These players would have been nothing special if confined to Nate's obsessive control, and would have asked to be traded. Drexler, Ainge, Sabas, Walton, Pippen, Vandeweghe, Bates, Rasheed, Petrie, Hollins, Porter, Kersey... Make all the trades you like, we'll get no better.
Yes it is amazing how Uncanny the last two foreign bench players that asked to be traded were to the list you provided.
Billy Ray Bates? WTF? Bwahahahahahaha! That would have been a crushing blow to the future of the Blazers! What an tool. The vast majority of those guys played in a completely different era. To say that they would have been upset with the current style of basketball is an understatement. But there isn't a team in the league that plays like the NBA of the 70's and early 80's. And as mentioned...Sabonis would have DOMINATED in this system. I believe Pippen would have as well. Your straw man argument is A) idiotic and B) falling apart already.
I'm still convinced that Kevin Pritchard will make his triumphant return as the head coach to lead us to a championship.
Last time I checked NBA players signed contracts. Let me see here... –noun 1. an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified. Did they go away from these "contracts"? Because I don't see why a player should be able to demand anything if he signs one.
He's just trying to justify Sergio's non-stop whining by attempting to lump him in with players that actually mattered. So, how'd that whole trade thing work out for Sergio? The Blazers had to pay the worst team in the league to take him off their hands. He was supposed to thrive under Westphal, but was the third string point guard, racking up a ton of DNP-CDs on one of the worst teams in the league. He was then traded to the equally crappy Knicks. Again, a team and coach where he was supposed to thrive in a fast paced, no defense system. He was handed the starting job there, and quickly lost it and the Knicks made no effort to resign him. So much for the conspiracy theory that Nate was the one holding Sergio back. Were Westphal and D'antoni in on the conspiracy, too? So, as predicted by me (and many others), as soon as his cheap rookie contract was up, he was out of the league. He had multiple, serious flaws in his game that he never improved in four years. The only thing he proved in four years is he just isn't an NBA caliber talent. He's now back in Europe where he belongs. I wonder how long before Rudy joins him. BNM
Nice Logic, Maris. Back in the day, everything was uptempo. Just look at the game scores back then VS now. Who are those super uptempo teams winning titles in recent years? Lakers, Boston, Detroit, Spurs, Heat? Um...yeah. Maris' favorite players 'thrive' (in his imagination) in uptempo, no defense scenarios that, while they may work in Euroleague play, will never lead to a championship in the NBA. Get off Nate's jock dude, D wins championships. And where IS Sergio, again? What's that? He lacked the talent to make it in the NBA? Rudy is next- not because he lacks the ability to be a decent NBA bench player or 6th man, but because he thinks he is so much more, and would get paid like it in Europe. He won't in the NBA, just watch.
The triangle is like Nate's only with better offensive sets and ball movement (by a mile). It's a half court system. Also who says it's Nate's fault, how do we know it's not Roy?
Unless of course, he is named Chris Paul AND he is demanding a trade to Portland for Batum and filler. I believe that in the Idogster's dictionary but I don't have a citation quite yet.
I'm sure we're all shaking our fists at the heavens after the Sergio trade and the way that Nate ruined him by trying to get him to play in a decent defensive stance. I'm no great McMillan fan, but Sergio sucked all on his own, Rudy shit the bed all on his own and that's just the way it goes. Plays don't make players, players make plays.
Again, my son shits the bed all on his own. Not fair to compare him to Rudy when he actually gives full effort on his Fisher Price hoop and only cries if he goes bonk, not because he misses nailing Spanish women. Come to think of it, he probably whines less than Rudy and would play better defense only because the full grown NBA players he would be defending probably would have the humanity not to step on him which would slow them down slightly.
What, no Byron Irvin, Randolph Childress, Erick Barkley or Omar Cook? If you're looking for others to compare with Sergio's situation, you might want to include other insignificant back-up PGs that were out of the league after their initial contracts were up. BNM
Nah, Alvin Williams was a much better player that Sergio, with a much longer career. He was actually an average to above average starter for two and a half seasons in Toronto. His career was limited by injuries, not lack of NBA level talent. BNM
