Trading ZBO when we did was stupid. We got shit for him, it set up the whole imaginary cap space plan which failed and was just one of the bigger KP fuck-ups as Blazers GM. It was a combination of Pritchard's arrogance and the whining of Blazer fans who wanted to cheer for "good guys" (yet they still abandon the team when the good guys are losing).
The Blazers were able to get rid of the worst contract in the NBA at the time and haven't had a losing season since. The player with said contract hasn't been on a winning team since the 2002-2003 season. Lol
He would have helped this team IMO. Wouldn't have hurt, especially with the injuries and the lack of depth at the 4/5 in the last few years. What we got in return has done some damage...not being able to do any good trades in hope of the lure of cap space 2 seasons ago which ultimately sucked for us. We actually traded it for the worst contract, in Steve Francis. Paid him what, $28 million over two years just to go away?
And Zach Randolph is still being paid on the same contract. Terrible. It was the worst contract in the NBA because of the length and the fact it was still on the books for the 2010 FA frenzy that half of the teams in the league were planning for years in advance. It was supposed to be Aldridge/Oden starting so Zach coming off the bench with that contract would suck. Even without Oden I'll take Aldridge/Przy in the starting lineup before starting Randolph. It's also very arguable the Blazers got the best value in return for Zach compared to the trades the Knicks and Clippers made.
More than Miller is now (Miller is what came of the imaginary cap space, btw)? I am not sure about that. ZBo is a better scorer - but he usually makes most people around him worse. Miller runs a team much better and for most people is actually a lot of help. Add the fact that he actually tries to play defense... The Darius fiasco is what sucked for us. The team went from having tons of cap space to having a nice amount. Well, the idea was to have tons of cap space. Unfortunately, the Griz screwed us over and the NBA did nothing to stop them... So - it's Memphis, Darius and David Stern that screwed us, not the zBo trade.
I mostly agree with you. KP should have been more patient. At the time ZBO's trade value was not great, and KP jumped at the first thing, thinking that NY was the only franchise stupid enough to take him off our hands. But he should have waited for more. Although Frey at the time was considered an asset.
The Knicks and Clippers got absolute nothing for him so being more patient wouldn't have mattered. His trade value never went up. He had a terrible contract(arguably worst in the NBA) that no one wanted.
And now its an 18 million dollar expiring, which does have value. in the mean time he's been solid as a rock and an NBA allstar.
How can you say that it has value as an expiring when you are also saying that Raef's expiring was not? The reality is that due to the Darius fiasco we can come down and say it was zBo or Miller (an expiring as well, btw) - and it is very hard for anyone to think that zBo is actually better. Miller, for all his warts - actually manages to take his teams to the playoffs, something a zBo team has not been able to do since he was a backup for 'Sheed...
Miller is a temporary band-aid. Not the PGOF we were all promised by the ZBO haters and Tom Penn nutriders. It wasn't only ZBO's contract that turned into miller. It was other things, including letting RLEC expire. Miller was a second choice and hasn't worked out that well. We made the playoffs, which we would have done with this team and ZBO anyways, but we didn't make it out of the first round.
So the Blazers should have kept ZBO all this time? Talk about a bad idea. Francis' contract expired like 3 years ago. That's why it wasn't nearly as bad as Randolph's.
You're looking at teams that wouldn't make the playoffs with or without ZBO anyways and taking them as fact. Put ZBO instead of Miller on last year's team, its still a playoff team. Put Andre Miller instead of ZBO on that memphis team and they still are below .500.
Wouldn't have made a difference the last 3 years. Would have been better with having some low post scoring, which we never really had. Blazers always get killed on points in the paint. What, would have held back Aldridge's growth? no. He's only recently gotten better.
I disagree. We have seen zBo with a healthy Roy and LMA on the team, it came down to a 32 win season. Heck, with the injuries we had last year - the Griz had more talent around zBo than Portland did and failed to make the playoffs in the same conference. Gay, Mayo, Gasol, Conley... - that's some respectable talent on this team...
You mean we've seen zBO with a ROOKIE Roy and LMA on the team. Its not like you stick ZBO on that team and they are magically a lotto team once again. And when has that grizzlies franchise ever made the playoffs?
Not looking back in hindsight. With injuries him and LMA could have played together nicely...better than Cunningham. Or Travis Outlaw as a PF. It was a helluva lot better than paying Steve Francis $14m a year to get drunk in the Caribbean.
what ever happened to ZBO's impending felony dog fighting charges? I remember a lot of people were bringing that up at the time too. Plus Roy was the one who motioned for him to get traded?
