And Elliott Williams and Luke Babbitt are both younger than Nolan Smith and Jon Diebler. E Will and Babbitt are also the exact same age.
Pretty amazing to think about with Batum. Seems like he's been around forever, and yet he turns just 23 in two days (had to look it up). I guess that also points to the fact that this team so quickly aged in the last few years. We churned through a lot of youth, and for all that we really only have Batum and Aldridge to show for it in terms of home-grown starting-quality not-injured NBA players.
I'd have to check, but I wouldn't be surprised if Freeland or Claver were younger. Edit: Nope, Claver's a bit older and Freeland is almost 2 years older.
That fact that we have such an old roster and it's in the state its in have less to do with bad moves (although there have been some) and is more of a function that "The Plan" blew up in their faces. We are largely in the same position Houston was/is in when T-Mac and Yao couldn't hold up. When the foundation fails all of the complimentary moves that you made to surround those players end up looking kind of pointless. If Roy and Oden had panned out (and if Aldridge blossomed the way he did) then I think we'd be talking about this team being primed for greatness and not primed for an overhaul. Look on the bright side, all of these old players are on short contracts or cheap so there is a chance to remake this roster in the very near future ... assuming the vision is there on the personnel side.
Well also keep in mind that the youngest player in the league from last year is Derrick Favors at 20 and 150 days. Batum will be turning 23 in 2 days. So it's not that far off.
I don't understand... Nic is 7 months older than Babbitt and Williams. How is he our youngest player? Ed O.
IIRC Batum's number is 88 because that's when he was born. Armon Johnson was born on february 23, 1989. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/armon_johnson/index.html http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/4279/armon-johnson
No. Johnson was born 2/23/89. Batum was 12/14/88. At least according to NBA.com: http://www.nba.com/blazers/roster/ Ed O.
I agree with all of this, and it's the reason that I advocated (at the time) continuing to swing for the fences in the draft, and not to settle for older players that could settle in as nice role players. Ed O.
Such an old roster? Camby and Thomas are the only players over 30(well over!). Our primary rotation in age: 27(Felton)/22/23 25(Matthews)/22(Elliot) 29(Wallace)/22(Batum) 26(Aldridge) 37(Camby) I don't see how it is at all an old roster. We have one guy, more because of style and injuries, likely at the tail end of the peak of his prime(Wallace). two just entering their prime(Felton, Aldridge), and 2 yet to hit it(Batum, Matthews). And Cs well past. Not an old roster at all.
Arguably, he's the youngest guy on the team that can actually PLAY... so you're sort of right, after all Ed O.
Another odd thing about Batum is he is the longest tenured Blazer, at least until Aldridge gets back in a few weeks. It's shocking how much turnover there is on NBA rosters.
