+> Barkley is worth ignoring and should be done everytime his face appears and his fat tongue waggles. He sucks.
Our road trip stretch in a couple weeks will proove how well Stotts deploys the talent and the teams' path to a title. .
If lamarcus didnt think so he would be getting surgery. Matthews is his friend. Im betting lamonster is going off for the rest of the season. He is going to step up where matthews use to. #win4Wes
The D for the most part I think can be replaced by Afflalo and Gee, we drop off on D if its CJ or someone else. The interesting twist in the equation is Gee I think and how he performs and if he possibly takes a good portion of CJ's minutes. and I see no reason the "small ball" lineup cannot be very effective with Gee replacing Wes, he may be better on D and he's more athletic and a little bigger. Offense is where the likely dropoff is with Wes making so many 3's. Can Gee hit the 3 at an effective rate while taking more shots?
Realistic chance of winning a championship this year were pretty low before we lost Wes. They got a little better after the trade but really not much if you take odds in Vegas as gauge. The Blazers still have some options. Olshey did reach out to Ray Allen but he of course said "No Thanks". There is not a lot on the market as far as SG's but there are a couple mobile Small Forwards available that might help a bit. I am not exactly totally clear on the "eligibility" issues for the Playoffs. As i understand it the Blazers have to put their roster together from players used in the regular season and they have to present it by the first day of the playoffs. Of course there are no trades allowed but they can bring in Free Agents. Personally i would not count the Blazers out and i am anxious to see if Neil Olshey makes some kind of move here?
No Wes, no way! But then I didn't think this team would get past the 2nd round with Wes, so the end result is essentially the same.
The only way we win a championship without Wes is if LA and Lillad are the two best players on the floor night in and night out.
I still think we would be well-served to have Gee start in Wes' place but only play 18-20 mpg, with Afflalo taking most of Wes' minutes, but playing 30+ off the bench.
Not a bad idea tbh. But reading what Stotts has said, I don't think this will happen. Re: Afflalo: http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...er_mentality_wesl.html#incart_related_stories
This is how I see it. There are two very important players that can put us into contention. #1 is Batum and #2 is Afflalo. If both those players can play at a high level for the remainder of the season, then we are in the mix. If they are hit and miss throughout the season, I would worry about our chances.
