Rumor has it, it is. 9 or 10 deep. PG: Blake/Miller vs. Stoudamire/Anthony SG: Roy/Fernandez vs. Smith/Wells SF: Batum/Outlaw/Webster vs. Pippen/Schrempf/Augmon PF: Aldridge/Howard/Cunningham/Pendergraph vs. Wallace/B. Grant/O'Neal/Harvey C: Oden/Przybilla vs. Sabonis/Kleine
No, but they have more potential at this point. If Aldridge, Batum, & Oden hit their ceilings where we hope, they'll be a better squad than that old team.
No. SF and PF stand out to me. The only position I'd say this team is deeper IMO is at C. Possibly SG as well, but only because Roy is a much better player than either Smith or Wells were that year. So that's not really "depth" per se.
Who cares about how deep they are. It's about the quality of the depth. Its no big deal to be 12 deep of players who can play in the NBA. It's much better to be about 8 or 9 players eep that are quality players in the NBA. Secondly, the 2nd unit on the 1999/2000 squad was hands down better defensivly then this squad at pretty much every position except for center, and even that is debatable, depending on who was playing backup center at the time back in 2k.
I guess you could say the two are comparable, but quantifying who is deeper is pretty subjective. Either way, I'm not so sure this 10 deep stuff is all that hot -- I think KP is asking for trouble if doesn't thin the herd at some point in some kind of consolidation move.
Not even close. Miller/Blake = Damon/Anthony........maybe Roy/Rudy > Smith/Wells Batum/Webster/Outlaw <<<<<<<< Pippen/Detlef/Plastic Man Aldridge/Outlaw/Cunningham/Pendergragh << Wallace/Grant/Jermaine Oden/Joel = Sabas/Klein I don't even think it would be close.
Yeah, the two forward positions are light years ahead of this year's squad (for chrissakes Jermaine was third on the depth chart!), but I'd call this year's incarnation more balanced and with a bona fide superstar whereas the 99-00 team didn't have that (Pippen was well past his prime at that point).
This team approximates that team's depth but doesn't equal it. However, it has a superstar and a chance for one or two more superstars. Two or three stars/superstars has generally been the more effective way to build champions. Having a few other good/very good players is also valuable, and the Blazers already have them in place. Batum, Rudy, Przybilla and Outlaw are all at least championship-level role-players (and Batum and Rudy could be more than that). Bayless is still a lottery ticket. They even have their Pippen-type player in Andre Miller. Miller won't do for them what Pippen did on defense, but he gives them a smart, veteran quarterback, which Pippen gave that 1999/2000 team. In short, I think this team is in amazing shape.
That team was deeper, but in a seven game series it might be close by the end of this year. Yeah, the 2000 team had more quality vets, but Roy is so much better than anybody on that team it'd be a huge advantage. Sabonis was a better center than either Oden or Pryz, but he really only played about 28 mpg in the playoffs. Whenever Sabas left the court we'd have an advantage at C. I'd DEFINITELY take Miller over Stoudamire at PG. Miller would absolutely abuse him, as all big guards did. Sheed was better than Aldridge, but it's not like he was light years better. Remember, that was a 59 win team. A lot of people, including me, consider our current team to likely win 60 games.
My opinion: Miller/Blake > Damon/Anthony Roy/Rudy >>>>> Smith/Wells Batum/Webster/Outlaw <<<<<< Pippen/Detlef/Augmon Aldridge/Outlaw/Cunningham/Pendergragh < Wallace/Grant/Jermaine (BARELY) Oden/Joel >>>>> Sabas/Klein I think people are overrated how good O'Neal was back then because of his success later in his career.. And at center I do not see how you can say that team was deeper.. And I really don't know why Klein is on there at all.. he played in 7 games and averaged 4.4 minutes in those games. In my opinion, our current team is deeper.
When you consider that the PFs played at C and that Klein rarely saw the floor, I'd give the edge to the 99-00 team at that position too. Wallace was an above average C at that time.
True, but he'd be matched up against Przybilla. The current team would have a massive rebounding edge there, and Sheed wouldn't be that effective in the post. At that time, Rasheed really didn't take that many jumpers (and that's why it was one of the last years he ever shot over 50%). If his post offense wasn't going, Dunleavy would have somebody else shoot. For as much as Dunleavy and Sheed seemed to hate each other, Wallace played the best basketball of his career under him.
Either way, Sabas alone was better than Oden and Joel at this stage. I also think you are really underestimating Wallace and Grant.
