Batum, but I'd really like to think that Joel is close behind. Having a back-up big of his calibur is very, very valuable. Especially with an injury to Oden.
None of the above, TBD at a later point. There is also no real reason to have a 4th untouchable player right now. Batum's the last one of the group I'd give up in a trade, though.
You misinterpreted what I wrote. Batum was my answer to who is untouchable, Rudy is not, b/c he will be dealtb/c he is needy for minutes.
fair enough. I'm not mad about it or anything, but if Joel isn't untouchable can you explain to me how Battier isn't fair value? Battier is twice the player Joel is and we could use his experience and shooting at the 3. I assumed all along that you were in the Joel is an untouchable camp because of Oden's injury history or some such. I'm actually legitimately curious why you personally thought it was a bad idea. A number of the people who hated it and slammed me for it (as opposed to disagreeing with it) didn't really say why they hated it with such a passion.
Ah that makes sense. And I agree about Rudy. It seems to me he will go when we find the PG we want (a young guy of course). Rudy for Flynn + filler? Rudy for Mike Conley? Rudy + Bayless + Outlaw for Conley and Gasol (is that overpaying do you think?).
I think this is what most people disagree with you on. Battier is not twice the player, and I don't see how one can come to that conclusion. PERs the last two years (15.0 is average) Battier: 11.7, 10.7 (this year) Przybilla: 12.3, 15.4 (this year) Battier is a great perimeter defender, Przybilla is a great interior defender. Both are great team defenders, but the team defense of big men tends to be more impactful. I realize that Battier does things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but they are mostly on the defensive end and I really don't think Przybilla is lacking in defense. Even if one posits "intangibles" for Battier (and none for Przybilla), he needs a significant amount just to catch Przybilla, let alone surpass him...let alone being "twice the player."
Seriously? Every thread that goes over 30-some posts becomes Imaginary Trade Land. I was joking earlier about an Imaginary Trade Sticky Thread, but Kee-rist. /End or rant
Battier's a good perimeter defender who seems to be a bit overrated IMO. Both Roy and Kobe Bryant had very few problems against him in the playoffs. Is Battier better defensively than Batum next year? I'm not sure about that one. Certainly not worthing giving up Przy for in Imaginary Trade Land.
Battier is nothing special. There's no way he's twice the player that Joel is. Minstrel goes into some of the reasons in his post. He didn't mention, though, that Battier is 31 years old--over a year older than Joel. He did not mention that Battier's field goal percentage has gone down in each of the last three years and that his PER has gone down in FIVE STRAIGHT YEARS. All of that shows a downward trend that I'm not sure he'll be able to turn around. That his PER has gone down for five straight seasons--when it peaked at a just-above-average 15.3--is reason enough for me to be uninterested in having him as a Blazer, period. To have to even explain why he's not twice the player that Joel is seems like a waste of time. But I have time to waste sometimes. So there you go. Ed O.
In Imaginary Trade Land, our team has already been gutted from the inside out. I'm pretty sure only Roy is left from our Original Team, and even he is on the trading block for Lebron.
The biggest acquisition of the offseason IMO in Imaginary Trade Land was how New Orleans gave up Chris Paul for Bayless/Outlaw/Aldridge. I was shocked about that one, and the Imaginary Trade Land team is going to be unstoppable from the perimeter and now has two All-Stars in the back court. Imaginary Kevin Pritchard really outdid himself on that one, but I do worry about a low post scorer..
I was responding to something that another poster said and actually answering their question and being reasonable. How about the threads you turned into imaginary Vulcan conspiracy land? Or imaginary valuation of Hinrich or any other random position you take in threads that is merely you spouting your opinion based on facts you see. I was just doing the same. I don't feel this team is complete, when someone busts out a trade idea or mentions a player is likely to be traded the immediate question that rises in my mind is for who?
He might be a little overrated, but I think he's still a pretty elite wing defender. Roy and Kobe are transcendent scorers...no one can stop them. I disagree that they had "few problems"...they got their numbers, but had to work very hard for them. Roy's scoring efficiency took a minor hit. I'm not sure if Kobe's did, since I don't know where to find advanced stats for single series (Roy only played one series, so his overall playoff numbers do the trick). Anyway, Battier is essentially entering his Bruce Bowen dotage. Not a productive player, a very good defender and potentially a little overrated due to that being his calling card. I don't think Battier would represent an upgrade on Batum.
Thanks for the reasonable response. I feel that battier's clutch abilities and anchoring of the perimeter along with range out to damn near half court on the three ball make him a great vet to have around the team and a good person to take up some minutes while batum continues to learn the game and get his 24 or so minutes a game. I feel like I would rather have a banging back-up PF and LMA as the front line for scoring reasons. I'm someone who values inside scoring more then most do in the moder hand check NBA. There's no arguing with the stats. I feel Battiers impact as a starting SF would be much larger the Joels 16 or so minutes at center and I guess that's where I part ways with most people.
