ESPN.com blazer rumors

[andalusian]

It's a possibility, but damn that sure would an opportunity wasted on KP's part. The only way to excuse not addressing the point guard position is if he adds great small forward though sign or trade.

His mind set might be very different - thinking that our big PG problem is only at backup PG and if there is no chance to get a PG he really likes at this point - he will not.

I want to get back to the win% of our players and notice that the team wins 65% of the time Blake is on the floor. That is damn good from your starter PG - especially if you expect the starting group to get better simply by having Greg graduate there and add one more offensive outlet for passes (Love Joel - but his offense is very limited) and having either Martel replace Batum with more offense or simply have Batum improve as you would expect a young player like him with experience and additional coaching.

If JB can give you a higher win% from the backup PG spot (which I can not see how he will not, Sergio was bad this year) - and we are not that bad with JB taking the time to mature into the starting role.

 

[Nikolokolus]

His mind set might be very different - thinking that our big PG problem is only at backup PG and if there is no chance to get a PG he really likes at this point - he will not.

I want to get back to the win% of our players and notice that the team wins 65% of the time Blake is on the floor. That is damn good from your starter PG - especially if you expect the starting group to get better simply by having Greg graduate there and add one more offensive outlet for passes (Love Joel - but his offense is very limited) and having either Martel replace Batum with more offense or simply have Batum improve as you would expect a young player like him with experience and additional coaching.

If JB can give you a higher win% from the backup PG spot (which I can not see how he will not, Sergio was bad this year) - and we are not that bad with JB taking the time to mature into the starting role.

I see what you are talking about and I respect it because I'm a numbers and statistics guy myself, but there is something missing from this team beyond the numbers and that is another playmaker to compliment Brandon. Blake is a fine and reliable guard; he takes care of the ball, he rarely turns it over and he is a great at fitting in with Brandon without taking much away from his game. Basically I look at Blake like I looked at Steve Kerr when he played for the Bulls and played off of Jordan, the key difference is that the Bulls had Pippen and he was actually the facilitator in that offense, he was a true point-forward. If we had a guy like Caron Butler or Grant Hill (before he was derailed by injuries) then I wouldn't worry so much about the point guard position.

As I think the playoffs demonstrated rather dramatically, this team desperately needs more than just a shooting guard who can both create his own shot and a shot for others; it's too easy for good defenses to take that player away and force you to plan B, and for this current team there's currently not much of a plan B.

 

[Natebishop3]

Is there any chance in hell that we could pry CP3 away? What would be the cost?

 

[cdub503]

Is there any chance in hell that we could pry CP3 away? What would be the cost?

think he could be had for outlaw sergio bayless and filler to make trade money work? (does that matter in summer i always get confused about that) depends on how big of a firesale New Orleans is having although i dont think they will be getting rid of Cp3 anytime soon

 

[Minstrel]

Is there any chance in hell that we could pry CP3 away? What would be the cost?

Two out of three of Roy, Aldridge and Oden. At least.

But, really, I don't think Portland could get Paul. The only way New Orleans deals Paul is if they're so badly off financially that they have to get rid of all their high salaries. In which case, he'd be the last traded and only for a huge bounty of young talent, rather than soon-to-be-expensive players like Roy or Aldridge. Like two blue chip young players. Oden would be a start, but I don't think Bayless, Rudy and/or Batum is enough. They'd want something like Durant and Westbrook.

 

[Nikolokolus]

think he could be had for outlaw sergio bayless and filler to make trade money work? (does that matter in summer i always get confused about that) depends on how big of a firesale New Orleans is having although i dont think they will be getting rid of Cp3 anytime soon

Is this meant to be sarcastic?

 

[cdub503]

HELL YEAH!

 

[Natebishop3]

Two out of three of Roy, Aldridge and Oden. At least.

But, really, I don't think Portland could get Paul. The only way New Orleans deals Paul is if they're so badly off financially that they have to get rid of all their high salaries. In which case, he'd be the last traded and only for a huge bounty of young talent, rather than soon-to-be-expensive players like Roy or Aldridge. Like two blue chip young players. Oden would be a start, but I don't think Bayless, Rudy and/or Batum is enough. They'd want something like Durant and Westbrook.

Yeah. I'd like to think that maybe something could have been worked out if we still had RLEC and we did something like RLEC, Aldridge, and Bayless for CP3, but even then I'm still not sure they'd go for it.

 

[Tince]

Becoming?

ESPN Insider was originally Sportstalk.com. I worke for six years as an information gatherer for Sportstalk and ESPN doing nothing but going through newspapers around the country looking for rumors and inputting article links into a database. That's all they've ever been. Their "rumors" are just articles from other news outlets.

I thought they had features like Mock Drafts, Stats, and Videos you couldn't find anywhere else. Am I wrong?

 

[Tince]

Two out of three of Roy, Aldridge and Oden. At least.

But, really, I don't think Portland could get Paul. The only way New Orleans deals Paul is if they're so badly off financially that they have to get rid of all their high salaries. In which case, he'd be the last traded and only for a huge bounty of young talent, rather than soon-to-be-expensive players like Roy or Aldridge. Like two blue chip young players. Oden would be a start, but I don't think Bayless, Rudy and/or Batum is enough. They'd want something like Durant and Westbrook.

I agree we would have to give up two of them for NO to even consider the deal. And if they are trading CP3 to save a little cash, all of our big 3 are going to be wanting big bucks very soon, so that won't help them for more than a year.

 

[Natebishop3]

I thought they had features like Mock Drafts, Stats, and Videos you couldn't find anywhere else. Am I wrong?

I think they've changed it up a bit, but ESPN Insider's bread and butter has been gathering stories from other news outlets.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I think they've changed it up a bit, but ESPN Insider's bread and butter has been gathering stories from other news outlets.

Eh ... not exactly, although maybe it was that way in the past. Mostly now it seems like they reserve articles and some of their statistical analysis (a lot of Hollinger's stuff) for Insider, and there's other stuff, but Nate's right, it's definitely not worth purchasing by itself.

 

[Tince]

Eh ... not exactly, although maybe it was that way in the past. Mostly now it seems like they reserve articles and some of their statistical analysis (a lot of Hollinger's stuff) for Insider, and there's other stuff, but Nate's right, it's definitely not worth purchasing by itself.

But if you can get a 26 issue subscription of ESPN magazine for $18 with Insider, it's well worth it.

 

[Natebishop3]

Eh ... not exactly, although maybe it was that way in the past. Mostly now it seems like they reserve articles and some of their statistical analysis (a lot of Hollinger's stuff) for Insider, and there's other stuff, but Nate's right, it's definitely not worth purchasing by itself.

It's been a while since I worked for them, and I stopped reading their content after I quit, so you could well be right. I think they were wanting to get away from the "dude in a basement" staff as I was leaving.

 

[Minstrel]

As I recall, ESPN launched their Insider service years ago by buying NBA Trade Rumours and just re-branding it. Over the years, they've expanded it by simply adding more and more of what used to be free (various columnists) to the Insider section and over the past few years, they've made some amount of Hollinger's work Insider.

 

[Natebishop3]

As I recall, ESPN launched their Insider service years ago by buying NBA Trade Rumours and just re-branding it. Over the years, they've expanded it by simply adding more and more of what used to be free (various columnists) to the Insider section and over the past few years, they've made some amount of Hollinger's work Insider.

Yup. They bought Sportstalk.com.

Really what happened was Sportstalk crumbled with the internet collapse of 2001. Chad Ford, one of the founders of Sportstalk with Jason Peery, was hired by ESPN to be a columnist, and they ended up inheriting Sportstalk for nothing. At first they retained a lot of the original writers, but eventually they phased them all out and brought in regular ESPN columnists. I was one of the last remaining Sportstalk employees before I left in 2006.

However, they STILL use the same system of information gathering for rumors.

 

[Freshtown]

Yup. They bought Sportstalk.com.

Really what happened was Sportstalk crumbled with the internet collapse of 2001. Chad Ford, one of the founders of Sportstalk with Jason Peery, was hired by ESPN to be a columnist, and they ended up inheriting Sportstalk for nothing. At first they retained a lot of the original writers, but eventually they phased them all out and brought in regular ESPN columnists. I was one of the last remaining Sportstalk employees before I left in 2006.

However, they STILL use the same system of information gathering for rumors.

What do you do now, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Ed O]

Eh ... not exactly, although maybe it was that way in the past. Mostly now it seems like they reserve articles and some of their statistical analysis (a lot of Hollinger's stuff) for Insider, and there's other stuff, but Nate's right, it's definitely not worth purchasing by itself.

I think it's totally worth it. It's, what, $40 for a year? I drop that when I buy a few drinks when I go out on a Thursday night. Being able to get all of the info without having to ask someone to copy and paste it for me or to give me the gist is TOTALLY worth $40 a year.

Might I be able to get it more cheaply? Sure. Would it be worth $40 a month? Not to me. But $40 a year totally is.

Ed O.

 

[Natebishop3]

What do you do now, if you don't mind me asking?

I got burned out on sports writing back in 2006, and now I'm actually back in school working on a bachelors. I'm looking at a career in emergency management (FEMA type stuff). I'm really involved in the Portland Neighborhood Emergency Team (NET) and the Portland Office of Emergency Management. I really enjoy teaching, and training, so I would like to have a career in training first responders like Portland Fire and Portland Police.

I still love writing, but it wasn't in the cards. I hated working with people like Jason Quick and John Canzano. Egotistical pricks, the whole lot of them.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I think it's totally worth it. It's, what, $40 for a year? I drop that when I buy a few drinks when I go out on a Thursday night. Being able to get all of the info without having to ask someone to copy and paste it for me or to give me the gist is TOTALLY worth $40 a year.

Might I be able to get it more cheaply? Sure. Would it be worth $40 a month? Not to me. But $40 a year totally is.

Ed O.

It was definitely worth it to me when it was bundled together with my ESPN mag subscription. I was just saying I'm not sure there's enough content there to make it worth forty bucks a year if that was all you got out of it.