Yes, hate to have him kill our excellent ball movement and hinder LMA from developing a dominating inside game.
He makes $16 million this year. If a player at that price doesn't make a team better, he makes them worse.
I checked out of curiousity.. through 27 games last year the Grizz were 9-18 a .333 clip.. so they are technically improved.. on pace for a 9 win improvement.
The problem is he'd have to accept a secondary or tertiary role, focusing on playing defense and getting his points off of rebounds instead of having plays run for him. He was a terrific garbageman when he was young and trying to earn his stripes in the NBA. I'm convinced we ruined his game when we made him the #1 option and gave him his Richard Jefferson deal.
The biggest problem with him is his contract. He is a good player with flaws, but he's not a max-level player. Ed O.
I agree, and I will go a bit farther back than that, even. He should have been worked into the lineup, not handed a starting spot. He was a very effective player off the bench in the playoffs, and he should have come off the bench the next year, too... learning how to play with other good players. Instead? He's been in a position where playing a more team-oriented game doesn't pay off, either in terms of wins or salary. Hopefully he can learn to play with other good players as he matures, but it's possible he's permanently damaged/malformed. Ed O.
Bull fucking shit. The 2002-03 Blazers were a very good team and he played very well, ESP when Sheed missed games. In the playoffs, after the Blazers fell behind 0-3, Cheeks inserted Zach into the starting lineup and we won three straight. It was the closest we've been to winning a playoff series in the last 9 years.
We got rid of Sheed to give Zach minutes to develop. Sheed's better. We got rid of Zach to give Aldridge minutes to develop. Zach's still better. We got rid of Udoku to give Outlaw and Webster minutes to develop. Udoku would help us more than Webster does. I have come to agree with Pritchard that we should never change the roster.
You have a few instances when zach shines and it's true - this year included. The overwhelming evidence is he hurts more than he helps. As stated, mostly because his huge contract prevents the crappy teams he is on from getting quality players along side him.
Yes, because all the teams he has been on have traditionally been great at obtaining great players on their teams (Knicks, Clippers and Grizzlies). It's Zach's fault.
True, Zach is definitely a stat filler, but our issue in Portland was more about what he did off the court than on it. It's nice to see him finally "GET IT" and grow up. It would have been nice to see him putting those type of stats in Portland, unfortunately for us, KP knew he didn't fit our culture. Just a little FYI. If we would have picked Durant instead of Oden, Zach would have still been on this team. We would have had a starting line-up like this. Blake, Roy, Durant, Zach, Aldridge. Hmmm.... Sounds pretty good, especially knowing we would still have players like Webs, Batum, Fernandez, and Pryzbilla on this core.
