I don't know how much I'll be able to listen to, so feel free to post anything interesting that happens. Man, the off-season is hard to get through!
http://fans.blazers.com/blogs/trailblazerspodcast/ Maybe some kind soul will come along and give you the run down, but two hours is quite a bit to cover (basically lots of speculation on trades, the draft, free agency and an interview with Ian Thomsen from SI.com and the guy who runs ProBasketballNews.com) This is the Blazers podcast link where they'll probably upload the show tomorrow and you can also subscribe to the link as an rss feed or download the shows for free from Itunes.
It was lame. Rice is a freaking idiot. He needs to stfu and stop talking over everyone. He acts like a damn child on the show.
How freakin' awesome would that be!?! Not even to get Rubio, just that KP could pull it off would be equally as cool IMO!!
I don't have any doubt that, without giving up much that people here would scream about, that KP could get Rubio. I think the next 3 weeks will entail him trying to drive down the cost of the dreck we have to take back to a level he and PA agree with.
Step one in that plan was having Rudy come out and say Rubio wasn't ready. And people think we can trade him. Look how good of a company man he is.
Why do you think Rubio would help this team so much? It seems to me, he's just another Sergio, on a team that is half court and doesn't run. Now if your saying we trade up to get #2 then trade it....now were talking.
He is an upgrade at least in the backup role - since he plays defense... Assume that Roy plays 36MPG - and Rubio plays on the faster 2nd unit - all we really need is to have him handle the ball for 12 minutes next to Roy per game, while also playing defense. This replaces our god-awful backup PG and gives us a different look next to Roy for some of the time also allowing Rubio and whoever our other PG is (hopefully JB in the future) to share the PG duties for 24 minutes.. That is a big help, especially if he is able to set Oden and LMA in the half-court game - something Sergio really was not good at. Sergio is only good at the fast-break - but once the game slows to a half-court game - he is not effective. If Rubio can be effective in the half-court game (and I suspect he will - he looks like a good finisher in the post like Rondo - something you can not accuse Sergio of) - he can play next to Roy even if he is not a great catch and shoot PG like Blake.
How does Rubio help us exactly? He is basically Sergio at this point. I will say that in some ways I hope KP goes after him because in my mind it will show that he is at least serious about pushing the tempo, and it may force Nate to change his slow paced ways.
Rubio is not Sergio for the following obvious reasons: 1. He plays defense. for point 1: 2. He is a much better scorer near the basket leading him to be effective in the half-court - since the defense has to respect him near the basket opening the passing targets when he gets to the rim at will (Sergio gets there as well - but the defense never needs to collapse on him). for point 2:
I'm going to have to listen to the show again once it gets posted as a podcast, I don't recall Thomsen saying that. I just remember him talking about how the Blazers might be interested in Jason Kidd because Nate likes him so much and how Kidd had talked to him the year prior about envisioning himself moving to a situation where he could play twenty minutes a night and help mentor a younger guy.
If he was Sergio, then why did Sergio not make the Olympic team and Rubio started for them? And played pretty well!
nbadraft.net has this as weaknesses. That's part of where I got the Sergio reference, but I realize he will be, and might already be better than Sergio at certain aspects like defense and shooting. I just don't think that right now he is anywhere close to helping a team advance through the NBA playoffs, and that's where we are as a franchise.
Even if Rubio is better than Sergio (although arguably not much), they are the same "style" PG and need to play in the same tempo offense to be effective. Just makes no sense whatsoever to try and make some costly moves to get Rubio when, in essence, we already have him! Why would bringing in a different Sergio make Nate adjust his scheme when he didnt with the Sergio we already have? Especially when everyone (including Nate and KP) both still belive Sergio has a bunch of untapped potential. All the Rubio talk is rediculous.
