I'm cool with keeping him. Although, he's probably our most trade-able asset, especially when you consider how Dante and Jeff are coming along. We'd miss his scoring in the 4th quarters though. Having him around the past few games probably would have resulted in a couple more wins.
Can we bring him back as team mascot after his contract expires - the new and improved Blaze? Imagine the crazy dunks he could do off the mini-tramps. The thing is, he's been around the team, in the locker room, attending practices, sitting behind the bench. It's not like he's been absent from the team. With Batum back and already playing great and Cunningham playing well, it will be interesting to see how much of a boost Travis actually gives the team ON THE COURT. BNM
Getting Roy back will help a lot more. Outlaw's expriring contract makes him a valuable trading chip - especially if his on court contributions are redundant. BNM
We have too many players. Someone's gotta go, every year. It's how team sports works, at every level. Someone tell Pritchard. If Outlaw is less likely than we think to go, as you say, then, someone else must be more likely to go. For every yin there's a yang. Who is it? That's the real message, not that Outlaw is popular with his dumbbell lazy catfish Southern accent, which we already know. The news is that someone is more likely to go than we think. Who does Monty think it is?
During the game, Mike and Mike had an exchange much like this: "Outlaw was out shooting before the game." "Oh, yeah. He was!" "... and boy, did he look great!" "Yeah. He sure did! He wasn't in the greatest condition, but that'll come." Blazers employees are so quick to hype any Blazer it's hard to take much of anything they say seriously any more. Ed O.
Not really. I put the chance of him and Blake being traded at zero, so I doubt it is less likely than that.
But when that Blazer employee plays Travis more minutes than this board thinks he should, it's hard not to believe he's a fan of what Travis brings to the floor.
Blake and Travis will retire Blazers. And one of those two will cost Portland a game in the playoffs. It's pretty much a coin flip which one it will be. I just hope Portland can win a title in spite of that "contribution".
I heard that exchange but my impression was that they were specifically praising how he shot the ball and how ripped he looked. Maybe it wasn't in that exchange but they also relayed he's been lifting a lot. I don't find any of those specific things hard to believe. Dude can shoot and he's in a contract year so I'd expect him to be on top of his training. M&M are homers no doubt, but I didn't chafe on that particular quote. In fact, Rice especially has pushed the idea of possibly moving Travis for at least a year STOMP
I'd love to call bullshit, but after hearing KP praise both Blake and Trav after their 'performances' in the Houston series (if you want to call them that) I think you're probably right. Not to hate on either guy (as they both have the ability to be decent contributors some of the time) but if KP doesn't trade them or let them walk I'm going to be depressed, because it will tell me that he values player loyalty over winning -- that might sounds ass backwards, but if as a GM, forming close relationships with players prevents you from doing your job of building a championship contender, and keeps you from solidifying talent then you should be in a different line of work.
