Jack has done a fine job in NO. Not stellar, but I think his decision making (which would pull my hair out) are much lower. Um maybe Sheed? I mean he did win a title in Detroit and was a key piece to their success. I guess I'm blank with everything else. Although there have been some major dissappointments too. Lewis? Blake? Webster? I don't know
Channing, as mentioned. Otherwise, none I could really think of. Joel had his best years under Nate. Was pretty mediocre beforehand. Put him in a position to use his strengths best. Jack is about the same. Slightly better, just from age and experience, but he hasn't really blossomed into anything he wasn't here. Sergio is out of the league. Telfair still sucks. Ime had arguably his best year ever here. Turned him into a full time starter. Put him into a position to succeed, and earned him some money. Diogu is still a pretty much worthless player. Yeah, I'm not seeing the evidence. But, if something gets repeated enough, it becomes fact. Like how Nate supposedly hates young players.
I would really like to bring in Brooks. He knows Oregon well, seems like he has a solid outside shot, very quick, and will be able to take over the starting nod in a couple years. Basically if he doesn't work, it would only cost us MLE. If it does work, then we have our answer at PG. Another note is I doubt he would have a problem coming off the bench either. His quickness would help with Roy's slowness too.
Shit you're right! Cheeks and Nate kinda blurred together on me. Forgot that Sheed was traded before Nate came to town.
2002 to about winter of 2006 are one bad dream to me. I can't believe that I had myself deluded to the point that I thought Viktor Khryapa, Sebastian Telfair, Juan Dixon, Theo Ratliff, and Charles Spider Smith (among many other forgettable players) could be key players on a team that I though was close to being a playoff contender.
Smith shoots volume threes. He averages 7.3 three point attempts per 36 minutes for his career and still shoots at 37%. For comparison, Ray allen takes 5.9 per 36, Blake 4.5, and Webster 5.4. For the number of shots that he takes, I would definitely call him a great three point shooter. He's also hurt by a pretty poor shooting first season. If you take that out, he's probably closer to 40%.
I wouldn't. I'd call him a great volume 3-point shooter. The problem with missing 3s is that the shooting team's defense is usually out of position after the rebound. Plus, he shot 34% as recently as 2009-10. I'd actually like Smith, but only if he shot fewer 3-pointers.
But then what's the difference between great shooter and great volume shooter? If he shot less threes, he'd probably shoot them at a higher percentage. In terms of just the actuall skill of shooting threes, I think he's really good. Shot selection has always been a problem for Smith, so that's probably resulted in a lot of his misses.
I would be for signing Smith to a short contract, anything more than 2 years and I think you may get very bad behavior out of him.
33 out of 100 made 3pt shots = 99 points. 50 out of 100 made 2pt shots = 100 points. Even a 34% shooter is going to do some real good for the Blazers. There's a difference between a good 3pt shooter and a scorer. Kyle Korver has a great %, but a lousy scoring average, even per 36. Smith is a scorer who will put up his points even when defenses key on him. Who could you possibly get who's better? Denver is certain to let him walk, so it's a matter of making him the best offer or him wanting to play for the team.
I agree with you that he probably would only produce to that pay scale, however, I'd be shocked if some team doesn't offer him more.
One thing nobody seems to have mentioned (or maybe I just missed it?) but we don't even know if the MLE is going to survive the lockout and the new CBA. There's a ton of talk about a hard cap and even slashing existing salaries, so until that happens it's going to be pretty hard to project just what kind of money this team will be able to spend in free agency. Having said that, the names that jump out at me are Aaron Afflalo and JR Smith; this team desperately needs to add some shooting and speed on the perimeter and maybe I'd add Brooks to the list even though he's really not a point guard and more of just a small shooting guard
