funny how i get shit on for saying we are gonna get butler yet people actualy think the grizz are gonna trade gay to a team that threatned them....not to mention gay is their best young player. good god
Stats don't tell all that needs to be said about a player. I don't get to see Rudy Gay play very often and I don't want to Simmons this by making an absurd statement about I guy I don't know a lot about. That said, I think Gay is probably better then outlaw, if only because he might actually get better at some things. T-Law is in his 6th year in the league and still hasn't a clue on D. Gay may be able to be molded into a consistent defender. I don't see Portland doing this, though, since the last thing they need is to get younger.
Of course he's better than Outlaw but if we are going after a SF, I'd rather see Granger, Butler or Iguodala.
I thought I was clear that I didn't like dealing for Gay on the basis that Portland doesn't need more inexperience. If not, then consider this clarification. Granger is too young so I don't really want them to pull the trigger on that. Iggy is pretty good, but only in an up-tempo offense. He would suffer here. Butler is the only one of the three that would be a perfect fit.
Granger is older then Iguodala? I thought he came into the league when Roy and LA did. If he has 4 or 5 years in the league, then I stand corrected and would give my left nut to get him.
hu? granger is older than roy and next to lebron and chris paul might be the most ideal player in the entire league to plug in for us. unfortunately he's for practical purposes untouchable.
If you can get Gay, you trade Rudy, Outlaw...Batum...whomever to make it happen except for Bayless if you think he'll really develop. Gay is the real deal, will start at SF for the next 10 years alongside Roy, LMA and Oden. And we would have all of their bird rights. Sounds like a good plan to me. One good PG and we're there.
I am sorry - but given that Gay hoists 6 more shots per game and plays 10 more minutes per game - of course he is going to consistently be in the teens, especially when you remember that he is the 2nd option after Mayo. Travis is a 3rd option playing less minutes and getting less attempts - is it a surprise that he is not consistently in the teens? What is more important to notice is that Travis's TS% is actually higher, his block% is higher and his turn-over% is lower. People on this board are ga-ga over Travis's mistakes - but if you want a consistent production in the teens from Travis - give him the extra minutes that Gay gets and you will get these will less dumb mistakes (Gay's turnober percent is 13.9 vs. Travis's 9.6% - so for every 2 dumb mistakes Travis gives you - you will get 3 from Gay. Whoopee - where do we sign on? If there is something that Gay might have over Travis - is that he might have a higher ceiling - because he never got consistent coaching - but as a player - he actually has about the same game-time experience as Travis if you look at the minutes they played throughout their career - they both have around 7,000 minutes played - Actually Travis has 150 more minutes played over Rudy - but he was never the #1 option on a team... The real catch in this trade might actually be Conley - a Conley/Bayless future PG rotation could be very nice - buy Gay, so far in his career - is not much more than a slightly less efficient version of Travis getting bigger minutes on bad teams.
I already retracted my statement based on Granger's age and would love to add him to the Portland if they can get him. Not sure who I was thinking about when I made the comment about Granger.
My position on Gay: I agree with crowTrobot that Gay is currently very overrated. His actual level of play doesn't warrant the "young star" reputation he has. However, I think Gay has a fair amount of potential value. Gay, from my watching him in college and the pros, is what I'd call a "snap together" player. He's shown every tool and ability a wing player can have, in stretches. He just doesn't bring them all at the same time and consistently. He's a player for whom things can snap together and he'll go from average player to excellent player, or things will never quite come together and he'll end up having a Darius Miles type of career (probably minus the knuckle-headedness). Right now he's producing a fair amount but inefficiently. That's a lot more promising than a player who simply isn't even producing a lot. I wouldn't pay Caron Butler prices for him, but I would value him much more than, say, Travis Outlaw. If RLEC/Outlaw/Webster/draft pick/cash for Gay/bad contract would get the deal done, I'd definitely do it. I'm not sure I'd include Rudy Fernandez. I might if I had a lot more faith in his potential...I don't watch him enough to have such belief in him, but maybe Pritchard and his scouts do, in which case I think it would be reasonable to add Fernandez or Batum.
Oh comon man. Everybody who watches Travis knows he is the 2 to 3 bad game for 1 good game type of player. Averages mean nothing for him. Half of the games he doesn't even show up. You could give him all the extra minutes you want, but if his shot isn't falling, or he isn't mentally into the game, he isn't going to score anymore. Then go look at Gays box scores and you will see he shows up every night. He doesn't shoot 15% 2 nights in a row and then shoot 80% the next. He shoot in the mid forties most nights of the week. Consistently. He also has something else the Blazers could use a little of: Attitude and physicality. Portland has too many nice guys. They need to get a little nasty going.
