Oregonlive forum trade rumor

[SlyPokerDog]

You are a Bulls fan Denny? I like Deng, but not as much as Nico.

Yes, Denny is a Bulls fan. He always has been and always will be. The only reason he became a Blazer fan is because he's around us all the time.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Thats because Nico is already a Blazers.

Nope, Denny is a Bulls fan.

 

[RR7]

Yes, Denny is a Bulls fan. He always has been and always will be. The only reason he became a Blazer fan is because of $$$$$$.

FTFY

 

[MARIS61]

He's only 24. He thinks he's the next Zuckerberg. Snapchat is for teenagers and college kids, though. I agree it was idiotic, but he didn't want to accept Wall Street money for his website. He and Shawn Fanning can hang out in 10 years and talk about how awesome they were before they turned down real money.

He's 24, and he's set for life.

AND, he still has his self respect.

Idiotic? Seems smart to me.

 

[Denny Crane]

Deng is not a Bull. I gave you my honest opinion of his value.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Greg Oden should create a dong shot/trade rumor site. It would net him more money than whatever is left of his NBA career will bring him.

Well played sir!

 

[brooklynballer]

My $.02

Deng is very consistent. What you see him average is pretty much what he scores or rebounds every game.

Deng absolutely can get you a game with 10 assists. He's done it. I wouldn't look at this year as an example of his skills. He's never been a primary scorer, but played that role for the Bulls.

Deng can shoot the 3, but he scores a lot at the rim. If you're living and dying by the 3, he's something of an antidote for that.

Deng is an outright lockdown defender. When a player would get hot against the Bulls, Thibs would switch Deng onto him and he'd disappear. He'd guard the quickest of PGs and was the man who guarded LeBron. His defense might be a key consideration for trading for him, if you think defense wins championships. His defense doesn't show up in the stats.

I believe the odds Lu would sign with the Blazers over the summer are near 100%. Nobody can pay him as much or for as many years but the team that has his contract. Why would he want to leave a contender? Where is he going to go? LA sucks, NY sucks, does anyone have the cap space who'd matter to him?

I think he's a PF playing SF. He has the size of Ibaka or Taj Gibson. He's a very strong rebounder for a SF. He blocks shots with the game on the line, but not in volume.

He's an ironman. He's been leader or near the lead in minutes played.

I'm with Denny on this one. I do that trade any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Deng may not be an all-star again but Nic never will be either ... Nic is waaaaay too inconsistent for my taste. This inconsistency has plagued him from his rookie season and we still see this today as he'll drop 20 and 10 one game and go for 5 and 5 the next.

Deng, if nothing else, will bring strong defense every night and, as Denny points out, will consistently score 15-18 points a night. How nice would it be to have someone to consistently take some of that workload from LMA and Dame?

Honestly, other than the age difference between the two, this is a complete no-brainer in my mind.

 

[Sinobas]

Batum does NOT "run our offense" people who think that must just look at the box score at not the actual game. He's a decent passer for a wing, yes, but nothing special. The vast majority of his assists are from entry passes to LA and swinging the ball for a 3. If he tries anything else, you all hold your breath don't you?

If you've watched enough Blazer games, you also hold your breath when he tries to take the ball up the court himself....he is no Scottie Pippen there, not even close.

He's a pretty good defender, but very average on offense. He's a solid guy overall who doesn't hurt you much, but if we could trade him for Deng + another good piece it could be a good move.

 

[RR7]

Batum does NOT "run our offense" people who think that must just look at the box score at not the actual game. He's a decent passer for a wing, yes, but nothing special. The vast majority of his assists are from entry passes to LA and swinging the ball for a 3. If he tries anything else, you all hold your breath don't you?

If you've watched enough Blazer games, you also hold your breath when he tries to take the ball up the court himself....he is no Scottie Pippen there, not even close.

He's a pretty good defender, but very average on offense. He's a solid guy overall who doesn't hurt you much, but if we could trade him for Deng + another good piece it could be a good move.

An entry pass to LA will hardly ever lead to an assist. This isn't hockey.

 

[santeesioux]

I thought it was supposed to be announced this afternoon? Can't believe it didn't happen.

 

[Denny Crane]

Please note I didn't say this is a good trade or anything. I was looking at the various posts in this thread and made one post that responded to them. Like the idea of renting Deng - I think he'd sign. Etc.

As someone who watched him play for years, I gave my best and most honest evaluation of him as a player. I hope it helps you all consider what he'd bring if a deal were made.

 

[riverman]

Deng is not a Bull. I gave you my honest opinion of his value.

Well, in his heart he said he wants to go back next season and he's played there many years...to a Bulls fan, he's familiar. He had enough value to be traded for Bynum's expiring deal and put the Bulls in better shape financially going forward. I think any player coached by Thibs becomes an above average defender but I still think Nico is a better defender than Deng.Good player. Stepped up when Rose went down.

 

[Denny Crane]

Batum:

Deng:

 

[RR7]

I'm with Denny on this one. I do that trade any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Deng may not be an all-star again but Nic never will be either ... Nic is waaaaay too inconsistent for my taste. This inconsistency has plagued him from his rookie season and we still see this today as he'll drop 20 and 10 one game and go for 5 and 5 the next.

Deng, if nothing else, will bring strong defense every night and, as Denny points out, will consistently score 15-18 points a night. How nice would it be to have someone to consistently take some of that workload from LMA and Dame?

Honestly, other than the age difference between the two, this is a complete no-brainer in my mind.

He's going to consistently score more, or has in the past because he's consistently given more shots in his offense. His career high was 18.8 PPG, getting 15 shots a night. For his career, he's averaged 16PPG on 13.6 shots. NIc's career is about 4.5 PPG less, on about 4.5 FGA per game less.
Knowing he's going to come here and consistently get us 15 a night is great. But realize it's only because he's taking those shots from someone else. Maybe it's shots that Nic normally assists on that would strictly go to Deng?

 

[MickZagger]

Batum:

Deng:

Does that take into account how shitty the level of competition is in the Eastern Conference? The Bulls are a 3 seed FFS!

 

[riverman]

Batum:

Deng:

Noticeably absent on this chart are Nicos stats when guarding pt guards such as Chris Paul. For the Blazers Nico always guards the toughest assignment, not sure Deng always did for the Bulls but I've not followed his career very closely

 

[RR7]

Noticeably absent on this chart are Nicos stats when guarding pt guards such as Chris Paul. For the Blazers Nico always guards the toughest assignment, not sure Deng always did for the Bulls but I've not followed his career very closely

Deng always has.

 

[PapaG]

He's 24, and he's set for life.

AND, he still has his self respect.

Idiotic? Seems smart to me.

Shawn Fanning isn't set for life.

 

[PapaG]

Batum does NOT "run our offense" people who think that must just look at the box score at not the actual game. He's a decent passer for a wing, yes, but nothing special. The vast majority of his assists are from entry passes to LA and swinging the ball for a 3. If he tries anything else, you all hold your breath don't you?

If you've watched enough Blazer games, you also hold your breath when he tries to take the ball up the court himself....he is no Scottie Pippen there, not even close.

He's a pretty good defender, but very average on offense. He's a solid guy overall who doesn't hurt you much, but if we could trade him for Deng + another good piece it could be a good move.

What a load of horseshit. Nico rotates the ball for 3s, or penetrates and gets a big a bucket on his assists. TOs are the one drawback to his game, because he still tries to force passes.

 

[riverman]

Deng always has.

Didn't Heinrich guard the pt guards exclusively though?

 

[MickZagger]

Deng always has.

Not so sure about that.

 

[PapaG]

I thought it was supposed to be announced this afternoon? Can't believe it didn't happen.

The Batum/LeBron James trade is still in the works. Olshey is playing the Cavs for leverage.

 

[Sinobas]

An entry pass to LA will hardly ever lead to an assist. This isn't hockey.

Go watch a sample of the passes they count as assists. You can do this on nba.com. Check out the last game, he had 4 assists, one of them was an entry pass to LA where he took a few dribbles then did a turn around in the post, then did a turn around jump shot.

 

[PapaG]

He's going to consistently score more, or has in the past because he's consistently given more shots in his offense. His career high was 18.8 PPG, getting 15 shots a night. For his career, he's averaged 16PPG on 13.6 shots. NIc's career is about 4.5 PPG less, on about 4.5 FGA per game less.
Knowing he's going to come here and consistently get us 15 a night is great. But realize it's only because he's taking those shots from someone else. Maybe it's shots that Nic normally assists on that would strictly go to Deng?

How many times do I have post post PER/USG before people understand what that means on offense? Batum is the best 3rd/4th offensive option in the NBA right now, and he defends the opposing PG because nobody else on the Blazer roster can do so.

 

[Sinobas]

What a load of horseshit. Nico rotates the ball for 3s, or penetrates and gets a big a bucket on his assists. TOs are the one drawback to his game, because he still tries to force passes.

Your response is horseshit. Just because your passing the ball along the perimeter and occasionally make entry passes does not mean your "running the offense". He's not the lead ball handler on the vast majority of plays, only occasionally will he run a pick and roll when they're trying to change things up.

Making an entry pass and passing along the perimeter are basic passes you expect a starting quality SF to be able to make, nothing to get enamored with. People that act like Batum is great ball handler/passer cannot be watching the games.

 

[brooklynballer]

He's going to consistently score more, or has in the past because he's consistently given more shots in his offense. His career high was 18.8 PPG, getting 15 shots a night. For his career, he's averaged 16PPG on 13.6 shots. NIc's career is about 4.5 PPG less, on about 4.5 FGA per game less.
Knowing he's going to come here and consistently get us 15 a night is great. But realize it's only because he's taking those shots from someone else. Maybe it's shots that Nic normally assists on that would strictly go to Deng?

Good point. However, how many wide open looks does Nic pass up every game because of his passivity? The eye test suggests around 3-4 per night. I'd rather have someone on the team who's not afraid to take a tough shot, especially when the game's on the line.

 

[PapaG]

Go watch a sample of the passes they count as assists. You can do this on nba.com. Check out the last game, he had 4 assists, one of them was an entry pass to LA where he took a few dribbles then did a turn around in the post, then did a turn around jump shot.

There are no assists after a player takes a few dribbles in the post. It's a strict one-dribble rule for a fast break, and low post assists are even more difficult.

 

[PapaG]

Good point. However, how many wide open looks does Nic pass up every game because of his passivity? The eye test suggests around 3-4 per night. I'd rather have someone on the team who's not afraid to take a tough shot, especially when the game's on the line.

Nic's hit a few big threes this year. I can think of one specifically late in the game to force OT in a game the Blazers won. Do you watch the games?

 

[PapaG]

Your response is horseshit. Just because your passing the ball along the perimeter and occasionally make entry passes does not mean your "running the offense". He's not the lead ball handler on the vast majority of plays, only occasionally will he run a pick and roll when they're trying to change things up.

Making an entry pass and passing along the perimeter are basic passes you expect a starting quality SF to be able to make, nothing to get enamored with. People that act like Batum is great ball handler/passer cannot be watching the games.

OK, so Nic sucks according to you. Got it. I suppose you think Lance Stephenson and Kawhi Leonard suck, too?

 

[RR7]

Good point. However, how many wide open looks does Nic pass up every game because of his passivity? The eye test suggests around 3-4 per night. I'd rather have someone on the team who's not afraid to take a tough shot, especially when the game's on the line.

He's our 4th option, though. Deng has always been 2 or 3. Nic SHOULD be looking to get better people the ball. Whether it's LA, Damian, Wes, whatever. I agree he can get passive at times, but I think, eye test, he doesn't pass them up close and late. So passing up shots in quarter 3 to get LA going, to me, is more important than swapping him out for Deng which in turn takes at least one, maybe 2 FGs away from Robin off the PnR, or, from better players/shooters in Damian, LA, and Wes. As papag said, our starting lineup isn't the problem. Swapping Nic for Deng isn't getting this team anything more than maybe an extra win if at all.