Okay, so he's pretty much driving us crazy. BUT. We have no better alternatives. Sometimes Crawford looks better, mainly because he can actually score and will hit his threes not as infrequently as Felton. But Crawford has even more tunnel vision, and is a worse defender. Felton's +/- on the year isn't terrible (and is way better than Crawford and (to my surprise) WAY better than Batum's. So, for how horrible he looks out there, the Blazers have been winning while he's on the court. Now, you might say that any fool could put up those +/- numbers with our starters, and that if you switch Crawford in there, their +/- would similarly switch. That may be true. And what worried me last night was that, after bricking open three after open three, he PASSED ONE UP that we really needed him to take (well, make). While this showed self-awareness that would be admirable in another context, you want your NBA players to treat each shot as if it's the first one he's taken on a day when he feels he can't miss. Otherwise decent players suddenly become Nick Anderson at the free throw line. In other words, he's Starting To Doubt Himself. Sadly, I think the best option is probably to stick with him and try to encourage him through his shooting slump. Of course, that won't cure his only-slightly-above-average PG skills and maddening tendency to commit turnovers that instantly turn into dunks on the other end, but what's the alternative? It seems to me that there are 4 decent-ish NBA PGs likely to be available, either already or soon: Jose Calderon Mo Williams Ramon Sessions Luke Ridnour My worry with each of them (but especially Ridnour, who will be much MORE available if Juan Jose Barea ever gets healthy) is that they have terrible +/- scores. So while they can all (except possibly Sessions, although he is better this year) shoot much better than Felton is (hell, in theory Felton can shoot much better than he is), they might be a big step down in defense. I know people don't think much of Felton's defense, but he's done creditable jobs on people like Chris Paul, whereas the above players are matadors. Of them all, I like Williams best, and would like to swap Crawford for him and have Felton be our backup PG (you know, just like in Denver, that caused him to ask for a trade, so he could be a starter, thus proving that he shouldn't be a starter) because I think he would actually be a solid spark plug off the bench and improve our other bench players' performance. I think the Clippers might do that. But as it is, I don't see an easy solution. I fear we're stuck with him. Certainly there's no way we could get a player as good as Andre Miller for him...
um; we just need to bite the fucking bullet and play our Rookies more and work a trade for one of those four guys like ASAP. Nate needs to start cracking the whip on shitty players; and let our young talent try to sink or swim. What could be worse? It's proven dung (felton) or possible dung (nolan.smith).
Why do we want to go from decent-ish, as you say, to decent-ish? Is it too hard to trade for someone better? Why not trade 2 or 3 players for 1 player?
I'm usually in favor of making trades to try and at least make marginal improvements. But this just feels like bailing water from a fragile, rusted out scow. Sometimes it's just time to scuttle the boat and start over. Just ride out the string. Let Felly and Crawford walk at the end of the year (assuming Jamal exercises his option) maybe trade Wallace for picks (or anybody else we think might have an ounce of value) then reset this summer via the draft, via trades into cap-space and maybe a couple of strategic signings in free agency if they can talk anybody into it. But for the love of god, no long-run, strategic moves that take on salary or constrain this team's flexibility with no full-time GM at the helm; get this team into a place where somebody with a damn clue and a plan can come in and actually make moves.
There are two types of players we could probably get that are "better" than what we've got with what we've got: 1) over-the-hill fading stars at the end of their career (e.g. Camby for Blake and Outlaw) or 2) overpaid role-players masquerading as "stars" with slightly above average production but nasty contracts. If trades are going to happen it's probably time to get younger and cheaper.
Of the list, I like Mo Williams, though I don't know how his contract is and wouldn't be willing to take on big salary to jeapordize our cap space. I also like Ramon Sessions and always have. He's not a superstar, but he has put up big numbers in every role he's been in and he's still young. I feel that he could be had for cheap, which would be very good. I would trade Felton for him now if I could. I also think Steve Nash could be available, not sure what the asking price for him would be. Getting him would mean making a run and I think he would honestly make us a contender in the west. We talk about personnel changes so much but honestly, the roster we have is a good one, much better than they show. If Adelman was coaching this team, we would be far more successful. No matter our roster, this team won't succeed with Nate as the coach. If we were to get Deron Williams I would say the same. First, we need to find a legitimate coach before we can talk about substantial roster changes to make this team compete.
Im not in favor of bringing in any subpar pg esp calderon who will fuck up our capspace Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk
Ride it out, unless Phoenix takes Felton+Babbitt+Johnson for Nash. Better he leave in the offseason than bring in another mediocre point on a longer contract.
Wonder where this Dre/Rudy/Faried for Felton/Nolan ranks in Blazer history among the worst trades. One of the worst in recent history, and right behind #3 for #6 + #27 in the 05 draft as worst in the decade.
I wasn't crazy about the deal when they did it, but I thought it was at least defensible on general principle. I don't think anybody thought Felton's production was going crater like this. (I'm not even going to blame Nate for trying to shoehorn him into a system that doesn't fit him, because he's pretty much given him the keys)
My serious suggestions is... Be patient. From a defensive standpoint, Felton is an upgrade over Dre. And On offense, well, his production can only get better riiight?
One would hope. But the fact he's playing with veterans that know what they're doing and being left unguarded to miss shot after shot is wearing on me. I keep thinking, 'he can't be this bad, can he?', but maybe he is.
