Bullshit. Howards basketball IQ makes him a vastly superior player to Outlaw. Outlaw can only thrive when given a mismatch at the PF position which allows him to take advantage of a slower power forward from the perimiter, and then, only on the offensive end. Travis cannot defend, nor rebound, and gets hammered on the defensive end when playing a physical power forward type. In this pre season alone I have seen 3 times where Howard got a rebound, noticed Greg Oden with a mismatch, directed him to get deep post position, and got him the ball for an easy score. Travis Outlaw will never ever be able to do that. The difference being, Howard recognizes which horse will get him to the finals, where with Travis "I'm Open" Outlaw, its just a matter of getting his next contested pull up jumper when a better shot is available.
The team needs a pass-first PG who enjoys setting up players without regard to his personal stats. With Miller we have drifted further from that than we were last year. Consolidate all you want but as long as Miller has the rock this team is going nowhere.
Personally I hope KP trades for the worst point guard in the league, I'm sure that guy won't care at all about his stats as he'll be happy just to be on a team and collecting a paycheck. Sounds like a foolproof blueprint for success.
If that's all it takes to be a "vastly superior player to Outlaw" then we should forget Howard and play Luke, or sign Bill Walton or Jack Ramsey to play in Travis's stead. Howard will never scratch the surface of TO's physical talent, no matter how many books he reads while riding the pines.
Shavlik's day in the sun (starts about 5:00): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcbq0Uz1WWo And Josh's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1agb7ExDh6U
What do you base any of this on? Webster has played better than Nic but you don't mention that. Overall, Bayless has played better than Roy this preseason but you don't want him to start. Ime has been our best guard overall hands down, but you're not screaming for him to start. Playing favorites?
You can never be too deep. But this team has far too much depth for Old Man Miller's liking. For some bizarre reason, he does not seem to welcome the chance to be the league's assist leader this year. Most PG's would be licking their chops and practicing their behind-the-back passes.
I have watched Outlaw play for 6 years, 3 of them live. Outlaw is clueless on the basketball court. Outlaw isn't vastly better then Howard. They are both not all that great. It's just Howard does some of the little things that make other guys better while Outlaw just throws the ball in the air. How many games have you watched Outlaw play in? His stats definitely don't tell the whole story.
I don't see how the "chemistry" could be good with seven different starting lineups. It's pretty silly to ascribe a bumpy preseason where we have had several nagging injuries and over half of the starting lineup up for grab a failure based on "chemistry". Players need to get used to one another and Nate needs to settle on a rotation. I don't blame him for trying new things because it's important for him to make decisions based on as much information as possible. A sub-.500 record and an article about "failing at chemistry" is a very small price to pay for a more educated decision. Ed O.
i've watched outlaw play in a lot of games. juwan howard as well(though most of the games i've seen of howard were when he was definitely better than he currently is). outlaw is the far superior player right now even at the pf position.
I don't understand the idea behind a "consolidation trade." We have 15 roster spots. Do people want us to have less players? Or less good players? I'm confused. As for Outlaw, you all have written him off but he is going to get playing time and he is going to help us win games. I love Juwan. Go Blue! I'm glad he's on our team but look at the numbers, the guy grabbed 1.8 rebounds per game in 11 minutes per game last season. He's had a nice preseason but he's not the answer at backup PF. Millsap is. Or was. In the meantime, we have Outlaw who can cause matchup problems and give us scoring when things are going badly. He can also hit big game pressure shots.
Miller led the NBA in assists one year. Sergio will never have a season that even rivals Miller's worst season in any statistcal category, averaging at least 17 min per game. If Sergio never averages 17 min per game, well, he isn't good enough. He's on the worst team in the NBA now, so here's his chance. It is still preaseason and we haven't put our starting lineup (Miller, Roy, Batum, Aldridge, Oden) out there once for starter's minutes in a meaningful game. In another thread, Maris, you mentioned you had been a Blazer fan for 4 decades. That means you are at least 40 years old. I rarely post before the season, but you're just too much. Good luck to you, sir. Please keep up the comic routine, its free entertainment in these rough economic times.
Better players at the top of the rotation. Strengthen our 4th through 9th guy or guys, rather than have 11 or 12 players who are all pretty good... since 11 or 12 man rotations aren't very realistic in the regular season and almost impossible in the playoffs. I think a consolidation trade would have made sense for the past year or two, but at this point this year it's probably better to just see how this is gonna work out than shake things up again. Ed O.
We will have to agree to disagree then. It appears we value different things in a player. I want a guy at that position that knows what he is doing and helps make the other players better. I am positive that Outlaw doesn't make anyone on the floor better and it is clear that when he doesn't have the ball Outlaw hasn't the slightest idea what to do with himself on the court. Hopefully, neither guy plays much since I would like LMA to get around 36 minutes a night.
hopefully scores are regularly lopsided and LA only plays 32 MPG or so. I'm also hopeful that you will drop the "have you ever seen him play" BS that you've been trotting out when someone disagrees with you. STOMP
I'm wondering if Karl Malone is available at the back-up PF. He's a heady player. How about Bob Pettit?
The Outlaw bashing does get rather old. A reserve making around $3.5 mil is not going to play like an all-star making $10 mil. Do people just not pay attention to the quality of players other teams have sitting on their benches? Some fans need to have more realistic expectations.
