Batum, out. Travis, out. Dante is sure to get some minutes now, yeah? Miller\Bayless Blake\Rudy Roy\Webster\Dante LMA\Howard Oden\Joel That is our lineup now. They just said Travis has the same injury as Webster did. He is more than likely out for the year, if true.
Dante's too small to play a lot of power forward. He will get more minutes because of the fact that there will be fewer healthy bodies, but I expect Portland to try to get a bigger body from somewhere. Ed O.
I doubt he is out for the year, Webster being out that long was an oddity. I would guess 3 months. Either way, It will be a while, and Dante should get at least a few minutes, but more likely at bu PF than at SF.
I always pictured Dante as a 3. I hope he gets a chance to play some 3. I wonder if we will make a trade. That would be crazy! We never do any major mid-season trades.
I always pictured Dante as a 3. I hope he gets a chance to play some 3. I wonder if we will make a trade. That would be crazy! We never do any major mid-season trades.
Cunningham is a perfect 4 for when we have our running lineup in. He can run the floor well, is very underrated athletically and can stick the open jump shot from the elbow almost automatically.
No. Howard will be the backup PF. Nate's not going to squeeze Dante in for token minutes. Rudy and Webster will probably get more.
Travis is listed as 6-9, Dante as 6-8 - but Dante is listed as heavier (230 lbs vs. 207) Dante is mostly a PF, not a SF. I think he will play most of his minutes at the 4 this year.
If he could play the 4, he would not have gone where he did in the draft. He's too small to defend power forwards in the NBA. Outlaw was, too, but he was explosive enough offensively to keep him in the backup role at that position. Ed O.
I don't get people saying Dante is too small to play 4. Do you see who other teams are putting out there at 4?
I think Dante might have a hard time against a lot of starting PF's in the league, but most of the bu pf's are smaller and more easily handled. Dante will be BU when the opposing PF's are slighter, and Howard will play BU when they are bulkier.
I think Howard is the beneficiary of Outlaw's injury....but I hope that Rudy can gain some extra minutes as well, unfortunately he won't see his minutes go up until Nate decides to stop playing Blake 30+ minutes a night..... I actually think having Howard as the b\u PF is BETTER than having Travis there....
Not when it comes to defense. Yes, Travis misses assignments, but Howard is OOOOLLLDDD and SLLLOOOWWW. Now I guess we'll see if this is one of those "don't know what you've got till it's gone" deals.
I guess that makes Blair a point-guard? After-all, they were all taken up in the first round (except from Krabby) and he was taken even further down the board than Dante... He played PF in college, every draft-board had his NBA position listed as PF, he will play an undersized PF in this league. If Carl Landry is a power-forward in this league - so can Dante be. If Brandon Bass is a PF - so is Dante. He is basically the same size as them.
our second unit plays a zone more often anyways (which Travis is just not smart enough to handle). Travis on D leaves the C in foul hell because they're always on an island.
Dante will not get any more minutes because of this. The rest of the typical rotation will just step up for more minutes themselves.