Watching Batum against the Spurs and the kid looks like the real deal. Came out of no where to block Duncan's shot. He can shoot the ball and attacking the basket on drives. I can see why the Spurs wanted this kid so bad.
That team is going to have to trade their depth for a "star-ish" player. If not, the bench guys might bolt not only for money, but more playing time.
Hey Batum ultimately got us Artest and I'm not complaining but I'm doing the trade remorse theme in the Rudy Gay thread currently in the NBA dish.
Speaking of Portland rookies. Where the heck was Bayless tonight. I just looked at the boxscore and saw that he got a dnp-cd. I thought the word on Bayless was that he would be an impact rookie. And I saw the last half quarter of tonights blazers/spurs game. Steve blake was brutal, letting Tony Parker get anywhere he wanted to go. And on offense blake didn't bring much to the table since the blazers were always better off with roy handling the ball. I guess bayless isn't as far along as he looked in summer league.
...and they're setting themselves up for more big moves next season Blazers hold their own 1st and 2nd round picks for 2009 and 2010. They also hold 3 other 2009 second round picks plus one other 2010 2nd round pick. In more recent news they extended Martell Webster who's 21 years old, has 3 NBA seasons under his belt, and was their incumbent starter until his current injury. It also appears they may have avoided BYC status on his contract and a trade restriction. Another valuable trade asset for them... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3675835
Sergio Rodriguez had a great camp and good pre-season, so he's the backup PG for now. He remade his jumper, added some arc to it and now it regularly goes in. We'll see how long this lasts. I think there is a strong chance Bayless pushes past him and eventually gets the backup minutes. A big problem is Bayless just can't run their offense. Eventually the Blazers will give up on making him a PG and will let him play off the ball next to Rudy (and Roy). When that happens, the dynamic scorer will return and Bayless will become a key member of their rotation. I agree with you about guarding TP. Bayless' defense in the pre-season was standout (for a rookie) and he's the only guy on their team that could stay with guys like TP and Chris Paul. He can also make them work on the other end.
If I was a betting person, I'd bet the house they will trade Outlaw during the season. The commitment to Webster and the emergence of Batum make this a 100% likelihood IMO unless another injury happens. Last season's continual rumors and Outlaw's big mouth during the offseason indicate he is not in their long-term plans.
Bayless deserves some playing time just for offensive abilities, and also his defense, AP30 said. But I guess with Fernandez and Roy in front of him at the SG spot he will have a tough time getting a lot of playing time. But the Blazers need some way to incorporate him. The kid is a stud athlete with a lot of talent, although he might be undersized.
He's actually stuck behind Sergio Rodriguez. When Bayless and Roy are on the court, Bayless defends the PG and Roy the SG. On offense they switch roles and Roy plays the point. The same thing can be done with Bayless and Rudy. When Sergio is in the game, he is a traditional PG at both ends. Eventually the Blazers will give up trying to make Bayless play the point on offense. When this happens, his ability will take over and Sergio will get pushed back to 3rd string again. Hope that wasn't confusing.
I really think that even with all that talent, Portland will manage a way to not make the playoffs this year. Just a gut feeling
That's the general consensus that they will be in the playoffs but in the future. IMO they're dangerous now. The teams they had to beat for playoff berth last season were GS currently up the creek with a last minute NBDL/undrafted rookie as their PG and Denver who salary dumped their starting C and are speculated to cut more salary, ie AI. They've also got the trade assets to instantly improve this season and don't seem to care as much about luxury tax to have a trade impeded by it. http://www.nypost.com/seven/1102200...center_of_trade_buzz__but_mavs_unl_136435.htm http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2008/11/02/shaq_isnt_fading_away/?page=3 I'm worried that they'll add Hinrich (a player Pritchard likes) they certainly have the pieces to make that happen: Blake (expiring) +Outlaw (scoring PF) = Hinrich That's $8.59M for $10M which is within 125% + $100k Hinrich, Bayless(eventually), Rodriguez Roy, Fernandez Webster(back in Dec), Batum Aldridge, Frye, Diogu, Randolph Oden, Przybilla, LaFrentz Blazers also have 6 second round picks for the 2009 & 2010 drafts to package.
they are juz talented across the board. they may have many good role players, but they clearly lack a star impact player, Brandon Roy isn't going to cut it.
