Been hearing a little of this. Would you want to bring him back for cheap, if all else fails? I think I would be okay with that. He wouldn't be long term. Gives us a veteran and someone who plays perimeter D well and can hit the corner 3.
I could live with him filling in for spot minutes as backup SF. At some point this season Roy, Rudy and/or Batum are going to miss some games. Ime is the kind of guy you can bury in your roster in case of that eventuality. And if you don't need him, you probably won't hear him complain. He makes more sense to me than trying to add Pendegraph/Cunningham/Freeland all to man the backup power forward spot.
So that would give us Batum, Outlaw, Webster, Roy, Fernandez, Cunningham and Udoka at the 3? Shit yes we shoul dget him. He is the missing piece.
Wow, I didn't know Roy, Rudy and Outlaw played 3. I was pretty sure Outlaw was penciled in for backup 4, Roy was our starting 2 and Rudy was our backup 2. But hey, I could be wrong.
While Rudy doesn't play much 3, Roy and Outlaw both spent a fair amount of time at the 3 last season. No reason to believe they won't again. I really don't think we need to add Udoka, but if Pritchard hasn't added anyone by the time the season rolls around, Ime would be a solid guy to stick at the end of the bench in case of injuries.
Batum continues to start. Outlaw is probably going to be traded (we have Rudy to play the "instant offense" role). Webster may never play again, and even if he does, it's not like he was that great when he was healthy. Cunningham? Do you really want him to be our starting small forward if Batum has an injury? Yep. Because every small roster change now will be the missing piece that tips us from first round losers to NBA champion.
According to 82games.com Of the 5 man rotations, and a total of 2567 minutes, either Roy, Fernandez or Outlaw played a total of 1523 minutes at the 3. That is 59% of the time.
Whay is Outlaw "probably going to be traded"? There was a contingent deal supposedly with Memphis that would have sent Travis there for a pick had we got Millsap, but we didn't. If Portland still doesn't want to do that then what in the hell do they plan on trading him for? Adding Udoka would be silly.
Let's see: 2 actual SFs (Batum and Udoka); 2 SGs; 1 PF/SF tweener; 1 undersized, rookie PF; and a 1 guy with 1 leg. Of that list, Udoka is hardly the worst option as a back-up to Batum.
This is starting to get depressing. No Sessions or Miller, so we should go get Ime Udoka. I was 100% in the KP camp but this summer has blown on epic proportions. It's not his fault that Hedo left or Paul left, but the dude needs to get to doing something.
Are these guys all SFs that would play? Batum? Yup. Outlaw? Gone hopefully. Webster? Yup...if healthy. Pretty big if. Roy and Fernandez? They could play there, but are more of SGs, and may be paired in the backcourt at times. Cunningham? Won't play a ton of minutes most likely. Under my assumptions, you have Roy and Fernandez at SG, Batum and Webster at SF, with Cunningham getting spot minutes. If any of those guys get hurt, I would like to have a player like Udoka to fill in. I don't want him to be playing 20 mpg, but he's someone I would be comfortable having a backup for SG/SF.
Roy and Fernandez DID play there a lot though. There is no reason to think that will change. Batum SHOULD also get a lot more minutes. Adding Udoka would be stupid.
So say Outlaw gets traded. That's something I'm assuming will happen this summer. That leaves us with Roy/Rudy/Batum/Cunningham at the moment. You're comfortable with going into the season like that? If one of them gets hurt we're in trouble.
No thanks to Ime, unless he'd be willing to be that 12th man and be used in emergency situations. I don't see the Blazers being interested.
Roy did. Fernandez didn't. According to 82games.com, Rudy spent 0% of the teams total minutes at the SF position (which means he did spend some time, but so little that it rounded down to 0). Roy on the other hand played 25% of the teams total minutes at the SF spot. Just wanted to back up what I said regarding this earlier. Outlaw used 37% of the teams total time at the 3. That's the most of anyone on the team (Batum was 35%). So yes, Roy and Outlaw ate up the vast majority of the 3 minutes last year. I can only imagine this will increase as Rudy will be able to play more minutes, and believe it or not Roy had a better PER as a 3 than a 2 (though both were excellent).
I guess it all depends on what kind of contract Ime is looking for and what Martell's status is for the coming year. If Martell isn't able to come back we'd technically have a single true small forward in Nic, with Brandon able to play there some, Travis being better at the 4, and Cunningham a tweener who is going to have trouble guarding 3s. At least Ime can give you some defense on the wing but he was a lousy 3 point shooter last season and his efficiency on the floor was Jerryd Bayless poor. I guess I'd offer him the veteran's minimum.
Why bother? Ime is 32 in two weeks or so and, as MM points out, we have six swing men already. If we really need a seventh swing man due to injury, etc., then our season will have been a disaster and we might as well have a younger guy at the end of the bench. Ed O.
