much more coordinated and a much better ball handler and a slightly less accurate shooter. Secondly, from what little I've seen, Gay seems to have more court awareness and basic basketball sense. Is he utilizing all of his gifts to their fullest extent and is he a natural leader? Probably "no" on both counts, but if the Blazers were to acquire him it wouldn't be for his leadership abilities.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bw5cnp Forget Gay in a 3-way. If PHX is sending them Amar'e, and both want cap relief? I'll start Mayo next to Roy and love it.
Well than maybe you should start paying attention. Because if you look at the scores, you will notice that Rudy Gay actually produces at least in the teens, most nights, if not more. Where Travis, for the most part you get one absolutely hot game every 3 or 4 games, and 3 games of absolute filth. The difference is consistency. Portland is in need of consistency.
That's fine and to Travis' credit that he's developed a credible long range shot. My main point is that composite stats aren't going to tell you everything about a player's game and how they operate in space. Furthermore, I'm not even sure why we're comparing Travis to Gay anyway (aside from similar per 36 statistical output). Travis has proved to be much more comfortable as a power forward and a bench player rather than as a starting small forward, that's a problem Gay doesn't seem to have.
10x outlaw = superstar waiting to happen, and i don't see that in gay. he is certainly more fluid, but from what i've seen his court awareness and "basic basketball sense" aren't strong points - makes way more than his share of bad forced passes, forces shots with players open, makes poor decisions on defense etc. yes those may be things that can be corrected with coaching, but at the same time i think they're indications he's not exactly another danny granger waiting to happen. anyway i'm not actually debating outlaw vs. gay or disputing that gay has more upside. i'm using the comparison with outlaw as an example that there's a very good chance gay wouldn't add nearly enough to be worth the cap space, future luxury tax, and multiple major assets it would take to get and keep him. i'd be all for stealing him without giving up bayless or rudy and without taking back any cap-killing contracts, but obviously that's not gonna happen.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=btf8dw its kinda tough to add pheonix into that mix doubt anyone would go for this
