Mike Conley's TO ratio is 22nd for PGs in the league with 11. Rondo, Felton, Chalmers, Nate Robinson, Duhon, Farmar, Brooks, and Augustin all had worse TO ratios. Rose, Foye, and Mo Williams were just above him in the 10s. I like Sergio, but his free-wheeling does come at cost. His TO ratio is currently over 15. Turnover Ratio is the percentage of a player’s possessions that end in a turnover. Turnover Ratio = (Turnover x 100) divided by [(FGA + (FTA x 0.44) + Assists + Turnovers]
This is going OT, really - but I think that Harris's great production this year is really a product of a system that is geared to his strength - Dallas really played a system geared to iso plays for Dirk when he was there - a bit like Steve Nash blooming when he played under D'antoni in a system geared to his strengths.
Rebounding numbers seem silly for guards, but I think they're one way of proving athleticism. Conley is currently 11th for PGs with over 25 minutes a game.
I must say, I am surprised how quickly a segment of Blazer fandom has decided Bayless is a flop. Is it just because Bah-toom has taken off so quickly? Are people assuming that he must stink just because Nate doesn't like him?
I don't know. I guess it's the classic "what have you done for me lately?" syndrome. I watched a bit of Courtside last night and Michael Holton said something that struck me as incredibly obvious but also very true... a rookie arrives on a good team and he doesn't get minutes and people are going to start doubting whether he even belongs in the NBA, but if a rookie arrives on a bad team and gets minutes and shots then he's going to put up numbers and appear to be better than many expected. I'm very excited about Bayless down the road, and LOVE that we're back to the good ol' days where rookies would have to earn minutes behind other good options, rather than be plugged in by default to the rotation. Ed O.
I like Bayless a lot. I like a lot of players. I don't see where he fits in yet. This team has only two true point guards. That's Sergio and Kopenen. Kopenen's off gallivanting in Europe. Blake is doing a fantastic job for us, but I'm not sure he's the ultimate playmaker that I envision. Brandon is a star, and is more than capable of finding the open guy when he's double-teamed, but he's a scorer, first and foremost. If I had my choice, we would have Hinrich (the starter) to compliment Roy and Conley off the bench (who could play IMO better defense and take it to the hole better than Serg).
Why is a "true" point guard necessary? Roy isn't a "true" shooting guard, because he has distribution skills. It doesn't seem like the team needs to pair a pure point guard with Roy. The team needs to pair Roy with a guard that has some passing skills (which Bayless does), who can defend the opposing point guard (which all scouting information indicates he can) and who can shoot the ball (a strength of Bayless'). It actually seems like Bayless is the perfect compliment to Roy. If you brought in a pure point guard to handle all the decision-making and distribution, you'd devalue those abilities in Roy. If you pair him with a guard who can supplement Roy's passing skills (as Bayless can), it seems like you maximize Roy and Bayless. If Rodriguez can improve his decision-making, he seems like a perfect change-of-pace backup point guard, especially paired with Fernandez, with whom he has great chemistry. Bayless and Roy, backed up by Rodriguez and Fernandez, seems like a pretty ideal set-up.
OT bus as most of you feel the Blazers would be best served with someone who can play 2 on offense and 1 on D, how would you feel about trying to aquire Monta Ellis when he's back from his moped incident. He fits that description perfectly and I have a feeling he could be on his way out soon. The W's handled his punishment which I'm sure left a bad taste in his mouth. He's a Mullin guy and Mullin is all but gone. Now that they've aquired Crawford and extended Jackson, they don't really have a spot for him. Finally, Nelson has made plenty of comments indicating that Monta is not who he wants running the show. Since all signs point to him being available soon, do you think the Blazers would aprt with much of their young talent for him?
Blazers need a pass first PG . . . KP went after Harris and Calderon last year (pure PGs) and I suspect he will continue his search for a pure PG. Nothing against Ellis, he is a stud . . . but the Blazers don't have enough shots in a game for their roster right now.
I am OK with that - I just do not understand why you want to give superior young talent for inferior young talent.
how about your poor reading comprehension and ridiculous victim complex? It's always fun having trade discussions with posters like that. STOMP
Because we only have one on the roster presently - Sergio. At this point, Blake next to Roy had made the most sense for the reasons you pointed out. Bayless would appear to also be a perfect compliment to Roy. He defends and shot the long ball well in college. We know he can get his own shot if necessary. I'm not certain how well he can take care of the ball. But to this point, Portland has had to settle on Blake. I don't mean that in a negative way either. Blake is a very talented guard. He is limited though, in that he's not an exceptional facilitator. The way I see it is that Pritchard should be wanting to put together the most well-rounded team possible. There should be as little amount of weaknesses as possible. Sure we don't necessarily NEED to have a true-point guard to be good or maybe great, but boy, how much better could we become if we did? Sergio is coming on strong. I'm wondering if a "true" point guard can actually play well off of Brandon, as long as he's able to a) defend b) hit the open shot c) move without the ball d) take care of the ball and e) create when Brandon can't. Unfortunately for Bayless, Blake and Sergio are playing too well. He can't get on the court. And he shouldn't be. There's no need. I just don't see where Bayless is going to fit. So if Sergio remains consistent, and he has, it may be a good idea replace either Bayless or Blake with another more complete point guard.
Right. My point is that I'm not convinced that not having a true point guard is a weakness, or that we should want one. My opinion, for reasons outlined in my last post, is that a pure point guard would waste Roy's distributing ability and wouldn't be the perfect compliment. A perfect compliment, to me, is someone like Bayless profiles to be: a player with good size for a one, who can defend point guards well, bring the ball up the court against pressure and play like a shooting guard who can pass, on offense.
I agree completely. My thinking is that I don't want to mess with the chemistry of this team now, hell, we're 13-6. Bayless really isn't a very large piece right now, having not played much. Conley however, would be in the mix for serious playing time right now.
Blake is certainly not All-star caliber, but since mid-November he's been putting up some really good numbers, his assists have mostly been increasing, he's carrying a 3 to 1 A/T ratio, hits the long ball exceptionally well (42%), and is even hitting his two point shots at a much better rate this year (47%). his PER of 15+ is nothing to sneeze at either. Is Blake good enough to ride to title contention? I'm not so sure, but I don't see a lot of substantial upgrades out there that teams seem to be eager to part with either.
Pritchard had the following issues leading up to the start of the season: His options at PG were questionable. Worse-case scenario would appear to have been having Bayless as a secondary parachute if the primary ones (Blake and Sergio) didn't open. His options at SF were questionable. Webster and Outlaw appeared to be the stop gap until a superior player could be attained through trade. Well Steve is having a career-best year, Sergio is kicking loose out of his cocoon, and Batum is so much more than anyone bargained for. So how does this change thing? The need for Bayless, Outlaw, and Frye is becoming less and less. It's now a possibility that a consolidation deal could be made for either a) superior starting PG (with Sergio still as the reserve), b) reserve PG (with Sergio becoming the starter), c) reserve PF or d) more young, developing talent. I think option B is very unlikely since Sergio plays so well with Rudy and Rudy isn't going to break the starting unit. I doubt Nate would decide to break that up. So ideally it's option A. And if Blake continues to play this well, a deal for say Hinrich may not be justified. It may have to be for a bigger name - Parker, Terry, Bibby, Nash, Calderon, or Kidd. Otherwise, making a move for more young talent seems like the way to go.
With the way Toronto is going down in flames - maybe we can have Calderon here for some nice pieces like Blake/Webster or Outlaw, Frye, an overseas talent and a pick. I am not sure how much of an upgrade it will be defensively - but maybe it is worth it. IKPWT.
