Sacramento's stud SG McLemore? Seems Sacramento showed us they were willing to let him go when they made offers to Matthews and Ellis. Maybe they would be willing to give us something for him?
Are you sure about that? Aside from Oden, Roy, Aldridge, and maybe Rudy, who were the "young talents" on that team that exuded so much more potential than what we have now? Go ahead, I'll wait. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2008.html
IMO if we get Kanter my guess is on of the bigs goes and I am thinking Kaman and/or Plumlee are most likely.
Only he's not. Although he did raise his PER from 7.7 to 10.4. Came in as a "pure shooter" -- streaky at best. Barnes would be my target. With three max deals on the books it's a viable option IMO.
I think we keep Plumlee. I have a feeling we will trade Von and maybe Henderson for McLemore. Sacramento is thin at PF and Anderson seems like a better compliment for Rondo and Gay.
I would be very happy to get McLemore because he's just exactly the "diamond in the rough" type athletic guard we are looking for. But if we get Barnes, I would shit just the same.
Looking at what GS really wants and Sac, we could come away with both players if we do it right That's two shits for the price of one!
Your list shows 4-6 other young guys who everyone considered to be full of potential. Frye, Jack, Sergio, and Webster all had either 1 or 2 years of experience. Outlaw and Blake had 4.
Considering that Uncle Paul is a basketball fan, Blazers owner, and Seattle-Ite, I wonder if he may have had something to do with championing this move and putting the screws to Bennett. Because the whole Zombie Sonics thing is half the reason this move is so much fun. They say revenge is best served cold. Fuck Clay Bennett with a Northwest chain saw.
But what we know was that those players (as well as Oden and Rudy) showed little improvement from that '08 season, yet we still jumped to legitimacy and 54 wins the next year. The point is if that young group could go .500 and then improve from there, this young group could absolutely do the same.
The Blazers are NOT tanking. They are retooling. They can, because Olshey has set the table to make a retool possible. Go Olshey!
Olshey said he wasn't retooling, so I am calling it a recalibration, and feel strongly the forum should adopt this as well
Barnes would be nice as we need his skill set at SF. I am anxious to see Connaughton play. I have talked to a few college basketball "enthusiasts" who are not Blazer fans who think we have a steal with Pat. Could he be just as good as McLemore? Plumlee is interesting. On one hand I don't think we want to move him or his great contract. However I think smart GM's also see his value and because of it and his small contract, he will be our trade bait. At first I thought who do we have that GS would give Barnes up for? Plumlee does fit their up- tempo system well.
IIRC, he said it wasn't a 'rebuild', then he called it an 'emerging roster'. Recalibration works for me, and I think that's pretty accurate.
The GS scenario is a bit of an anomaly. They want to shed space and Barnes has become a bit of a 3rd wheel for them. I don't think they give him away, but I do believe they will give him at some sort of discount. It could be possible we may have to eat one of their negative contracts and an up and coming player. I would much rather keep Plumlee if we are getting Kanter only because Kanter's defense is pretty bad. We need to switch out if we need defense.
Barganani was first, Roy was 6th, many examples of players picked high that didn't amount to shit. Your response holds absolutely zero merit. Aldridge was a project player. If you think he wasn't, then I got an igloo I need to sell you in Arizona for cheap.
The individual players didn't show major improvements, but the team as a whole improved via chemistry and role-embracing. And yes, if we keep Kanter, I am absolutely comparing this group to that in term of young talent. Dame is as talented as Roy. Kanter is arguably more talented than Aldridge. Leonard definitely has more potential than Frye. I'd easily take CJ over Jack. Crabbe compares to Webster, as Aminu does to Outlaw. Frazier is probably as good now as Sergio was then. Connaughton only lacks Rudy's passing skill, but has a lot more heart. Plumlee vs McRoberts? Please. And then we've got Vonleh, Davis, and cap space. Yes, I see plenty of potential here, and would be thrilled if this ended up a .500 team this season.
Aldridge wasn't a project player. He put up 15/9 as a sophomore and was Big 12 DPOY. The Bulls wanted Tyrus Thomas because they believed he had more upside (morons).
Yeah but their only two bad contracts left are Bogut , and Iguodala. if they get rid of Barnes that means they are keeping Iggy. And if they dump Bogut they will want a center in return. I would love for them to take Kaman, but I bet they would want Plumlee. I agree though I want to keep him too, regardless if we get Kanter or not.
