What are you talking about? This team runs plenty. Its not Phoenix, but that's fine. The reins here are not "pulled tightly." Coached well, you bet.
I think this is THE trade.... ATL is competing for a playoff spot, but they are a financial mess right now...they just signed Josh Smith and Joe Joe Johnson to big deals and this summer both Mike Bibby AND Marvin Williams are FA....Remember they let Josh Childress walk last year b\c they thought they could re-sign him on the cheap and miscalculated interest (and his interest) from overseas.... I think the chances are VERY good that they lose one if not both players in FA......for nothing..... So why would they NOT pass up on an opportunity to get some young players, maybe a pick AND keep a majority of that cap space (if they had let Bibby & Marvin walk)? LaFrentz's deal is basically free this year and a huge expiring... They could get a young PG...either Sergio or Bayless (likely would have to be Bayless, but who knows?) They get a young SF in Outlaw (Would POR deal Batum? not likely)... maybe a filler contract like a Frye...who POR was going to let walk anyhow...to help with thier short bench.... Both Bayless\Sergio and Outlaw would be on very cheap deals...and you can't tell me that in the EC...That a team with Bayless, Johnson, Smith, Horford and Pachulia with Outlaw, Law & Frye coming off the bench wouldn't have a VERY good chance to make the playoffs...b\c they certainly would... and it fits in with what POR mgmt has repeatedly stated...a player that fits in with thier core...Marvin Williams is 22 years old...and has a lot of room to grow as a player.....I think he would be avery good addition.... and I like the addition of a guy like Bibby a lot.....He instantly makes that starting unit more efffective...He is certainly a major upgrade over Blake, who would move into a b\u role...until Sergio proves himself ready (he is) to assume that spot..... PG: Bibby, Blake, Sergio (or Bayless) SG: Roy, Fernandez SF: M.Williams (could play some b\u PF as well), Webster, Batum PF: Aldridge, Diogu, Randolph (for now....Freeland, FA pickup or future draft pick down the road?) C: Oden, Przybilla I woudln't mind Hinrich\Deng either, or finding some way to get Caron Butler, however unlikely that is to occur...and perhaps G.Wallace and R.Felton could be a likely deal as well...but I am pretty sure that POR has expressed interest in M.Williams before, and Bibby is the best AVAILABLE PG they could hope to get (heck I would recommend they pursue him in FA anyway)...This is the deal they should be working on IMO....
If it doesn't make ATL any better (which it clearly doesn't), then they won't be interested. As much as cap space looks attractive, a top tier team in the Eastern conference isn't looking for a salary dump with 2 of their best players. We would likely have to give up one of our core to get them, which isn't happening, either. If you haven't noticed, pretty much every team we've been rumored with lately is a sub-.500 team looking to donate one of their better players for Raef, not a playoff contender (unless you want to call Dallas that).
Since I resemble that remark I'd like to clarify. I do not criticize Bayless as not meeting my expectations. He has performed pretty much like I expected. I merely criticize other poster's absurdly unrealistic expectations of him, and their unfounded insistence that he has in any way consistently met them so far.
Um. You know what "Pace" is, right? And you know that the Blazers are last in it, right? 25 Cleveland 91.8 26 San Antonio 90.5 27 Charlotte 90.2 28 Detroit 89.7 29 New Orleans 89.6 30 Portland 88.6 As you can see, it's not even close, with three teams closer to NO than Portland is. The Blazers do NOT run in comparison to every other NBA team. Ed O.
I think Brandon is more the reason the team doesn't run than Nate. When Sergio/Rudy/Bayless, etc. are moving the ball up, they can go plenty fast and push the break. Passing the ball to Brandon almost instantly kills any break. Very rarely does he push it. It would be interesting to see what the "pace" is with Bradon in and out of the lineup. My guess is the number of fast breaks triples.
Look at Nate's coaching career, though. His teams have, with only one or two exceptions, always been in the bottom third of the NBA, and often in the bottom five. Ed O.
No doubt that Nate doesn't emphasis the break. But, I couldn't help noticing recently how many more breaks the team gets when Brandon doesn't touch the ball. The ultimate speed drill appears to be outletting to Rudy on the side. It doesn't sit in his hands very long.
Brandon likes having the ball in his hands. I noticed during the All-Star game last year, it bothered him that Chris Paul was dominating the ball. Funny though, he played really well with CP3. I think Roy could be a spot up shooter, it's just not his style.
I disagree. I think the ATL trade has serious merit. Assume the trade proposal is Bibby + Williams for Travis + Sergio + Reaf. Atlanta would be taking back approximately $3-million less in salary. So this would save them roughly $5.5-million this year ($1.5 from the ½ years salary difference + $4 from LaFrentz insurance). When you have financial issues like the Hawks do, CASH IS KING! There is NO WAY the Hawks would resign Bibby. So the trade really boils down to Williams for Travis + Sergio. That is close to being a fair trade IMO. When you consider that Atlanta would have two productive young talents under contract for next year for only $5-million (when it would cost $8-10 million to resign Williams), the trade quickly becomes fair.
Bibby wouldn't be bad... but would Marvin Williams really be the kind of small forward that we want? I haven't been able to watch much of him over the past couple years, but I've never been under the impression that he's a solid defender or passer, am I wrong?
he is averaging 13.7 PPG and 6.3 RPG and shooting 38.8% from three. His PER is 15.96, TS is .579. His rebounding, PER and TS have improved each season he has been starting His d has been improving and I would say he's an average defender right now and he gets about 1 steal a game. He's definitely better than the SF's we have right now, and he doesn't mind not being the #1, #2 or #3 guy. Although I do hope Batum will become better, and I think it's very possible
At this point, I would rather have an older Vince Carter who is playing All-Star caliber basketball, than a young Marvin Williams. I think the goal at this point should be to find a stop-gap, so Batum can be allowed to develop. I think Batum is the future. We've all seen the flashes. He's going to be a good player. If a Vince Carter can come in for 3-4 years and play at a high level, than leave or step back, that would be ideal.
