Warrick is MUCH better than Diogu. I also think he is better than Frye and would be able to play backup 4 for us
I didn't say Warrick wasn't better than Diogu, I said he'd be Diogu Pt. 2 -- an 11th/12th Man who only gets garbage minutes. I'll agree to disagree about him vs. Frye; I think Webster's basically taking the role Outlaw has now, and Frye gets to keep his 15mpg or so. I don't see Warrick taking those away, so he's going to be the role Diogu is now...but more talented.
I think it's a good move for both players. Mike Conley will get to play with Greg Oden again. These two have been a great 1-2 punch since elementary school. Travis Outlaw will play in a more prominent role and will get to live close to his hometown.
no. batum already has a positive defensive reputation, gay has a negative one that hasn't improved this year. batum appears (so far) to be a more effective rebounder than gay ever has been. batum appears to have at least the same shooting range and athleticism. gay is more flashy and polished-looking going to the hoop, but he's also 3 years older. batum currently has a better TS% and higher PER. you might disagree, but it's not at all a laughable argument that batum is already a more effective all-around player than gay.
All of this talk about Conley having "the credibility to get in Greg's face," does anybody seriously think this line is coming out of the Portland camp? Chances are the Grizz covet Outlaw and they are trying to highlight just how "invaluable" Conley would be as a trade piece. I say this rumor has no legs from Portland's side.
Conley has yet to prove that he is an outside shooter. His OSU stats from 3 were bad, and in the NBA he has been low-end for a PG.
Neither has Sergio really. I think Conley is a better PG for the Blazers and like I said, I think Warrick and Outlaw are on the same tier.
He won't be playing much with Oden IMO. Even moving one PG for him, he is still behind Blake/Sergio (whoever is left over) and Bayless in the rotation. Conley would be lucky to get into games. He has shown nothing at the NBA level, and the only reason he starts is because Memphis picked him at #4. If KP makes this deal as reported, he deserves to be criticized for it. I just don't think it is true, however, at least seriously. We all know that KP likes to burn the phone lines to try and get a feel for how opposing GMs judge their talent. I'm guessing someone in the Memphis front office likes to chat with a reporter.
I don't. I must have missed all of Warrick's game-winning plays in the 4th quarter? Plus, Warrick hasn't even attempted a 3 pt FG this season and he blocks half the shots that Outlaw does, yet he has more length. Warrick also is not a perimeter defender, which Outlaw has shown he can be this year. Plus, Warrick is an expiring contract, meaning he either must be signed or KP must be able to use the extra space to bring in an Outlaw replacement. I don't understand your assessment.
At first glance this doesn't look too good for Portland, but ... - Conley is 21. He isn't producing like we all expected. Did you know that's the case with most young point guards? Let's look at the top PGs in the league at 21. Chris Paul is the exception to the rule it seems. He's just on another level. Many of us might have thought Conley would be the next Paul, but he isn't. He won't be. Paul is very special. Tony Parker struggled with his outside shot too. Parker's scoring was far better, but to me, that's to be expected. Parker was/is a shoot-first guard, while Conley is a pass-first. This is illustrated by Conley's far better Assist Rating. Their TOs and steals are right in line with each other. Conley already shoots a higher percentage on FTs. Conley is more athletic IMO, and his rebounding rating is possible proof of this. Again, I don't think Conley will be in Parker's class, but again they're really not the same type of guards. Devin Harris shot poorly as well. Again Devin was the superior scorer, but Conley has better rebounding, assist, TO rating. In 15 minutes that year, Devin had 6 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound. Jason Terry played his rookie year at 22 so this isn't a completely fair comparison. He only scored 8 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebound is 23 minutes. Age 23, Terry blew up. Chauncey Billups played 26 minutes with Boston, shooting 39% from the field, 1.5 steals, 2 TOs, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 11 points per game. He was traded to Toronto and his shooting fell to 34%. Steve Nash played his rookie season at age 22, so a bit older. He got 10 minutes and scored 3 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound. Age 23 he more than doubled his minutes and still only scored 9 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds. He shot only 42% from the field his rookie season. I could go on but you can see that most points guard struggle. Mike Conley today is nothing compared to what he'll be next year and the years after that. I bet Pritchard realizes this. - He was near sensational in College. During their freshman seasons, Greg and Mike led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten title and the NCAA Championship Game. He and Greg led their high school team to three consecutive Indiana state championships. So the talent, experience, and drive is there. - His ballhandling is terrific and he is already very good at finishing around the basket with layups or floaters. Why he doesn't do it, I don't know. He has the controlled quickness this team could really use. That's all I got for now.
I agree with you completely on this one Niko. Why would KP talk openly about something like that before a trade is done. That is sales 101. You don't inflate the value of something before you purchase it. Only after.
I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if somebody else has already made this point, but I don't like the idea of importing Conley for Oden's sake, because it seems to me that would run a huge risk of dividing the locker room, particularly if you give up Rudy's best friend AND Roy's best friend in effect to get Greg's best friend. Plus: comparing Conley to Nash and Billups is pretty much cheating. Yes, those two had very un-promising early seasons. But so did the vast majority of PGs who dropped out of the league. And there were a lot more of them. It's like everyone says of a young guy who's nailed to the bench for years on end - "he could be the next Jermaine!" Yes. But the chances are astronomically against it. He is MUCH MORE LIKELY to be the next Stromile Swift. Here's what I think is a more apposite comparison: Sebastian Telfair.
Very true. I hadn't thought of it this way. I guess I'm just trying to rationalize why Conley would be a target. If he is, and given Pritchard's track record, there must be some good reason why they believe Conley will be a very good player.
I'd like to point out again that this is at least the third generation of these "trade talks" that we have seen since July.
I hadn't thought about the Roy/Rudy aspect to this, and the fact is that Roy will need to be maxed after this year. Besides, bringing in Conley to pacify Oden just lends more strength to the "babying Oden" hypothesis.
Here is why I think this trade WON'T go down. With all of our talent, there is no reason for us in any trade to be sending the best player (Outlaw) in the overall package. Outlaw has a very small contract given his production in recent years. And the Blazers don't have any "BAD" contracts that we want to dump. All we have is Raef who will come off the books. Every other single player is worth his salary (or is on a rookie salary getting paid a bit too high) and not like a Brian Cardinal situation. The only way Outlaw goes is if he is traded with (1) a team that wants to rebuild and takes Outlaw and two more pieces while giving up a superior player or (2) a team that is looking to dump salary and wants to get back a good player and salary flexibility (Raef) for a player better than Outlaw. That's the way it is. Unless Outlaw has become a major locker room cancer in his request for more touches, which with his friendship to Roy and Aldridge is hard to imagine, then that's the only feasible scenario if I'm playing GM. I would say that I'm not the Blazer GM for a reason, but then again I have a pretty damn good record of liking players (Rudy, Batum, Thaddeus Young, Rodney Stuckey) and seeing them work out so...I was never a fan of Conley either, although I do feel that he can become a better slasher. At his biggest upside you're looking at a poor man's Rod Strickland.
