With all the depth the Blazers have, embarrassment of riches, who's going to get what PT? I see logjams everywhere, myself. Obviously there's Roy, Oden, and LMA who we all want to see 100% of the time, if possible. Przybilla was extremely good for what was expected of him last season, though, so it's hard to see him not getting minutes. How are Webster and Outlaw going to split minutes? One's game is going to suffer by not playing much. Is Luke Jackson going to make the team? I've always seen him as a guy with awesome defensive skills but who never could get court time for various reasons. Behind LMA there's Frye and Digou. Frye seems to have gotten worse year over year, though I do not see that as his ultimate potential. Digou reminds me of a taller Maxiel type player and he needs minutes to be that good. At SG, we have Fernandez behind Roy - I don't see how Roy isn't going to get all the burn he can handle. At PG at least I can see Bayless getting his shot, though Roy and Fernandez might need to play together at the same time to get them the kind of minutes they deserve. So what's the breakdown?
This is how I see it.. PG: Blake (24), Bayless (20) Roy (4) SG: Roy (28), Rudy (20) SF: Outlaw (26), Webster (22) PF: Aldridge (34), Frye (14) C: Oden (28), Joel (20)
Roy and LMA will get 35+ mpg Oden will gets his minutes but I think he will be in foul trouble especially the first half of the season. I would guess 28-30 MPG less at first maybe a little more the 2nd half. Webster starts and gets 22-25 MPG Outlaw comes off the bench but plays in the 4th qtr gets 25-28 mpg plays some PF. Blake will start at PG but will get less minutes this year and I think Bayless might start by the 2nd half or at least by late in the season. Bayless 20 mpg Rudy 20-25 mpg I like Frye's game and his stats are down but if you watch him especially late last season he contributes when given the chance and never complains about pt. I also like to give Digou some time to see what he can do with his big body. Joel P. will get any time left from Oden and will see a decent amt of pt early in the season because of Oden possible foul trouble. I'm guessing Joel p. will get around 18 mpg maybe even a little less for the season but a little more early. I think I have used up all the minutes available. So, everyone else might only get a few minutes in garbage time. One more thing I think we will play a 3 guard rotation of Oden, LMA with Roy, Rudy and Bayless or Blake for short stretches of some games. Just my idea have not heard Nate say anything about a 3 guard rotation. It will depend on who the other teams SF is and how we are playing.
We went through the too much depth thing in Chicago, and it was frustrating as hell. Coach wants to play 10 players, when an 8 man rotation seems to be the ideal.
