Horrible thought: Oden not safe if Pritchard leaves?

To me, the thing with Oden is that you have evaluate what you're going to do with him based upon his current situation. You have to get past the fact that he was a #1 pick with huge expectations who, because of injury, hasn't lived up to those dreams...at least thus far. So, what you have, IMO, is an extremely athletic 7 foot player who has recovered from microfracture surgery on one knee and who is in the midst of recovering from a broken kneecap on the other knee. It's a risk going forward with him because of his injury prone rep, but look around the league and tell me how many other center prospects are there out there that have his potential? I can't help but think that there are about 29 other teams around the league that would still leap at the chance to see if he can put his injuries behind him and develop into a dominant center. There are just so few of those around that you just have to take a chance on him. Obviously, you try to get him as inexpensively as possible, but at the end of the day, I can't see any sane GM giving up on this kid.

 

Repped. I'm so fucking tired of the whiners

 

Spoken like a fan of another team. And what "pieces"? We're not talking about the Warriors here.

 

Bingo.

Why replace KP if the new guy is going to be under orders to slavishly do everything just the way KP would have done it? It makes no frikken sense!

But hey....I'm just a whiner......I have nothing worthwhile to say.

 

He shouldn't have to do things "just like KP." However, hopefully they get someone smart enough not to dump Oden reflexively...either out of feeling "disappointed" over his production compared to his draft status, or to distance himself from the previous regime. Either approach would be irrational. If he truly did an objective evaluation of Oden's talent and health and made a clear-eyed trade, that's fine. That's his job.

 

It's common, but silly. A GM should neither be emotionally attached to his players (if Pritchard truly is, it's a valid knock against him) nor should he be emotionally attached to the idea of clearing house and getting "his guys." He should always be focused on putting together the best team, even if some of the "previous GM's guys" are part of that team.

 

Just to clarify, the issue is production vs salary demands - which is related to draft status.

Joel found a home with the Blazers because he is being paid based on production, not his one time status as a lotto pick.

IF Oden actually offers to sign a discounted extension, that's all fine and well. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

No, I don't think his salary demands will be based on draft status. It'll be based on his production. Right now, he doesn't have the best case, but he can point to great play when healthy. That will be moot if he's injured again next season...great play when healthy is meaningless if one is never healthy. But right now, when no salary decision has to be made, his play when healthy is extremely relevant to whether he should be "dumped" by an incoming GM.

 

Yes.

It all boils down to whether or not they think the return they could get for him is greater than the risk that he'll get hurt again and not amount to anything in the league. Every GM has to perform that kind of calculus with any of his players. I wouldn't expect Oden to be dealt no matter what when KP is replaced (it's not really an "if" at this point) but I expect the likelihood of him being extended or retained goes way down.

 

If the Blazers replace Pritchard with a competent GM, I don't think the likelihoods of that change at all...it will remain entirely a question of whether Oden has a largely healthy 2010-11. If he does, he will be retained at a fairly large (though non-max deal, barring an utter explosion) deal. If he doesn't, he'll be left to explore free agency.

Now, if the new GM is another John Nash (in terms of competence), then I agree with you.

 

if the reason people didn't want beasley was maturity/character/personality issues, you might have a point. the reason people don't want beasley is because he's worthless on defense, not a good rebounder, and really not a very good offensive player.

 

Really? Has Oden proven that he can stay healthy for even one NBA season? Will he even come back from this latest injury? Will he ever be a shadow of his old self??? There are so many questions about Oden, and so much dissapointment associated with him, that I wouldn't blame management for trying to move him.

 

No he hasn't proved he can stay healthy, but he has proved he can be a highly effective defensive anchor with lots of potential of the offensive end.

I would totally Blame the Management if they even thought about moving G.O. He was the one they picked, and now they must live with the decision because that is the chip they banked on. While it may not seem like it, We've come too far with Greg to be giving up now

 

I am in the camp that says Oden is our best shot (even if longshot) to win a title. But I wouldn't be as sad to see him go as KP because Oden's attitude jsut doesn't sit right with me.

If Oden plays a full season and continues to develop from where he left off, I don't care about his nonchalaunt (sp?) attitude . . . but it's tought to deal with when he is constantly hurt and not helping the team.

 

Who cares? Even if there were, that wasn't TOO unreasonable, given that Beasley put up better stats than Durant in the same conference. But now we know he sucks in the NBA.

...because he sucks. Bad. (Good quote on Portland Roundball Society: "our guy just needs new knees, their guy needs a new heart.")

...but mainly the fact that he sucks. Bad.

I hope he does. Because he'll then see a player who is a superstar in PER when healthy, and an incredible rebounder and defensive presence, who would not get anything close to his worth in a trade. My worry is that the new GM will NOT evaluate Oden objectively, but instead view him as Pritchard's Folly.

You mean not Dwight Howard?

That's funny, I only think it's worth a trade if you get better than fair value.

 

Yea well imagine how tough it is for Oden to deal with being constantly hurt all the time and meeting expectations, you'd almost have to be nonchalant to deal with that type of pressure

But I agree unless we get chris bosh and a legit point guard, GO gives us the best shot at a trophy