Merged: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

[¹²³]

Rudy Fernandez:
Cheap contract, tons of skills and the female fans dig him. Although it's hard to evaluate the Trade Value of Portland players fairly, because Kevin Pritchard is delusionally convinced every Blazers' ceiling ranges from "Hall of Fame" to "One of the top 10 players of all-time." Pritchard always gives you the feeling that he calls Michael Lewis once a week trying to convince him to write a "Moneyball" type book about the NBA ... with Pritchard as the Billy Beane figure, of course. He's just about worked the last nerve of the other 29 GMs. And that's an understatement. I don't know, I kind of enjoy him. There's no question Jeremy Piven will play him in "Moneyball II: The Kevin Pritchard Story." None.

32. Al Horford
31. LaMarcus Aldridge
Quality young forwards with great contracts on winning teams. But you never know with the young'uns. Take it from the guy who once proclaimed that young Amare was the second coming of Moses Malone.

25. Greg Oden
24. Andrew Bynum
The two toughest calls in the column. Oden would be in "Group I" if I didn't invoke the Darko/Dumars Corollary: Namely, that his Trade Value is artificially high only because his GM would never admit, "Holy mother of $#%@ did I screw that pick up!" House and I discussed this during our preview podcast, but it's worth rehashing here: Oden lacks a basketball fluidness that every other great center had. He has more of a power game -- all quick bursts, some occasional flashes, some "wow" rebounding/defensive plays, but ultimately, it's just hard to imagine him consistently dominating games. He's just all over the place. And that's before we get to his structural issues, the cloud lingering over him and the way he apparently retreated into a shell off the court. Awesome person, interesting talent, some real promise ... but would you bet on his putting it all together? If I offered you $10,000 on "over/under for Oden's career All-Star Appearances: 4.5," would you want the over or the under? I'd want the under. It's just the safer bet. As for Bynum, I would have jumped him to Group E if Kobe hadn't intentionally injured his teammate's knee Jeff Gillooly-style. (Just kidding, Lakers fans. Just kidding. Jokes. Settle down.) Either way, it's a bad sign for Portland's 2007 draft that (A) the Blazers don't even have the best under-22 center in their own conference, and (B) we're still four groups away from getting to the guy the Blazers passed up.

9. Brandon Roy
You might be able to make the Finals with Roy as your best player and crunch-time guy some day, as long as he's leading one of those deep, unconventional, 1989 Pistons-type teams. He's a killer at the end of games and a Duncan-like leader to boot. I'd say more, but we're at 152,000 words right now.

Read the full article here.

 

[crowTrobot]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

yawn

 

[MIXUM]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

so simmons is wrong on this? im not surprised since this is the same attitude on this board.

Trade Value of Portland players fairly, because Kevin Pritchard is delusionally convinced every Blazers' ceiling ranges from "Hall of Fame" to "One of the top 10 players of all-time." Pritchard always gives you the feeling that he calls Michael Lewis once a week trying to convince him to write a "Moneyball" type book about the NBA ... with Pritchard as the Billy Beane figure, of course. He's just about worked the last nerve of the other 29 GMs. And that's an understatement.


sounds like a typical poster on here to me. OMG....IF WE ARE GONNA TARDE SERGIO....WE WILL NEED AT LEAST TONY PARKER BACK.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

so simmons is wrong on this? im not surprised since this is the same attitude on this board.

Trade Value of Portland players fairly, because Kevin Pritchard is delusionally convinced every Blazers' ceiling ranges from "Hall of Fame" to "One of the top 10 players of all-time." Pritchard always gives you the feeling that he calls Michael Lewis once a week trying to convince him to write a "Moneyball" type book about the NBA ... with Pritchard as the Billy Beane figure, of course. He's just about worked the last nerve of the other 29 GMs. And that's an understatement.


sounds like a typical poster on here to me. OMG....IF WE ARE GONNA TARDE SERGIO....WE WILL NEED AT LEAST TONY PARKER BACK.

Shhhhhhhhh!

 

[hasoos]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I actually am getting sick of this horse shit where writers compare Oden to Darko. Oden is way better than Darko ever has been, or ever will be, already. Bascially they should have just written "Well I never really watch the Blazers, so I am going to talk out of my ass.". Way to go Bill.

 

[¹²³]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I actually am getting sick of this horse shit where writers compare Oden to Darko. Oden is way better than Darko ever has been, or ever will be, already. Bascially they should have just written "Well I never really watch the Blazers, so I am going to talk out of my ass.". Way to go Bill.

He might have "compared" Oden to Darko, but he listed Oden as #25 in his NBA trade value ranking, it's not like he thinks the guy is useless.

 

[andalusian]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I love reading Simmons - he is funny as hell. But - you have to be nuts not to see that Oden is going to be a monster. You gotta be a little nuts to be that funny, I guess. Maybe Maris has a future in the comic sports writing world.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Simmons is a Boston fan, he's programmed to hate Greg Oden because they believed it was their God given right to draft him, and he was somehow "stolen" from them. Simple sour grapes. As far as his not believing Roy can and will lead a team to an NBA title without massive star help around him, he sees the writing on the wall that the Blazers are the next dynasty and the Celtics aren't.

Remember, EVERYTHING this guy writes is biased and tainted by his Boston homerism.

 

[maxiep]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Simmons is a Boston fan, he's programmed to hate Greg Oden because they believed it was their God given right to draft him, and he was somehow "stolen" from them. Simple sour grapes. As far as his not believing Roy can and will lead a team to an NBA title without massive star help around him, he sees the writing on the wall that the Blazers are the next dynasty and the Celtics aren't.

Remember, EVERYTHING this guy writes is biased and tainted by his Boston homerism.

You know if somehow Boston had gotten Oden, we'd be hearing about every good game he had and how much he plays like the best combination of Bill Russell and Robert Parish.

 

[Ed O]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Simmons is a funny guy (sometimes). He's not really a sports expert, IMO.

Ed O.

 

[hasoos]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

He might have "compared" Oden to Darko, but he listed Oden as #25 in his NBA trade value ranking, it's not like he thinks the guy is useless.

Actually I think in his own way, he did say he is useless, otherwise why would you even make the Darko comment? He was saying he thinks he is a bust. The ranking was him saying that he still has value because of possible upside, just like how Detroit got some value for Darko when he was traded, albeit a couple of years into his career.

 

[LittleAlex]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Simmons said on his podcast that he would only start believing in Oden if he equaled Bynum's best game this year, which was 42 points and 14 rebounds.

This statement alone means you shouldn't ever give anything this man says any credence. There really aren't that many centers in the history of the NBA that got that stat line. I am pretty sure even when they did it wasn't during their rookie season.

Bill Simmons can suck a bag of dicks.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I doubt he stayed up to watch the the Blazer/Thunder game last night. No doubt our big ROOKIE is going through growing pains and is inconsistent right now because he is...........a ROOKIE! But how can anyone that has watched his last 10 games say:

"Oden lacks a basketball fluidness that every other great center had. He has more of a power game -- all quick bursts, some occasional flashes, some "wow" rebounding/defensive plays, but ultimately, it's just hard to imagine him consistently dominating games" No he is not Walton or Kareem fluid. But for a rookie he is MM and Bill Russel fluid.

Personally I can imagine him dominating games on a consistent level very easily. I think young players often get better, and Greg is getting better at an alarming rate. Alarming for idiots like BS (What perfect initials for him) Big men dominate in different ways. We will see.

 

[Ed O]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I doubt he stayed up to watch the the Blazer/Thunder game last night. No doubt our big ROOKIE is going through growing pains and is inconsistent right now because he is...........a ROOKIE! But how can anyone that has watched his last 10 games say:

"Oden lacks a basketball fluidness that every other great center had. He has more of a power game -- all quick bursts, some occasional flashes, some "wow" rebounding/defensive plays, but ultimately, it's just hard to imagine him consistently dominating games"

Don't you remember? He saw Oden in a preseason game and he's very VERY good at extrapolating entire careers of centers based on how they look the first time he sees them.

Ridickulous.

Ed O.

 

[Natebishop3]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I'm not sure why anyone would take simmons seriously at this point. The guy is a HUGE Boston homer. I don't even think "HUGE" can begin to describe his homerism. I know that, as Blazer fans, we can be homeristic at times, but that guy blows us out of the water. Not even close.

 

[Minstrel]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Simmons isn't a sports writer. He's a humourist who has sports as his topic. I don't think he's a good one, but he seems to be popular. His opinion on Oden is equivalent to if Dave Barry rendered an opinion on the pitching mechanics of Johan Santana.

 

[bigbailes]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

i took the darko comment as him comparing the situations and kp to dumars. and i'm pretty sure simmons has seen the blazers quite a bit since he lives in LA and has Roy as one of his favorite non-celtics. i do tend to think he's pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the NBA, rest of the sports not so much. as it is he took a pretty strong stance in the Durant v. Oden debate pre-draft and is sticking to it, even though that debate is long from over. the thing is, people will always point to Durants scoring, which is easy to do, but ignore the defensive side which is where oden will always shine.

 

[dpc]

Bill Simmons Trade value rankings

4 Blazers are mentioned. That is pretty impressive that 33% of our team is being listed. It's 5 if you look at Outlaw on the side column.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090212

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Re: Bill Simmons Trade value rankings

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090212

John Tesh Rocks!

 

[oldmangrouch]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Don't you remember? He saw Oden in a preseason game and he's very VERY good at extrapolating entire careers of centers based on how they look the first time he sees them.

Ridickulous.

Ed O.

Actually, he has been saying this since Oden was at Ohio State. He has always claimed KD has the brighter upside. At least he is consistent!

 

[Webster's Dictionary]

If I offered you $10,000 on "over/under for Oden's career All-Star Appearances: 4.5," would you want the over or the under? I'd want the under. It's just the safer bet.

Um, I'll take that bet please...

 

[Miksaid]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Don't you remember? He saw Oden in a preseason game and he's very VERY good at extrapolating entire careers of centers based on how they look the first time he sees them.

Ridickulous.

Ed O.

No, I think he saw him on draft day and extrapolated his future based on how fluid he... walked.

I'm being serious. I swear. I read it.

 

[BalancedMan]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

No, I think he saw him on draft day and extrapolated his future based on how fluid he... walked.

I'm being serious. I swear. I read it.

I read it too. He looked at Oden's posture and thought Oden looked old. That was before his knee problems. But yeah, I read the same article.

 

[Miksaid]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

I read it too. He looked at Oden's posture and thought Oden looked old. That was before his knee problems. But yeah, I read the same article.

Brilliant.

Knee problem (singular). Wasn't the surgery preventive, anyways? The article was written after his surgery, I think, to justify Oden's brittleness. But yeah, he's nuts.

 

[LittleAlex]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Brilliant.

Knee problem (singular). Wasn't the surgery preventive, anyways? The article was written after his surgery, I think, to justify Oden's brittleness. But yeah, he's nuts.

No, he wrote about how Oden walked during his draft preview.

 

[BalancedMan]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

No, he wrote about how Oden walked during his draft preview.

Yup, it was his blog on draft day, before any idea about his knee was known.

 

[Miksaid]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

No, he wrote about how Oden walked during his draft preview.

Yeah, but he wrote about how he walked (during the draft) after Oden had surgery to justify himself.

Or we're talking about 2 different articles.

 

[Miksaid]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Yup, it was his blog on draft day, before any idea about his knee was known.

Hummm. Okay. I guess he was right? Ha ha ha.

 

[Miksaid]

Yeah, it was an article written after he said the same thing in his blog.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/pag...age2/blog/entry?id=3017742&searchName=simmons

Oh well.

 

[LittleAlex]

Re: Bill Simmons: NBA trade value rankings [Blazers Players]

Yeah, but he wrote about how he walked (during the draft) after Oden had surgery to justify himself.

Or we're talking about 2 different articles.

He actually hasn't stopped writting about it. Nearly any time he talks about the NBA he tries to get someone else to say that KP screwed up taking Oden over Durant.

As far as I was concerned, it was a no lose draft for Portland as long as they picked one of the two. They did, so they came out on top. Seattle was in even better shape, since they would take whichever one Portland didn't get. This idea that one has to suck for the other to be good is insane.