Seeing how agressive the presence of Joel allows GO to be and vice versa, I think that we need to keep Przy unless we're offered a ridiculous offer, and I stress "ridiculous".
totally concur. The center tandem is now probably our first or second deepest position and provides some real heft on the defensive end of the court. Joel looks as comfortable and aggressive on offense as I've seen him since he first joined Portland, when he was running that pick-n-roll to perfection with Van Exel.
Totally agree, and Pry's contract is really a sweet deal for us. It's almost funny what are overall salary for C is and the production we are gettin and will get for the mext 3 yrs or so! It would have to be a ridiculous offer I agree.
He has been that way for awhile for me. I have felt for a long time that Joel has been under-appreciated here, evidenced by people coming up with trades that basically use Joel as a throw-in. Joel is a stud. I hope I see anymore "player x + Joel for Hinrich" type trade proposals.
I've been saying it since we drafted Oden that this was giong to be a great thing with Pryz and Oden, something that probably wont be talked about in the news and such. Pryz is one of my favorite players on the team. Shuts his mouth, goes out there and does what he is expected to do.
Joel is going to be an AMAZING backup Center. We should keep him as long as possible. Greg will still get injured, tired, in foul trouble... we have the best Center combination in the NBA right now... i LOVE it. It was sad having to defend Joel over the off-season from the "trade him now" crowd... and the "Frye did just fine as our backup Center" crowd. Why would you want to get rid of this? he is a vet, pretty good contract, good in the lockerroom and loves Portland, we have a Center who hasn't proven he can stay healthy... I mean wow... Joel is such a blessing. He is extremely underrated by everyone outside of Portland, imo.
Przybilla is a starting level center (and might even be the caliber of an upper half starter) in a league where starting level, true centers are rare. And Portland has him as a backup to a player who's validating assessments of him as a phenom. Portland absolutely needs to hold onto Przy. If a team is willing to sell the farm because they're so hard up for a real center, you listen. Otherwise, you hold onto what is far and away the best center rotation in the game.
No kidding. It's awesome to go into nearly any game and know that you will get more productivity out of one position than the other guys will. That it's productivity out of the center position is even better. If we trade Przybilla, there ought to be a Ben Wallace or Ilgauskas or somebody else of that caliber coming back in exchange to compensate for his loss, and that piece is only secondary to a major upgrade at another position.
I have been saying this since we drafted Oden. It is crucial to have Joel come in off the bench. It allows both him and Oden to be as aggressive as they want, and for the other teams to not get a break when one goes out. It is pretty awesome IMO.
Joel's PER has moved up to over 17 and Greg's is over 23 now. If they both can be healthy leading into the Playoffs, I see only Los Angeles and Utah capable of stopping us. The time is now!
I don't at all agree that Joel is anything approaching untradable. The only guys who are close, in my mind, are Oden, Roy and LaMarcus. The rest of the guys can and should be available for the right trade. Joel is a starting-quality center, and I'm thrilled with him as our backup center. But he's still a backup center, and if we can get a big boost in terms of net present value at the PG or SF spots, I'd be willing to move him. Ed O.
Agree, as much as I love having Joel, if we can make a major upgrade at PG I would have to do the deal.
In 8 seasons, Joel has gotten past the 70 game mark 3 times. His next best season was 56 games. To put that in perspective: in 10 seasons, Bowie broke the 70 game barrier 3 times, and had 3 other seasons where he played 60-70. When your record for durability compares unfavorably with Sam Bowie, you are not a player to rely on, build around, or refuse to trade!
I suppose it's just coincidence that Joel's numbers are going up at the same time LMA's are going down... or could it be that the scouting report tells other teams to sag off on Joel to give help guarding LMA? Joel has been open a lot lately, where is his man?
Where he's been for the last 3 years...sagged off of him helping out somewhere else or getting a rebound. Jack and Blake rarely threw the ball to him. Sergio would every once in a while on a P&R. It's like Nate or someone has told them "Drive and Joel's open" or "get the ball deep in the post and Joel's open".
Joels the only guy on the team they can help on. Most the time they have to double on Roy, and with Blake shooting so well this year they can't risk giving up the three to him. Batum doesn't play long enough to worry about, and even when he does he moves around so much that his defender is has to keep an eye on him.
I had Joel as untouchable dating back to the same discussion as BBF last summer. He is the perfect complement to Oden. The question now is this. Is Przy a Top 10 center in the NBA right now on a per minute basis? That stats say yes.
I love Joel - I think it would be a great mistake to trade him unless it is for a stellar package - but I doubt he is. He is #16 in the league among qualified centers in PER - it does not really show his defensive prowess - and it is his best offensive season in quite some time - so I would say that somewhere in the top 20 is probably right - and since there are 30 teams in the league... having 2 centers in the top 20 (one of them is probably in the top 10 - Greg is #2 in PER already - but the sample size is small and he has not played enough minutes - so top 10 is good enough for me) is a blessing. What is amazing is that our centers are #1 and #3 in rebounding rate. Woot.
