2 weeks

[Mediocre Man]

I am surprised I haven't seen a thread about this.


During last night's game, David Aldridge said the Blazers were going to give it 2 more weeks, and if things didn't dramatically improve, they were going to start trading off vets for young players.

 

[MickZagger]

David Aldridge is a master speculator.

 

[Natebishop3]

David Aldridge is a master speculator.

That sounds like something he heard though. Who makes up two weeks?

 

[MIXUM]

no he said early january and it was basically the berger article he was referring too.

and if its really true.... those guys will be traded cause after this trip we will be lucky to be 12-14... 13-13 at best

 

[MIXUM]

also.... i agree with jaynes. who can you really trade? miller might be our best player as sad as that sounds.... we have no other decent pg that isnt dleague garbage.... and we are gonna start marks at center for 50+ games? hahahaha

i dont think they can trade vets if they wanted too.


Andre Miller has become an incredible story for this franchise. Face it, he’s a guy who was their third choice when he signed as a free agent and a player who had to call out the head coach in a profanity-laced tirade just to get himself into the starting lineup. And he’s the team MVP this season, a guy able to make things happen for himself and his teammates.

And the guy is a warrior. He brings it hard every night.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

i dont think they can trade vets if they wanted too.

The only way I see it is if we got something special. I do not consider draft busts or late 1's special.

His two week claim probably just coincides with all of the trade restrictions that are lifted Dec 15th.

 

[Trader Ed]

Wesley probably has value, but he is one I want to keep

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

Wesley probably has value, but he is one I want to keep

No doubt Wes has value and would be what we should be targetting. The players we are talking about are the veterans on the backside of their careers like Joel, Camby, and Dre.

 

[THE HCP]

The man was in the media room eatin cookies and checking his facebook page all night, how would he know?

 

[RR7]

The man was in the media room eatin cookies and checking his facebook page all night, how would he know?

Maybe Cho posted it on his facebook page, and Aldridge might have Cho as a friend?

 

[Pinwheel1]

I hope to hell the NBA league pass broadcasts the Blazer announcers a little more during this road trip compared to the last trip.

Nothing is more annoying then listening to a different team of announcers in 4 different cites quote the exact same "speculation" that they all read on Hoopshype.com, and then treat it as Gospel. I understand that their listeners may not have read it, but for those of us with the league pass, it gets really old after two weeks. And of course opposing announcers take great joy in any misery with regards to the other team.

Hope to hear Mike and Mike tonight.

 

[maxiep]

That sounds like something he heard though. Who makes up two weeks?

As I recall, it was Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. Just a delightful romantic comedy.

 

[hasoos]

I think Aldridge has some legit resources in the team offices. The thing is, even if the team wants to do something, they may not be able to do something. It takes at least 2 teams to make a trade happen.

The other thing that I would throw out there is the possibility that Lamarcus might be the odd guy out. He still has a lot of value through out the league, but if you are going to move forward and not count on Greg Oden ever coming back, you need to get more physical up front. Lamarcus would probably be fine if teamed with Oden and the spacing worked out. But as is, the team lacks physical toughness and Lamarcus does not and will not ever bring that to the table. Meanwhile there are teams like New Jersey who are looking for somebody to open space for Brook Lopez who have been rumored to want to trade Favors, who is almost the exact opposite of Aldridge. He plays almost exclusively in the paint.

 

[zeded]

I think Aldridge has some legit resources in the team offices. The thing is, even if the team wants to do something, they may not be able to do something. It takes at least 2 teams to make a trade happen.

I'm with Hasoos. Plus I didn't hear the quote as being 'two weeks, if it ain't better, we blow this shit up asap'. It sounded morel like we'll evaluate in two weeks and if things are clearly bad we'll start looking for deals for younger guys and think about a longer term picture of success since the short term plan left by the prior GM has failed. All of that takes time so no way in hell anything happens two weeks from now even if they commit to major changes. It'll play out over a longer time frame if at all. Also consider that if we want to move Dre or Camby or Pryz that no one may offer us what we think is fair and we may be better off keeping the expirings or non-guaranteeds so in the end nothing may happen at all.

So I guess I wasn't surprised there wasn't a thread on this because it doesn't seem to add that much to what's already known. My first triple negative! Does that make it positive?

 

[MIXUM]

please stop with derrick favors. thats not the answer

 

[hasoos]

please stop with derrick favors. thats not the answer

That depends on what question you are asking. What question are you asking? Because the question I am asking is, how can the team improve its front line toughness and rebounding, which I view as the primary problem right now. The directives that were listed above is that the Blazers would be looking for younger players to strengthen the team. The names that come to mind immediately for me are Favors and Larry Sanders of Milwaukee. Both of these players will be excellent front line players who would bring toughness and size to the front line, and they both primarily play in the paint rather than trying to "post up" 18 feet from the hoop.

 

[MIXUM]

if we can get favors and keep LA... sign me up.

if we wanna lose la for favors.... no thanks

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

please stop with derrick favors. thats not the answer

If you have such a negative view of his future, who would you compare him to?

Some say Bosh, are you saying Sheldon Williams?

I will fully admit I have not seen enough of him on the court to form an opinion.

 

[RR7]

if we can get favors and keep LA... sign me up.

if we wanna lose la for favors.... no thanks

+1 on this. I like Favors. Am intrigued with him as a prospect. I don't care to move LA for him. I look at last night's game,a nd I know it was a brief stretch, but we did alright for a bit with Aldridge at C. Against arguably the best C in the league. Aldridge looked I'd say just as good defending Howard as Joel and Camby did, for the most part. I wonder if part of our evaluation this season lies in seeing if Aldridge can play C for this team in longer stretches. And then maybe you can look to bring in a tougher PF alongside him.

 

[MIXUM]

Josh (Portland)

Any ideas about Portland's rumored youth movement?
John Hollinger (3:08 PM)

Look, it makes all kinds of sense to trade Miller + Przybilla and people here were talking about it before the season ... just with an eye toward a very different type of move than they'd be looking at right now. I don't see them rushing into anything, certainly Rich Cho isn't somebody prone to acting rashly ... but I do think Miller is certain to be gone by the deadline, and Przybilla at least 50-50.

 

[hasoos]

+1 on this. I like Favors. Am intrigued with him as a prospect. I don't care to move LA for him. I look at last night's game,a nd I know it was a brief stretch, but we did alright for a bit with Aldridge at C. Against arguably the best C in the league. Aldridge looked I'd say just as good defending Howard as Joel and Camby did, for the most part. I wonder if part of our evaluation this season lies in seeing if Aldridge can play C for this team in longer stretches. And then maybe you can look to bring in a tougher PF alongside him.

So you would rather judge Lamarcus based off of one game last night than watching him for the past 4 seasons? We all know Lamarcus and what he can and can't do. One of those things he can't do, is be dependably physical on a nightly basis, which in my opinion, is a requirement for the "job" he has been given. But if you want to make the decision of the team based upon one game, go ahead.

Also I keep seeing post on how I would give up this guy without giving up Player "A". There are no untouchable players on our roster, and in order to get talent back you have to give up talent, so that rather unrealistic expectations of getting a #3 draft pick for peanuts is pretty much a pipe dream. In order to get talent you have to give up talent. Sometimes the only difference is, one player is a better fit in one system than another. We have enough jump shooters on Portland. We need interior presence and scoring. We need players who will set bone jarring picks. We need a power forward who actually rebounds every night. Not just the nights where he is pissed off about the media ripping him for not rebounding.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I'm with Hasoos. Plus I didn't hear the quote as being 'two weeks, if it ain't better, we blow this shit up asap'. It sounded morel like we'll evaluate in two weeks and if things are clearly bad we'll start looking for deals for younger guys and think about a longer term picture of success since the short term plan left by the prior GM has failed.

That seems resonable. That's why I think the "sources" part of the story are embellished. Of course if things look bad after a few weeks they will look to make some moves. There is really no story here. No scoop. no insiders. Just business as usual for a team that is struggling. But since one writer decided to make an article out of common sense and claim he has sources........the rest of the media needed to get there own scoop.

There is no scoop. The Blazers will try to get better without losing much in return. When that doesn't work they will wait until February like everyone else.

 

[RedHotRollin]

If you watched the TNT telecast last night, everything that came out the announcers mouth about the Blazers, whoever it was, was regurgitated material. And probably not something they probed to get themselves within the Blazer organization.

 

[RedHotRollin]

If you have such a negative view of his future, who would you compare him to?

Some say Bosh, are you saying Sheldon Williams?

I will fully admit I have not seen enough of him on the court to form an opinion.

Kenyon Martin

 

[e_blazer]

IMO, this speculation about two weeks, whether that's right or not, is about coming to a decision as to whether the Blazers are going to be able to do anything this season, as presently constructed, or not. If not, then the timing for looking for some major retooling begins before the deadline. If not, then the retooling takes place this summer. Either way, it's clear that there's some major retooling that needs to happen.

Canzano and others keep trying to put it out there that there's some huge fire that makes it essential that Cho make a deal before the deadline. I just don't see that. Yeah, Miller can be an ending contract this year, but the Blazers have an option on him so his ending year could also be next year if Cho decides that making the playoffs this season is better served by keeping Andre around. Yes, Joel's contract is ending this year, but I don't see him as a typical ending contract type of player that's desired by a team that's just looking for a salary dump. Joel has value and is going to be sought after next season as a FA since he's showing that he's still got game. The Blazers could look to re-sign him next summer or to get involved in a sign and trade deal then. LaMarcus has value, but since he's a BYC player this year, the Blazers would find it easier to get more value for him next summer.

Bottom line, as I see it, Cho's only going to make a move before the deadline if another team makes him a very attractive offer. Otherwise, I see him as looking to maximize his option next summer.

 

[RR7]

So you would rather judge Lamarcus based off of one game last night than watching him for the past 4 seasons? We all know Lamarcus and what he can and can't do. One of those things he can't do, is be dependably physical on a nightly basis, which in my opinion, is a requirement for the "job" he has been given. But if you want to make the decision of the team based upon one game, go ahead.

Also I keep seeing post on how I would give up this guy without giving up Player "A". There are no untouchable players on our roster, and in order to get talent back you have to give up talent, so that rather unrealistic expectations of getting a #3 draft pick for peanuts is pretty much a pipe dream. In order to get talent you have to give up talent. Sometimes the only difference is, one player is a better fit in one system than another. We have enough jump shooters on Portland. We need interior presence and scoring. We need players who will set bone jarring picks. We need a power forward who actually rebounds every night. Not just the nights where he is pissed off about the media ripping him for not rebounding.

You seem to be referring more to his offense, though, and I think he'd be fine at C on defense. I'm not judging him solely on last night. I'd also judging him on the past 4 seasons, when I've watched with my own eyes him consistently have decent outings against big Cs like Bynum, Howard, etc. on defense. On offense, he is what he is, which has its benefits, pulling a C away from the basket, but otherwise, that's why I said having a more physical 4 next to him.

 

[MARIS61]

If you have such a negative view of his future, who would you compare him to?

Some say Bosh, are you saying Sheldon Williams?

I will fully admit I have not seen enough of him on the court to form an opinion.

Sean Marks.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

please stop with derrick favors. thats not the answer

If there is not a single player that you compare him to, comparing parts of his game to other players would be ok.

 

[KingSpeed]

Yes, they did say "two weeks.". Problem is now we're going to play well the next two weeks ago and they won't make the deals we need to improve the team going forward.

 

[MARIS61]

So you would rather judge Lamarcus based off of one game last night than watching him for the past 4 seasons?

Either way I get the same result.

He's by far the best player we have, the smartest player we have, and apparently the healthiest player we have.

And other than Joel and Marcus, he's the toughest player we have.