SI: NBA's Potential Secret Weapons - Webster

I certainly wish Martell the best and hope sincerely that he has a monster breakout year -- He's the kind of guy you hope puts it all together for a variety of reasons (high draft selection, periodic flashes of brilliance, maybe the prettiest stroke I've seen since Glen Rice and he's signed to a long-term cheap deal!).

But let's be real here people; Martell (despite the Utah quarter) has been a really inconsistent player in his three active seasons in the NBA and add to that a year out of basketball, we haven't seen him do anything on a court since he pulled up lame in that Kings pre-season game last year. At this point I think it's probably fair to hope that he's able to come back and just not be a detriment when he's on the court -- the ability to play passable wing defense and shoot the ball efficiently from the perimeter in 15-20 minutes per game -- I think you have to be willing to accept that for a guy who is coming off of a pretty serious injury.

 

When did that happen? We didn't trade our pick to Boston, we traded it (in the form of Tyrus Thomas) and Viktor Khryapa to the Bulls for LaMarcus Aldridge. We basically traded chump change for the pick that eventually got us Brandon Roy - although technically, we didn't draft either Aldridge (Chicago did) or Roy (Minnesota did).

BNM

 

What I meant is that none of us have seen him play in a long time and although I concede it is unlikely that he is better than he was in 07-08 right now, we don't know.

 

Put me in the camp that Webster will do well. Of course he's not played for a year so it may take a bit for him to get going this season, but I think he will. He's only 22 so I'm not to surprise at him being inconsistent in the past. Hopefully that'll change this season.

 

if he's to garner regular PT in 2009-10 he's going to have to be better then he was in 07-08 because the talent on the roster has significantly improved... this is not a bad thing. Batum was better as a skinny 19 year old rookie then 07-08 MW on both ends of the court. After a year working with the various Blazer trainers on his body and game, I sure don't think he'll be worse in his 2nd season. If so, I doubt he'll foul or tire out in 25 MPG or so.

Rudy is ahead of Webster in the PT pecking order as well. I'd expect we'll see RF teamed with Brandon at the wing spots far more then as backcourt partners. Brandon is probably their top wing option at either spot and certainly a better option then Martell. There are only 13 MPG (or so) of backup SG minutes and it's my feeling that Rudy will play at least 25 MPG. If Roy and Rudy are teamed on the wings for 13 MPG that only leaves about 10 MPG of SF minutes. If Martell hasn't improved since 07-08 as you expect, it's arguable whether he'll deserve any of those scraps over Travis.

career 3 pt%

Rudy 40%
Blake 39%
Webster 37%
Batum 37%
Travis 36%
Roy 36%

Hopefully everyone stays healthy this season and they'll be able to settle the PT questions by merit rather then default. But barring injury (and regular blowouts ), some decent players will be riding the pine much more then in seasons past.

STOMP

 

I really hope Webster lives up to the hype he is getting from people this year. I don't need him to be better than the two all league PG's we passed on for him, but it would be nice for him to be a boaderline all-star sometime in the near future. Maybe a 15/5/4 guy who doesn't only settle for the three ball?

 

This is a two fold kind of statement. Webster should be a better player BECAUSE he's surrounded by more talent. This is easily the best Blazers team he's played for and because of that I would anticipate less defensive attention going his way. Imagining him in our starting lineup excites me because he'll have lots of open looks. How do you defend that starting 5 with a "good" Webster? Tough, tough, tough.

p.s. Assuming Miller and Oden are part of that 5.

 

What defensive attention are you referring to? Dude's off the dribble game has been pretty nonexistent thus far into his career and (if memory serves) he enjoyed mostly wide open looks for his 3 attempts back in 07-08 playing off Roy and Aldridge. In half court sets he'd stand on the wing/in the corner with his feet set waiting for the ball to be swung to him and if he was open he'd let fly. He's certainly never been much of a go option as the clock is winding down, he rarely ever drove to the hole as evidenced by his miniscule FTA rate... he's been a perimeter spot up shooter and thats about it. Rudy Blake and Travis filled this role last year and did it at least as well. This year with Miller added to the mix, I'd expect Brandon to be doing this more then ever too. Martell will have to add to his skillset or shoot the lights out like JJones did if he's to wrestle PT away from the rest of this lineup as his 07-08 skillset has been duplicated.

STOMP

 

I like Webster, I hope he blows everyone away...but it seems to me like this Webster optimism is a function of:

1. Residue from last summers overheated Blazer hype machine...remember all the "Oden is a beast" talk...well that was always closely followed by or preceded by talk of how Webster looked awesome...I think some folks drank a little too much of that Kool-Aid.

2. Hope for a feel good story after how much of a bummer his season turned out last year.

Here's to hoping the hype is correct!

 

The league is already in trouble.



Get ready, NBA. Here come the Blazers.

 

But Oden is, in fact, a beast.

 

Agree