As they Stand (some thoughts about the Blazers)

Right now, if no big move is made, the Blazers look like this

Miller/Bayless/Johnson
Roy/Mathewes/williams
Batum/Babbit
Aldridge/Cunningham/Pendergraph
Oden/Camby

Injured
Przybilla

Deep bench or cut
Rudy

I am assuming Armon Johnson is signed, but that is not guaranteed.

Of course Bayless can play SG, Cunningham SF and Pendergraph C as well as most of the others can play multiple positions, But, this seems to be the Blazers at the moment. What kind of damage can they do? I wish Miller was better at the start of seasons, but he will improve over the first few months. And although, many around these boards are looking for a monster trade that nets us CP3 or some other A lister PG, Miller is who the Blazers have at the moment and he is quite good.

Aside from upgrading PG, the one real weakness I see is that both our Centers are very injury prone and I would like another legit bu center. Even if this season Oden and Camby have relatively healthy seasons, they will most likely still miss games here and there. I trust Cunningham and Pendergraph more at PF then I do at C, especially since this season I think we could see Batum also slide to PF for stints.

Rudy has pissed off a lot of the forum fans and they want to see him rot on the bench, but I hope the Blazers don't cut off their nose to spite their face. He would fill our 15th roster spot according to the above breakdown. But if he is cut (if no trade presents itself) then the Blazers could fill the final roster spot with a 3rd string Center.

Of course there are a lot of trade bait pieces like JPEC, rudy, Miller, Williams, Bayless and more, and hopefully upgrades can be had. Bit even if no big trades come down, i think this squad has the makings of a 60 win team if they can stay healthier than last year.

Defense really seems like it's going to become the calling card for these Blazers. Batum, Mathewes, Oden, Camby and perhaps Cunningham and Johnson can be considered very good defenders which should be a good mix on the perimeter and in the paint. And even our non-expert defenders like Roy, Aldridge and Miller capable of good D in crunch time and are not matadors the rest of the game.

3pt shooting is extremely important in Nate's system, especially with the way that Roy and Oden play. SO, the Blazers got rid of a semi-decent but prolific shooter in Webster, but also got Wes in his stead, who shoots a little better but is shorter and plays the same position as Roy. I don't see much of an overall chance in the Blazers 3pt shooting going into next season unless they are able to make another move. PG is the one spot that shooting would be most advantageous. Babbit has not shown himself in summer league to be a shooter, but his collegiate stats show him to be quite a good shooter. Johnson has never been a shooter and Williams was decent but not spectacular in college. Hopefully Bayless can find some of the shooting he once possessed, but after two seasons, I am starting to doubt that he will ever have the stroke needed. From a shooting standpoint, I don't know if losing Rudy is a good thing or a bad thing.

anyway, these are just some of my thoughts on the roster. I would like to see Batum not only get more minutes, which I expect to happen with the departure of Webster, but I would like to see some plays run for him and more responsibility given to him on the offensive end.

 

I would feel more comfortable with Marty's name on that list instead of Babbitt!!!!!!!

 

I do too in the short-term. But hopefully in the long run the trade will pay off. However, I think a combo of WM and Babbit will cover for the loss of Webs, even in the short term. HOwever, Webs was a nice guy and from all accounts, a pressure release guy in the lockerroom, Hopefully the TEAM atmosphere is not hurt by Webster leaving. I hope we do better without him, but I also hope Webs has a good career wherever he ends up.

 

If healthy they'll be in a tight race for #2 with Dallas, Denver, and Utah.

 

Wes will play SF if we get him.

 

I was trying to psyche myself up on Babbitt instead of Webster... but I just can't seem to do it.

 

It really seems like a stupid trade to me. I'm still trying to figure it out. Babbitt and Gomes, who was released..... makes no sense to me.

 

If healthy, that team wins what last years did, and they exit from the 1st round.

Roy does not want to play with Miller

I don't think chrmistry will be all that great. Just my opinion

 

I think we take a step back in terms of depth, simply because our bench will be so young. Instead of adding vets, we are adding rookies and second year players. This doesn't bother me as long as our rooks and second year guys mature into solid role players. I think we can sacrifice one more year to season this team, but guys like Matthews, Babbitt, Johnson, Williams, and Bayless need to evolve into guys that we will hold onto.

 

Seems to me Roy doesn't want to play with anyone that takes the ball out of his hands be that Miller, Oden, or anyone else not willing to take a back seat.

He doesn't seem to trust his teammates.

 

Ya. I remember also reading an article last year about Roy going to Nate to let him know he wanted the ball more in the 4th. Then making comments after a loss that he needed to have the ball more for the team to be more successful. It was about that time we started seeing so many ISO's.

Roy is a very good player, but IMO, he won't be great until he starts trusting his teammates more

 

And learns to play off the ball.

 

Definately

 

Babbitt's strengths: basketball IQ, creating his own shot. Weaknesses, athleticism, defense. He's the anti-Webster! (Apart from both having a sweet stroke... in practice.)

 

I like our team as is- there should be some good defense and I'm looking forward to seeing more from Batum and Oden.

 

I'm much more optimistic than many.

Any 50-win team + Dwight Howard = Serious Championship Contender

If Greg Oden approx Dwight Howard, then

Portland = Serious Championship Contender

===============

Note: Orlando - Howard != 50-win team, thus we should be better than Orlando

Note: Dwight Howard 2009-10 PER = 24.0, and Greg is still improving
Greg Oden 2009-10 PER = 23.1

Note: Even outside of Oden, we had a lot of injuries

==============

If we make no moves (other than get healthy), we should do well.

If this didn't make sense to you, don't worry, you can go back to bitching about Nate, or worrying about the loss of Martell Webster!

 

I agree with this. Babbitt is a lot like Batum was in SL, getting used to the NBA game. I see good things in his game. He is a lot quicker than people give him credit. He seems a little too nervous and unsure yet but I believe he has real potential.

 

We need a change at PG, and I hope it comes next week.

 

I'm slowly but surely coming round to that opinion myself. I don't even think Roy is selfish (maybe a little?) but he does seem to be trying to do too much at times, and his inability/unwillingness to play off the ball really makes it difficult to build a team around him -- why else would be having all of these long arguments about what kind of point guard would be best to play next to Roy, and we usually come back with a list of qualities that either describe an all-world point like Paul or some undersized shoot first 2 guard with range but not necessarily any vision or ability to run a team.

I get why Roy is the way he is, the team was not very good in his second year and he probably was correct that he'd be a better point guard and playmaker than Blake and Jack at the time, but I think he's developed some really bad habits and he's become more and more of a ball-stopper in the offense.

I think Nate gets a little too much flack from people about not being able to design and implement an offense, or that he's somehow in love with isolation offense, but when Roy was out for an extended period, even though the Blazers were undermanned and undertalented all over the court, when Miller ran the show, guys seemed to move the ball a lot better and shared the load of the offense a lot better than when Roy is at the controls.

I think if two things happen this year the Blazers have a chance to be a lot better even without adding significant pieces or making a big trade 1) everybody (and LMA in particular) have got to start setting real screens, and 2) Roy has got to learn to play off the ball more effectively or willingly. Kevin Pelton did a synergy analysis of Roy and discovered that when he caught the ball and shot it off of screens and picks from the elbow he shot something like 60%, the real area where he has struggled has been catching and shooting from the perimeter where his percentages are lower off of the catch than they are off of pull ups.

He's got the tools and the smarts, but does he have enough trust to let some things go? That's going to be one of the biggest keys to success or failure for this team next year.