This is by importance to the future of the team. 1. Roy 2. Batum 3. Oden 4. Aldridge 5. Bayless 6. Rudy 7. Claver 8. Cunningham 9. Miller 10. Pryzbilla 11. Webster 12. Outlaw 13. Pendergraph 14. Howard 15. Blake 16. Mills
The trouble with not setting a specific date (e.g. 1 year from now or 5 years from now) is that all the oldest guys (Miller, Howard, Przybilla) go at the bottom. The next-oldest guys (Outlaw, Blake) go next-to-last. So I set a date (next year) in my ranking.
Tier 1: bonafide star Brandon -- Borderline top 10 player, best Blazer since Clyde, nuff said Tier 2: Sky's the limit Nicolas -- already an elite wing defender, and really blossoming on the offensive end, has a killer instinct. Tier 3: Really good, but not quite great (yet?). Legit starter material at least LMA -- lots of potential, does a lot of things at a B+ level, but still has a lot of question marks Greg -- He'd be in tier 2, except for his injuries Jerryd -- Great driver, elite athlete, tries hard defensively, not quite sure if he'll end up a starting point guard or a career sixth man. Rudy -- Very smart, very flashy, probably the best pure shooter on the team ... but pretty close to his ceiling due to age, and probably lacks certain physical attributes to take the step up into tier 2 -- will probably end up as a great super sub, or an above average starter somewhere. Miller -- no mystery here. Miller is still a borderline all-star, but his trajectory is downward from here. Tier 4: solid rotation player, probably pretty close to his ceiling Dante -- really well rounded game, solid defensively, doesn't hurt you when he's out there, but probably not a lot of ceiling left to tap at 22 Travis -- really good bench scorer, kind of shaky on D, up and down court IQ and this is probably all that he'll ever be after 7 years in the league -- still not a bad player to have on your roster Webster -- A jump shooter with a nice NBA body, some above average defense and confidence issues. His defense allows him to be on the court even when he's not hitting and he doesn't kill you to have him soak up 15 minutes a night and occasionally can give you a memorable performance ... a good 8th man. Steve -- a classic low usage, low mistake backup point guard. Not very dynamic, can fairly reliably hit the long ball, not a lot of negatives to his game, but not a lot of positives either. Replaceable, but not a liability either. Tier 5: Mystery meat/end of the bench Juwan: His veteran presence in the locker room and coach on the floor mentality is probably more useful than what he actually does on the court. I'd love to have him as an assistant coach when his playing days are done. Love him. Pendergraph: Lots of hustle, but very, very raw as an NBA player; seems like his career could go any number of directions. Mills: D-league hero! His career like Jeff's could go any number of directions, but based on his draft position and fairly mediocre numbers in the WCC, counting on him becoming a regular in the NBA is probably a stretch. Not much harm taking a flier on him though. Tier 6: Up in the air. Joel: If he wasn't presently recovering from a truly devastating knee injury he'd be near the top of Tier 4, but as it is with his age, his size and his history of injuries I'm not really sure where to put him, except to say "get well soon"
You said "important to the future of the Blazers": Tier One Greg, Brandon, Sergio Tier Two Rudy, LaMarcus, Travis, Nic, Joel Tier 3 Steve, Jerryd, Martell Tier 4 Nobody else has shown me they are "important to the future of the Blazers".
If you assume Oden is healthy... 1a. Roy 1b. Oden 3. Aldridge 4. Batum 5. Bayless 6. Fernandez 7. Webster 8. Miller 9. Pryzbilla 10. Miller 11. Pendergraph 12. Cunningham 13. Blake 14. Mills 15. Howard Prospects: 16. Claver 17. Freeland 18. Koponen Miller and Howard are ranked lower because they're older. These are tiers representing long-term value. If we assume Oden is going to continue to battle injuries and be out of the league within five years, Oden drops to about 10 and Pryzbilla jumps up to 6.
You really think Sergio is that bad, that he can help the Blazers win a lot of games by playing for other teams? I'm skeptical. I also think he's bad at basketball, but not enough to make a major difference as a Blazer opponent. He may not even be playing for NBA teams soon.
1 - Roy 2- Oden 3 - Batum 4 - Aldridge 5 - Miller 6 - Rudy 7 - Pryzbilla 8 - Bayless 9 - Outlaw 10 - Cunningham 11 - Pendergraph 12 - Mills 13 - Howard 14 - Blake 15 - Webster
