I completely understand many of the frustrations shared about Travis' game. But in all truth (ok, MY truth) he's our third best player on the team; I'm speaking of intangibles - Besides Roy, I think Travis is our only other go-to guy! He made some great shots with under a minute to play in many games. He is one player who always leaves his heart out on the floor. Yes, he's been a little like that TV commercial of the brown dog chasing the ball in the kitchen (I know!), but damn, the guy leaves it out there. Best grin on the team! You all have to agree on that! After Roy...best post-game interview! (ok, maybe I'm pushing it a bit - but who's any better?) Got a vote for defensive player of the year..or was it sixth man of the year? I don't know...but the guy got a vote! Only Roy got votes! Listen to me, Travis is on the team! He didn't get traded over the summer. He WON'T be getting traded anytime soon. So let's throw out a little love for T.O.!!!!! He's a BLAZER!
He has a lot of holes in his game. He is about the only player on the team that consistently takes bad shots. He makes some of them, no doubt, but he doesn't create for others and he doesn't get to the free throw line. If he is really the team's third-best player, and remains so, this team is in trouble. Ed O.
I can't bring myself to do it. I think he can help the team if he plays a fairly minor role, but he needs to understand that.
Third best scorer I can maybe see, but that changed the moment Andre Miller signed on the dotted line ... third best player? Uh, no. I'm not going to sit here and bash on the guy, he's a very productive player given his very modest salary and he has turned himself into quite the matchup problem for other power forwards, but that still doesn't change the fact that he's a tweener (too slow laterally to guard small forwards all game long and too skinny and undersized to hang with power forwards all game long). Hopefully he can give us some efficient production on this year's team and doesn't become a contract year distraction looking to get his versus trying to fit his game into a large team concept.
Sorry, not much love for Outlaw from here either. He's a great person, but that doesn't make him a better player. The only thing he has going for him is his pull up jumper that is almost impossible to block. If that is not falling, he's a detriment to the team while he's on the floor.
As long as Outlaw is on this team, I will root for him to succeed. I am one of the more patient fans (on here at least ) and Outlaw's decision making can downright irritate me most of the time. But when he takes those ill-advised fadeaways I dont think "what a dumbass" I hope that it goes in. Any Blazer that is here, I will always root to succeed because it the team. Hell I even got out of my seat once when Vladamir Stepania took a breakaway fast break dunk
Thankfully, he's really about the 6th best player last year, behind Roy, LMA, Greg, Rudy, and Joel in PER with a 15.1 (among players who played more than 100 minutes). He's average. In fact, he's the everyman player. Takes some good shots, some bad ones. He's 6th on the team in win shares (5.0), 7th on the team in True Shooting % (.541... above LMA because Travis can shoot the 3). He's not a hindrance to the team, but he's barely an asset. Which is just fine if (a) he's fine with coming off the bench and (b) doesn't demand fat sacks of cash come contract time. We'll see how this goes in 09-10. Point B might spell trouble for Outlaw.
No trouble. he is not central to the future, so if his demands are too high, let him go. If his demands are appropriate, he is a decent bench player. Or if some other team overvalues him, do a sign and trade. I like Outlaw, but not as a key to the future. He is a good bench player with a ton of holes.
That why I meant it'd be trouble for Outlaw; we'll drop him if he asks for too much. Heck, we might drop him anyway if Martell or Cunningham turn out to be good to go off the bench.
Outlaw was the 3rd best player on the Trailblazers last year? In terms of winshares produced per minute of playing time for players that played at least 1000 minutes, Outlaw was second to last on the list only beating Sergio, 8th overall on the team. His offensive rating was again the worst of any player not named Sergio to play over 1000 minutes, and his defensive rating was tied for 2nd to last with the only person he outright beat being Blake. And then there's 82games.com's Roland rating, where again Travis is 2nd to last(and actually has a -1.6) only beating out Sergio. Andre Miller is better in all of those metrics except defensive rating, where he's 1 point per 100 possessions worse than Outlaw. So with Sergio gone and Andre Miller added Outlaw is about 9th on the team, and the worst of any player to get over 1000 minutes of playing time.
Seriously this why I can't stand a lot of fans. I'm going to print this out and post it on my fridge to remind me about the kind of people that are actually arguing with me about blazer issues. You do know there is more to the game then scoring average right? You do know defense is 50% of the game right? You do know making teammates better is also important right? But your right he does have a great GRIN.???????? LOL, woooooow
We know what Outlaw is going to be for the majority of his career. He is a guy that can score, play below average defense, and jump out of the gym. He has added the 3-ball to his game which makes him a little more dangerous. He is not a starter, and seems to want to be better than he can be. If he plays well, we can trade him. If he does not workout then we don't re-sign him. At the end of the day, he is not an essential part of the team.
Outlaw is a nice luxury to have off the bench. He's not a strength as a starter, but he's a very nice weapon to have lurking on the bench. If Portland can trade him (perhaps in a package) for a really good player, great. If not, I'd be perfectly happy for Portland to keep him long-term as a reserve. Every championship team can use a pure scorer to come in and contribute energy and points when starters are getting rest. He's not quite as good as a prime Vinnie Johnson, but not far off that. He definitely isn't Portland's third-best player, though. Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Przybilla and Fernandez are all more valuable. In future, Pryzbilla may not remain better than Outlaw, but Batum will likely surpass Outlaw and Bayless well could as he develops.
By February, I'm sure either Pendergraph or Cunningham will be playing all of Outlaw's minutes, because Outlaw will be playing a bunch of minute in Memphis or something. My bet is that all that's waiting on that trade is whether to send Martell with him for a SF, or to let Outlaw go it alone for a draft pick. To be sure, I enjoyed Outlaw's game quite a bit, but his playoff performance problems really soured me on him.
My guess is Outlaw will eventually lose his job due to the fact that unless he is scoring on the court, he is a total detriment. It will only take one of the other guys coming in and defending, rebounding and scrapping will endear themselves to Nate, and the coaching staff will never look in the rear view mirror again.
Travis ain't going anywhere. Unless he asks for a lot more than what he is worth for next year. I expect him to be a blazer 4 life.
