Here's how I see next year's depth-chart

[Blazer4ever]

PG: Raymond Felton, Armon Johnson, Patty Mills
SG: Brandon Roy, Wesley Mathewss, Elliot Williams
SF: Nicolas Batum, Gerald Wallace, Luke Babbitt
PF: Lamarcus Aldridge, Gerald Wallace, Jeff Pendergraph
C: Marcus Camby, Jeff Pendergraph, Lamarcus Aldridge

IR: Greg Oden, Nolan Smith, Jon Diebler

(In other Words: Sign pendy and we're set)

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Wallace is ahead of Batum at the 3. Smith will be ahead of at least one of Johnson/Mills, if not both. Oden will be healthy by the time the to-be-shortened season begins in January (if at all). And I still have delusions of Babbitt as a stretch 4. So (IMO), it should be more like:

PG: Raymond Felton, Nolan Smith
SG: Brandon Roy, Wesley Matthews, Elliot Williams
SF: Gerald Wallace, Nicolas Batum
PF: Lamarcus Aldridge, Jeff Pendergraph, Luke Babbitt
C: Marcus Camby, Greg Oden, Jeff Pendergraph

IR: Jon Diebler, Armon Johnson, Patty Mills

 

[Mediocre Man]

Holy shit that is an average team. Sign Pendy and we're set? Smith on IR over NBA greats Patty Mills and Armon Johnson?

 

[Blazer4ever]

With a healthy Oden that's a very good team, without Oden I don't see a way you can make them much better.
I don't know about Nolan Smith, needs to see more of him but I don't rule-out the possibility he becomes our 2nd-PG though I have a personal fetish for AJ but It seems i'm the minority on the subject.
Wallace/Batum is a toss-up and they should also be playing some minutes together.

With a healthy Oden/Roy that's how I see the rotation:

Felton (35) / AJ (13)
Roy (35) / Wes (13)
Wallace (30) / Batum (18)
LMA (38) / Batum (10)
Oden (30) / Camby (18)

That's the probable 9 man rotation if you consider AJ being a personal favorite of mine. Pendy, Patty, Diebler, Babbitt, Williams and Smith will take turns sitting in street clothes or at the end of the bench.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

With a healthy Oden that's a very good team, without Oden I don't see a way you can make them much better.
I don't know about Nolan Smith, needs to see more of him but I don't rule-out the possibility he becomes our 2nd-PG though I have a personal fetish for AJ but It seems i'm the minority on the subject.
Wallace/Batum is a toss-up and they should also be playing some minutes together.

With a healthy Oden/Roy that's how I see the rotation:

Felton (35) / AJ (13)
Roy (35) / Wes (13)
Wallace (30) / Batum (18)
LMA (38) / Batum (10)
Oden (30) / Camby (18)

That's the probable 9 man rotation if you consider AJ being a personal favorite of mine. Pendy, Patty, Diebler, Babbitt, Williams and Smith will take turns sitting in street clothes or at the end of the bench.

The notion of a healthy Roy is a pipe-dream, and there's no way that Wes would only get 13 mpg. As for Smith, the way I see it: teams don't draft All-American, 4-year major-conference team starters in the first round--when they already have three other players at his position--if he's not expected to contribute right away. So since we're elevating to minutes, I would project:

Felton (33) / Smith (15)
Matthews (30) / Roy (18)
Wallace (22) / Batum (26)
LMA (38) / Wallace (10)
Camby (24) / Oden (24)

...with Johnson, Williams, and Pendergraph being the primary injury replacements when (not if) necessary.

 

[HailBlazers]

PG: Raymond Felton, Armon Johnson, Patty Mills
SG: Brandon Roy, Wesley Mathewss, Elliot Williams
SF: Nicolas Batum, Gerald Wallace, Luke Babbitt
PF: Lamarcus Aldridge, Gerald Wallace, Jeff Pendergraph
C: Marcus Camby, Jeff Pendergraph, Lamarcus Aldridge
IR: Greg Oden, Nolan Smith, Jon Diebler

We need some back-up big's ASAFP. This is how I see next year's dept chart

Felton/Johnson/Patti/Smith
Mathews/Roy/Batum
Batum/Wallace
LMA/ ????? / Pendy
Oden/Camby/?????

 

[HailBlazers]

P.S. I dislike Wallace at the 4.

 

[Draco]

Felton / Smith / Armon
Matthews / Roy / Williams
Wallace/ Batum
LaMarcus
Camby / Oden (Jan)

Backup PG is still unknown; Smith/Armon/Williams have never successfully played the position. We should consider bringing in a John Crotty level veteran. We are definitely deepest at the wing positions. Roy shouldn’t ever play 30mpg so having him start is silly as he would not be available in crunch time. If Roy is viewed as a Deshawn Stevenson or JJ Barea level player that can start but only play 18 minutes and sit out all of crunch time you could start him, but I think a backup role would be more valuable. Some nights he could play 10 minutes and some nights he could play 24. But depending on the details of the CBA Roy may have already played his final game as a Blazer.

Backup big men is our focus for free agency. Camby and LaMarcus are both quite versatile, each being able to play the 4 or 5. If either one is injured we become a donut hole team (again!) We need to get a quality big man who can be a contributor in a rotation. Chris Johnson and Jeff Pendygraph are candidates to be the 15th man but should not be our primary backups. Oden may be back in January, but even if the remainder of his rehab goes perfect he will be two years out of the game, a game he struggled with fouls and injuries. Oden won’t be fully recovered until the 2012-13 season. At that time Camby will likely be retired.

We need to target the best available talent at either the 4 or 5. If we don’t add a rotational player we will end up having to play Wallace and/or Batum at PF for extended stretches.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Smith played the position fairly successfully in one of the best basketball conferences in the country. 5 apg this season, and 6 apg in the games that Irving missed.

Irving, the consensus #1 pick in this years draft averaged 4 apg

On stat sheet.com. Smith compares to Ty Lawson.

 

[Blazinaway]

P.S. I dislike Wallace at the 4.

so do I and I think Nic needs to be added to SG depth

 

[PtldPlatypus]

P.S. I dislike Wallace at the 4.

so do I and I think Nic needs to be added to SG depth

I third that opinion, BUT--we only have 96 minutes available at the 2-3 positions, and we have a minimum of 4 players who deserve minutes there. Unless you're counting Roy out entirely, or you're planning on playing him (or Batum?) significant minutes at the point, then the only way to give our top players significant minutes is to have GW play some 4.

 

[Blaze01]

I see the depth chart as this (barring any trades)

PG: Felton, Smith, Johnson\Mills (one stays\one goes)
SG: Matthews, Roy, Williams
SF: Wallace, Batum, Babbitt
PF: Aldridge, TBD Free Agent, Johnson
C: Camby, Oden, Pendergraph?

 

[barfo]

I third that opinion, BUT--we only have 96 minutes available at the 2-3 positions, and we have a minimum of 4 players who deserve minutes there. Unless you're counting Roy out entirely, or you're planning on playing him (or Batum?) significant minutes at the point, then the only way to give our top players significant minutes is to have GW play some 4.

You are forgetting that several of our players will miss the season with knee injuries, thus freeing up a lot of time for the others.

barfo

 

[Nikolokolus]

Why the hell do people keep putting Gerald Wallace behind Nic on the depth chart? I mean I get it, Nate put Andre behind future HOFer Steve Blake, but the notion that a guy 2 years removed from the all-star team and appearances on the all-nba defensive team lists is going to caddy for Nic is borderline batshit.

 

[Draco]

Why the hell do people keep putting Gerald Wallace behind Nic on the depth chart? I mean I get it, Nate put Andre behind future HOFer Steve Blake, but the notion that a guy 2 years removed from the all-star team and appearances on the all-nba defensive team lists is going to caddy for Nic is borderline batshit.

Love for the younger player with "potential" for improvement.

 

[jlprk]

Wallace was our best player because unlike the others, he played with aggression. But he will get worse this year.

He will fall under the spell of Nate "Your first year here will be your best, then you'll learn my system" McMillan.

 

[MickZagger]

Smith will be backup 1 from the get-go.

 

[THE HCP]

Smith will be backup 1 from the get-go.

Why are you so sure? I have never seen him play. Is he better then AJ or Patty?

 

[MickZagger]

Better than both. He's much more proven than both were coming out of college and his defense alone will get him minutes over both. I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised with Smith.

 

[PapaG]

Better than both. He's much more proven than both were coming out of college and his defense alone will get him minutes over both. I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised with Smith.

I was happy with the Smith pick, even though I thought I wanted Faried prior to the draft. I think Smith is going to be a steal, but that's me being a homer.

 

[Blazer4ever]

I was very much impressed with Armon's defense when I saw him play last year.

 

[HailBlazers]

Agreed on AJ's D. After only one year, the Jury's still out on him. His ball handling is solid, protecting the ball well, and his shooting could be. The missing key piece for him IMO, would be his on-court vision. Of-course that often comes with experience, catch 22.

As far as Batum starting over Wallace, I think their interchangeable depending on pace and match-up's. In a slower pace first unit I like Batum, if Nate finally decides to push the pace this year then obviously G

 

[BBert]

I love Batum. Love, love, love him. But there is no way he should start at the same position over Wallace.

 

[BBert]

Wallace was our best player because unlike the others, he played with aggression. But he will get worse this year.

He will fall under the spell of Nate "Your first year here will be your best, then you'll learn my system" McMillan.

QFT.

 

[Rhal]

So the one thing everyone agrees on is we need a backup big. We have 4 bigs, 2 of which are injured a lot (Camby/Oden)and 1 is at best a 10m hustle guy who shouldn't be relied on (Johnson). If there is no MLE in the new CBA then there really aren't a lot of options of players we could get for the Min. Two of the players who we might get for that are McRoberts/Pendy I like both, there not superstars or even average starter level players but each is a backup type player who could fill in tell we make moves to shoreup our frontcourt for the future, or somehow get Oden stays healthy.

 

[HailBlazers]

We need a solid, imposing, better than average backup big, there's no way around it. Pendy/CJ can back that person up. The longer we wait to find that player the worse off were gonna be. With our slow pace it's imperative to play big and own the boards at all times.

 

[Rhal]

We need a solid, imposing, better than average backup big, there's no way around it. Pendy/CJ can back that person up. The longer we wait to find that player the worse off were gonna be. With our slow pace it's imperative to play big and own the boards at all times.

We don't have the money for a better then average big. The expendable pieces we have aren't exactly going to entice other teams to send us a better then average big. Unless we give up Batum/Wes were only going to get whoever we can sign to the minimum.

 

[MARIS61]

Maybe "depth" is the wrong term in this instance.

 

[HailBlazers]

Okay when I said better than average I guess I meant bigger than average, or someone who at least plays like it. We need some toughness off the bench, an enforcer like Joel used to be.

And what do you know, Maris is funny for once! Indeed depth is the wrong word, that's why I puked on the first page.

 

[Rhal]

Okay when I said better than average I guess I meant bigger than average, or someone who at least plays like it. We need some toughness off the bench, an enforcer like Joel used to be.

And what do you know, Maris is funny for once! Indeed depth is the wrong word, that's why I puked on the first page.

Pendy is the definition of an enforcer type player. He got a tech 1 minute into his first game vs McDyess that's a big reason why I would like him back. As for a bigger then normal type, not sure who on the market you would consider a bigger then normal Big.