The OFFICIAL 2013 NBA Playoffs Thread

We got rid of Zach for the same reason New York dumped him and the Clipper dumped him.
Because Zach was stupid. Not that I cared about the rape accusations or the drug accusations or the guns accusations, or the dog fighting rumors, but if he was smarter about it they would have kept him. All on Zach.

Now getting rid of Rasheed was stupid. That was all media driven iMO.

 

Memphis lost the game IMO after the Perkins turnover. Absolutely stupid on their part for not getting a decent shot off. Up three with the ball and they never went into their offense. A basket there would have been tough for OKC to overcome. They went brain dead.

 

New York and LAC were stupid too

 

The Blazers got rid of Zach because he had the worst contract in the NBA

 

Last 4 years of Randolph's old contract

$13,333,333
$14,666,667
$16,000,000
$17,333,333

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And it ran through the great 2010 FA, when half the league was setting up their books years in advance to make runs at all the great players

 

We passed on Durant first and then traded Zach.

This. The Knicks and Clippers were horrible organizations then. They fucked up just as much as we did.

 

Again it was all on Zach. Over weight, out of shape, and lazy. Glad for him that he finally turned it around.

 

Zach was good then but had crappy teammates. On Portland, it was turning around with Roy and then we traded Zach for nothing. I was fine with trading Zach for an All Star SF but they didn't do it. So they should've kept him.

 

No. Because the clippers and knicks also had horribly run organizations. We had a "cap genius" who overvalued imaginary cap space two years into the future.

hoop fam

 

Not at the money he was earning. Grossly overpaid.

 

Yeah.... paying Steve Francis was a much better value.

hoop fam

 

2 years vs 4 years

Money off the books much faster

 

We ended up with Jeffries with that cap space.

Miller to Felton to Jeffries

Zach was a great post player, worth the money. In 2003, we fell behind 0-3 to Mavs. Then we started Zach and won three straight games. He was incredible. Look up the box scores. It's the closest we've been to winning a playoff series since 2000. Then Sheed got traded, Pip left, and Sabonis retired. You can't blame Randolph for not being able to win with Telfair and Krhyapa or whatever his name was.

 

Don't get me wrong I would have kept Zach. I defended him til the end. But his trade value was low. I loved his offensive game. But a high contract and a bad off court perception did not help. At the time the Blazers had to rebuild their image as much as their roster. This was all on him. The high salary comes with a price. Image is as important as talent when running a business. Again I am happy for Zach, and i will root for him, but I am a little pissed at him as well.

 

Image is as important?

Uh. Hurricanes (football), Bad Boy pistons, the Bulls (MJ hated white players, Dennis Rodman, Scottie had some issues). Kobe, the rapist. Iverson.

Let's be real here...there are plenty of knuckleheads on teams. Jesus.

 

Pinwheel has it on the dot. The Blazers were attempting to shed the "JailBlazers" label that had haunted the team for years. There was no way to shed that label with Zach's off the court shenanigans.
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Back to the playoffs, I'm not concerned about the Knicks. They're coming off a very emotional series against a Celtics team with the heart of a champion. They only had 40 hours to prepare for this series. They might lose today but they'll win the series.

 

Zach was never in jail. Besides, then we had Oden, the drunk who gets his penis on the Internet.

 

Seriously do you not remember how bad it got with the Jailblazers from a marketing standpoint? Now again I could care less about the off court issues of the players. I just want to see them win. But I am not your average trailblazer fan. Look at their demographics. Do you not understand how many fans they lost during this period? The Blazers are a small market team. They can't afford to lose many. They are not in NY, Chicago, Philly or LA.

I get pissed that the players are under such a microscope in Portland. But they are. So if you want to keep the team in Portland than you have to run it a little differently. Image is important.

 

Most of the JailBlazer's never were in jail. It was a perception that the media helped create. I still get pissed over that. But none-the-less it was the perception.