Great, they fired Byron Scott

You pray to MIXUM?

 

I do not think CP3 is as good a leader or as well grounded and clean-cut as B-Roy.

But, does it really matter? Jason Kidd hated Scott as well and had him fired - should he not have looked at doing things like that as well? Superstars will do that when things do not go their way.

What this tells us is that either CP3 does not have the pull in the locker-room or - which is more likely imho, was just not happy with him as well.

 

I guess it just matters in an unrelated to this topic sort of way if one were to talk about trading Roy for Paul.

 

Paul isn't going anywhere.

This little coup doesn't happen without his consent. Also, what is up with making Bower coach? Does he have *any* relevant experience? The most likely explanation: Paul has named who he wants, and Bower is just faking it until they can negotiate a deal with the guy in question.

They wouldn't go to all this trouble if they were just going to turn around and deal Paul.

 

Maybe the owner made Bower be the coach the way they did in Minnesota with McHale? Sort of a you assembled this mess, you see if you can coach it.

 

We cant trade Miller until December 17th, and they would without a doubt laugh at that trade. Miller, Joel, Outlaw, and Bayless is the only thing that would add up and even then they wouldn't do it without dumping Peja's 13.5 million or West's 9 million. There is no way we could get Chris Paul without Oden, LA, and/or Roy being involved.

 

Or Isiah with the Knicks.

Plus, Shinn is broke. So, he probably doesn't want to pay another coach if he doesn't have to. Bower is already on the payroll. So, might as well get double duty out of him. I'm sure he still has to pay off the remainder of Byron Scott's contract (probably has a partial buy out provision if Scott lands another coaching job).

BNM

 

If Nate was fired tomorrow, I suspect you would get a similar result - the strongest support for the move would come from the hometown fans.

 

Roy does enough whining already about having to share the ball. CP3 is going to require the ball in his hand the entire game.

 

That's actually not bad. As a New Orleans fan I would hate it, because I hate the idea of melting one transcendent star down into a group of good players...but it does give them a plausible amount of talent if they really want to dump salary/get some cash.

As a Portland fan, I love it. Obviously. Okafor is a downgrade from Aldridge, but still a very legitimate power forward. The upgrade at point guard, for many years, is insane. At the expense of dumping lots of talented but ultimately reserve (for Portland) players. And you retained Batum...!

 

The difference is, now Roy would be giving up some ball-handling duties to a superior player. Paul would instantly be Portland's best player. If Roy isn't happy with giving up some of how much he runs things to a better player, he'll just have to console himself with the max contract. And championships, something he said he wanted badly.

 

Brandon Roy wants to be THE guy. He wants to be the quarterback. He wants that Finals MVP. He won't be happy seeing CP3 here even if it means more championships. In the same way LeBron, Kobe, Wade, CP3, etc., dominate the ball, he wants to do the same. And I don't blame him. He won't like playing second or third fiddle. If all a player cared about is championships, he'd sign the minimum for the best team in the league. But that's not what it's all about. You also want your name affiliated with that trophy.

 

Would you be happy with that trade if Roy were traded as opposed to LMA?

 

I wasn't saying he won't be unhappy. I am less certain that he'll be unhappy than you are, but even if he is...tough. That was the point of my post. He's got a max contract and he'll be winning a lot. You don't always get everything you want. I don't think he'd become a cancer.

 

I think he'd be underutilized, though.

 

Yes, I would. And I love Roy. He's a local talent that we drafted. Family guy. Teammates love him. Could potentially go down as the greatest Blazer of all time, and probably won't ditch us like Clyde or Walton. We can still win championships with him. But...Paul is a top 3 player, if not 2nd or even 1st. Roy is a top 5-7. Paul can make Aldridge a lot more effective than Paul can make Roy effective. His PER numbers are out of this world. He steals like crazy. He's a good perimeter defender, one of our biggest flaws. He won't allow PG's to fly by and get Oden in trouble. Speaking of Oden, many people have seem Roy reluctant to pass to Oden (though he has done it a couple times during this win streak). Paul will probably make it his first priority.

Minstrel, he might not become a cancer but he might not be the player he's capable of being if he's not happy and if he's not able to dominate that ball.

And what the heck are they gonna do with both David West and Aldridge who play similar styles?

 

I don't know about that. Jordan and Pippen managed to play together brilliantly despite both being "primary ball-handler" types.

I think Roy would be pretty deadly playing off-the-ball some of the time and I think he'd get to make plays for Paul, too. It would definitely take some adjusting, but I can envision Paul and Roy being one of the great perimeter duos of all-time.

 

Trust me. If CP3 comes to Portland, Roy will see him as an equal or a better of the two. I don't think his problem had anything to do with a true point guard. It's more like Miller isn't a star like him, so why would he have to change for him. Yeah I know, sounds lame, but CP3 is a better player than him "Arguably" so I see Roy being able to co-exist. Also, keep in mind that Roy played very well with CP3 in the allstar game. I know it was more of an exhibition game, but it still worked.