You guys are batshit. Raef+Outlaw+Sergio isn't going to net you much. You NEED to give up good value to get back great value. Vince Carter should be something like Raef+Rudy.
Nate needs to yell at Roy and LA to let them know, maybe even in front of the other player to get more agressive. The Refs honor the agressive team. Both guys are not that by nature. Nate needs to challenge their professionalism, or so it seems to me. When I played basketball I couldn't run or jump well, but I did hustles and that got me on at least one team. These guys have great talent but are not intent enough on winning. g
I personally expected them to win also, but I'm not surprised that they didn't. Utah's a veteran team. Without Williams, Brewer, Kiri, Boozer, Okur stepped up big. It was as if Williams wasn't even needed. Especially, the emergence of Brewer. His energy and attacks to the basket were big for them. I also think you're not realizing the impact of losing Greg Oden and Martell Webster. This team as been preparing to play around Oden. Aldridge and Frye were needed as centers last year, but not this year. Aldridge increased his range to the perimeter and Frye worked on his handles and quickness so that they could better serve a team centered around Oden. I don't think this is a major impact, but it's something to consider. What was an important impact is the loss of Webster. Webster was a huge key to the Blazers' success against the Jazz last year. It's not a stretch to say he was our MVP in that entire season-long match up. In place of him, while we did add Batum, Nate didn't go to him down the stretch and instead decided to lean on Outlaw and Roy at the SF spot. This was a major difference. Lastly, home court is huge for them.
Also, Batum, on offense, not only works his ass off to help get the ball back in our possession should we miss fire, but also keeps that ball moving around. What did us in last night was lack of ball movement in the late 3rd and 4th quarter IMO. I'm not that excited about Roy at the PG, but it's at least palatable if Batum and Rudy are in there to make our offense more effective.
As much as many on here think Shavlik Randolph is worthless, he's actually very skilled and active PF. I'm pissed off about Nate not giving Batum more minutes, but I'm very ticked off that he didn't embarrass both Aldridge and Frye by giving Randolph those minutes in the late 3rd period when the tide was obviously changing. I hate to say it folks, but I'm very concerned with Nate's decision making. I'll try and keep supporting him, but he's giving me less and less reasons to anymore!
1) Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittendon, Marc Gasol and 2 late 20's picks. 2) Ray Allen for Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Jeff Green. 3) Mo Williams for Luke Ridnour, Damon Jones and Adrian Griffin (Bucks' side of the trade) 4) Richard Jefferson for Yi and Bobby Simmons. 5) 3M and a trade exception for James Jones and Rudy. 6) Kurt Thomas and 2 #1 picks for a trade exception Do you want me to go back farther than the last year? Money is a REALLY big player in trades. But I guess I'm the batshit one, not NBA GMs.
I'd rather just keep Rudy then. Kevin Pritchard has proven that by remaining patient, the deals will come. Vince Carter is nice, but there are other players such as Josh Childress, maybe a Michael Redd, or a Kirk Hinrich that could really help this team and the asking price wouldn't be that high IMO.
That was there whole focus in practice the last couple of days from what I heard. I thought Brandon actually did a good job of penetrating. He did shoot 6 foul shots. I'm disappointed in Aldridge. He did take his game closer to the basket this time around, but still couldn't grab the rebounds. I'm really puzzled by this. I hope Coach Lucas gets well soon. Aldridge could use a kick-in-the-pants. (unless Boozer was just that good)
7) Marcus Camby for a swap of second round picks. That also fits nicely into the last year of examples.
Nice! Thanks for the assist, Minstrel. (BTW...are you more like the "troubadour"-type musical minstrel, or like Chaucer from Knight's Tale?)
Hmm, I'd say a combination. My recollection is that Chaucer's minstrel was a story-telling entertainer, while troubadours compose songs and poems. My image of a minstrel is a wandering musician/poet/story-teller/philosopher.
At the same time, were down 2 players as well, and one of them is named Greg Oden. Folks may look at it with your view, but the way I look at it, we were down 2 big pieces as well, so it was probably a pretty evenly matched game.
You're not in a situation where you will be big FA players in the next two years. In 3 years, when most of your young players need raises, Carter expires.
You know ... I really like Aldridge and overall as a shooter and defender I think he's a superior talent to David Lee, and I'm still not a huge fan of Lee's shooting ... but ... yeah I wouldn't mind seeing that
We will be a big FA player within two years if we don't make any trades... Portland is going to have a shitload of cap space this summer... especially if Miles doesn't get into 10 games this year. It just might make sense for Portland to use Raef (who represents a big chunk of the cap space we'll have) proactively, rather than going into the summer with cap space. Not sure how any of this impacts what we would have to give up for Vince (or anyone else), however. Ed O.
