Hasheem Thabeet putting in work for the Trailblazers.

Thabeet getting rim checked and Flynn missing a layup.. what a waste of picks :/

 

NEWSFLASH: Nobody wants Kevin Martin.

 

If only Morey dared to tank. They would still be on the team right now

 

Good lord. That rim is one tough defender.

 

This is the Thabust we all know and love.

 

Not at the price of a top 3 pick, at least. Teams that have top 3 picks are bad. They want young, cheap, high ceiling guys, not a vet.

 

Portland HAS BEEN a borderline playoff team for years.

They last made it past the 1st round of the playoffs in 2000.

Compared to us, that is a LONG time ago.

We're in year 1 of 'post Yao era', and we have:

* max cap space this off-season (that's what rebuilding teams have available)

* potentially $28 million in expiring deals, of which $7million is unguaranteed (teams looking to 'blow it up' themselves will often move their superstar for expirings + picks - how much better if they get money they don't even need to pay??)

* multiple first round draft picks (1-3 in the coming draft - at this stage seems almost certain to be 2; but even if it is only 1, it still means we have many future first round picks to trade)


In short, a team looking to 'blow it up' and rebuild will try and gather as many of the above scenarios as possible. We actually have all 3 covered . The only thing we're missing to be in the 'absolutely perfect' rebuilding scenario is a top 5 draft pick - but let's be clear: these are no more valuable than any of the above scenarios.

A top 5 pick is NOT a "home run". Very very often they fail.
Max free agent money is not a "home run". Very very often teams strike out.
Expirings is not a "home run". Very very often teams strike out.
Multiple first round draft picks is not a "home run". Very very often teams strike out.

I don't know why people are down on what we're doing at the moment? It's not like we're the Warriors... We have very envious positions on a number of fronts -can Morey make ANOTHER big move in the off-season to bring in an All-star?? He did it for this year, every reason to believe he can do it again. Making the playoffs and doing well makes his job that much easier.


Too long? In short, I'd much rather be us than the Failblazers. Could be a long road back to being a competitive team for them.

 

We could get a mid to low 1st round pick for him.

 

Not that i'm disagreeing with you about the max cap space.. But espn ran a story like 3 days ago about teams in the best cap position this summer, and the rockets only had 13 million available in cap space?? i thought we were over 20 mill? it through me off because they had us a middle of the pack cap team..?

 

Could be done multiple times, but here is an excellent summary:

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=216979

Bottom line is that we need to be ~18 million under the cap to offer a max salary.
We could do that, and be adding a max salary guy to a lineup consisting of:

Martin
Scola
Lowry
Patterson
Morris
Budinger
Parsons
Montiejunas
NYK draft pick
Dallas draft pick

 

lol, i was looking on twitter and typed in hasheem thabeet. people in portland are saying they are seeing him in the mall. it doesn't get better than this. i mean the guy hasn't played 5 minutes for the blazers and he's already spending money and uninterested in basketball.

 

Get a grip, brother is rich, & has to go shopping...I think he's looking to become the next scalabrine.

 

Doubtful. Bad contract

 

Hmm interesting I have the opposite view. Paul and Williams basically heralded the "superstar pg" era of the NBA. Blaming them for that would be like MJ part 2 and basically crucifying the Portland FO for not being visionaries like Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

Oden IMHO was the biggest mistake, because unlike MJ for that other dude, Durant was already regarded as BPA, and he didn't have any health issues at all (Portland had access to Oden's medical record predraft and saw all the red flags). That one was pure stupidity IMHO.

 

I agree Portland has LaMarcus and Batum as a foundation, and is doing the right thing by taking a few steps back to get good. The forces that control the Rox should take note and consider.

Uhhhh...... Dude we've won one playoff series since 1997. So we can't exactly throw stones here. That was the last year that the city hosted a WCF playoff game.

Its not like we're exactly leaving a "golden era" behind. We've missed the playoffs two years in a row & Yao hasn't been a full time player in a while. A lot longer than a year. How many years did we actually threaten for title while he was here, maybe one? You gotta win series to be a legit threat for a title. Yao is a world class gent & player (when healthy) but our team has not been able to depend on him playing for a while.

Our GM's draft record is pretty strong, we should play to his strength and build through the draft. I'll take my chances with him on draft night. Chances are against him recruiting a UFA superstar or even trading for one that you can build the franchise with. It takes one to get one.

Its been posted repeatedly that ownership is against taking a couple of steps backwards to get better. Considering the way the current NBA system is constructed, ownership should reconsider.

 

He knows he's gonna be broke in a couple years... At least I hope he does

 

Should he spend every second of his life on a basketball court? Dude can't spend his evening buying clothes at a mall?

Jeez, next thing you know you'll get on the dude for being spotted at Shop Rite.

 

Thabust at a Portland mall.

 

do those girls know who he is or did they mistaken him for Greg Oden?

 

Asian girls can't handle the Louisiana black snake...