The depth the blazers once had is gone and canzano agrees

While I am pretty disappointed that the Blazers have repeatedly whiffed on a major consolidation trade over the last couple of years, I think if you look at the overall roster turnover from the 54 win team 2 seasons ago, it doesn't look bad at all: For reference I put the Win Shares for each player for that 54 win season to show their contribution to that sucessful year:

OUT:
Jerryd Bayless (0.3)
Steve Blake (5.8)
Travis Outlaw (5.3)
Channing Frye (0.8)
Martell Webster (out for season)
Sergio Rodriguez (1.7)
Ike Diogu (0.1)
Michael Ruffin (0.1)
Shavlik Randolph (0.0)

Only two guys made an impact - Blake and Outlaw. They were traded for Camby in a deal that the vast majority of Blazers fans considered a good deal and a smart move. The next season Outlaw was hurt, and Blake was well off his play from his previous career year.

IN:
Marcus Camby
Andre Miller
Wesley Matthews
Dante Cunningham
Elliot Williams
Armon Johnson
Luke Babbitt
Patty Mills
Pendergraph (cut due to injury)

The team has improved the PG and Center postions, brought in steady vets, while at the same time staying young, at the cost of a bit of depth. Overall, ok. I certainly don't think the roster is worse overall. I was just hoping for more.

 

Lost me here:
Mathews >>> Webster
Babbit, Johnson, Williams, NO pick, more PT for Rudy>>>>>>>>Bayless

 

For me it's a depth thing. I'm a little worried about losing a player that could help us right now for a future pick.

 

John Hollinger thinks we still have a lot of options:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/20627/blazers-add-another-asset-to-trade-chest

"Keep an eye on that asset. Portland, a team that’s widely considered “one player away,” now has another alluring piece to package in a trade should Mr. Right become available. The Blazers have two rookie first-rounders who will hardly play this year, New Orleans' first-rounder, their own, the expiring contracts of Joel Przybilla and Andre Miller and talented young players like Fernandez and Nic Batum. Few teams are better positioned to pounce."

 

It's probably just gas.

 

Frankly I don't think there's such a thing as "too much talent", but there definitely can be such a thing as too much "potential" and by that I mean players who might have tremendous upside, but who tend to have a lot of variance in their production; one night they are on fire dropping 25 points and hitting everything in sight, the next they are bricking 1 for 10 and can't figure out what the hell they are doing out there. You can't have a roster full of guys that you can't depend on because it makes it impossible to formulate a steady rotation or to firmly establish roles which any team hoping to make a deep playoff push needs. With the departures of Webster, Bayless, Travis et al. and the inclusion of guys like Miller, Camby, and Matthews it appears that they've finally started to shed some potential, in favor of reliable (if unspectacular) production out of their non-stars.

The real concern I have is that this team might still not have enough big guns at the very top of their roster to push themselves all the way to the top of the mountain, whether because of injury concerns (Roy and Oden) or because of lack of development (Aldridge mostly).

 

your premise that Wes cannot score like Bayless is completely wrong, he can score as well or better and do it in much more of a team fashion

 

Here we go again

 

Canzano agrees? Canzano? John Canzano? The same Canzano who was adament we'd be crazy not to take Pooh Jeeter, Sean May, and "The Stache?" Are we talking about basketball? Who gives a fuck what Canzano thinks about basketball?

 

or football for that matter.

 

I'm pretty sure Crapzano is President of the International Shit Stirrer Association.

 

OK, I can kind of see where he's going with this

And what? Somehow Jerryd being traded is the move that guts the team and deprives it of depth? I suppose what JC is getting at is that he expected a consolidation move to bring in a really good player, instead of another draft pick, but it's not as though this was a deadline deal and the team is out of options until the next off-season; This feels like the article JC should have written in February after the all-star break, not 3 days before the start of the season.

 

Bayless wasn't going to play unless people got hurt. And even if that happens, Patty Mills is a respectable option at PG.

 

No doubt. Also, I'm concerned that PF may be downgraded if Aldridge goes down, or PG if Miller goes down. Oh, and SF if Batum goes down.

 

I'm Concerned about our Centers going down... shit half of them are already down... umm WTB Bionic Centers from the Marval Magazine.

Really we have so much depth at every position its Insane to say we don't have reliable backups at every position(I love Cunningham and with Camby being able to backup Aldridge I don't see that as much of a concern if we have other healthy centers).
If you want to be a downer and talk about injuries...
Utah would suck if Derron williams was injured
The thunder would be thunderless without Durant
Denver just isn't Denver without Carmello
Orlando is defenseless without Dwight

I could go on but their are very few playoff teams that can compete at the same level or near the same level if their star player gets injured. We have more depth then some less then others but i'm not gonna start crying about what will happen is some insane thing happens and we have the same injuries or more then we had last year. We have depth at every position so if we get injured i'll worry about it then but at the moment I see no reason to worry.

 

What you just typed is EXACTLY why I am worried.

 

Are we forgetting about Cunningham? He spent the offseason expanding his offensive strategies and play. He looked a lot more polished in the preseason games. Having W.Matthews on the team is a more aggressive SG which we needed. Matthews will still have to adjust to the funky blazer offense the next few weeks. A.johnson will get more playing time along with Babbitt. I think Nate will mix up his team on the floor with at least 2 veteran players always on the floor at the same time (Roy, LA, Miller, Rudy, Camby) while the others gain experience and working together.

 

Let's get real. The only reason Webster, Outlaw, and Bayless were traded was that managment felt they could easily be replaced. I personally think Matthews and our rookies are going to make us forget all about them.