This was my feelings as well. Hinrich stepped up his game big time in the playoffs, and hit several clutch shots for the Bulls. He basically does the same things as Blake but just better. And his defense is pretty good. I wouldn't be against trading for him.
Only thing I'll add.. if we get someone like Hinrich.. I think we STILL need to get a SF that can create his own shot. If we got a PG who attacks.. then Batum is ok at the SF spot still as starter. (Providing Oden is good enough to start next year that is)
Kirk's contract does in fact go down each year meaning it would be easier on PA and KP to deal with the luxury tax. As for what makes him $$$ better than Blake? Defense wins championships, and Kirk plays it and Blake doesn't....or can't
or Outlaw perhaps? Give me a break....Why are you so willing you are to dump Webster in any deal, but for some reason think Outlaw is more worthy of hanging onto? All Outlaw has done to any anyone who actually WATCHES him play is to CLEARLY show that he has several incorrectable flaws in his game...SIX years man, he has had six years to better himself in his areas of weakness and he hasn't...He still plays lousy defense, he still doesn't know where his assignments are, which lead to defensive breakdowns, he still shows poor decision making on the offensive end, he still forces bad shots over 2-3 defenders......Seriously, why does he get a pass and Webster does not? Who works on thier game more in the offseason? Who actively IDENTIFIES thier weaknesses and works tirelessly on them? It isn't Outlaw...No he goes fishing, comes to camp EVERY year out of shape, proclaims he wants to be an All Star, proceeds to SUCK the 1st few weeks of the season while he works himself into playing shape and then continues to make the same mistakes he makes...EVERY SINGLE YEAR...... If anyone here claims to not see that, then I seriously have to ask What the hell are you watching? It is there, on display, every single game...if you can't see that, then I question your knowledge on basketball.... I don't think Pritchard is holding onto Outlaw because he loves his game.....I think he holds onto Outlaw for all the wrong reasons..... b\c his contract is cheap b\c they can't get any decent offer for him b\c of his friendship (specifically Roy) with other players on the team... There is no other reason to hang onto the guy....I'd be more inclined to agree with your statement if you would have said it would have to Webster for Hinrich, b\c CHI wouldn't take Outlaw....maybe that is what you were implying, if so, then I apologize for this rant, but don't go implying that Webster is of "throw in" quality but Outlaw is not, b\c that is not even close to accurate....
Repped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As much as I like Outlaw as a person he doesn't have championship desire like several other players on the team.
I think he's willing to dump Webster over Outlaw because Outlaw, unlike Martell, has actually played a game in the last 365 days and doesn't have a foot injury that has kept him out all year. Honestly, we don't know what we have in Webster until he comes back and proves he can be a worthy asset. At this point it is all speculation (for the most part). In Travis you at least know what you have. I'm not suggesting one stance over another, but don't be so certain Webster is any better that Outlaw at this point. At least we know Travis is a capable NBA 6th man right now.
The big problem with Webster is that he never was that good - he was just a below-average starter and we learned to live with it because he seems like such a nice guy. I would love to see him becoming a much better player, I know KP keeps saying he was ready for a breakout year - and I hope it happens to him - but I will be really surprised if we see that happen. For all we know - KP was just getting his trade-value up with these comments...
Because Outlaw is better than Webster. Webster has never been even an average player, Outlaw has been about average his entire career. I don't care a bit about "who works on their game more" in your opinion. I care about results. Webster hasn't actually improved in production (beyond simply playing more minutes; his efficiency has remained just as bad), so his "work" hasn't yielded anything. He started out worse than Outlaw and remains so. Adding in the fact that Webster now has had an injury serious enough to cost him an entire season and I definitely value Outlaw above Webster. I don't consider Outlaw part of the "core," but he's not a mere throw-in to me. Webster, a player who has yet to post a PER above 12 and plays perfectly mediocre defense himself, is a throw-in at this point.
We haven't had a chance to really see what he could do. He's a great spot up shooter and at the end of last year we started to see his slashing ability improve along with his defense. He's only like 22 years old.
We have seen 3 years of mostly average production with a glimpse of something special when his shot falls - which is not as often as you would like. Compare this to Batum - who is a rookie going on 19-20 and already had shown consistent play and more often flashes of greatness. Again - I would love for Webster to really pan out - but I am not holding my breath for it to happen. It is more likely that he improves to be an average player and no more than the other way around...
Can I ask where you get these Odds from? We have seen improvement from him to show him as an average player. I just dont understand how its more likely.. unless its just your opinion.
And Chris Paul. Barring injury, Paul will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Webster won't make it in on the first ballot.
Blame these two: But hey.. Brandon is arguably a better player than Granger and Deron. I don't know yet about CP3..
Portland could have had Roy even if they had taken Paul. They got Roy through trading Telfair for a draft pick (and then doing another swap). Aldridge is the selection that depended on their record. As did Oden. If one wanted to try and weigh what Portland actually got against a parallel reality where they select Paul, the trade-off would be: Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jerryd Bayless and Martell Webster or Chris Paul and three first-round draft choices The three first-round draft choices need to be kept generic, since there's no way to know where they'd have been with Paul in the fold. Our roster (without knowing what other moves Pritchard might make, and assuming he still did the Zach Randolph deal) would look like: Chris Paul / Steve Blake / Sergio Rodriguez Brandon Roy / Rudy Fernandez Nicolas Batum / Travis Outlaw Channing Frye / ??? Joel Przybilla / ??? And first-round picks in 2006, 2007 and 2008, whoever they would have been. Would you prefer this alternate reality?
Outlaw is a known quanitity that some are fine with, while others want more. Outlaw has hit a lot of big shots, and gave us a great spark off the bench in many games. Martell has spent the first few years in the NBA, showing why he should have gone to college. It would have been great for him to develop at the college level, but he did it on our dime. I do not believe Roy would have had much more success than Webster in his first 3 years had he came straight out of high school. Not to say Webster is going to become the next Brandon Roy, but that the window where he is going to prove himself really starts now.
While you did a great job of really breaking this down, I think it was a fertile effort. When you draft a guy like Chris Paul, everything changes. Zach may have stayed. Blake wouldn't have resigned here. We might have made different trades. I just think its best to judge that draft as a snapshot in time, and simply say that we did a poor job in that draft. We did a great job in the following draft. The two things are completely unrelated and we'll never know what would have happened had we drafted Paul.
It certainly would've been interesting to see how far a Roy/CP3 backcourt could take us. But no inside game at all and no post presence would really suck. I wish we could go Back to the Future style, make a skewed timeline and somehow convince Nash to take CP3, and see how that would turn out. But then KP may likely not have been given GM duties. It's just too hard to tell what would happen.
