It's not an issue of physical recovery; it's "game" recovery. This just in--playing in the NBA is really, really hard. Going an entire year without actually playing basketball hinders one's ability to play basketball at an NBA level. He might be fully up to speed by Christmas, maybe by the all-star break, maybe not until Spring. But to suggest that he is as good now as he is ever going to be this year is, IMO, ludicrous.
Not sure exactly when he was "cleared," but I know he's had an entire year off to practice his shooting, and it doesn't seem to have helped. I didn't say it did. I think the team is going to be fine this year. I also think Webster is probably going to suck, like he does every year. He'll have a few good games where he'll shoot the lights out, followed by many other games where he can't hit the broad side of a barn.
That sounds awfully familiar!!!!! *Travis* But since Travis is now in his 8th year, I think Martell has 4 more years at least on our team. We like to keep shitty SFs. So you must be one of the 'Keep Outlaw' supporters?
Travis is starting his 7th year with the club & this will be Martell's 5th... why is it that in the debate between these two TO's detractors have so many problems keeping their facts strait? STOMP
In 6 years as a Blazer, Travis Outlaw has posted a below 15 PER only once - 15 PER is an average starter in the league. How can he be disappointing when he gives you starter production on backup role and salary? The problem is not Outlaw, it's that your expectations of him are wrong. For the record, in Outlaw's worst year, his PER was higher than Webster's PER in any year. Let's not get crazy here. Travis is a backup, a role player with a specific role. He performs this role very well. Webster still has to do that. We all hope he does - but I find it very hard to understand how you can be disappointed by a role player drafted in the late first round playing slightly better than a backup - but you can not be disappointed by a guy taken 6th in the draft over Deron and CP3 playing like a backup?
Thanks for correcting me. I was too lazy to look it up. Good point. I am just down on Outlaw right now.
Good post. I am FAR from a Trout supporter, but I think he is fine in small doses (20 mins or less). Limiting his time prevents some of the mental lapses he is prone to having and limits his disruption of the offensive flow. The problem last year was that he was a role player playing nearly starter minutes (27.7) and I think that is more than he should be.
Ugh, if we had drafted CP3 we wouldn't have Oden/Roy/LMA, CP3 is phenomenally good but he's not as good as the cumulative effect of those three guys. Fate had greater things in store for this team then CP3. I know you weren't saying anything other then why people are disappointed in Martell, I just think it's important to realize we NEEDED Martell, Zbo etc. to stink it up enough to snag Roy/LMA/Oden. Just a few more wins and we might have gotten only one or even none of those three. For me I'd rather have our big 3 then CP...3.
My problem with Outlaw this year is he is not a PF. I don't blame him for that, but we do need 1 more post player who can come in for Lamarcus. Travis IMO is the wrong fit for what we need now.
I generally agree. But we had a real problem last year - we had 2 guys that could create their shot. Roy. And Travis. I suspect you wil see Travis down to 20 MPG or so this year because Andre is in, LMA and Oden improve and hopefully Rudy as well.
so you're saying Martell is the real MVP of the club? Had Nash drafted Paul, he would probably still be the GM STOMP
As a role player though, with Travis, he does not do his "role" of being a scorer well. Or, efficiently, rather. Which is why people complain. You can trot just about any NBA player out on the court, and given 10-11 shots a game, they can get you his 12.8 points.
I'm one of the them. I'm clearly disappointed in Martell. He was propped up to be some kind of sharp shooter since the days of being drafted. I don't think we have ever seen that out of him on a consistent basis. That and I thought we would see a little more hungrier player out of him this season. In defense, I did think he would benefit off of Andre Millers play at point. I really felt he and Andre would start. That's not the case and probably won't be the case the rest of the season. That they start together. So yeah. I can go ahead and give an excuse of why he is not performing. But I won't. I just hope things get better for him. I still feel he is more than what he is putting out.
Webster's shot has been off which is probably just a combination of rust and being all hyped-up to be playing again. But I love the way he plays, very active, hustling, and at least helping the team in other ways even when his shot isn't falling. I'm not worried about him at all.
Really? I ran the following query on last year, for forwards that get a PER of 15 or higher (efficient offensive as an average starter), a TS% of .54% or more (so they do not need millions of shots) forwards - and I got 33 entries for the entire league last year. http://www.basketball-reference.com...t&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=ws Of those - at least 12 are starters - and there are not a lot of the other guys that can create their own shot. If you add the need to have at least 9 FGA/G - which means their coach actually think they should shoot so much, the number goes down to 18. http://www.basketball-reference.com...&c3val=9&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=ws Travis is a scorer that can get his shot up almost all the time. He hot to shoot so much in past years because we had so many broken plays - where a team was able to load-up on Roy and to a lesser extent on LMA - so we had to have someone hoist a shot. It is a talent, it is a role. It is a role we hopefully will need less of - but it was a specific role - and he did it very well, otherwise his TS% would not be as it was or his efficiency would not be as high as it was.
I'm not sure why we should expect a backup SF to play like an all star. He can shoot. He's had a year off from basketball. His shot will come around. In the meantime he's been hustling like a choir boy version of Ruben with a brain. Let's let the new Martell get 10 or 20 games under his belt before we conclude he's not even a serviceable backup.
I thought this thread was about Martell? He is having an up and down preseason. That's to be expected after missing an entire year. I don't think any of the current small forwards has been remarkable yet this year. My prediction: Batum takes the starters job back by January on the strength of his defense.
