THE BLAZERS' FAIRY TALE LOOKS TO BE ENDING

You conveniently forgot to bold this part:

"maybe play with the Blazers consistently. That's what I'm looking forward to"

You interpret the quote the way you want, but when I see someone who says he looks forward to playing consistently for the Blazers, I don't see that as a player asking to be traded.

So, lets see those links to those quotes from Outlaw and Rudy asking to be traded.

BNM

 

Good god, that article is even worse than the other one. He's already declaring the team with the most young talent in the league, that won 54 games in the Western Conference last season, as a "team in disarray". That's laughable. Did the Blazers lose a single important piece from that 54-win team? No, they jettisoned the two least productive members of their rotation (Frye and Sergio) and replaced them with veterans. Have all their young players peaked and are now on the decline? Hell no, several of those players haven't even scratched the surface of their potential. This is a team that will continue to get better for several years through the organic growth of their young players.

There are too many other flaws in that article to even mention. This guy is a clueless idiot with an axe to grind who will not hesitate to fabricate "facts" to suit his personal agenda. He is, the Canadian Canzano.

BNM

 

That's not what he says, which is why I deliberately didn't bold it.

He says "or" play with the Blazers consistently. In other words, trade me or play me, in that order.

I'm done humoring your "play dumb" act. Go find another playmate, or learn to post like an adult.

 

Nice ad hominem personal attack.

You can't provide the links to back-up your assertions. So, you attack me. Fine you "win". I won't stoop to your level.

BNM

 

The irony runs thick with this one ...

 

^^^^^ Enough said!

 

Took the words right out of my mouth

 

For sake of argument, let's assume that certain Blazers are unhappy with their playing time. If this is because of competitive fire - there's nothing wrong with that. If it is because the player(s) have some misguided sense of entitlement - better to learn that now, so we can kick their ass(es) to the curb.

It may sound cold, but I don't give a crap how big a star some of these guys were in college, or Europe, or their local "Y". This is the NBA.....earn it or STFU!

 

My thoughts exactly. This isn't the youth YMCA league, players have to earn playing time and if they start complaining that's their problem. It's not like their is some conspiracy to keep Bayless on the bench. If he would have shown a little more in Summer league we may not have brought in Miller (which in hindsight sounds really stupid considering how Miller is fitting in).

 

Bingo!

Bayless took a nearly perfect opportunity to step and threw it away. He couldn't even beat out Sergio for minutes.

He looked like ass in the Summer League as well. Just because the kid works hard doesn't mean he should get to play.

No one wants Bayless to take over at point in the near future more then me. But I will be surprised if that actually happens.

 

Show us an NBA team that is more concerned about making sure players' careers don't "stagnate" and distributing minutes, than they are about winning now and in the future.

This isn't a Park-and-Rec league. Teams shouldn't be concerned about getting people equal playing time so their parents can be proud. If that is what you and the author want, I suggest following some of the neighborhood Park-and-Rec leagues.


BTW, I know you won't be able to provide any examples of other teams, since you have said multiple times you only follow the Blazers, and no other NBA team.

 

Why do people keep saying Milsap turned us down when that obviously was not the case?

 

No kidding. It wasn't his choice. The Jazz chose to match our offer and that was that.

BNM

 

Lots of good teams have trouble providing enough minutes for all their players. That's a good problem to have.

Good grief, I thought the point was to win games, not make every single player perfectly happy. If Nate was worried about giving Sergio more minutes, or playing at a different pace so he could score more points, then he would be putting Sergio's needs over the needs of the team.

Nonsense. Andre Miller is going to get more than 10 minutes a night, and so would any other "starter-quality" player who was brought to Portland. When you grab a really good player, you create minutes for him. Every player knows that, and it certainly wouldn't keep anybody from coming to Portland.

 

Whenever I read articles like this, I can't help but think of my favorite children's book:



The richest owner in all of sports + winning will solve 95% of all potential problems. The other 5% are insignificant. None of our best players will be bitching about PT. The starters, our best players, will get plenty of minutes. They will also be paid well. Even our top 2 or 3 reserves will likely get plenty of PT (25 - 30 MPG) and likely be paid higher than reserves on most other teams. So, good pay + plenty of PT + winning = no problems for our key players - the ones that matter.

End of the bench guys (12th - 15th roster spots) = no problem. They are lucky just to be on an NBA roster riding the gravy train and making 20x the income of the average Joe.

So, who does that leave as potential problems? Guys on the fringe of the rotation (9th - 11th roster spots) who think they deserve more PT - and aren't happy with playing on a winning team and drawing a fat paycheck. Guys who are more interested in their own success than the success of the team. Guys that aren't key to the success of the team and can easily be replaced.

So, I'm not worried at all. Our top players will be taken care of, will get plenty of PT (and money), will get to be a part of a winning team. Anybody else can either earn their PT, or shut up, sit on the bench and continue to cash Paul Allen's checks - or they can demand a trade, get sent to the Clippers or Grizzlies and learn what hell is really like.

BNM