I was comparing to the Duckworth example. I know the pick was traded before the draft, but we had our pick of either Williams or Paul, if we would have kept it. It went down that the 3rd pick was Williams, but if we would have kept it it would have likely been Paul. So, in my fantasy world, Paul was a Blazer.
I like your thinking! In parallel Earth, where John Nash was killed before he could fuck up the draft, Chris Paul has been a Blazer for years. Mind you, he's also demanding a trade, because we never sucked enough to get Roy, Aldridge or Oden...
As long as he punches the right guys, his crotch-punching is actually an added positive. Let's call it being a gamer. Johnny Unitas used to punch the crotch of many opposing players in his desire to win games and he was elected President of the United States because of it. True story.
CP3 maybe a nice guy off the court.... but on the court the dude is straight Ninja Assasin. Kinda like Kobe. Mike Rice once said that "CP3 is a nice guy, but on the court he just wants to win... he'll bite your ear off" I thought that was very accurate.
Yes he's worth it! He's a once in a generation PG that makes his teammates better. He and Roy will work together just fine, if they don't they'll find a way to make it work.
I'm curious who you would list as a better PG than CP3 since Magic. When CP3 is healthy, I can't think of anybody. A PER of 30? Damn.
I admit, I have similar reservations about dealing for Paul. From a fan's perspective, winning isn't really the be all/end all. Being entertained is. What's most entertaining is going to vary from person to person, of course, but for me, and I suspect yourself, there's something more rewarding and exciting following the maturation of a young team into a seasoned team that eventually comes out on top. More highs and lows, more emotional involvement. Greater emotional reward at the end. A real journey--the stuff of any good story. That's what the Drexler teams were all about. That core of Kersey, Drexler, Porter, Duck definitely took their lumps for a few years, but management didnt tinker with the core and it eventually paid off. They may not have won a title, but that was the most entertaining time I've had as a basketball fan. If we have to send both Oden and Batum, and Rudy is shipped off somewhere, and we just traded 4-5 year Blazer homegrown products Outlaw and Webster and another guy in Blake who really earned his crimson and black here.....I dunno. We'd be left with just two homegrown core players. I'd rather leave the mercenary stuff to the Lakers, personally. Let that be their legacy, no ours. Besides, I think our existing core is still good enough to win if they stay healthy. I'd like to see them given a chance.
It's not worth it to me. After the Lebron "Decision" and World Wid Wes and even now Cho. I almost done with the NBA. I love the Blazers but not like this. I rather go with what we have and trade for TP or someone else now. It is to bad because I loved CP3.
Is PER the be-all and end-all? Did Zach Randolph (21.2) have a better season than Deron Williams (20.6)? Did David Lee (22.2) outperform Kobe Bryant (21.9), Steve Nash and Brandon Roy? Makes you wonder why more people didn't RUSH to snap him up! Fuck PER. It's a glorified version of the boxscore. It has its uses, but having a great PER is neither sufficient to prove you're a great player (see Randolph and Lee) nor necessary to be a a great player (Tayshaun Prince in his BEST year cracked 16, Rondo ranks below Kelenna Azubuike this year). Paul is a great player. But a great player of a certain type. He's an Isiah Thomas (and to say that he may be on a par with Thomas is high praise indeed, but he's a couple of championships behind). Jason Kidd was, in the seasons he dragged New Jersey to the finals (NEW JERSEY! Whose best other player was KENYON MARTIN. Who STARTED Jason Collins and Kerry Kittles!) better than Paul has ever been. Steve Nash has been more valuable to his teams than Paul. Could Nash score like Paul? Almost certainly - he's ridiculously efficient. But he's better at getting his team to play better. Nash is more Magic Johnson, Paul is more Kobe Bryant. Now, I think "the voters" are often stupid (like when they voted Chris Paul to the first team all-defense!) but I don't think it's ridiculous that Nash has two MVPs (maybe it's ridiculous that he has TWO, but he deserved the first then played better the next year!) while Paul has none.
Aren't you the comedian. But yes, a Ricky Rubio trade WITHOUT ODEN is certainly preferable to a Chris Paul trade WITH Oden.
