First off, I am not a Joel-hater. I've loved his blue collar work on the court for the past few years as the rest of you. But watching him lately... I think I am dying slowly inside. He can't run. He can't jump. He can't do almost anything. He can't finish at the rim, ala Dale Davis. The only thing he still does decently well is set a pick. Yet if you want to be cynical, you could say he still gets called for offensive fouls setting a bad pick by moving. This is just more of a frustration post than anything else. Believe me, I want to see Joel back to form. I don't think that's going to happen. When he's on the court, we get crushed in the middle by the opposition, on offense and defense. I am hoping we can use his contract to trade for someone worthwhile. And please give the minutes Pryz has been getting to Dante! There's some real promise as of late. And he's VERY athletic, the exact opposite of Joel, unfortunately.
Do not forget he is coming off a major injury and still recovering. Who knows if he will ever be his old self, but I think it is safe to say he will continue to get better. I still think he can be a valuable bench player in the future for some team- even us.
I bet if Joel is traded, he just gets waived and he quietly goes to Minnesota or Wisconsin, wherever the hell he's from, and returns to the NBA next season.
Yes any trade should probably include Pryz. I think he will move better next year, but right now he is not much help due to the lingering effects of his surgeries. Regardless if we trade him or not he will be a free agent next year and we would be in the same negotiating position with him at that point. Someone will offer him 1.5 million to sit on their bench. I would not mind if it was Portland. Hopefully he will not take it personally, but his contract is more valuable at this point then his play.
I guess I haven't been paying any attention. I just assumed everyone knew his value was a 7.4 million filler to make salaries match. The value of any trade is the other player (s) included.
for the right team he may have more value then just as an expiring contract... a team with needs at center could trade for him with plans of resigning him. Mike and Mike recently relayed that Joel deemed his knee at about 70% right now, which is why he has slowed so noticeably. A slower less explosive Joel was what expected well prior to him hitting the floor this season. I recall that it's also expected that his recovery should continue and his knee should be fine by next season. He'll be 32 and probably has another 3-4 decent years left STOMP
I don't care how slow he is really, all I want to see is him regain some vertical (if possible). His strongest attribute has always been his ability to fill the middle and block shots.
I am pulling for him, but the facts are he is starting to get older now, and as you get older your body doesn't react as well to injuries. It's like Kenny Smith said, he knew it was time to quit when it took longer to get ready for the game than there was time between games.
His only value in trades is if we take back a contract another team wants to dump, a player who is worth less to the team than the cost of his contract. Keeping his contract allows us to get those salary savings which could provide benefit if theres a hard cap or to give PA cash irrespective of CBA salary restraints. Therefore I judge Joel's expected trade value to be virtually zero, similar to the expring contracts of Sabonis, Pippen, Shareef, Nick Van Exel, Damon, and Raef.
I feel like he's been slowly improving in skill (knocking off the rust and adjusting to the injury) and also stamina and quickness. He's still got a ways to go, but he had a couple nice blocks against NO where he looked quite a bit quicker than even a few weeks ago, let alone when he first came back. All that said, I would love to trade him and then just sign him back next year for a smaller contract. Cant have too many back up big men, especially in this town.
He has def looked slow out there, but can you blame him. I honestly thought his career was over. He is just slow to react. It is tough because he is a leader on this team and everybody respects him and what he can do for us.
I don't think he's anywhere near 70%. I think it's more like 20% in terms of the the player he used to be on the court. My opinion is don't try to give him minutes and wait until he (hopefully) returns to a previous form. Give him time in practice to get better. Don't make us a worse team by playing him. I had some hope during the New Orleans games. Nate hardly played Joel and gave more minutes to Dante. I hope that will continue. Camby is coming back, so I hope Joel doesn't get any minutes... It's sad.
The question about Joel's value is how he'll be for the playoffs. As has been mentioned, Joel is still recovering. He'll get back a bit more lateral movement, quickness and leaping ability, but probably not to the level before the injury. His greatest asset is his combination of size and bad-assedness. He'll be a hard six fouls for some team in the post season, and that has value.
I don't know if Joel's knee will recover fully, but I think enough of him that I'm willing to give him time to heal. As an injured asset, he's not going to bring back anything that spins my props, so I'd rather show him some loyalty4 the great play he's given us in the past. Like the 54 win season that wouldn't have happened without him. If he's traded, this team will miss him more than some think. Joel is an enforcer, and that has value. Who steps into those shoes? Go Blazers
