BrianfromWA is clearly the better. He's a better player than anyone, he's a better coach than Nate, and he is a better GM than KP. At least that is what I gather from the long-winded posts.
In 2006-2007 (ZBo's best year as a Blazer) - we were #19 in the league in offensive efficiency. After he was traded (lst year) - we went up to #14 This year, so far, we are #2. ... and offense is ZBo's best attribute (at least individual offense) - but he just kills your offensive flow. That year (his last one) we were #26 in defensive efficiency. After he was traded - and Aldridge took his place, we went up to #17. This year, losing Jack - the only respectable perimeter defender we had other than Brandon and giving his 28 mpg to Sergio and Rudy - we are down to 27 - but I suspect that we will climb a bit by the end of the year - but all the people that were whining that Jack is as bad on defense as Sergio were just man-crushed (as usual) and did not see how bad we are without someone that gets in front of the opposing PG consistently. The numbers do not lie. Zach was an offensive black-hole that padded his own stats but stopped the flow of the game - and he was atrocious on defense. Jac might have been a below-average PG - but he was defensively a level or two above what we get from an improved Sergio / Rudy's perimeter defense and a regressing Blake.
I don't think anyone knocked Jack for his lack of defense. It was his bone-headed playmaking on offense, turning the ball over in crucial times and on our few fast-break opportunities, along with his inconsistency. The guy could light up the Lakers for 25 points, and come back and score 4 against a mediocre team.
If you want to know why I don't want Z-Bo, I submit exhibit A: [video=youtube;3j1q6osDAEc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j1q6osDAEc[/video] High comedy.
Nope. We heard the same crap we hear against Blake this year from the Sergio jock-strap-sniffers - that his defense was not better than Sergio - which is still a real cock-up. Neither Jack, nor Blake are defensive stoppers - but they are a whole lot better than Sergio.
Hm. Keep Zach Randolph or have Rudy Fernandez, James Jones, Channing Frye, a boat load of salary space to possibly sign an All-Star caliber player, and open up playing time for LaMarcus Aldridge. Hm. You're right. Pritchard's an idiot. He made the wrong decision. I guess I don't understand why people aren't calling for Prichard's head next.
I'm just glad that Kevin Duckworth didn't play for the Blazers over the last 10 years. Instead of being beloved, he would be despised. Probably the same thing with Jerome and Buck.
I'm not that good a player. I don't pretend to be a better GM than KP, though when I talked with him I listened to what he said and wrote down things I didn't know. I'm not a better coach than Nate. So it's frustrating when I see problems in our offense and defense that aren't corrected. If I can see them (since I'm not a good coach), I'm pretty sure that Sloan, Porter, Popovich, Brown, Nelson, Jackson, etc can see them. As for long-winded...sorry. I'm just trying to, you know, justify the crap that comes out of my posts. If that bothers you, I'm sorry. Just scroll past mine. Most everyone on O-Live did, no offense taken.
If you add up Aldrige's defensive effort, willingness to pass, and overall ability to stretch a defense (when his shot is on) and compare that with Z-bo's "subtraction by addition" stat stuffing and I'll take LMA every day, every time. God forbid Brandon go through a cold streak at some point in the season. I can see it now, "Trade the fucking bum, he's terrible, he's killing our offense, blah, blah, blah!" (don't fucking pretend, you people know who you are).
Well yeah his team was winning but they aren't winning as much as the Blazers. Besides B-Roy went to the front office and told them to get rid of Zach because of his negative locker room presence. That's a big part of why he was dealt. Obviously if our star player didn't want him there, our record would not be better if he was still here.
This is truth! The NBA doesn't work like fantasy basketball does. You can't say "This guy gets 20 and 10, this other guy gets 20 and 10, so if you put them on the same team they would combine for 40 and 20". If you throw Zach on this team, everyone elses stats will take a nose dive due to his "one on five" offensive technique. This is the same reason many other potential trades wouldn't work or seem good on paper but turn out to be ass. Just this weekend I had dinner with a few other people, two of whom claimed to be Blazer fans. However, all they could talk about was "Oden = Bowie" and "The Trailblazers are just setting us up for disappointment." They said they came by these opinions by being "fans" for 30+ years. Having been a fan myself for that long, I couldn't see what the fuck they were talking about. Honestly, it seems alot of fans just want to be miserable. The Trailblazers, outside of a few recent years, have been a consistently good team since the early 80's. Not Bulls great, but damn good and fun to watch. This current team isn't perfect. Neither has any Blazer team in recent memory. They are fun to watch, try hard and seem to care what the community thinks of them. If you want to wallow in misery, then I would invite you to start following the Clippers, the T'Wolves, the Bobcats or the Thunder.
Do you think the difference is the internet and online forums? I remember fans, and even the team, getting on Duck pretty badly at times. He seemed to be the late 80's version of our Damon Stoudamire.
I believe that is a major factor. Salaries are up, which also alienates some people. Lastly, I think the Portland media has done a great job poisoning the well. Heck, I've run across people who actually believe Duck was a better *player* than Sheed! (as opposed to just being more likeable)
