Rumor: Blazers discussions with Suns

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Ed O, Feb 10, 2009.

  1. AgentDrazenPetrovic

    AgentDrazenPetrovic Anyone But the Lakers

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    top 4 lock IMO. having that next level talent will really do something. Amare plays like Oden needs to. just would be kind of weird having both low post like that and no more inside-out game.....
     
  2. rocketeer

    rocketeer Active Member

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    the evidence that amare's per was inflated by d'antoni's system would be the years he was with d'antoni and the years he wasn't.

    compare last year to this year if you'd like. when shaq joined the suns, amare didn't decline last year. i don't know his per month to month(if you do feel free to share), but just looking at his other numbers it appears that he kept up his very high level of play that was consistent with a career high per.

    suddenly now this season without d'antoni, his production has dropped down all the way consistent with the last time he played without d'antoni for part of a season(and i doubt you'd disagree that d'antoni's first season in which he began coaching 20-30 games in, had no training camp to run his system, and had marbury running the point instead of nash wasn't really indicative of his system).
     
  3. The Sebastian Express

    The Sebastian Express Snarflepumpkin

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    I think it is more that Porter is an atrocious coach than it is than it is he's missing D'Antoni incredibly terribly. Obviously he is missing D'Antoni somewhat, but I do not think that explains everything.
     
  4. Ed O

    Ed O Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    Sample size is an issue, and then so is Amare's age. He was 20 and 21 his first two seasons before D'Antoni took over. Do you think that he's really the same level of player that he was in his second year at age 21?

    Ed O.
     
  5. number 10

    number 10 Our Savior

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    Or maybe Porter just isn't a very good coach? Amare could just as well be suffering from a Isiah Thomas level coach (please forgive me TP, nobody is that bad) and will explode, Vince Carter in New Jersey-style, on a new team.
     
  6. Ed O

    Ed O Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    Nash certainly isn't a Porter fan. Actually, no Suns have been happy with Porter's offense except for Shaq, as far as I can tell.

    Ed O.
     
  7. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    That's not very good evidence, IMO. Most of the pre-D'Antoni years were developing years for Amare. He would have been expected to improve with age. Which leaves us only with:

    One year is just too small a sample. But this is important to point out:

    2007-08: 27.6 PER / 28.2 USG%
    2008-09: 20.1 PER / 24.4 USG%

    His usage rate has fallen dramatically this year. If Phoenix is not putting the ball in his hands as much, due to featuring Shaq, it's not a surprise his productivity dropped. Last season, Phoenix wasn't featuring Shaq...this year, thanks to Kerr's (confused, IMO) philosophies, they are.
     
  8. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

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    Shaq got Oden in foul trouble. I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

    http://www.nba.com/games/20081122/PORPHX/boxscore.html

    http://www.nba.com/games/20081218/PHXPOR/boxscore.html

    That's when they faced each other head to head. Now would you mind not pulling shit out of your ass?
     
  9. rocketeer

    rocketeer Active Member

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    isiah wasn't really that bad of a coach. however, he was a terrible gm.
     
  10. Nikolokolus

    Nikolokolus There's always next year

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    Maybe I'm off base here and my recollection is wrong, but doesn't PER account for pace?

    I don't think you can say that Amar'e was just a good player under D'Antoni and is a much worse player just because Mike is gone ... I don't need stats to tell me that he is a great offensive power forward with incredible athlecism, great at getting to the line, decent rebounder and fairly disinterested defender, my own two eyes tell me that.

    The issue really boils down to would he resume being his juggernaut self if he was once again a featured guy in the offense, essentially 1b to Brandon's 1a? My guess is that he'd probably go right back to putting up a 23+ PER and while he would certainly take touches away from Greg, it's not like Oden's a featured guy in the offense anyway (yet). I think I could maybe live with the pecking order on offense being Roy --> Amar'e --> Oden, which theoretically allows Greg to gradually grow into the role of a low post presence and you let him focus primarily on defending the paint, blocking shots, rebounding and getting put backs on offensive boards.

    In any case, it's a tough call.
     
  11. rocketeer

    rocketeer Active Member

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    it definitely is a small sample, but it is what we have. do you suggest just completely overlooking this year entirely because the sample isn't large enough?
     
  12. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    Nate is currently already unwilling to put the ball in Oden's hands a lot. Presumably, he'd trust Amare with the ball. Allowing Roy and Amare to take the lion's share of the shots and leaving Oden to rebound, score on put-backs and play defense could be a pretty successful equation. This year, anyway.
     
  13. Minstrel

    Minstrel Top Of The Pops Global Moderator

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    Hello darkness, my old friend
    Not at all. I said in a couple of posts that his big drop in PER was concerning. But I'm not willing to count this as Amare's new level of play. Since Amare still has all the abilities he had last year, I'd tend to believe that given the ball more, Amare would produce more. As a rough estimate, I'd at least split the difference and place Amare at 23 PER, which would be a significant improvement on Aldridge, even with the defensive difference. A 23 PER with upside, would be my guess.
     
  14. Karl Malone's Elbows

    Karl Malone's Elbows Batum: once in a lifetime

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    Well it mattered enough for you to provoke an emotional response.

    Players I see ranking higher than Amare in MVP voting over the next 5-10 years:

    Lebron, Kobe, Paul, Wade, Howard, Anthony, Roy, Durrant, Rose, Oden... Just off the top of my head

    I just don't see Amare as an exceptional enough player to beat out those players for MVP. He doesn't do enough. Scoring isn't enough, it's never been enough. People used to compare Kobe and Vince. What a joke, Kobe always tried to play defense.

    This is the NBA so that's not really possible, not if you care about Championships that is, if you're talking fantasy then sure. In the NBA you have to play great defense to win a Championship. In terms of Championships Amare isn't much more valuable than Zach Randolph. They're both black holes. They're both team cancers. They both play a style that has never and will never win a Championship in the NBA.

    So did Zach.

    So did Zach.
     
  15. Da_O

    Da_O Abe Vigoda lives!

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    This really isn't a close call. Amare isn't worth Aldridge let alone adding in RLEC.

    PER is a joke and should not be used in evaluating players.
     
  16. rocketeer

    rocketeer Active Member

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    i don't see it as enough of an upgrade to also give up bayless and raef's contract.
     
  17. rocketeer

    rocketeer Active Member

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    that's not true at all.
     
  18. B-Roy

    B-Roy If it takes months

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  19. AgentDrazenPetrovic

    AgentDrazenPetrovic Anyone But the Lakers

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    I need Nash and Amare back if we're talking about LMA, RLEC and Bayless. probably not worth it when i did a scenario that worked out......
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2009
  20. AgentDrazenPetrovic

    AgentDrazenPetrovic Anyone But the Lakers

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    my trade proposal:

    Digou, RELC, Sergio, Frye, LMA

    for Nash and Amare

    woo hah!
     

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