Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged)

yeah KPee sux truth speaker...

we asked you to leave

STOMP

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

kingspeed, you can stick it to me anytime

 

Re: It's a good thing that genius KP got rid of ZBO!

Seriously, I've never seen a fan of a team so obsessed with how others are doing. Z-Bo also led his team to the lottery for 6 straight seasons, but who's counting?

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

STOMP?? wow

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Just be happy Zach has finally got it. Don't need to stick it to any fans. He was a horrible leader in Portland, New York and L.A. Clippers. He has finally learned to lead a franchise and that's awesome! Good for him.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Portland, New York and the Clippers are apparently horrible front office organizations.

Wow...just looked it up. The last team to get out of the first round from those three above were the CLIPPERS.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Or maybe, they had a terrible player to build around at the time. Sorry, but anyone that seriously thought Zach was a good leader in Portland is smoking da good shit! I stood by him until he left; but looking back, he wasn't a leader. Unless to the titty bar.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

He was a pretty solid player on the court. Always trying hard..his comeback from MF surgery was pretty good. He worked at it. There was absolutely no one on the team that could reasonably put the ball in the hoop anyway. Same with the clippers and knicks teams.

"terrible player to build around at the time". That assumes there are any other players on the team. Those teams he were on were very sparse on the talent.

Zach's failures as a player in those earlier years are merely a function of bad management or bad teams (or both). He's the same guy he always has been.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

I never had a problem with his "scoring". It was the way he lead his team. There was a moment; the year we actually won the #1 pick, when we actually had a decent team and failed. He had Roy and LMA, plus Pryzbilla. That team should have been better. Was it the coach? Was it Zach? Was it Roy? Well at that time, this was still a Zach team; which he was still a 20/10 player and we missed the playoffs.

I really think Zach finally got it. He finally took the "I" out of team. You can see just by his assist average from this season to the previous 7. They jumped dramatically. That's the stat that really jumped out at me. He is sharing the ball more. Also, he isn't taking 15 seconds to take a shot either. Better ball movement, better offensive flow, and much better "team basketball".

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Its because Roy and Aldridge were both rookies. Team in heavy transition. His assists are up because he actually has people he can pass to that can make a shot.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Hey I am definitely not knocking you for having love for Zach. There was never doubt that he was a great rebounder and scorer. And who knows... I mean, we could have kept Zach, Roy, LMA and grabbed Durant. But in all honesty, I think and still think it was the right choice at the time. No one would have guessed Oden would be a injury nightmare and Roy would lose all his knees by this time. So arguments could be made, but what would have happened if Oden wasn't injured or Roy still had his body to back his heart.

Hindsight is 20/20

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Its not so much the ZBO love as I thought the trade was a TERRIBLE one to make.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Kevin Durant recently called Zach the best PF in the League.

"He's a monster."

Basically said he's unguardable on the block and he makes life for them even tougher when his mid-range jumper is falling.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

I'm on the Grizzly bandwagon from here on out. It's just a lot of fun watching Zach add great passing to an overall awesome offensive game. And that team has really added good-to-excellent defenders at all other positions, making his poor defense less of a liability. Zach and Gasol are the kind of big man tandem I'd always hoped Aldridge/Oden would be. (Well, I'd hoped our guys would be much better on the defensive end, but on offense...)

The way they closed out the Spurs and then stole home court advantage against the Thunder 48 hours later was really, really impressive. They're really an 8th seed in name only--they could've been a 5th seed if things had gone a little differently.

A lot of times it seems like guys who barely miss the All Star game one year have dominant playoff performances that solidify them as All Stars for several subsequent years. I was really hoping that'd happen with Aldridge, but it looks to me like if it comes down to LA or Z-bo for an All-Star spot, it's going to go to Z-bo from here on out.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

I wonder if getting passed from team to team like a cheap blunt affected Zach's maturity level.


Nah, probably not.


Had Z-Bo stayed in Portland he would not have matured in the same way and would most likely still be raping strippers while leading his team to a 33 win season year after year.

Good for him that he has figured some shit out.
Too bad for Portland he had to be a completely fuck while he was here.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

I posted this in the James Jones thread, since it was also discussing the Zach trade, but it really belongs here:

The Zach we traded also isn't the same Zach that is now playing for Memphis. Zach's shot selection has improved greatly, and as a result, so have his shooting percentages. He is also rebounding even better than he did in Portland. Yeah, he's cleaned up the off court problems, but he's also improved substantially on the court (after two down years with the Knicks and Clippers). Compare these numbers from Zach's last (and best) season in Portland:

ORtg = 106
DRtg = 109
WS = 5.7
WS/48 = 0.112

To this season in Memphis:

ORtg = 115
DRtg = 105
WS = 10.5
WS/48 = 0.185

Zach was very immature, both on the court and off, when he was here. In hindsight, we gave up on him two early (so did the Knicks and Clippers). He was 25 when we traded him, and had two down seasons immediately after the trade. Now, at 29, in Memphis he has matured into a much better player. The basic skills haven't changed. He's just learned how to use them more effectively. He scores less, but is a more efficient scorer. He's rebounding at the highest rate of his career and led the league in ORB% this season (take THAT Kevin Love), and he's a key reason why Memphis led the league in points in the paint during the regular season and why they are doing so well in the post season.

BTW, that Pau Gasol for Marc Gasol isn't looking so horrible these days. Marc and Zach together give the Grizzlies the best low post scoring/rebounding tandem in the league. They both score a ton of points in the paint, control the boards and Marc also gives them decent interior defense. He's not as gifted offensively as his brother, but he also doens't shy away from physical contact. Controlling the paint is a great strategy for winning in the post season. The Grizzlies led the league in points in the paint and that has carried over into the post season. It makes me wonder if losing Rudy Gay was a belssing in disguise. After Gay was injured, Memphis became a more inside oriented team, and less of a jump shooting team, and teams that can score in the paint traditionally do well in the post season.

BNM

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

There was a reason we gave ZBO that much money. He is not as horrible as everyone here thinks. He just got better since he's been in a system for a while where he has his role defined and had time to grow with teammates.

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

The phrase "Addition by Subtraction" should be fucking banned in Portland.

If anyone in the Blazers org ever says it in the future - fired immediately.

Fuuuuuuuuuuck!

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

Not that they were traded for each other, but I think it is very important to also remember that LaMarcus is not the same player he was at the time of the trade (or even the beginning of the season for that matter).

 

Re: Is it time for me to stick it to the ZBo haters yet?/Genius KP rid of ZBo (merged

But understand the position and we are looking at this in hindsight.

1.) LMA was a good character and up and coming talent.

2.) We just got Oden; not knowing he was going to play only 80 games in 3 years. So basically we had to decide on LMA or Zach; thinking Oden will eventually be our franchise center.

3.) Roy was playing out of his mind and doing a great job at it too. Roy needed the ball in his hands to be the most effective and so did Zach. The next decision had to be made do we stick with Roy or Zach?

4.) Zach had some serious off court issues that hampered corporate sponsorship. This is still a business and they needed those corporate sponsors to be a business.

5.) Zach had on court issues as well, with fights with team mates and inability to share the ball after getting it into the post.

So yes, now Zach is way valuable for Memphis and would be if he was still a Blazer performing this very same way; but for every turnaround like Zach, there are 100 Latrell Sprewells or Marbury's.

Yes there could have been a Miller, Roy, Durrant, Zach and Aldridge starting line-up; but there still is a good chance of a Miller, Matthews, Wallace, LMA and Oden. Still a very tough and physical line-up. So sometimes we kick ourselves, but we still have a few years of Oden to see if the decision is truly the right choice.