Broussard(along with a GM, assistant coaches and a scout) On the Blazers

Well, that all depends on how you define the 8th best player in the league. Do you use one of the many advanced stats like PER, PIE, eff or Simple Rating? Or, do you wait until the season is over and see who comes in 8th in MVP voting?

Just for grins:

Current Season:

PER: Steph Curry - $9,887,642

PIE: Dirk Nowitski - $22,721,381

Simple Rating: Chris Paul - $18,668,431

eff: Carmelo Anthony - $22,407,474

And, let's throw in the guy who came in 8th in last year's MVP voting:

James Harden - $13,701,250

That comes out to an average of: $17,477,235.60.

That list includes two players (Curry and Harden) in the first year of their post-rookie contract extensions, and three players who are at the tail end of very lucrative contracts that were signed before the current CBA went into affect.

In any case, I'd say being the 8th best player in the NBA is good work if you can get it, and if Wes keeps playing at his current level for another season and three quarters, he may be in for a very big pay raise come July, 2015.

I also found it interesting that most of these guys are all over the place, depending on what stat you use. CP3 is ranked 4th or 5th by most, and was 4th in MVP voting last year, but has only the 8th best Simple Rating. Melo is ranked 8th best by eff, but between 16th and 21st by the other advanced stats. However, Steph Curry is rated the most consistently by the advanced stats, between 7th and 9th in all cases. So, he's the closest we have to a conensus 8th best player in the league right now.

BNM

 

Our schedule has been murder! 5 sets of back to backs. 10 of first 17 games on the road. Faced Indiana, GS, and SA on second night of back to back. And we've dominated. Dominated. We should have very little problem with those road trips. We are a dominant road team.

And your probably didn't have us going 15-3 in first 18 games. Can't go 4-6 in 9 games though. I have us going 7-2 at worst. Have you been playing attention to our time this year?

 

Durant is third. LeBron is 4th.

 

I couldn't disagree more: I think he's dramatically overrated. He's got young Martell skills and Blazer Crawchuck level irrational confidence.

 

The way to beat out LeBron for MVP is to be the best player on the team with the best record. That's how DRose did it. Considering Indiana's schedule is about to get harder, I predict the Blazers will have the best record in the NBA.

 

How do you knw this? He never plays.

 

By Chris Broussard | ESPN Insider
"OK, I'll admit it: I didn't pick the Portland Trail Blazers to make the playoffs. In fact, I thought things would go so badly in Portland that the Blazers' Terry Stotts would be the first coach fired this season. Instead, Stotts was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for November.

So I am willing to eat crow. Lots of it." /thread lol

 

I am here as well....not to this extreme though.

I didn't think Portland would play near this good. I still don't think they will finish in the top 6 of the playoffs, but we will see more as the season goes on. 19 games

 

Admitting you were wrong is a weakness and the weak must be expunged.

 

Yes, but after watching the way Lopez plays, I don't see a high likelihood of injury. He has sort of a plodding style--rather than a high-flying style--and that means his feet are always planted underneath him and he's always in a good position to rebound or score or block a shot. It's all about positioning with him, and I think that helps reduce his risk of injury.

 

Good read! Thanks for diggin all that up.

I guess being 8th isn't too bad... however, that'd be a hell of a list for Matthews to be on. lol.

 

There's a reason for that-he's not that good, at least not yet. He has some potential but he has to learn how to shoot