I find it very hard to believe that there will be no more moves. The list of apparently available players that fit some or all of our needs, while also being upgrades of what we currently have, are plenty. Players greater than Outlaw -> Williams, Prince, Wallace, and Lee Players greater than Blake -> Hinrich, Ford, Sessions, Nate Robinson, Miller, and Nash Players greater than Bayless -> Felton I'd be shocked and actually disappointed if we didn't continue to pursue any of these players. It would be irresponsible of Portland not to, which is why, I'm certain they will.
Their core was brought in before the season. KG, Ray, Posey, Rondo, Pierce, Perkins, were all there to start the season.
Yes. I will give KP credit - he has ground me down to the point I don't care enough to argue about it anymore.
Super productive summer. Awesome. Not trading RLEC was such a good idea. I see what KP saw at last years deadline. Nice.
By definition, there is no such thing as a "perfect fit." By setting that as the standard, you have a built in excuse to do nothing. Brilliant.
No offense to you, ABM, but why are we using Dave as a source to quote KP? Did he interview him? Or is he reading the same stuff we are and putting his conclusory spin on it? Ed O.
Doing something just to do something is how teams get Rod Strickland (the second time around). Sometimes doing nothing is better. And not SPAMing is probably what PA really wants in "these troubled times". I'm in the minority. I'll give it another year.
Not so. With very few exceptions, point guards assists/minute for the 1st or second year is very close to their career average. As I have posted many times, an analysis of point guards in the past have shown that while their defense, shooting, turnovers, etc. all improve over time, assists/minute is not one of those things. Either a player can make plays by the time they are in the NBA, or he cannot. With VERY few exceptions, PLAYERS DO NOT LEARN TO PLAY POINT GUARD IN THE NBA. Steve Nash is the exception - and even he managed 0.2 assists/minute as a rookie, better than many PGs their best years. Chauncey Billups is no exception at all. He was an OK (not great) passer as a rookie, with 0.17 assists/minute. That is his career average, too. Gary Payton? 0.24 assists per minute as a rookie. That was his BEST year ever on this stat. GP may have been a late bloomer, but NOT as a playmaker. Ramon Sessions? They say this year was a "break out" year. 0.28 assists/minute his rookie year - better than this year. Jarret Jack? A near-constant 0.14 assists/minute rookie year and for the subsequent years he did not improve. Bayless was 0.12 last year. Blake was 0.15 his rookie year, and 0.16 last year. Given the highly dominant trend, the odds are *superb* that Bayless will never be as good as Steve Blake at making plays. If this does not terrify you, then it should. The ONLY thing that makes me think that Bayless could possibly be the exception is that he is very young. It is possible (though unlikely) that when he hits 21 or 22, something else in his brain switches on. But I doubt it. Even Telfair as a 19 year old rookie had career-high assists/minute (0.17). Heck, even Brandon, "two-guard" Roy, who hogs the ball when it matters (for good reasons) had almost as many assists/minute as a rookie, than did Bayless last year. PLEASE prove me wrong. Find me a few examples of point guards with Bayless-like rookie numbers who became at least average NBA points. Otherwise, give this "it is hard to learn to be a point guard" stuff a rest. Either you can make the play or you can't. Bayless can't. Portland needs a point guard. iWatas
...this stat may serve to vindicate MARIS and/or undermine your other stats, but... Sergio's ast/min stats: 2006 - 0.253 2007 - 0.197 2008 - 0.233
The season when Derek Anderson was on the Spurs ended up being Elliot's final year in the NBA, he was a shell of his former self. Elliot only played in 50 games averaging 7 points in 23mpg. Derek was second behind Duncan in scoring with 15.5ppg, minutes at 34.9mpg while shooting .399 3PT% and .851 FT%. He played all 82 games, was third in PER and third in win share behind Duncan and Robinson. Was Derek an "elite" player? No, he was a solid starter. He was clearly the Spurs third best player that year, and in the offseason resigning him was their primary objective. Bob was able to convince Derek to come to Portland instead. The Anderson signing in the end didn't pan out as well as we had hoped, Derek lost a step and struggled with injuries. GM's don't know for certainty what you'll get out of your free agent when you sign them, there is risk in the prospect just as draft pick prospects have risk. DA didn't work out but on the flip side the Brian Grant signing worked out far better then anticipated. Grant was a great bruising PF who along with Sheed and Sabas gave the team the best big man trio in franchise history. This franchise has the ability to make solid free agent acquisitions, using the size of the city or the current contention status is a poor excuse. The franchise had all of the same hurdles 10 years ago but made a number of solid additions.
I have heard KP say the same thing. They are looking for a perfect fit. In otherwords, they are looking for a Bigfoot riding a Unicorn.
Didn't KP at one time say that he did not like making moves mid-season. Not this last trade deadline (that was we want to go to war with the players we have and evaluate after that) . . . but the two prior trade deadlines he would say taht he didn't like making moves midseason as it disrupts team chemistry and he prefers to make moves during the off season. In any event, the Blazers will rise and fall with the development of Oden, so any off season moves will only serve to push this team a little farther vs. Oden's development. So really this summer is more about Oden's development than anything else . . . at least I keep telling myself that.
Yup. Sergio is upper-echelon in the NBA, as measured by his one stellar stat - like top-3 or top-5 in the league good. If he learns the other stuff, he'll be a star. Otherwise he'll be Brevin Knight. 0.26 as a rookie. 0.24 career: a super passer who can't do much else. iWatas
No, not any more than a prospect failing to pan out shows that prospects are "imaginary." Of course, this cap space will still have value until next July. So it hasn't failed to pan out. But cap space isn't an "imaginary" asset...it's an asset that has a high failure chance.
Because if there's no one to spend it on, then its useless. therefore, its benefit is imaginary. you end up overspending (i.e HEDO) or getting a player you don't really need or want just for the sake of spending it. Its like getting a gift card at a store you never shop at.....
Untrue. It's not useless to the people cutting the checks. The Blazers are becoming penny-pinchers. "Break even!"
