It's 50/50 that Favors or Cousins are going to be 18 PER players next season and play 35 mpg? I'm really glad that a lot of you aren't GM of the Blazers.
Only MAYBE, and that's in 2-3 years. I'm told Roy's supposed window is now only the next 3 years so that would mean this move would make 0 sense, unless the team is just going to blow it up and start over again. Yeah, that sounds like fun.
LA is #18 in the NBA for PER among players who can stay on the court for 35 mpg. That's a pretty fucking productive player to give up for some fat ass rookie.
So you honestly believe LMA is a top 20 player in this league? Interesting. For some perspective he's the twelfth rated power forward in PER for 4s playing 28 minutes or more, 38th in true shooting percentage, 40th in rebound rate and 31st in assist rate.
Stop it. You have to account for him being on the floor 35 mpg. It's tough to find average PFs that do that.
That's the problem with being stuck in the middle - there is no way to get better without taking risks.
If that's really the case then this team is fucked no matter what and will be in rebuilding mode sooner rather than later anyway.
I'm saying we're getting 18 PER production out of the PF spot for 35 mpg. I never said anything about him being a Top 20 player. I mentioned his PER. If you want to bash LA for being productive and staying on the court, go ahead. I'll sit here and laugh at you.
Couldn't one of those risks be letting the players you have get healthy and see what they got? Admittedly that's certainly risky, but right now that option to me is clearly the best way to go right now. Other than Bosh I wouldn't trade Aldridge, and anything else is just bleh. I think PG should still be the teams #1 priority right now. I like Miller but I don't see Portland winning with him. I think Nate may have actually had it right that Miller would be a good PG for the 2nd unit, just the problem was Miller was far and away the best PG on the team and he had to start him.
Doug Gottlieb had a good point today on Steve Nash, and it made me think of 'Dre. He said that your first line of defense is the PG, and if you can't defend there, it ruins the rest of the defensive plan because penetration gets everybody out of position. PHX solved this problem on 'Dre by putting Grant Hill on him, but against the Lakers, they can't move Hill off of Bryant or Artest (or Odom), so what we're seeing is Farmar getting by Nash at will, like what happened in the 4th quarter last night.
You keep stating this but I'm not seeing where he is #18. Basketball-Reference I'm seeing 25th in PER out of a total of 44 players who averaged 35 mins or more per game.
I saw 6 PFs above LA on that list, and 5 have been All-Stars, andJosh Smith should have been on this year. Again, that's solid production for 35 mpg.
And you base this on what? I gave you examples of players with solid, but unspecatacular careers going into their 5th, 6th and later seaons, and then making All-Star AND All-NBA teams. What you got? Some notion that if a player starts out "Good" as a sophmore, and doesn't track higher year by year that he is doomed to stay flat forever. Sorry if I reject out of hand a concept that is little more than hot air. There is no substance to the concept. Some improve step by step. Some improve in breakthroughs. Some regress. Since progress is not destined to fit a standard template, why assume one of several options for LaMarcus, when he is still young enough that breakthrough improvements are still pretty common among previous players? Why throw away what we have, for "potential" unrealized, when we already have "potential" in a youngish player? Package LaMarcus as the centerpiece for an All-NBA player? Maybe, depending on the price. Trade him for youth and potential on this team right now. I don't agree with that notion at all. I don't "need" Oden for anything. I do however, realize he is still on the team, coming back to play, and that obtaining a replacement FOR Oden, while trading out LaMarcus is yet another very confusing plan. IF you think building around Oden is a bad idea - trade Oden - not LaMarcus. IF you think LaMarcus is lame and should be traded before the rest of the NBA catches on, AND you want to trade him for a supposed Paint Beast, then trade BOTH LaMarcus and Oden.
Stop it with the PER, it is not the be all-end all to a debate on a player's worth to his team...In fact it has many flaws.... I would add to that, that PER may reflect a players' offensive output for the game but it does NOT reflect HOW\WHEN and under what circumstances that player scored his points... Aldridge's performance in the playoffs is a good example actually...while his playoff PER looks decent, if you analyze his production\shots by quarter, you find that in MANY instances when PHX was making a run on POR, that Aldridge was frequently NON-EXISTENT on offense, he took (and missed) too few shot attempts (as the team's #1 option on offense with Roy out mind you) and often settled for jumpers outside of 10ft, of which he missed a large percentage of...
This I agree with. If Portland has given up on Oden (which I don't think they have) it would benefit them greatly to trade Oden + others for a comparable talent. Besides which, LMA is nearly impossible to move due to his contract situation. He can't really be moved until after next season. Something about being a base year player next year and having a poison pill contract this season.
