This position is still, IMO, our weakest link. And that's not to say that I haven't been happy with Steve Blake's career year, Sergio's improvements, and the acquisition/progress of Jerryd. I have been. But if you were looking to improve this team you'd be hard pressed to not begin at this guard spot. Blake is steady as hell. If I had my way I'd figure out a way to keep him in the rotation regardless of any moves we make. He would be quite possibly the best reserve point guard in the league. As a starter he's certainly above average, and he's been an integral part of our offensive success. He shoots well and hardly ever makes a mistake. I want more though then just sure handedness and outside shooting from this position. It's the point guards that put pressure on the opposition with dribble-drives or have more mid-range games that really are the difference makers in this league. This and, of course, defensive talents are where we could improve our team. Sergio is still young and he has improved all facets of his game. The problem is this team has improved much faster than he has. I'm still very intrigued with how good he can become. His shooting will always be suspect, but it's not the oh-crap-he's-launching-a-three type fear that I usually went through last year. The biggest issue I have with Sergio is his lack of toughness, size, and speed. He could get by with missing two of these, but not all three. It's been nice to have him as a back-up, but I don't feel he'll fit in very well with next year's goals - a deep Playoff run. As for Jerryd, I wasn't impressed with him at Arizona. Obviously he is much better than the player I remember watching. I have no doubts that he can become a reliable outside shooter. The way he can, at will, get where he wants on the court is a super valuable talent. He has the tenacity to become a solid defender. He's the anti-Sergio. My big question is: Can he run the team at such an early age? If we don't find out that answer this year I really don't think it's a good idea to head into next season assuming he can handle starting or being a back up. He hasn't shown enough signs of an ability to create for others, play team defense, or handle the rock under pressure. Way too many question marks as of today. Petteri Koponen isn't the answer yet either. He too is showing a lot of promise though. He's playing decent with Virtus Bologna, which has turned into a quality basketball team. I don't get the feeling he's made vast leaps of improvements though to warrant moving Jerryd Bayless either to the off-guard position or - gasp - off the team entirely via a trade. Here's a good report on Pett's current happenings ------> http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/2/23/768415/the-other-reserve-point-gu There will be a few point guards available this summer - namely Andre Miller, Mike Bibby, and Ramon Sessions - that I like. Of these free agents, only Ramon Sessions fits the team's timeline. Not only that, he can be had at a likely more reasonable rate than the vets. The issue with any of these players is that Portland has to wait until after the July Moratorium to begin negotiating. Do we really want to pass up opportunities in the draft or via trades (we can begin trading after the last day of the season and before July 1st) only to find out that a deal wasn't reachable with our free agent target? Kirk Hinrich, Aaron Brooks, T.J. Ford, and Mike Conley could arguably be pried away from their teams if the right deal could be struck. I think Hinrich, Brooks, and Conley would be definite upgrades over Sergio. There's absolutely no way though we should help out Houston or Memphis. I can't say the same about any of the above players, except for Hinrich, being a significant upgrade over Steve Blake, especially when considering the relative steal Steve's contract is. At this point, the risk to wait for Sessions is worth it. If we can't reach a deal with him, continuing on with Steve Blake isn't a bad scenario considering all options. The way I see it. Plan A: Pick up Steve Blake's option, trade for Kirk Hinrich before July 1st, and sign Ramon Sessions in free agency. Sessions is your starter and Hinrich backs him up. Steve Blake is then packaged to Miami or Orlando in a small deal. Plan B: Pick up Steve Blake's option, trade for Kirk Hinrich before July 1st. One player wins the starting position in training camp and the other backs him up. Ramon Sessions is already displaying all-around skills. He appears to be potential All Star material. Kirk just doesn't get enough credit as a perimeter, tough-nosed defender. He may not give Chicago much on the offensive end this year, but he's allowing the oppositions' point guards considerably less. Dude was meant to play Playoff-style, slow-it-down basketball. This team needs defense and these players can provide this without hurting our offensive numbers. I don't see many point guards via the draft that are both attainable and could step in next year and provide more leadership than the above mentioned guards. Even if Ricky Rubio comes out, he's still too young to contribute at a high level for the length of an NBA season. He will have to adjust. He's not Jesus. I doubt we have a shot at him anyway. I'm not even sure if he's going to declare for the draft. I like Jeff Teague (A LOT), and wonder whether if he'd fit more into Portland's plans than Bayless. Jrue Holiday of UCLA is going to be a heck of a good defender. I'm following these guys closely. I do see a glimmer of hope in the possible crop of Euro point guards coming out in this year's draft. Most notably Sergio Llul appears to be a young and talented point guard from Spain. Trying to find out more about him, but from what I read on Draft Express he could be the real deal. I would love to draft another point guard on this coming draft. Anyway, let me know what you think about taking this sort of approach.
The interesting thing to see with le Capitan is to find out what Chicago does with Gordon. If they can not resign him - doubt Kirk will be moved. But - who knows, at this point. Maybe we are lucky, can swap picks with a high-pick team and draft Rubio who might still be in the draft...
Frankly, I think if a serious upgrade was made at the small forward position, with a guy who can play tough defense and score at a steady rate (Tayshaun Prince, Gerald Wallace, etc.), with Nicolas backing him up, and add a bruising backup power forward who can play tough in the paint, clean up the glass and deliver some bone jarring fouls this team could be in pretty good shape. Part of the problem I see with trying to upgrade the point guard position is that most of the available names are either pretty old, not all that exciting, or very expensive (or some combination of all three characteristics). Hinrich is slightly intriguing, Andre Miller could be a decent FA pickup assuming Philly doesn't resign him first, Sessions would be great, but it's going to be tough to get him when Milwaukee holds his bird rights ... Who knows what could happen, but I'm trying to not think about it for the next 9 weeks or so; I just want to see what this current group can do in an honest to god battle to make the post-season before getting too into who this team should get or which positions to revamp.
Stomp - Jennings seems to be having a tough time making the right decisions on and off the court. He's young though and that could just be par for the course. Right or wrong, I wonder if these questionable choices make him "ineligible" for Portland's "culture".
I haven't seen Jennings outside of Youtube vids, but I have seen Rubio play a bit when I was trying to find Rudy's games with his club in Spain. He reminds me of CP3. No joke.
Actually we're in a better position to sign Sessions than Milwaukee is. Here's what I had found out recently about that situation. ---> http://sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135836
Here's an article written by Jonathan Givony of Draft Express in December. He's got a ways to go still on the court it seems. http://www.draftexpress.com/article/-Blogging-Through-Europe-2008-Part-Six-Spain-2--3063/
After the suns don't make the playoffs... renounce Blake... Steve Nash for Outlaw and Bayless (and our cap room from renouncing Blake) Sign Desmond Mason (or Grant Hill...longshot) for 3 million a year 2-3 years...(steady vet off bench) Move up in the draft to get Stephen Curry (we got picks...he'll drop too because of his size) Bring over Koponen and Freeland. Nash/Sergio/Koponen Roy/Fernandez/Curry Webster?/Batum?/Mason? Aldridge/Randolph (3's and freeland too can fill time) Oden/Pryzbilla/Freeland All this Roy needs an off the ball PG is bullshit. He just needs to move around, on sunday when Blake was feeding him the easiest 17 of his life he looked like he was enjoying himself.
I'm sure you guys would like Blake better if he added 10 inches to his vertical, and painted his skin black!! Jesus, you guys, Blake is playing great - He's not the problem. SF is the problem. As for backup, Bayless will be very good in about a year. Unfortunately, we didn't trade Sergio which is retarding Bayless's growth.
Interesting ... Well, if KP can get him and no other team with cap-space attempts to sign him first then I think that would be pretty solid. If not, then I think KP should try to make another push for Gerald Wallace, maybe dangling a couple of first round draft picks (assuming KP buys another one) and one of Webster or Outlaw, only this time salaries don't have to match.
My main reason for focusing less on SF is that we're not as bad at that position as some think. Brandon actually plays a quarter of the team's SF minutes, and does so quite well. In fact it could be argued that Brandon plays better at the 3 than at the 2. http://www.82games.com/0809/08POR5.HTM#bypos This allows minutes for Rudy which has been a great thing. Rudy plays half of the SG minutes and does so very well. Travis plays over a third of our SF minutes and is an overall liability. Same for Batum. What I hope to see is Batum given Travis's back up minutes at the 3. Batum should improve upon this season's rookie numbers. He seems to learn so fast. And a young vet brought in to replace Batum's starting role.
I'd be down with Nash. We become much better offensively than we would worsen defensively. It would only be for one season though. I hate giving up Bayless in that deal to possibly rent Nash for a year. I'd want a draft pick to go along with this for sure or I'd rather look elsewhere.
Right. I want my playmakers to be able to jump out of the gym and have African ancestry. You got me pegged.
-Thoughts on the media criticism from outlets in US about his lack of stats in Italy: “I never read it. I don’t read it. It’s a long season, and it’s still early. I can’t get caught up in that stuff. I’m sure it was negative. People don’t understand what it’s like here in Europe.” it seems like he isn't tearing up the league but at the same time his team is far from stable. I doubt he drops out of the top 10 in next year's draft STOMP
I don't think Nash is the best of fits in Portland. He is even worse defensively than Blake, would be alot more expensive, and he also handles the ball ALOT. We all have seen how Roy plays with Sergio.....he's not as effective. Nash is just Sergio with a way better shot. Nash also is much more effective in an uptempo style. Not exactly the type of offense we run here in Portland. I Know we have been fastbreaking more lately, but seeing Blake running the fastbreak the last 2 games better than he ever has in his career just convinces more that we don't need to overpay for a declining nash, even if it is only for two years. I'll pass thank you.
I think both SF and backup PF are more important for the Blazers then PG. I think Blake and Bayless with Kop maybe as a 3rd string backup would be all we need. I think Bayless will be starting next year or at worse by the following year and Blake isn't to bad. I guess if we could get Sessions and he turns out better then Bayless we could trade Bayless and Outlaw for a upgrade at SF. I'm not sure in the long run if Sessions will be better then Bayless but maybe. I know he is better right now.
How dare you think black people only come from Africa(because it's inconceivable that black people could come from Haiti, India, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Australia, or Jamaica). Nevermind that; BLACK PEOPLE ONLY COME FROM AFRICA? Racist
The more sensible approach is to replace useless, or unused, players with better players. You have guys who warm the bench and so you replace them with players who may be good enough to challenge for PT, as Bayless has done. Ruffin, Channing, and Shavlik should be the ones you look to replace with higher quality players, which in turn pushes your rotation players to improve or be cast aside. Backup PF is by far our weakest link, perhaps our only weak link after another year of development.
