Hinrich's main attribute over the years has been his hustle. But he will be 34 in January and to me he has lost a step. Not good for hustle guys. Plus he plays too much out on the perimeter. We have enough of those guys. I would prefer someone who can attack the basket. He would not be horrible, but he would not be my first choice.
I don't think our primary target should be a backup PG, its the deepest position in the league and there are tons of competent backup players who can be had for far less than a big MLE level contract. Grevis Vasquez, Kirk Hinrick, Luke Ridnour are solid options and one of them or a similar player will be available just above the minimum. A guy like Isiah Thomas will want to prove he’s a starter, I’d rather see a team first player who can defend on a deal that gives us cap flexibility. Until we have our starters locked up to longer term contracts I would not add any significant salaries beyond a one year deal, at least for a player of Isiah Thomas competency.
And the bench will continue to give the Blazers 0. Worst bench in the league 2 years in a row now. The Blazers need a real playmaker off the bench
A player who can defend which position? Another center...... then yes we need depth there too. But does Stotts play guys who are just defenders? He rarely played Claver and he is a decent defender on the wings. We do need another big if Lopez goes down. But a decent BU PG is going to cost us 3-4 million.
Marvin Williams, Shawn Marion, Channing Frye, Rodney Stuckey are more interesting to me for the bulk of our MLE than a PG. If we strike out on those I would target Darren Collision, Shaun Livingston, or Patty Mills at PG before Thomas. But with as competent as Neil and Stotts have been I'm giving them a free pass to add any player they want. Maybe a guy who plays mediocre for other teams has the perfect skill set for our system and they will be able to find him. The problem with Thomas is I think someone gives him near a max MLE contract and I wouldn’t want that deal on our cap. If he was willing to do a 2 year contract I’d bite. But for him it just doesn’t make any sense to leave a potential starting job to become Lillard’s backup. That’s kind of the catch 22 with backups, if they are good enough to start somewhere its very hard to keep them on your roster; but if they aren't good enough to start somewhere do they really help your roster?
I'd rather have Chalmers than Thomas. Chalmers had some great games in the finals last year; its become such a what have you done for me lately league. Yes he was bad in these finals but he can defend and is a career 37% 3pt shooter.
If we sign a point guard, it needs to be someone that can play WITH Dame because that seems to be how Stotts likes to use his backup point guard. For this reason, I don't think Thomas would be a good option. He's a great spark off the bench, but we either need a pure point guard that can run the point like Eric Maynor did, OR we need a guard that's big enough to allow Dame to play shooting guard while still guarding the point. Think of Eric Snow when he played next to Allen Iverson. We need an Eric Snow. I think someone like Shaun Livingston would be great.
The TWolves bench was much worse. The Blazers bench was below average but with all our young guys theres a good chance one or two of them becomes an acceptable rotational player; then if we sign one decent free agent the bench could suddenly become one of the leagues better ones. Most teams had issues with their bench last year; look at OKC and Indy in the conference finals when it mattered most; their benches were crap while people thought they were strong the much of the year.
Jordan Hill is a very capable backup Pf/C who had his best season last year averaging 9.7 pts and 7.4 rebs in just 20.8 minutes, WTF are you talking about?
I wonder what the Mavs will do with Jameer Nelson, especially after drafting the PG Payton, I believe Jameer can be waived with them only owing 2 mil of next yrs 8 mil salary.
I'm surprised you are endorsing such a move. By these numbers, he isn't an upgrade to Dorell. It wouldn't surprise me if this is the kind of player Olshey is after. This is the caliber he went after last year. http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/3033/pj-tucker
Have you not watched Jordan Hill's entire career? He's the definition of mediocre/average. Not one special quality to his game. No one gives a shit that he put up 9/7 on a terrible Lakers team with nothing to play for. Chris Duhon put up numbers on terrible Mike D'Antoni teams as well, as did Raymond Felton.
Chalmers would be a really good addition. Forgot he was a UFA. He might be my #1 option right now. Like it better than Thomas.
I actually had League Pass and probably watched him in parts of 8-10 games, I thought he looked good, so are you talking out of your ass as usual?
Anyways, Mario Chalmers should be the #1 target for the Blazers backup PG spot right now. It'd be perfect. Don't disappoint, Neil.
I am not sure we will be able to pry him away for the Suns with the MLE but he is a perfect system fit.
