By "gaping holes" do you mean no Sergio? That roster would be awesome. Ron could either start, or come off the bench. He could come off the bench, yet still play 30 + minutes and close, like Rasheed Wallace used to do for us, and Odom does for LA. Where are the holes in Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, LA, Oden and Artest?
While I hate Frye.. probably more than most.. I would be hard pressed to find a better 3rd string PF to come in when the injury bug hits.
A lot of guys are inconsistent when their minutes are inconsistent. Lots of players need to get itno a rhythm. He is by no means a "detriment" to the team. He was put here in a situation where it was going to be difficult to have great success. Frye becamse a whipping boy this year for some stupid reason, and it was really pathetic, as he had little to no effect on losses for our team. He didn't have much of an effect on wins either, but such was his role. Regardless, I'd make that offer 10 years out of 10, and be happy I made it each time. He'll easily last more than 2 years in the league, if you haven't paid attention to the NBA, guys his size, with some skill can bounce around for quite a while, and I don't doubt he will. As for what he did on the court, as I said in my post, which you must have passed over once you read Frye's name, and got all aggravated, character matters, and if he was willing to come in knowing he was not going to get much playing time, but knew he had a steady paycheck for 4 more years, then i woudl like having him around our team.
Haven't even thought this through carefully at all. I think veteran help is important. Upgrade at starting PG is important. And, as Roy said, a banger at backup PF. Just off the cuff how about: Renounce Frye & Raef. Bring over Freeland and Koponen. Use cap space to sign Andre Miller. Trade Outlaw to Golden State for Ronnie Turiaf. I don't know what to do with all those damn draft picks yet. Don't know what to do with Sergio. How about package Sergio, our 1st, a couple of 2nds, and a future 1st, for some poorly run team's future 1st. Hope for a lotto pick down the road. For a team anticipating being in the playoffs from here on out, this is the way you retool on the fly - by doing it way in advance. New roster: Miller/Blake/Bayless/Kop (D League) Roy/Rudy Batum/Webster LaMarcus/Turiaf Oden/Joel/Freeland (D League)
I actually like this a lot. The only thing is I don't think it would be good for Bayless' development for him to be a third string PG. I also don't think he'd really want to stick around quietly either.
You know I keep seeing folks mentioning "bringing over Koponen", like it is some sort of solution or something. The guy isn't ready for the NBA yet, let alone contribute to a team that most folks are hoping the Blazers will attain next year. He looked like a scared kid when he was playing here. Freeland has one thing going over him: You can't teach 7'. I actually thought Freeland looked much more NBA ready that Koponen did.
Which is why they would be insane to trade Green, since he plays a decent small-ball power forward and will be very good, very soon.
