Let's remember one important fact: we have the best GM in the business, and he's watching this playoff series as closely as we are. This is the first time he's getting to see the team he assembled perform in the playoffs, and it's a learning experience for him, too. You can bet your bottom dollar he's noticing the Blazers' weaknesses in certain areas just like we are. I have no doubt that he's going to take those learnings and make whatever moves he has to this summer to take us up another level. Next season, we will be a much stronger team, and more suited for playoff-level basketball. The same GM who got us back to the playoffs much earlier than expected will find a way to help us get much better and more playoff-ready by the beginning of training camp next year. I haven't given up on this series, yet, but I'm just saying . . .
I sure hope so. Some of his rhetoric about "loving this team" and "let it bake" is a little worrisome, but I agree that he's been very aggressive in rebuilding the roster over the past 4 years. This is the off-season where we find out if he's coldblooded enough to look at guys he's drafted/brought in and make an objective assessment about their long term fit with the team. This is the off-season where we find out if KP is just a collector of "nice young talent" or if he's more concerned with surrounding his core with the right pieces to contend.
I agree but... At the trade deadline, wasn't it you, Shooter, who excoriated KP, called him a liar, etc? I suppose dealing for Amare does not look so good now and if someone had advocated such a deal, then agreed they were relieved it did not happen, fine. But, the Internet does make it tough to rewrite history.
Hey I like Pritchard too, but his falure to land a veteran at the trade deadline for Raef's contract was a mistake and it is costing us in this series plain and simple.... This team still needs some adjustments IMO... The Core is: Roy, Oden, LA, Rudy & Przybilla (need him until Oden is ready)....Both Batum and Bayless are young players who POR needs to see develop before they should discard them... Everyone else is filler...and quite frankly if POR has to deal away a Batum or Bayless to make a deal, then they need to look at it...
That's one thing I hope doesn't get in KP's way of improving the team. He really loves this group of players and even he admitted that because this team is full of 'his guys', that he's hesitant to trade them away. Although I think all Blazer fans wouldn't mind seeing this group be the one to make those title runs, there's no doubt we could improve and upgrade some of our positions and bench.
so say you throw a Richard Jefferson on this team and we give up batum and outlaw, where does that leave us? would we have finished higher than 4th? i don't really think so because this team played out of their minds after the break and finished higher than most thought possible. when the deadline rolled around the talk around here was still that we needed a vet to MAKE the playoffs and the thought of HCA was nice but seemed just a little out of reach. would we win this series? this is the argument you can make but even with a jefferson i don't think we beat the lakers in the next round. so we'd have given up batum to win one series, i'm sorry but that guy could be a big part of our future and i wouldn't give him up just so we could beat the rockets. i think KP is in a position of strengh going into the offseason. we could be 15 million under the cap and there could be a few owners looking to dump salary. hopefully he is shrewd enough to go get that player to put us over the hump.
and i'm sorry but until bayless does something of substance on the court he is not a part of our untouchables. everyone other than rudy, roy, la, oden, pryz and batum can go in my opinion
The good news: KP has shown that he is awesome at ROOKIE talent evaluation and using his assets to get the player he wants. The bad news: 1) He has shown no ability to acquire veteran talent. In fact, he's shown that he's so in love with his draft picks, he won't trade them for just about anything. 2) He has yet to show the ability to stop meddling with the team during the draft. This team clearly doesn't need more rookies, we're playing 4 as it is. So, do you think he'll draft another rookie? Heck yes, he will. He can't control himself.
If KP drafts one rookie this summer, how many rookies will we have on the team? If you answered "1", you're correct! "More rookies" is a ridiculous statement. We'll have *fewer* rookies!
There's no problem with adding the right rookie(s), as long as that is balanced by going out and getting the right veterans ... but as you noted, he has shown himself to be very reluctant to trade away young guys on the roster. Hopefully he proves this summer that he's not just a talent collector, but a contender builder.
I don't know how anyone could watch this series and not see that POR is badly lacking another scoring option to take the pressure off of Roy and LA.....Roy has played very well this series, LA has been inconsistent and no one else outside of Rudy's outburst in game 3 has shown up as a 3rd scorer... The fact is, whether you or I like it or not, HOU bench is outplaying our bench...BADLY...Von Wafer, Carl Landry, Kyle Lowry all have hit big shots for them.....Who outside of Rudy Fernandez has done so on our team? Furthermore, HOU complimentary starters like Battier, Scola and Brooks have KILLED our complimentary starters like Blake, Batum & Przybilla.....HOU is getting production from thier other "non star (Yao & Artest)" players...POR is not....You can't sit here and say with any degree of credibility that a Richard Jefferson or Vince Carter would not have made a difference.... I don't know what the offer was for these players...if Batum or Rudy were required or not...some say they were, others say they were not...only Pritchard knows for sure....and I would agree that I would not have been in favor of trading away Batum (and no way would I have dealt Rudy) for a rental of either player...but the bigger point is that I DO beleive that Pritchard could have gotten some veteran player for LaFrent'z contract and he opted not too, and that it is a fact that it is negatively effecting POR in this series... Well I question that $15 million under the cap figure...the salary cap is likely to go DOWN this year for one, and to reach near that figure POR would have to renounce a fair amount of players...From what I have seen\read POR may have $8-10 million under the cap, and they would have to renounce some players to do so....and then there was hope that POR could take in more salary than they give back in a trade to basically increase that number...but it still requires another team willing to trade....I hope, like you, that Prithcard can pull a deal for a veteran off...but his record "outside" the draft hasn't been anything of note...yet.. I didn't say that Bayless was untouchable...only that as a young player\rookie...POR should try to hold onto him to see how he develops...but if they had to throw him (or Batum) into a trade for a high quality player, they should seriously consider it...but I wouldn't consider dealing any of the Core 5 (Roy, Oden, LA, Rudy & Pryz) for anything outside of a sweatheart deal...
One thing to keep in mind when discussing this roster: The Blazers are playing 3 rookies as starters or significant bench player, and the leaders of the team are in their 3rd year. I am sure the management will assess the team but any such assessment has to include an evaluation of whether these guys will improve. Is there any reason to think they won't? Artest and Battier, remember, are veteran players. So a comparision is not quite fair.
I think that's a valid point, but two of the positions where we are seeing the biggest holes are at point guard and at small forward. I don't think Steve Blake is poised for another quantum leap next season after having the best season of his career, Similarly Travis is going to be 25 next season and in his 7th year, expecting great leaps in growth and frankly court awareness is probably asking a lot. My guess is that the regular season will be where KP makes the bulk of his evaluations, but for players that are on the fence or that he wasn't 100% about entering into the playoffs, this is probably their 'second interview' so to speak. Blake I think has proved himself to be a solid backup quality point, and Travis may have played himself out of a job.
In fact we are not contradicting each other. And remember our planned starting small forward never played. Webster could well be the third shooter the team so badly needs.
That second statement is a little contradictory. If he's so in love with his present team that he doesn't want to trade any of the players, then he's not going to be acquiring veteran talent. He's been reluctant to make any big trades precisely because he wants to see how these guys pan out. But when he decides to make a trade or a free-agent acquisition, I see no reason why he won't be just as good at it as he is at the draft. He's already proven himself to be a smart operator.
You're right, you were specifically addressing the rookies and really young players on this team. That said, I don't think there's any way all of them will pan out either; there's just too few minutes and not enough places to plug everyone in. I think Rudy, Greg and Batum are probably safe, but out of Sergio, Jerryd and even Martell I wouldn't be shocked to see one or more packaged together with more established players like Blake and/or Outlaw if moves are made to acquire some veteran help or upgrades at positions of need.
I'm glad we didn't make a trade, even though we're down 1-3. Now we know who shows up for the post-season, and who doesn't. The playoffs are what really matters, so to have traded any players due to their in-season performances would've been horrible. We went to battle with this team like KP said, and unfortunately it looks like we're gonna come up short. But it's a learning experience. Sure, it would've been nice to see Gerald Wallace on this team and help us get past the first round, but it's not like we were going to get much further than that regardless. We're young, and we'll have 10+ years of more tries.
Now you're talkin'! I've been thinking the same thing. This series has revealed a great deal about the makeup of this team, and Pritchard is watching it all from his front-row seats . . . I wouldn't be suprised if he's already got some trades cooking in his head.
