At the time I was proposing the Blazers trade Roy and Aldridge for the #2 pick. My reasoning was you need two superstar players to win championships and both of those picks had higher ceilings than Roy or LaMarcus. But it would have been almost impossible for this franchise to take the PR hit back then, especially after finally having come out of the dark PatterNash and Jailblazer era. I sure would love to be able to do that trade now!
A lot of that is true. Bayless was my favorite Blazer. That said, the first time I saw Johnson in pre-season, it was quite obvious that he was our 2nd best Point Guard. But, that's because Bayless isn't a Point Guard. He's a scorer and right now, better than anyone who's available at getting to the free throw line and getting opposing teams in foul trouble. That's a needed commodity. Only 3 players got to the free throw line yesterday. Three!!! That wasn't a coincidence as Bayless and Roy were our #'s 1 and @ at doing that per minute on the floor. Now, it's Matthews, Miller, Aldridge. When Oden gets back, he'll be #1, so that will help. Roy ruined Bayless' game. They are opposites in style, as is Matthews and Rudy and Batum and Camby. You don't think the team would find minutes for Bayless right now with Roy out? What if Rudy or Matthews miss another game with Roy out. You don't think Bayless would play?
