Did KP miss the boat?

[The Professional Fan]

At the price we landed Miller, I have no fucking idea why Blazers fans would not support his arrival. To feel even a twinge of negativity over this signing is beyond stupid, IMO.

 

[The Professional Fan]

I hate when people do what I'm about to do... But buck Williams was never on a winning team before he came to Portland either.

I hate that too, yet it crossed my mind. Then I stomped on my mind and called it stupid.

Truly different situations.

But I'm totally picking up what you're laying down......and my fingers are crossed.

 

[Sug]

ifs and buts now go eat your candied nutz.

 

[ODENISGOD]

KP is a tool always has been

 

[Tince]

At the price we landed Miller, I have no fucking idea why Blazers fans would not support his arrival. To feel even a twinge of negativity over this signing is beyond stupid, IMO.

Repped

 

[PapaG]

Prior to last season this same statement could have been ascribed to Brandon Roy, hell he still hasn't made it out of the first round!!

10 years versus 3 years, plus Roy led a team to 54 wins last year while Miller has never won more than 50.

Are we now smearing Brandon Roy in order to prop up Andre Miller's resume? I'm not saying Miller can't win, but calling him a winner when he hasn't won seems rather silly.

 

[PapaG]

At the price we landed Miller, I have no fucking idea why Blazers fans would not support his arrival. To feel even a twinge of negativity over this signing is beyond stupid, IMO.

I support his arrival. I want him to start. That doesn't mean he goes without scrutiny, does it? Is your post addressed to me?

I guess only Blake and Outlaw deserve to be questioned in thread after thread. I only point out that Miller wasn't Plan A, or even Plan B, and that he hasn't won a playoff series in his career. I expect that to change this season. If not...

 

[e_blazer]

Maybe it's just my generally optimistic attitude, but I think Miller may be exactly the right guy to push the Blazers to a higher level of play next season. I see him doing for the Blazers what Billups did for the Nuggets last year. I think his ability to get into the lane and distribute is what was missing last year. He may not have been KP's first pick, but I think he'll turn out to be good for the Blazers.

That's it for me. The pessmists may now resume whining about how KP peed in your cornflakes.

 

[PapaG]

Totally agree with your ranking of FA and RFA's. Sessions was my number one target followed by Millsap. I literally got a sinking feeling in my stomach when I first heard that we were signing Hedo for $10 and 5. My relief over not signing Hedo greatly exceeds my happiness that we signed Miller. He was a low on the totem pole option for me but light years ahead of Hedo. Turkoglu's contract has this written all over it!

I just wanted to quote this so I could look at the gigantic picture of an albatross again.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

At the price we landed Miller, I have no fucking idea why Blazers fans would not support his arrival. To feel even a twinge of negativity over this signing is beyond stupid, IMO.

Because some people have a crush on Steve Blake and can't come to terms at how much more of a superior player Andre Miller is when compared to Steve Blake. It's odd.

 

[Cake]

The Hornets just traded an exp. contract for a 25 y/o double-double machine and a 1st round draft pick.

We had a bigger exp. contract in which most of it was covered by insurance and did nothing.

With the cap we gained from letting RLEC expire we acquired a 33 year old PG.

I love having Miller here but we could have had something much more significant if we used the contract instead of letting it expire.

Was Okafor available when we could have actually traded said expiring contract? Probably not. So that's revisionist history saying that we should have done that deal.

 

[LittleAlex]

Ah. I thought you were more sensible than using every rumour/report about "who they talked to" to imagine up Pritchard's list.

Gotcha now. They also spoke to Ariza's agent and Odom's agent, according to certain reports. omg, that pushes Miller down to 6-7. And when you consider that they may have talked to all sort of people not reported, Miller probably isn't top-ten. Disaster.

Pritchard admitted to speaking with Lee the night before they had dinner with Miller. Not really a rumor in that case.

I haven't the slightest clue about Ariza or Odom, but I am guessing no one spoke to them much.

Miller was choice number 4. Not sure how that can be considered a glorious success.

Instead I would call it a happy accident, since Miller makes more sense for the team then any of the first 3 guys they talked to (Turk, Milsap and Lee).

 

[LittleAlex]

From last summer's badly bungled draft, through another season of Nate refusing to develop our young bench, to wasting Raef's contract, to trading the only hope we have had for a PG to lead this team and pissing off several of our best players by doing so, to bringing in an aging PG with nothing substantial to offer us in the long run.

Actually, KP wanted Hedo to replace the gimpy and unlikely to ever realize much of a healthy career Martell Webster. And mainly just to pacify whiny Nate, not because Hedo OR Miller fits this team or it's advertised goal of an uptempo dynasty.

Last years team with a different coach would crush this years team under Nate.

This summer marked Nate's coup of control of this team's destiny, shoving KP out of the picture and setting us back several years at the very least. A title is doubtful. A dynasty is merely a pipe dream now.

A dynasty was always a pipe dream made up by people who should know better.
If Portland wins another title in my lifetime I will be happy.
I hope it is sooner then latter, perferably while I can afford to go to games.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

IN KP I TRUST

 

[oldmangrouch]

At the price we landed Miller, I have no fucking idea why Blazers fans would not support his arrival. To feel even a twinge of negativity over this signing is beyond stupid, IMO.

+1

Portland has been without a decent PG for so long, people have forgotten what a good PG can do for a team. We won 54 games with a PG that was a liability in every area but 3-point shooting.....and people don't see how upgrading the position is a positive??

 

[Minstrel]

Pritchard admitted to speaking with Lee the night before they had dinner with Miller. Not really a rumor in that case.

I mentioned both rumours and reports. "Talking" doesn't really tell us anything about who was higher on his list. Perhaps he was exploring a salary-neutral deal, like Outlaw and Blake, allowing New York to shed the salary next off-season and Portland to retain their cap space for Miller. Teams "talk" all the time. I don't consider anything except actions to be particularly indicative.

Miller was choice number 4. Not sure how that can be considered a glorious success.

Or choice 3. In either case, "success" is measured by making the team better, not what number choice you can ascribe to the player you add. Portland added a very good point at a reasonable monetary cost and at zero talent cost. That sounds like a success to me.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Was Okafor available when we could have actually traded said expiring contract? Probably not. So that's revisionist history saying that we should have done that deal.

No, but he was clearly available this offseason. IMO, Przybilla/Outlaw would have been worth more to Charlotte than Chandler, and Okafor would have been worth more to us than Przybilla/Outlaw are. Just my opinion...

 

[Masbee]

Andre Miller is not a better player than Hedo Turkoglu, especially at this stage of their career. I could care less about the contract if it brings a ring. People bitched about Rashard Lewis contract but last year he probably earned every penny when they made the finals and he made shot to get them there.

What support do you have Turk being better than Hedo?

Both are not "defenders", but play well within a team defense concept.

Both are as much creators/facilitators as they are scorers. This is good when you already have good scorers on your team. But, this also means you don't want to overpay for this "role player", as you will certainly need to pay your scorers.

Both are experienced, don't have "issues", coaches like them, other intangibles are not a big differentiator.

Miller plays a position of scarcity. It is much harder to get an above average PG or center than any other position.

Turk, of course, does not play a position of scarcity.

Turk, was the 4th best player (Howard, Lewis, Nelson - all All-Stars) and the 3rd most important for the playoff run after Nelson went down, on a 59 win team.

Miller was the 2nd best player (after AI, not an all-star), and the "most important" player, according to one of his coaches, to a 41 win team.

Miller was 32 last season. Turk was 29 last season. A 5 yr guaranteed contract for Turk is similar in one respect to a 2 yr guaranteed contract for Miller in that last year age is 34.

Last season PER: Turk: 14.8 Dre: 18.6
Career PER: Turk: 15.1 Dre: 18.0
Sure doesn't look like last season's numbers are much of a fluke, since both players track to their career averages.
Last season Win Shares: Turk: 7.4 Dre: 8.6
Despite his team winning many more games, this stat claims it wasn't because of Hedo.

It is hard to compare different positions, and hard to compare the 2nd best player on a .500 ball club to a role player on a championship contender that features an MVP caliber player, but I don't see how you can be so sure that Turk is better than Miller. Stats don't back it up.