Call me crazy . . but I would have moved hell and high water to keep Brian Grant. Dale Davis yes Shawn Kemp . . no. Strickland. . . why? I mean looking to the future most of these guys don't make them a better team . . and no one will trade for anyone on their team except Bonzi Wells Maybe Steve Smith Rocket River ------------------
Well I guess that 'Sheed was untradable Franchise player like guy . . Rocket River ------------------
Good question. If I was Portland, I'd never pursue the depth strategy they are currently pursuing. And there's still time to reverse it. I'd package up a couple of the stars they have and send them to other teams for superstars. They can even afford to give up too much to get them, because they need to pare down their rotation from 15 to 8 or 9. ------------------ RealGM Gafford Art Artisan Cakes
If I had been Portland, I don't know what I would have done. While I'm not writing them off yet, how can you argue with the moves they've made? I mean, hindsight is 20/20, but three years ago, if you had told me that a team would have Steve Smith, Rasheed Wallace (as good as he is NOW), Damon Stoudamire, Dale Davis, Shawn Kemp, etc. I would have **** my pants. It's just unfortunate for that town and its fans that things haven't really worked out...but since they have Quitten, I'm sorry, I just CAN'T feel sorry for them. ------------------ Jazzkiller
excellent thread river. First I would only get rid of Wallace(and spare parts) for KG 2nd, I would let Grant walk before I would take on Kemp's fat-ass contract. 3rd, no Pippen. Basically rite now I would try to unload the dead weight of the roster along with some trade bait to get someone good(somehow). dead weight: Strickland, Pippen, Kemp trade bait: Stoudamire, Dale Davis, Smith, Bonzi ------------------ snap crackle pop
This is a team that could trade for a very good future if they had some forethought I mean Strickland for some #1s kemp for a #1 Stuff like that .. . get rid of dead weight and buy back some future. Rocket River ------------------
I would move some of these "stars" for some hard working role-players who won't complain about minutes. ------------------ The Rockets will be the NBA champions. Believe.
Nothing insightful here, but the problem about moving some of those contracts is that Portland did other teams the favor of taking them on in the first place. Shawn Kemp averages maybe 20 minutes a game and makes...how much? 16 million or so? A contract that balloons even more than his ass these next two years: he'll get paid 25 million in 2002-3, I think. That is just grotesque. Whitsitt went too far. He did his best to collect bodies to throw at Shaq and also keep talent from migrating to other Western Conference contenders. He knew he had plenty of blank checks to fill in. In a perfect world, yes, Portland would trade starters for solid backups and draft picks. But what will the real-life Blazers do? For example, with Strickland? They sign him and what sort of message does that send? "Hey, Damon, you're doing a great job, this is just insurance on our part. You know. Hey, babe: who loves ya?" (Wink.) "Now go kick ass!" No wonder the team's so screwed up. ------------------
I would have kept the heart of the team, Brian Grant, and benched Pippen. I'm sure Scott could still do fairly well of the bench, but he certainly isn't a starter, or a leader. My lineups would have been: Stoudamire Strickland Anthony Smith Wells Wallace Shremph Pip Grant Davis Augmon Sabas Davis A far superior team, and all they had to do was keep Brian Grant, and change the lineups a bit. This team would do far better than the current Blazers, even though it is practically the same group. ------------------ Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon is the greatest player in the history of basketball. If you disagree, you are not a Rocket fan.
If I were Portland, I would have passed on Scottie Pippen. ------------------ There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
You don't think they'd get a few offers for Rasheed? ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
The word in Portland is that anything less than a spot in the finals, which seems unlikely if at the five seed, will bring a major overhaul this summer. Starting with Dunleavy, possibly even Whitsitt and ending with everyone on the roster available, except possibly Sheed. Dunleavy may be relieved to be dismissed with all the playing time hassles he has had to deal with the last couple years. And his job does not get any easier when Whitsitt keeps adding players mid-season without regard for chemistry at all. The problem with Portland, besides being the 1996 NBA all-star team is that it is a team full of role-players, it's just that the players themselves don't know it. ------------------
after reading this thread, i went to realgm and had some fun...trade accepted portland trades shawn kemp and scottie pippen to la lakers for kobe, horace grant, robert horry, rick fox and greg foster. to say the least i was astounded that it was accepted in the first place, but i thought this really would help both teams. portland would still have davis/sabonis at center sheed mintes would increase with grant and horry to be played sparingly as needed kobe could alternate with steve smith at sf and sg. ideally for la would be if portland would waive rick fox ala stacy augmon to houston via pippen trade so they could sign him to back up pippen since he's so injury prone. kobe should be happy, no dominant center, but sheed to take the pressure off him. if kemp and pippen (and that's a big if) increase their production marginally and they draft a nice young 2 guard or make another trade for a veteran 2 guard (clyde, are you itching to play again if hakeem ends up as shaq's back up next season...uhmmm.....things that make you go...uhmmmm ) just my brainless thoughts on the matter ------------------ new century, just like the old century...2001 WNBA CHAMPIONS HOUSTON COMETS!!! SWOOPES/THOMPSON/ARCAIN the big three are still intact!!!
