ben (Atlanta) what's the best matchup/hope for Portland in the playoffs? vs Dallas? or OKC? John Hollinger (1:00 PM) Well, I think we can all agree it's not Utah (lost season series 0-4) ... and they've done well against Dallas this year but couldn't handle the Mavs at all last season. I wonder actually if Denver isn't the best pairing -- Batum does pretty well against Melo and Miller has the size to check Chauncey. Keith (PDX) Whats your take on marcus camby actualy staying in PDX after this season's playoff push. Pritch is saying the right things about him not being a rental...but I dont know. You already have prizz and oden, unless there are question about either of those 2 big men moving forward John Hollinger (12:17 PM) High likelihood that he goes back to L.A. -- apparently he really liked it down there. Jay (Tacoma, WA) Everybody's saying the right things...but is there *really* a chance Boozer re-ups in Utah next year? John Hollinger (12:27 PM) To me it only works it they trade Millsap. Otherwise they're a tax team, and I can't imagine Utah going over that line again. maybe Kpee made a good move? AND ON RUDY.... Joe (NY) Do the Blazers move Rudy Fernandez this summer? He's been pretty mediocre this year and he might bolt for Spain if they don't, might as well try to get something for him. He'd be great on a team like Phoenix, Golden State, or New York John Hollinger (12:33 PM) The earliest Rudy can bolt is 2012, so I don't think the Blazers are too worried just yet. Spanish media like to stir the pot on this subject, but FIBA won't allow a player to ditch a contract and jump countries. AND THIS IS PAINFUL.... WARNING ODEN LOVERS.... rolland (pompano beach) Who is the best young player in the game today that you would pick to build around? David Thorpe (12:45 PM) Durantula.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more You've probably never even been to Portland. How bout you change your sig
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more How is that painful? I like Oden a ton, and I think Durant is great. If I had to choose one, right now, to build around, it would probably be Durant purely for health reasons. I still there's a reasonably good chance that Oden plays a goodly number of games over the next 5 years and his play when healthy has been superb. If Oden is healthy, I think he'll be more valuable. But Durant has less risk at this point.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more I just don't know what use it is to lament over this. Portland made a mistake, time to move forward.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more A mistake that every other team in the league would have made.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more I was in the RG when Oden was drafted. The entire place when apeshit after the announcement. I don't know if that would have happened with Durant. I also went downtown the rally the next day. Me and some 5,000 other people. That wouldn't have happened with Durant. I have no problem with the choice and no amount of success Durant has will change my mind. The historical evidence is overwhelming that titles are won in the paint. I would rather Portland roll the dice on a big man then a small forward. Simple as that. Why aren't you crying about the 2005 draft? Or the 2004 draft? We could have picked Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, JR Smith, Delonte West or Kevin Martin instead of Telfair and Monia. Or how about 2003 when we missed on Kendrick Perkins, Barbosa and Josh Howard in place of Outlaw? Or 2002 when Portland missed on Tayshawn Prince and John Salmons to take Quintel Woods? The draft is a crap shoot no matter where you pick. No one can really predict how a player will turn out in the NBA until they arrive. If you can't handle that I am afraid the NBA may not be your bag.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more Quintel Woods, Outlaw, Telfair, Webster were all HS'ers and Monia was a foreigner so that problem was fixed specifically for them by Stern
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more Fixed. I don't find that painful at all, and I'm a big-time Oden fan. How could you pick anyone else for best youngster? I think the Blazers would have nearly the same chances for a title with a healthy Greg, as they would with KD and a healthy Joel/Marcus. I don't like the Blazers chances with Durant and no capable center at all. If the team had selected KD, they would still have to depend on the health of two other centers that have had their share of injuries. I love watching Durant, but I'm not unhappy with Greg at all. If I was a huge Durant fan, and thought Greg sucked and was a terrible mistake of a pick, I'd probably just start rooting for the Thunder. Go Blazers
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more Luckily for us, we're not building around Oden. We're building around Brandon Roy. What Kevin Pritchard has done is not only assemble an immense amount of talent, but built it across all five positions. Bayless-Roy-Batum-Aldridge-Oden is ridiculous if they ever have a chance to play together for any stretch of time. I've seen GMs build teams where they have duplication at some positions and holes at others, but never spread perfectly like this. We are long, strong, young and athletic at every position. Durant would be amazing for us, but we don't need what he brings as much as we need what Oden does. Let's put it this way: If Roy finds it difficult to share the ball with Miller or Oden, how would he handle sharing it with a volume scorer like Durant?
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more I agree with you and I agree that KP made the correct call given the information available on draft day. I also think that five years down the road that it's likely that Greg will have established himself as a dominant center in a league that's lacking players at that position. At that point, the current Durant love over Oden may well be somewhat abated. All of that said, I think it's hard to argue that if the Blazers had taken Durant, a center tandem of Camby and Przybilla wouldn't be enough to win some titles with Roy, Durant and Aldridge in the lineup.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more I think the conventional wisdom regarding the dearth of quality centers is no longer necessarily accurate. In the west alone, there are Al Jefferson, Nene, Okur, Biedrins, Bynum, Kaman, Yao, Okafor, Gasol--all of which are or have the potential to be all-star caliber--and that's not counting Dirk, Duncan, and Amare which are technically power-forwards. Being a dominant center (by comparison) is not going to be as easy as it would have been five years ago.
Re: Hollingers chat on who the Blazers best matchup would be in the playoffs and more That's what I've always said. You hear anonymous rumblings from GM's across the league on how Greg's health evaluations before the draft were troublesome. I don't believe that any team would have picked Durrant. NOT ONE. The hype around Oden, the "once in a generation center" label - just too enticing to pass up on. A dominating Center almost always wins championship(s) - with apologies to Patrick Ewing. Kareem, D-Rob, Shaq, Malone, Wilt, Russell, Hakeem . . . Ewing had the privilege of facing Michael Jordan and the Bulls every year, and when MJ was playing baseball he got to go against Hakeem and the Rockets. On the other hand, there have been many great players who don't play Center that never won a title. Guys like Barkley, Gervin, Karl Malone, Pistol Pete. Currently, look at guys like Vinsanity, T-Mac, Carmello, Lebron (not yet anyway), Dirk, Iverson, and on and on - All Stars who don't play Center to never win a title. Drafting Oden wasn't a mistake, at least not in the sense of "they should have known better". Man, I still remember the parade for GO. The hype around that guy was more than anything I remember, with possibly the exceptions of when Yao came from China or Lebron.
