We have our team. No trades, just keep this guys together!!

I agree we have the needed pieces to win a championship, however we have too many pieces and things could get hairy before they just sort themselves out. We're gonna need to pick who we keep and the other guys that we let go and I hope we don't do that when they start fighting about it. If we can only deals guys we're going to let go already Nash would help in that the guys we keep would get more playing/development time, more playoff experience, it would help Oden and Aldridge develop immensely (having a real PG), it would make Brandon more versatile (learn to play off the ball more, him and Oden was beautiful last night), and it would get our guys so many easy buckets.

As Nash was on his way out, we'd potentially end up with a three guard rotation of Roy (who could move off the ball better), Rudy (who was even more adjusted), and Sergio (with two years to work on a better jumper and a team used to playing with a guy like him). Only spot minutes are left (after 35 for both Rudy and Roy and 20 for Sergio). Koponen could likely (or some 2nd round pick, or Batum at SG) fill the rest of the spot minutes.

If we could get him for Bayless/Blake/Outlaw you know it would be worth it (long-term).

Leaving:
Roy/Sergio/Koponen
Rudy/(2nd rounder, or first this year)
Webster/Batum/(2nd rounder)
Aldridge/Frye/(2nd rounder)
Oden/Pryzbilla/Freeland

After Nash retires, still looks like plenty of depth to me, especially when you consider all the cap space we'll have and draft picks even.

 

No I don't.

Neither would be an improvement to this team.

 

Brandon wouldn't play very well with Nash, would he? Seems like a bad fit to me, unless Nash is willing to change his role.

Although I'm intrigued with Ibaka, I'm not convinced that Mason would fit very well. Isn't his shot below average. Blazers that find themselves on the perimeter must be able to drain the shot. Outlaw's defense has vastly improved to the point where he's no longer a liability in my eyes and his shot is not just a faze. He's just that good of an outside shooter. There's a large sample size if you consider last years stats.

 

I am in the camp of making a trade to slim down the roster (both because young players won't be satisfied and I've always been in favor of a mainly 8-9 man rotation).

But I do think at this point, the only position to be trading for is PG position. I don't like the idea of bringing in a star SF with Batum, Webster, Outlaw, Rudy and Roy all able to play SF . . . Nate has to figure a way for Rudy and Roy to play together at the same time and I don't think bringing in a star SF is the answer.

A package of some combination of Raef, Sergio or Bayless or Blake or Webster or Outlaw or Frye should be attactive offer to a rebuilding team.

My thought for the day: Westbrook. Thunder are trying to build a new team around Durant. They lack big men and for whatever reason are trying to move Wilcox (unsatisfied).

Frye, Outlaw, Bayless and Raef for Wilcox and Westbrook.

I guess in the end whoever KP goes after is who I want. Last year he went after 2 underrated PG in Harris and Calderon and look how they are doing this year. I wonder who KP is eyeing now?

 

I'd think that Tony Parker would be a huge upgrade for Portland at the point, same with the defense of Harris. I like the team the way it is, but you do have Raef's contract out there and Webster coming back in a short time, something is going to have to give soon.

My guess is that Batum goes to the bench and Frye, Outlaw & Rudy get less minutes witht eh return of Webster. I can totally see a trade coming with Raef's contract and one of the outer core players (Webster, Outlaw, Frye, Sergio, Blake..) going for an upgrade at the point or small forward.

 

mulling this 12 deep roster minutes crunch some more...

There are 240 MPG for the guys to split up. If Rudy Roy Oden and LA are averaging low starter minutes of 32.5 each, that leaves 110 MPG for the other 8 guys or under 14 minutes each. If Blake Outlaw and Webster average 25 MPG, then the other 5 guys are looking at splitting up the remaining 35 minutes. If Joel gets 15 of those then Frye Sergio Batum and Bayless are scrapping over 20 minutes of PT.

Here's guessing that the first four guys I mentioned will average more then 32.5 MPG collectively this season. Something has got to give.

STOMP

 

Oden's knee?

That's right, I said it *in a Chris Rock vocie*

What were you expecting, another praising review about your post

 

Maybe Sergio just wants to play more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time. That's what happened to him last year and it's what was beginning to happen this year. That's changing. He's found a way to succeed at the same time as the team succeeding. Now he's getting more minutes. His stock is going up. If this all keeps up, he's put himself in as good of a position as possible IMO. What's great about having Blake as our starter, or as a veteran point guard, is he's probably not going to complain if his minutes get cut to say 24, 22, 20, or 18. The potential is there for Sergio to have an even increased role with us. Who knows maybe even further into the year he and Brandon can learn to play off of one another.

Bayless is a rookie. He's in the same position Sergio started out in. I think Bayless's professionalism keeps his attitude right, at least until the middle of next season.

Well he won't be an All Star here. Those off-season comments were made before now. Now he's getting 30 minutes a game, devolping into a better player, has what appears a strong appreciation of and camaraderie with Brandon, Rudy, and Lamarcus; and, all this with the team playing their best ball since he's been here. I don't see him making waves this season.

Considering how incredible our center tandem has been so far, I'd be, and I'd hope Paul Allen would be too, wanting to lock up Joel for another 4 years at above average annual amounts once this current contract is up.

I agree but with one caveat. The move can't disturb team chemistry or shorten our window of success. Steve Nash may sound like a huge get, but how does he fit in. How many quality years does he have left? What do we have to give up to rent said first-tier player.

I don't envy Pritchard. I honestly don't know what the right move is to make for this team. In this case, no move may end up being the right move. It just depends on how well our young guys develop.

 

The mere fact that Pritchard is mentioned constantly in trade chatter ought to tell you that he sees the 1-12 situation as more of a problem than a strength, especially when you consider that we still have unsettled positions at the 1 and 3; that we debate endlessly about who should start at either position should tell you all you need to know -- that no-one is clearly head and shoulders above their nearest competitor or consistent enough to put all doubt aside.

I like almost all of our young guys, but it would be selfish and ultimately counter productive to try and retain each and every one of them, and the simple fact of the matter is that having so many players of similar ages means young guys don't even have the luxury of biding their time waiting for older players to decline, move on or retire.

In KP we trust.

 

If a significant upgrade, or even a marginal upgrade, can be made without impeding the impact Brandon, Rudy, Lamarcus, Greg, and Joel are having this year, I'm all for it.

The addition of Devin Harris would improve us so significantly on defense, and wouldn't hinder our other stars' play on offense, that his outside shooting wouldn't be an issue.

Jose Calderon, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Tony Parker are other PGs that would have the same no-brainer impact without sacrificing age.

Realistically, there's no way their respective teams would move any of them though.

I have a soft spot for Kirk Hinrich. I think his defense, his respectable outside shot, and toughness is exactly what would propel Portland to be not just one of the top seeds in the West, but a team that could knock off the Lakers in the WCFs. But I several issues with trading for him.

- the perception is that he's not the nearly the same player he was. I don't see Pritchard wanting to deal with this mid-season, especially if Portland continues to play winning basketball.

- Sergio's advancements are so good right now that it's a mistake to not see how much better he can be. Most people think his shot and defense are what's keeping him from being our future PG, but I disagree. In a year, I predict his shooting woes and defensive lapses are forgotten about. The issue is whether he can play off of Brandon. Because if he can do that AND hit shots when he's open AND continue to be disruptive in the passing lanes, his speed, handles, and floor vision are too exceptional to give up on. Moving Sergio for Kirk is not going to happen now IMO (if it ever was). And, moving Blake for Kirk isn't a great idea either, since it would encroach on Sergio's role (I don't see Kirk taking a back seat for Sergio's development).

Now we could obviously upgrade at the SF position. The thing is that I'm beginning to realize is that unlike the PG position, where a killer outside shot isn't necessary, I think it is at the SF. Kirilenko, Gerald Wallace, and even Butler aren't consistently deadly enough from the perimeter. Players like Granger, Prince, or Thaddeus Young would be excellent. Just excellent. But it's not likely going to happen.

Adding Gerald Wallace seems like the likeliest of options, but in a Playoff series, he would be the weak link. Teams would double up on Roy, Rudy, Greg, and Lamarcus, daring Gerald to shoot from outside. Sure Wallace could do his thing and drive to the hole, but is that what we want to rely on. No.

The way I see it it is this team is best off, as of now, not making any moves. We need to see how good Sergio and Martell really are first.

 

If opposing teams are paying little defensive attention to him? I'd be happy to rely on Wallace's excellent slashing ability. Wallace is a very nice scoring option on a team with few others. If defenses are focused elsewhere, he'll have a field day.

In addition his defense is exceptional. He'd give us a perimeter stopper without needing to play Batum who, while he's been very encouraging for a 19 year old, still isn't the caliber of offensive player that can consistently hurt defenses. Considering that defense is currently the team's big problem, this would go a long way to helping.

I don't think Wallace would remotely be a weak link, in the playoffs. He's almost the ideal complementary scorer for a team that has a lot of scoring threats...he doesn't need the ball in his hands, but he's someone defenses have to account for or he'll be at the rim receiving a pass and finishing. And his defensive versatility is very valuable as he can defend 2-4.

Sure, I'd prefer to get a star or near-star point guard. But those simply are not ever made available once they've proven themselves. You can only get underperforming players (like Hinrich) or aging players (like Kidd). I'd like to maximize the talent in a consolidation trade, during the LaFrentz window. Wallace currently seems like the best mix of high-caliber talent and fitting team needs. No one else yet rumoured to be available in trade is a particularly high-level talent and still fairly young.

 

Keeping Outlaw and Webster would be even better.

 

I didn't think this through, but let me expand on my idea. With Wallace being ignored I would imagine that the driving lanes would be plugged up as well. Some sort of zone that would allow the other positions to be easily covered, plug up the paint on Wallace's side, and dare him to shoot from outside.

You've easily convinced me that he would be a definite improvement to the team. I just am left wondering if we would be better off with a Michael Redd-type All-Star Shooter than what Wallace brings. Only because it would force the opposition to defend with single-coverage at all five positions on the floor.

Then again, the Celtics were able to win their championship with Rondo.

 

did he tell you that? Good players on bad teams are always labeled as "never being able to play off the ball" and it drives me crazy. If they're a good versatile player that's a skill they'll add to make the team better (and get some much easier scores for themselves). I think Nash and Roy can both play off the ball (at least somewhat) because they both are good shooters (mid and long range). Nash plays off fairly well (when he is), and the fact is Roy will need to in order to maximize our bigs (and his) effectiveness. If there was as much validity to this playing off the ball BS team USA would've never even came close to winning in the Olympics...

Brandon is a good enough shooter, passer, and post player that he has the tools to play off the ball, someone just needs to give him a kick in the pants to get him to do it a little more.

 

Yeah. We had beers and discussed this all night long on the plane last night. WTF. Obviously no. In fact, I was offering my opinion and then asking you what you thought. Settle down man.

Are we still talking about Nash? Last time I checked they were a pretty good team the last few seasons.

I believe Roy can. You think Nash can, or at least somewhat can? Ok, well you better be sure of it before you mortgage our future to get him. It's not something I've seen him do. He requires the ball in his hands to be successful from what I've seen.

So now it's bullshit that certain players are better at playing with the ball in their hands opposed to playing off the ball. Whatever. The US won the gold for many reasons, but a large part was because they had players that were very good at distributing the ball and players that were fantastic at playing off the ball and putting the ball in the hoop.

I would actually agree with this. Brandon can almost do anything he sets his mind to. I'm not convinced that he feels as comfortable without the ball in his hands nor am I sure it's in the team's best interest to keep it out of his hands. That's what I was trying to discuss.

 

Actually, I think you are right. but it is interesting to think what the 2000 bulls would have been like if they let their "cake bake."

They had Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Jamal Crawford, Elton Brand and Ron Mercer- two future all-star level players, two nice players and, if I remember correctly, a fairly decent one in Mercer. The next year they drafted Eddy Curry.

It could have been a decent lineup in time- better than what they ended up with, at least.

Crawford
Ron Mercer
Artest
Brand
Miller/Curry

 

raef can go lol.