http://www.blazersedge.com/2011/4/29/2141692/blazers-gm-rich-chos-year-end-thoughts Key quote: "We need some more speed, size and some more depth in general. And some shooting." When I saw that, my first thought was how the heck did we get in a position where we needed so much?
I'm not so sure we need all that much. I mean, we made the playoffs as the #6 seed without Oden, without Roy (and when he did play he hurt us more than helped), Camby missed a fair amount of games and whatever his offensive output was dwindled, missing a backup center when Joel was traded and without a backup PF. Our shooters disappointed too often. So making the playoffs missing our top 2 players tells me we have a fair amount of talent as it is. I mean, it's not as if this is hockey and the playoffs can be obtained losing 75% of your games. We also have to be realistic as to what we can get. We have to start looking at Miller's replacement due to his age. It's not going to be Mills. Johnson has the tools, but he dramatically failed to put anything together, so I suspect we have to look elsewhere. But we have precious little players to trade and I don't even know who might be available. Depth at center and PF are needs. If Oden can return and give 20-28 mpg, then Camby or even resigning Joel will take care of that. And I think a backup PF is fairly easy to obtain via the draft or free agency. That leaves shooters. Those are hard to come by.
You realize that Oden won't even be cleared to run until November. Any plan that Portland comes up with that counts on Oden playing one second of basketball is a waste of time. He should be considered a pleasant surprise and nothing more.
Well, I think we do need all that: size (especially as far as bulk, our length is fine), with Roy, Miller, Camby we definitely need some speed, no question about lack of depth at point guard and bigs; and shooting is probably one of biggest problems. Seems like some guys will have to go; we can't bring in all that without shedding some, although I guess if Mills and two Johnsons and Luke Babbit and Rudy all went..... I'd like to keep Chris Johnson. But ideally we would want to find guys with speed and shooting and that is hard to find. Or guys with bulk and shooting, again hard to find.
Unfortunately, game-changing big men are at somewhat of a premium in the league. And to plan to either (a) have enough to entice a free-agent big to come here--with our whopping MLE (if that's even around next year)-- or (b) procure a pick high enough to get a big man in the draft with a modicum of upside with our limited trade assets seem like more of a "waste of time" than just counting on Greg to come back from this injury like his others.
You make a good point. Actually, I do consider Oden may not be playing until the all-star break. That gives him 1/2 a season to get with the program- which is very doable.
BTW, if Orlando does blow it up and trade Howard while he still has some value, maybe there's a way to trade Andre for Redick so that ORL can waive him. Or see what it would cost for oJ Mayo.
He said it himself in an in-game interview a few weeks ago. Just think about it. He had MF in December, 2010. Even with a liberal estimation, it takes at least a year to do anything stressful on that knee. I think he's gonna come back in January or so.
The Grizz had a deal in place at the deadline involving Mayo for Josh McRoberts and a 1st round pick. It came in a few mins after the deadline passed apparently, so it didn't go through. I don't know if Mayo's performance since then has increased his value much.
Maybe some of it could be internal. For example Chris Johnson could bulk up; Wesley Matthews could learn to shoot consistently (it's only his second year in the league).
what do you guys think of Aaron Brooks, he really fell off this yr - take a shot while he's likely on the cheap side? sign and trade with Phoenix?
I'm luke warm on him. He has some good skills, but his attitude just sucks. He also strikes me as not a team player. I think a PG has got to be a team player. To me, he just seems to play for himself.
I'd take Brooks. He's the kind of guy we need to look at: good shooter, with low trade value. I think he can rejuvenate his career in Portland. But I also think it's unlikely that PHX trades any PG other than Nash in the near future.
My recollection is that he said he wouldn't start running for 5 months. May, June, July, August, Sept. is five months. And that doesn't account for the couple of weeks since he said it. There are also reports that he is already running on a treadmill. Go Blazers
Exactly. The team simply can't count on anything from Greg until he has a history of playing healthy for at least one season. It's difficult to see that happening. This team needs: - Fast PG that can get into the lane and shoot from distance (Probably impossible to find this summer) - Legit backup big with NBA experience (Carl Landry and Samuel Dalembert are great FA options) - A shooter that can get to the FT line (Jamal Crawford and Jason Richardson are great FA options) - Rid the roster of inconsistent "talent" (Rudy, Batum)
Running is one thing. Being able to put physical stress on the load bearing parts of that knee is another. I hope he comes back by the start of the season (if there is one), but my expectation is at least 1 yr from the day of surgery.
