So much for celebrating the Blazers’ strong start to the season and LaMarcus Aldridge’s first All-Star selection. Portland instead used the trade deadline to overhaul the franchise. Longtime coach Nate McMillan was fired, Greg Oden was waived and center Marcus Camby was sent to the Rockets for a pair of draft busts (Jonny Flynn and Hasheem Thabeet) and a second-round pick in what essentially was a salary dump. Wallace also was sent to the Nets for center Mehmet Okur, journeyman forward Shawne Williams and a first-round pick. The Blazers’ implosion was both sudden and surprising. The team had tuned out McMillan and regularly has been getting blown out on the road. Even worse: The Blazers couldn’t move guard Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford. The drat pick Portland received in the Wallace trade might be the only thing appealing to Blazers fans. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-spears_nba_trade_deadline_winners_losers_031512
Salary dump? It's obvious this idiot didn't see that Camby and Oden were free agents after this season. He might want to do a little research before writing.
Marc Spears is better than this... but he's a big Andre Miller guy, and hated how we treated him. I do wonder if we could've gotten another first-round pick for Crawford but oh well.
Marc Spears hates the Blazers in general. Never has anything nice to say about them and jumps on anything that goes wrong, kind of like how Adrian Woj was when KP was here.
He didn't like him because Pritchard got all conceited and smiley whenever the Oregonian praised him, instead of mentioning names lf those deserving credit. He never shared credit.
This is an incredibly misinformed point of view. Spears is one of the most even-handed writers that cover the league.
Well, they really were losers; they only did half the job because they still have Felton and Crawford. I think an experienced GM could have read the situation better and got Crawford traded. And an experienced GM would have the guts to say to Miller and whoever else; we need to buy out Felton today; let's not do this halfway. I understand we are all relieved that they didn't stand pat, but it's really inexcusable and just dumb that they haven't finished the job.
It doesn't matter. Neither guy is going to be here beyond this season and in the near term playing them probably helps ensure a higher draft pick. What's the big downside here?
They were losers because they still have Felton and Crawford for 23 whole games? This is a very minor detail in the grand scheme. The bottom line is they had a plan and they executed it. No NON-expiring contracts came back. No Blake, No Rid. Asking for a 1st round pick for those two guys while not taking on a contract was a lot to ask for. They were not losers. Their experience was a non-factor.
Felton is just a big enough jerk that he will go on a hot streak and get us out of the lottery! And i don't know how Elliot Williams is doing but i would like to see him playing 30 minutes a night, both at SG and also tried at PG. A player doesn't really get better unless they are playing a lot of minutes at the highest level. I want to see enough of Nolan Smith and Johnny Flynn so we can definitely know what we have in them and make the appropriate decisions on their futures. And I don't even want a guy like Felton in the locker room
That's what I'm thinking as well. From the reports, non of the offers didn't include us taking a long term contract back. If that was the case, then I think management did a great job not being desperate like NJ was and make a deal they may later regret. Crawford and Felton are 100% guaranteed gone by this summer. If anything, them still in our line-up only helps our lotto chances. It's a win win, IMO.
And Felton is gone after the season for sure. Perhaps Crawful will not exercise his option and go as well.
