Adam Morrison-bad. KP compared him to a big FA signing this summer and one reason why he was in no hurry to deal RLEC. Awesome.
I kind of wondered if giving Marty that long five year extension last year was going to bite KP in the ass. It seemed like a semi-bargain at the time given his age and the signs that he might be about to make at least a marginal impact, but with the current economy even his paltry 4-5 million a year probably seems like an albatross at this point (or if he continues to suck dog's balls). Frankly I think there's zero chance we are going to be able to move Martell in trade even if KP wants to, he's a throw-in at best to balance a trade, but who would want him?
I have no problem admitting when I'm wrong. I wanted so badly, and truly believed that Martell was going take his game to the next level this season. He showed glimpses that had me absolutely convinced. Wrong, wrong, wrong. He is playing like a complete spaz. He's terrible right now. Laughably terrible.
Martell Buster has shown very little improvement in each season he's been in the league. He really doesn't do ANYTHING well these days. He'll show a little spunk on the defensive end up those are far and few between.
I wasn't quite as high on him, and I'm not quite ready to give up on him just yet. But he's been very bad these past couple of games. Ed O.
I'm not ready to give up on him either. But I'm stunned by his ineptitude over the course of the last two games in particular. It's embarrassing.
I take no joy in the fact that I sort of felt like this was going to be how it would work out for Martell. But I don't think all is lost, Monty is a good coach and has worked with most of the wings since he's been here and I think there's a chance he can get together with Martell in practice and really help him sort his shit out. I think the biggest bugaboo for Martell is missing that whole year, that's a year lost of learning to play defense with his teammates, learning when to rotate, when to switch, when to double, etc. It looks to me like his "feel" when he's out there is completely shot to hell, it doesn't help that it looks like he's got another case of the yips with his shot, and I think the fact that he's so ice cold is probably contributing to his head getting so fucked up when he's on the court -- it's like he's trying to overdo it on defense to make up for the fact that he's shooting so poorly, the only trouble is he's completely out of control, his movements aren't controlled and they aren't compact. Ugh, I really hope he can settle his mind sooner rather than later, or this could end up a horrifically long season with no real small forward.
You might as well add Playless to the trade - give Mills a chance when he gets healthy. At least Mills can handle the rock! But I certainly agree: Martel / Blake / Playless / all could go! Say! Throw in a nice draft pick and see if we can pry Battier away!?
Looking at SF's around the league another wing player has played himself out of attainability for the Blazers: Chris Douglas-Roberts He had a 27/12 game last night and a 31/10 game tonight. I can't believe this guy was the 40th pick.
There's a place in the NBA for Von Wafer but he went to Europe for the money. Von Wafer is better than Webster, I think. Remember how good he was for Houston last year?
Martell needs some of this "stuff" [video=youtube;O5qLMuXylgU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5qLMuXylgU[/video]
Wafer and Childress are on the same Greek squad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympiacos_B.C. Webster seriously needs to step up his game however. He looks unpolished.
I will stubbornly remain on "Start Webster" island. I think he needs structure to thrive and believe that he will play better if he knows when he will play. If we want to get a good 20 minutes out of him, let him start the each of the first 3 quarters--6-7 minutes each stretch.
I'm bummed Webs is playing so poorly, I was surprised last night that Dante did not even get a chance, especially when Webs got those 3 quick early fouls, is Nate ever going to give Dante a 5 minute stretch? Didn't KP said something that it's time for these guys to get a chance to show what they can do?
Webster is playing awful. He's not a good basketball player at this point, but he's not THIS bad. I say bag the 3 guard starting line-up and start Martell for 20 games (and evaluate from there) It may help him regain some confidence. More importantly, it moves Brandon back to SG. I'm not saying you have to finish games like that. I think you have to look at Web in the same way that Batum was used last year - a hustle player who plays good defense (admittedly not as good as Batum) and grabs a few rebounds. Offensively? Martell just needs to simplify the game right now. His offensive ability isn't translating to success. If he was in the starting line-up, he wouldn't have to look for his offense (A La . . . Batum) He's athletic enough to score a few points off broken plays and (heaven forbid) fast breaks. He doesn't need to be hoisting up jumpers right now. If he gets a shot in the rhythm of the offense at the beginning of the game - shoot it. If it goes in, great - shoot another. If he misses, shut it down and focus on other parts of your game. Batum played a whole season like that. I don't like what I see from Brandon right now. His body language, his play - it's not what we're used to seeing from him. My wife (out of nowhere last night) says to me in the 1st quarter "Brandon looks tired this year". I don't know if playing the 3 is zapping him, or if he's frustrated with his new role, or what. I'd like to see him back at his natural SG position. I'm willing to live with whatever Web gives (or doesn't give) the team for that reason.
