This article got me thinking about a future without Greg Oden; The Blazers (Larry Miller, I'm looking at you!) lost any leverage when they decided not to extend his contract I think it'd be wise to start looking at bigs that would complement LMA: It's a long shot but with his on/off court issues I'd ask Sacramento about the availability of DeMarcus Cousins. Just my $0.02
Oden has done sooo much. Who cares if he walks, he's Jermain O'Neil. Its a big world , let's move on.
De Marcus Cousins? WTF. fuck that. Go for G-O. He'd be great if he were healthy, we should have just stuck it out until he had a career ending injury IMO, roll the fucking dice! I said we'd lose leverage if we didn't re-up Greg. Now we get fuck-all for him.
One thing about LA is that when is THE man, he responds well. When he is one of the men, he responds OK. I like the idea of building around him as we will get the best from him. And Fez, for crying out loud, who's the dish in your avatar?
We have a decent core around LaMarcus Felton Wessy Wes Crash/Nic Aldridge ???? we really need that anchor in the middle...nothing more.
Who is this so-called "real center," Greg? OK that's a nice thought, but for the sake of argument let's say it's not Greg, who else then? Gimme names not just the description of a the ideal candidate.
Dalembert is close Blazers need a guy that can: finish in the post block/challenge shots guard the best big guy on the other team Dalembert can do these things. He did a great job of guarding Aldridge. edit - Aldridge shot 35% vs Sacramento last year. The majority of that was vs Dalembert.
There was a thread a few weeks ago about the Blazers being most effective with LMA at center. I think that is also something to consider.
I believe Memo Okur's contract just expired. He blew an achiles last year and only played 13 games, but he might be an interesting backup to sign on a MLE contract if he passes his physical. Could really play either PF or C. Not a great rebounder or defender, but a big body who can clog the middle a little and really stroke it from the perimeter. He's the kind of guy who could create all kinds of openings for Aldridge, Oden and Crash in the paint. Shuffle him around with Camby and (hopefully) Oden and it gives the team an entirely different look. Is Okur the key to our next championship? No. But I don't really foresee any quick fixes. Our best hope in the near-term is going to be some combination of Oden/Aldridge/Batum rising to top-5 NBA player dominance. Which is to say there isn't a ton of hope. But a guy like Memo could be handy if it were to happen. And even if it doesn't, he could be the key to avoiding a first round bounce.
A big who can clog the middle is another way of saying he's become a scrub. We have a roster that needed a miracle game from Roy to get beat in the 1st round for the 10th straight time. A mediocre at best to completely washed up at worst big isn't going to do squat for this team when all is said and done. I agree there is no quick fix, unless the Lakers cut Bryant with the amnesty clause and he wants to spend a year close to Nike.
I’m glad we didn’t extend an injured Oden, we still have a better chance at resigning him than any other team in the league if that’s what we want to do. I’m one of the most positive fans on Oden the last 4 years, but even the biggest homers among us have to admit the chance of him being a healthy dominant superstar center are not encouraging. Being disappointed we didn’t give him a max contract is stupid IMO. As far as building around LaMarcus; we are so devoid of talent I don’t really give a crap what position we add someone at we just need an above average starter or two, or even 3. We picked up a PG who was quickly discarded by the last 3 teams he was a part of all in 1 year. Why do people all the sudden talk about him being the best PG we’ve had since Strickland? And secondly why is that a good thing? We have a SG who wasn’t drafted and while being a solid backup doesn’t have the ceiling to ever be an above average starter. We have a center who has played 1 of 4 games and another one who is 38 and stoned. Batum is scared to shoot, regressed on defense, and scored 6 ppg in the playoffs. Roy can’t even make a brief couple minute appearance on the court at his own charity event with 3 months to rest. Wallace is the only solid above average starter on our team outside of LA. Neither one of these guys is ever going to be an MVP or even a top 10 NBA player, they aren’t going to lead a team deep in the playoffs. Without that top level stud you need to have a complete starting group of above average starting level talents and we are not close right now.
http://basketball.realgm.com/article/214962#ixzz1ZUCOEX9y So True. Defense wins championships and in order to build around LA we need a dominant defensive center so that LA can have the energy to produce on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.
