http://bleacherreport.com/articles/486498-dampier-to-portland-makes-a-ton-of-sense-after-another-injury-to-a-blazer-big Erick Dampier is still on the market and has been in talks with the Portland Trail Blazers' front office, but Jason Quick of The Oregonian has reported that Portland will most likely not sign Dampier to a full season
Odd that the author says Portland would only have Camby, LMA, Dante and Babbit in the frontcourt then a few paragraphs later says the Blazers would have 4 starting centers and have no need at all for Dampier.... I think it would be rare for all of our centers to be healthy, so I don't see any issues with having 4 when currently 2 of them are going to be out for months and all 3 have had extensive injury issues throughout their careers. I'd be very happy to see the Blazers sign Dampier.
While not the most mobile big man around, Dampier would be a better option than having to play Batum at power forward. Could he be signed to a contract that doesn't last the entire year?
Why are you glad he is gone? He was a great addition and helped us out big time last season. On and off the court!
Were you watching last season? He was very big part of keeping this team together during December-February. He stepped up, can't deny that.
But we don't, so get over it. We have to either waive or trade a player in order to make space for Dampier. I'm not sure they want to do that right now. LA will play more center and Cunningham will have to play more PF. They can make it work.
Yep. I have really liked his game. He seems to always be in control, plays within himself and can bang well with the big guys. If we didn't have Batum, I'd groom him to be our starting SF.
holy shit. shoot me. i agree with hcp. in a sick and twisted way.... howard might have saved our season last year. i would love him back to for fill in duty with our fragile blazers.
Nostradumbass strikes again? Weren't the one that was responsible for these gems before: "That might be the funniest line of the season because Howard is absolute garbage at thi spoint in his career" http://sportstwo.com/threads/149980...-miss-Frye.-Howard-is-a-joke.?highlight=juwan
Re: Juwan Howard. There are two competing schools of thought on how best to measure a player's contribution (insofar as that is possible). One is the old-fashioned-boxscore method, of which a more sophisticated version is PER. Somebody has already pointed out that Howard's PER was terrible. Personally I prefer the +/- measure, because that would include the effect having that player on court has on the entire team, both on offense and defense. Well, Howard was even more terrible by that measure. On the other hand, he was a great guy and a great professional, and may have had a very positive effect on the young'uns. He also hit a couple of clutch jumpers. But the Miami Heat are welcome to him.
+/- over the whole season seems like a good measure of contribution. Stats aside, watching the games I could see that Howard did almost nothing for us on offense, and he was absolutely terrible on defense. Couldn't guard a stick (without fouling it).
Using the "Blech-er Report" and referring to it as newsworthy is a bit like using wikipedia references in a scholarly article; it doesn't work.
I think Dampier is the best available free agent center on the market right now. The Blazers would be smart to sign him for the full season, and get an injury exemption (Pendergraph) to make it work under the salary cap rules (and maximum players on a roster rules). Dampier is not a great player, especially at this point in his career, but he's a legit 7-footer, who knows how to play the game. Juwan Howard, yeah, coulda shoulda woulda. He bailed the Blazers out big time last season, but he found someplace else he wanted to play, and I think he could be a stabilizing force in Miami.
If it were me, I'd sit Oden for the year, get an injury exception from the league, sign Dampier - and move forward. If at some point (by Spring) Oden is seriously "healed" - then bring him back and waive someone.
