Does Pritchard over value his own players?

I'm including a poll. Well folks? I hear this claim bandied about so let's hear why you do or do not think Pritchard over values his own guys. Please use specific examples if you can.

 

I'm not sure if overvaluing is the problem, or if he wants to wait to see for sure which will pan out. The problem is that the players lose their trade value in this process.

 

I'm not sure how to evaluate that question without knowing what deals have been available that he's turned down. Those who claim he does over-value his players cite rumoured deals that he turned down, but considering the number of deals that are rumoured, I'd say that the default is that the chance of any particular rumoured deal being real is very low.

 

I think another thing is that we lucked into a team with GREAT chemistry. Something like that is hard to create but very easy to break.

 

I selected sometimes because of his statements regarding Blake and Outlaw. I don't know if he absolutely wouldn't trade either guy, but I do know he values their contribution to the team far more then their production would warrant.

Statements like:
Free agents are going to want to play with guys like Roy, LA, Oden and Blake.
We really like Outlaw and believe he is a big part of what we do.

Further, multiple disturbing rumors of trades turned down because they included Outlaw (The Devon Harris deal is one example). I would dismiss it, but it sure does seem to come up a lot.

 

It could be that. It could also be that other GM's don't value our players. Portland is constantly under rated, and gets little media exposure. Where in certain situations, like getting rid of Zbo, that is a boon, in other situations, it can be a detriment. On the other side of the coin, if I was those GM's, I wouldn't make a deal for most of those players either. I know a lot of us say "trade anybody outside of Roy, Aldrige and Oden". I am guessing other GM's know that too.

 

More than any GM in the league does.

This is a man that turned down Devin Harris because he didn't want to trade Travis. (alledgedly for the idiot "link" people)


If I here "we like our teams" one more time after coming up with goose eggs at the trade deadline or in free agency I will scream

 

I think the question should be: Is his software over-valuing his players.

 

The Blazers, like the Oakland A's, are run by the computer who wrote the book "Moneyball."

Eventually, all GMs will be replaced by computers. And then all the athletes!

 

When thinking of how Pritchard views his players, character/culture has to be factored into the equation as well. So I suppose on a talent-only basis he may overvalue some players, but knowing how important he feels "culture" is to a team's success, "value" becomes more complicated than just on-court performance. As far as I know, there is no computer program that accounts for intangibles, and Pritchard adds the intangibles when assessing a player, which separates him from a guy like Billy Beane.

 

Beane has factored in culture, too. Players like Jeremy Giambi and Milton Bradley have been shipped out when still productive players, due to being attitude problems.

Of course, Beane is a baseball GM and Pritchard is a basketball GM. "Chemistry" matters more in basketball because it's an actual team sport...players have to work together. Baseball is an individual sport dressed up like a team sport. There's very little working together in baseball. In almost all cases, the best individual result is also the best result for the team. That's true far less often in basketball.

I think the intangibles that Pritchard and Beane both value a lot is the level of drive and commitment in a prospect, because that's a big part of what allows one talented prospect to fulfill his promise and another to flame out.

 

I didn't realize you were so tight with all the other GM's in the league. I bet you the majority and then some would love to have KP as their GM.

 

I bet no other GM would like to have KP as the GM of their team


Since you meant owners though, I think you are right. KP has done a great job of finding talent and rebuilding the Blazers.

He has made mistakes though. He has also been gun shy to this point about adding players, and especially subtracting them.

 

yes

 

I voted "wrong question" because you didn't include a "How the frick would I know" option. I understand the frustration that some people are feeling around here because we haven't made a free agent signing yet, but it drives me nuts when some folks claim that they can read KP's mind about why he hasn't made a move yet. First, he did make the best possible play he could as soon as he could to get the free agent that he wanted. I don't see it as any fault on KP that Hedo chose Toronto's slightly better offer. Second, making a different move involving a lopsided trade isn't even an option until tomorrow so dinging him for not pulling the handle on the trade machine yet this summer is premature. Third, those who fault KP for not making a trade with RLEC prior to the deadline are certainly entitled to your opinion, but the reality is that none of us really know what teams were or were not willing to offer in exchange at that time.

If KP doesn't manage a move to make a significant upgrade to the Blazers prior to the start of fall camp, I'll be seriously disappointed in him. My bet is that that won't be a problem.

 

No, your question is wrong.

KP has hand picked this team and put them together to fit our culture and our way of hoop life. There are not many players like ours who do fit our culture. We have the ones that do. He does not want to fuck this up by trading one of them away.

Just because you don't make a trade on a YOUNG 54 WIN TEAM, or sign some washed up vet just to appease you crybaby fans, doesn't mean you are doing anything wrong. I don't think KP OVER-values his players. I think he knows he has the right guys and they just need to gel.

 

Again, how many years until our 50 something win team that can't make it to the finals do you give them?

If, of course, they don't make it.

 

To a degree yes, but I don't blame him. A lot of the deals we have heard that he's turned down over time (Outlaw-Harris/Conley, Batum-Crash, etc) are moves that at the time a large amount of the people on here agreed with his decision. In retrospect, some of them look horrible, but when you look at where our team was at with rebuilding, I can't blame him for waiting to see if Outlaw was going to develop anymore (and he did, just not as much, or in the way we would have liked). We did ship Randolph for Frye. Got rid of Jack for Bayless. Neither of those are ground-breaking in retrospect, especially in light of Carter, Jefferson, and others moving this off-season, but we don't really know how close some of the potential deals with big name guys were. I think we're a bit greedy.

 

I at least give them this year and not complain about it!!! I really am starting to think that we do not need to make any moves at all and just let our guys gel. It's not like we are a bunch of vets who have reached their peak. We are young and still improving a lot!!!