I saw Hibbert play a couple of days ago. He may not have the potential of Oden but he is pretty damn good. Plus he actually plays in games. I highly doubt that Indy would make any sort of deal for Oden right now.
Plus if folks were actually paying attention they would notice Indy is listed as a playoff team right now, which means that pick isn't even a lotto pick. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago Jerryd Bayless was traded for a pick that now looks like it will be in the high 20's? Do we really need to repeat the same mistakes over and over?
Repped for your first point. There is no set definition for rebuild and retool. Question is going to be whether any of the competing teams have assets to sacrafice future wins to get better now. A trade I am playing around with is Steve Nash to Orlando, Jameer Nelson to Portland, and Greg Oden to Phoenix.
It's tough to come up with a rebuilding strategy with no idea what the new CBA is going to look like. I'm in favor of trading our vets (Miller, Camby, Przy) and players not in the plans (Rudy, the Euros). For the rest of the bunch, I say wait until the new CBA is negotiated and then design how we're going to get competitive again.
Seems to me you build a champion through a combination of drafting at least one great player and adding around him through trades. If the Blazers are going to reload, they probably need to end up with a terrible record to get ping pong ball odds in their favor. Even a #1 pick in the 1st round doesn't guarantee you get that special player I mentioned. The Bulls still haven't made it out of the 2nd round since the Jordan days, in spite of a slew of #1, #2, #4 type picks...
Well I guess that goes to show you how important it is who you pick. Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry really aren't good guys to build a team around. I think the opposite about Derek Rose.
And it goes to show how competitive the league is. Thirty teams are all trying for the same prize. Nothing is guaranteed and it only takes a couple of bad breaks to take you from contender to pretender.
To be fair, the Bulls never were patient enough to allow those two to develop properly. They went from 15 -> 22 -> 33 wins with them, then fired Cartwright (a big man) as coach. Curry still has a decent career PER, and Chandler has had good seasons. I think both were harmed by being traded, though Curry was actually good for the Knicks for a couple seasons before imploding. The Bulls did win 47 games with those two guys.
I don't think that trading Camby, Miller and/or Joel would be "rebuilding". It would be taking players that are mature (and therefore have value) and converting them into less mature players or draft picks with much more potential down the road (and therefore have value). Trading Oden or Aldridge or even Batum? THAT is rebuilding. Ed O.
Josh (Portland) Any ideas about Portland's rumored youth movement? John Hollinger (3:08 PM) Look, it makes all kinds of sense to trade Miller + Przybilla and people here were talking about it before the season ... just with an eye toward a very different type of move than they'd be looking at right now. I don't see them rushing into anything, certainly Rich Cho isn't somebody prone to acting rashly ... but I do think Miller is certain to be gone by the deadline, and Przybilla at least 50-50.
Replace Hollinger's name with Mixum or Pinwheel1 or EdO or.................and the answer is similar. Everyone is just guessing and mentioning scenarios that make the most sense. Trading expiring contracts..........Hollinger knows nothing. just like me.
Re-tool with players like Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala, Mo Williams, Varejao, Jameer Nelson, Steve Nash, OJ Mayo (not a bad Rudy replacement), Boobie Gibson, JJ Hickson (the back up PF we're looking for?), or even Antawn Jamison. Cho can still save us this season. Rebuilding would be horrible, not to mention how terrible we are at drafting as mixum said. Start over and get knack to being an 8 seed in 5 years? No thank you. We still have good trading chips to improve our team THIS YEAR.
