I'm not disputing your point, but there are supposedly some "quality" big men in this draft. I haven't seen too many of these guys yet. http://sportales.com/basketball/2010-nba-mock-draft-lottery-picks-never-to-early-to-predict/
So you are saying trade draft picks for a vet? I guess if you have faith in KP to pull it off. History right now shows KP has no record of trading for veterans. Don't you find it strange that a guy that has been here for as long as he has now has not once traded for an impact veteran? Outside of drafting help for the team, all KP has done is sign a free agent here or there, and most of them are to fill generic positions on the team. Juan Dixon. Steve Blake. Juwan Howard. But trades for a vet? That is crazy talk.
For as long as he has been here? He's been in charge for what, 3 years now? Or rather, this is the third year he is in charge. He had no reason to add a veteran that first season. A vet wasn't going to add anything to the team. So for one year now, he hasn't added a vet. Let's run him out of town. He's done nothing for us. To further elaborate, he took over in 2007 as GM. We added Oden and Rudy through the draft. He got rid of Zach Randolph. He traded away a vet unwanted by the team, and most fans. It was a rebuilding season, so adding in another vet to take away time from Aldridge, Roy, etc. would have been pointless. Oden goes down, so there is even more reason to not add a vet during the season. Go into the 2008 draft, and he made moves for Bayless and Batum, who he saw as two good pieces for our team. They have both looked good in moments, and look to be solid pieces of our core going forward. He failed to add a vet at the deadline last season. Only deal that sounded reasonable was Batum for Gerald Wallace. Then this offseason he tried to add a few through signings, and ultimately did add Miller. Where is he failing here? What other vets did he miss on that you knew would be a great fit for our team, knwoing more than he does?
Hmmm..... Portland needs a consistent third scorer, but I'm not sure Nate really knows how to coach a team with three quality scorers. Portland needs some interior defenders, but if there are any out there, they won't come cheap. I think in all seriousness, and not trying to be Chicken Little, the Blazers should try and figure out what they want to do NEXT season, and start that process this season. For example If they want cap space then try and trade Joel, Miller and Webster to Houston for T-Mac. If they know they aren't going to re-sign Blake and Outlaw, then try and get something of value for them at the deadline. If they know, or think rudy won't be happy in a back up role, or in a 3 guard rotation, then deal him as well. If they have a player they are targeting in the draft then do what you can now to get him, by acquiring picks Portland needs to have players with defined roles, but that is almost impossible with this roster. If you could get Houston to bite on that deal, and get T-Mac, it would be awesome. Even with Roy and Aldridge's salaries, Portland would have close to 12 million in cap space in one of the best FA markets ever.
What like 3 years isn't enough time to get a single trade done for a vet or impact player when your team stinks? What do you think his job? Some GM's careers at teams don't last 3 years, and most of them pull a trade off. The closest thing KP has had to bringing in a vet on a trade is when James Jones came along for the ride from PHX, and actually turned out to fill a hole on a bad team.
So he should add a vet just to make you feel better, even if they don't help the team? I can think of one deal, as mentioned above, that seemed reaosnable he didn't do. "Rumored deal" Of Wallace for Batum. What other vet deals were making us a much better team? When you are rebuilding, early on, what NEED was there for a vet? What vet was going to help?
I'm all for patience with future pieces. I am not at all suggesting a move that hurts future pieces to our club. Moves involving guys like Blake and Outlaw, IMO, don't affect the future direction of the club, with their impending free agency.
He's done some good things, but he whiffed on the RLEC. We'll probably never know what was on the table, but the perception is we could have gotten a really good player in return but KP didn't want to fuss with the chemistry. And that lead to a pretty dreadful summer with Hedo, and then Millsap (unless you buy the "toxic offer" theory to force Utah's hand) So we ended up with 33 year old (PG) Miller - not exactly what people had hoped for.
True, w ewon't know, which makes it tough. Some like to think the offers were poor. Some like to think teams were throwing studs at us for simply the contract. Likely somewhere in between, and my guess is closer the the former than the latter. I think the Miller signing would have looked ok had Nate just fucking started him inthe beginning of the season, as opposed to bouncing around 4 different lineups before having his hadn forced. At times they don't look great, but Miller and Roy have looked more comfortable with eachother as time has gone on, and if we had gone at that lineup from day 1 of pre-season, we would have potentially worked out the kinks by now. I still think it was a good signing that could be torpedoed do to bad coaching.
Did I say even if they don't help the team? I feel like Herm Edwards of NFL fame with his line in the post game press conference "You play to win the game". You make moves to improve the team. They don't always pan out. You do your best. Any trade that would have got a second fiddle scorer for Roy that worked well with him would pan out. Guys like Wallace, who you listd above are prime because he scores without a lot of plays being ran for him. Other players who I think would work good with Roy are Richard Hamilton because he plays well without the ball. I think Stephen Jackson although being a knucklehead, would have been a great fit next to Roy. He has shown in situations where strong team leadership is present he is not a problem. Basically the premise is this: If Roy does not get help soon, he is going to get beat up and beat down and pissed off like Dwayne Wade is now(He is already beat up. He hasn't got pissed off yet.) . That is a fact. I don't care if the help comes from the draft, a deal, or a free agent signing, he needs help or his body is going to give out on him. Once we have given a player or two a chance to fit next to Roy and observed how it works out, we can determine once and for all if Roy is a player you can build a contender with. But it can't just be any joe shmoe. It has to be a legit Tier 2 Tier 3 player as I referred to above. As for speculation about trades, it does not matter. With KP as GM, there is either A) Getting it done. Or B) Not getting it done. I can see where he wanted to be patient and see if some guys panned out. But if we have another "Travis Outlaw" where we wait 6 years to see the guy become an average/below average player, Roys career is going to be over before he got a shot at anything.
That's what I'm worried about. The wear and tear this is putting on B-Roy. It could end up having lasting effects.
I agree, he needs more help. I think we have a better chance of doing that with more assets than with fewer, though. Which is why I was saying, if we found nothing else to help for this season or beyond, rather than let the deadline pass with nothing, I would look to make a deal similar to this, for the sole purpose of adding more assets with which to find another player to go alongside Roy. Do you think we would be better served allowing Blake and Outlaw to expire than doing that deal?
As long as the end goal is getting a 2nd/3rd tier player, I have no objection to how it gets done. I guess I am leery because really if you look at it, over the past few years we have a ton of guys on the roster, all of which are talented to a certain degree. But none of them are good enough to differentiate themselves from the pack. This leads to a lot of good discussions about playing time on the message boards, and probably a lot of unhappyness in the locker room. If we end up with the "more assettes" and end up not making a move, things possibly get worse. Again. Nothing is without risk though, and GM's who are afraid of taking a risk are rarely rewarded. The bigger the risk, the bigger the accolades that go with it.
I don't make a move and keep what we have. I don't see any deals out there that make a ton of sense for us. A big would be nice but at what cost. Butler would be an upgrade on paper, but we'd be likely giving up Nic or Martell. I don't want to give up an asset just to improve our seeding, and I especially don't want to give up a player such as Nic, who might be superior. We'll hang on to what we have and start again in the summer. In the meantime our guys are getting some much needed experience. With a core of Roy, Aldridge, Bayless, Fernandez, Webster, Batum, Oden, Przybilla, Cunningham and Pendergraph, we're well balanced and versatile. In the offseason we'll have an attractive trading chip in Miller. We could possibly sign-and-trade Blake and/or Outlaw. We could bring Freeland over. And, Pritchard will have the draft as well to bring in a solid contributer for the bench.
I think Portland should look at this season as a flex spending account. With all of the injuries and such, this team really has no chance to win a title, so they should make sure every single player on their roster gets surgery or treatment for what ails them before next season. Use it before it expires. Brandon's hamstring is bothering him, so they should sit him The worst thing that could happen is Roy needing surgery now because he injured something seriously that could have healed with a couple of weeks of rest. Instead, he won't return until all-star break next year.
We as fans need patience and understanding. This season isn't going to be our Great Leap Forward for which we had all hoped. I think we look to give players we want for the future huge minutes and lots of rope. If we play this year right, it can be a step back to make some huge strides forward in 2010-2011.
But that's the whole point I was making man. It's not just to improve the seeding. It's to keep Roy from beating himself silly trying to carry this team. Was it that long ago that Dwade was getting 3 off season surgeries because of how bad he was beat up trying to carry the team. Those surgeries are going to have long term ramifications on Wade, and if Roy keeps it up, he will follow the same path. Secondly, I don't think that trading necessarily means you are giving up on anybody. You just are giving yourself more cushion for development. Lastly, if the player you are bringing in, is as good as you could ever expect Batum or Martell to become, why wait for a guy to "possibly" develope into a good player when you can get a known good talent, now? Do you think Martell will ever be better than Carone Butler? Does anybody in their right mind think that? What about Batum? Same question. If we are lucky he turns out that good.
dude... its called the off season. should we miss the playoffs... roy will have 6 months to recover. its the payers who screw themselves... if they have a bad shoulder...fix it and stop thinking rest will help.
