There's that and the freak injury with his leg. We had our share of players with horrendous injuries. We don't need that beginning another rebuild.
I didn't think Lawson would be a Rocket either but if their was an allstar I'd like in Portland, it's Paul George. We have a ton of money and a bevy of young players. Yeah, it's hard to see it ever happening. I didn't expect the Lakers to trade Marc Gasol for Pau Gasol but it's another example of trades that come from nowhere. There's no difference between speculating about Boogie Cousins or Paul George.
I think the difference with Boogie is he's an asshole and the character issue makes him less valuable. PG only flaw is sleeping with his teammate's women!
I'm not talking "about you," I tagged you so you'd know I mentioned in you in a post as a common courtesy. Furthermore you're not causing me any "contentious angst," you said some things I thought were a little bit "whaaaaa?!" and like people do on a message board I addressed "wot you sed." As for "selling high on our young talent," what's so "high" about them? Most of these guys were signed on market value deals on potential alone or in the case of Vonleh traded after an unproductive rookie year. If this is their "high" then they have even less value than you are suggesting in your trade scenarios.
Their trade value in the case of CJ, Meyers and Vonleh has never been higher. Indy needs an infusion of young talent. George was seriously injured. Even if you took George and Indy out of the equation, if you moved CJ and Meyers now, they'd have more value than if they were mediocre players come the trade deadline. Indy is not contending anytime soon. Neither are we.
@ShamsCharania: Multiple teams pursuing Suns summer PG Mike James, who's inclined to play one more season in Spain before cap rise and flexibility in 2016. ------ Blazers should go after him. He's a Portland native, still young and his game is kind of like lillards so he could potentially be a nice backup. I know I'd personally rather have him than Frazier.
Another summer league guy I'd look at is Maurice ndour. Not sure what his best position is but he's 6'9, with a huge wingspan who can space the floor and block shots.
12 PPG, 5.8 APG, 3.5 RPG, 5 TOPG, 38.5% FG, 14.3% 3FG, 8.25 PIE = All Summer League 2nd Team 9.8 PPG, 7.5 APG, 4.2 RPG, 3.8 TOPG, 37.9% FG, 16.7% 3FG, 11.0 PIE = Needs to turn the ball over less? Not listed in top 50 of SL? Please, don't give me this "eye test" bullshit. Frazier is the Rodney Dangerfield of this year's Summer League. He played well, and should be given props.
I agree with the first statement about LMA/Wes/Batum; but disagree with the Wolves comparision. The Wolves were building around extremely young players with Wiggins, Lavine, Dieng, testing out Bennett but had major injuries to all of their veterans; Rubio, Martin, and Pekovic. Yes the Blazers have some new younger players; but outside of Vonleh they aren't near as young as those T-Pups were. Plumlee and CJ were both 4 years college players now entering their third NBA season. Thats 7 years after high school while Wiggins was one year removed. Ed Davis and Aminu will both be starting their 6th NBA season. Meyers and Harkless were young rookies three years ago; now they are entering their 4th seasons on contract years. Allen Crabbe went to three years of college and now is entering his third NBA season. Kaman had a PER of 17.3, solid defense and is 33 years old. I do think many underestimate Kaman's ability to contribute. He played 1400 quality minutes for us last year; being more effective when rested. If the Blazers are in a couple games chasing wins he's a guy who can make a real difference off the bench. I have similar feelings for Henderson at 27; he can help out and is only two years older than Lillard. Now if our top three players have major injuries as Minnesota did yes we could be in trouble. That can be said of most teams. But if we are relatively healthy we won't be an epically bad team. Out of the top 10 players on our depth chart we have no rookies and only one second year player in Vonleh. This rebuild is more of a players finishing rookie contracts rebuild instead of a future draft pick and green rookie rebuild. The Blazers want to do a quick turn around before Damian starts to decline. He is 25 and in two years will be at his peak. Many players; especially guards; start to decline at the age of 28. I have doubts that any draft pick the Blazer get will be used on an actual player to pair with Damian as many fans are expecting; its very likely we flip those as a package for a disgruntled allstar. Neil is acquiring as many assets as he can with the hope that a number of them increase in value. Some of them will be role players fitting Damian's contending timeline; others to bundle for a star in a trade as he Neil did when acquiring CP3.
So would you be more happy if you expect them to win 10 games to start every year? I'd rather be realistic both positively and negatively with my expectations and adjust as the season plays out.
Flip This Blazer should be the goal in the future. Keep the prisoner until they are worth more and then punt them somewhere else. Guerilla warfare.
Hey Sly, You don't think with the "In the paint" acquisitions, that Dame wont be able to lob/pass to the bigs for layups and dunks? IF Dame is double teamed, I expect him to average 8.5-11 assists per game because their must be an open man somewhere and usually that rotation of the double team once the ball is passed leaves the guy in the middle open. I dont see the double teams near as big of a problem as it would be last year, because we have more guys who can move around the court off the ball instead of plant their ass 18 ft from the basket and give weak screens. If Plumlee and Davis do what they are here for, they will make teams pay for doubling Dame.
Olshey and Stotts are handing the keys of the Porsche to Lillard, much the same way Curry was entrusted when Ellis left. Thus is Dames true opportunity to step up and be the man. I put the over under at 29.5. Extra button should say "_ Fucks Given" so if it's not liked "0 Fucks Given" We are getting way too excited about summer league players. I'm not talking about the Vonleh s of the world I'm talking about the undersize pgs and sgs so put up good numbers but have yet to stick with a team for a season. It's fun to dream big, but there aren't many guys who follow that pattern who are enough of an impact to make a difference. Think Anthony Goldwire or Omar Cook.
Goldwire 10 years in the league 9 teams, only 266 games played, 72 total starts, made a career being the 3rd string PG.
Yes, I can see that happening. I believe that Stotts is a much better coach than what people give him credit for. He's not a 3pt shooting coach, he's a coach that puts players in the best position to take advantage of their strengths. It's just not going to be a flip the switch type of thing. There is going to be a steep learning curve this season.
I think that's a point none of us have considered. We have seen Stotts coach based on what we had. It's premature to assume he can't coach a different way with different tool. Good coaches can adjust to the players they have. Of course some coaches are so systematic that it requires the right players for the system (see Phil Jackson).
I firmly believe that Stotts will adjust his offense to the strengths of his players. He's not going to try and turn them into 3 pt shooters. That was just a strength that some of our previous players had. He's completely opposite of Nate Pound the Square Peg into the Round Hole McMillan.
All we saw with Nate, that I recall, was some form of isolation basketball. 1st with Roy, then with Lamarcus.
