I voted with the majority here. What I'd love to see around the trade deadline (and around the time that Rudy is rounding back into game shape) is that the Blazers execute the following: 1.) trade Steve Blake for the best frontcourt player with experience available (I'm not expecting Caron Butler, or anyone really good, just someone who can provide some minutes and has a little more in the tank than Juwan Howard); 2.) then the Blazers establish the backcourt of the future - Jerryd Bayless and Brandon Roy; 3.) pair Andre Miller with Rudy Fernandez for an up-tempo backcourt for the second unit.
Any way you look at it, Miller is a short-timer and therefore most expendable. Also most valuable in a trade to someone looking to shore up for the playoffs. Also hasn't bonded as much with the team or found his place in the scheme of things. Seems obvious, and no fault of his own.
Bayless backed up by Blake is the best, IMO. Miller would probably have more value around the league, but that value is quickly dropping because of his play and because of Blake's expiring contract. Also, i'd only do this if Bayless started, and Nate didn't feel forced to play Blake any more than 15-20mpg. If not, I'd get rid of Blake and keep Miller.
It won't make Old Man Miller any younger. He's already on the downslide, refuses to get in shape, and steals PT from our developing players. Short timer.
Option 4: Bayless/Mills Use Blake and Miller (combined with others eg. Outlaw) to acquire SF/PF options.
I'm really surprised by the enthusiasm for Mills before he even plays a single NBA minute. What separates him from Taurean Green or any other second-round guard? I'm certainly not saying he can't be more than Green, or the average second-round guard, but he's becoming a bit of a folk hero around here, despite not having been that special a college player (and no one, not even those wily Spurs, tabbed him before the end of the second round).
It blows my mind. He certainly is very fast and he definitely likes to score, but his college shooting numbers were pretty poor (33% from the college 3pt line on 8 attempts a game), his A/TO ratio was pretty close to 1:1 and when I watched him play a few times in WCC play he looked "good" but I never thought to myself "Damn, this kid is going to be great at the next level" My guess is all the Mills love comes from the fact that he had a nice run against Team USA and others in the Olympics a year back, other than that? It would be great to think that he'll become a rotation quality player and if he does more power to him.
Seriously, he can't be worse than Blake. Blake is expiring, so may as well trade him to cash in on that and replace him with Mills.
I think Blake is a better defender than Miller. Fits better in the locker room. Is an intense guy in the locker room and in practice, and isa better outside shooter (He has started off slow before then has picked it up) that fits better in our offense. Really it comes down to who the other team wants more in a trade, but I like Blake's versatility on D. Some may say it is over rated, but then when I watch Monta Ellis give up 45 last night to agent Zero I am reminded how hard it is to defend in this league with the way the rules are. Blake is a hard nosed player who can guard bigger players. Can he guard Brooks? No but who can stay with the former Duck? Blake is a nice third option to throw at Kobe when Kobe has gotten everyone else in foul trouble. Miller is not.
I know full well that Blake has been having a season to forget, but Mills is very slight, is 5'11"-6' tall, is a rookie, is coming off of a foot injury and hasn't really played competitive hoops for a very long time ... and he wasn't all that efficient playing in a mid-major conference. There's a very real possibility he could be just as bad as Blake on offense and considerably worse on defense.
He absolutely CAN be worse than Blake. He wasn't even a good perimeter shooter in college... he's going to be able to shoot better than Blake can now? He is much smaller than Blake... he's going to be able to guard NBA PGs? Blake does a good job of not turning the ball over... Mills is going to be able to do that? Mills MIGHT turn out to be an NBA player someday. Blake, for all of his faults, is a borderline NBA starter. Expecting Mills to be able to do that right off the bat strikes me as madness. Ed O.
That handful of hot games in international competition created the false impression that he was some kind of mega-clutch star in waiting. Before the injury, I said he had a 10% chance to be an NBA rotation player. Post injury - stick a fork in him.
That's a bit hyperbolic. Blake is having a poor season, but his established level makes him a perfectly legitimate reserve point guard in the NBA. Almost every basketball player in the world is worse than Blake, and odds are that Mills is, as well. If Mills were seen as likely to be a legitimate NBA point guard, he'd have been drafted earlier.
Well, I would rather have Miller during the playoffs. He always steps up his game during the post season. At this point I would like to pair Blake and Outlaw for an asset. People are going to be looking for expirings for this coming offseason. Chicago is one team, so is New York, and maybe even New Jersey. We need a combo pf/c I think. We need someone who can easily swing between both positions. Right now we don't have a player that can do that. If we could somehow pry Noah away from Chicago, Turiaf from Golden State or maybe even Okafor from New Orleans. That would work out good.
You mention Chicago. I wonder just how wedded they are to Luol Deng? He's not a forward-center, but he's a surprisingly effective power forward in a small ball lineup and he's really having a nice year. health (as always) is a concern with him, but depending on what they'd want back in a trade I think he'd be a pretty viable fit on this team. Maybe Rudy, Travis, Blake and a throw-in would get their attention.
Some chicago fans have discussed Deng as being tradeable, but that's just fan talk. Hard to say. I would love to try to get something worked out with Golden State for Anthony Randolph and Turiaf. I really like Randolphs game. If I were in KP's shoes, I might even consider trading Aldridge to get Randolph here. I know LMA is on the PPP, but if Randolph is truly available (and that's a big if) I would love to get him on this team.
