Pat Connaughton

[julius]

Quick just said Pat was notified by the Blazers that they are picking up his option. Yay?

It better be because they're trading him or he all the sudden is going to blow up.

 

[BlazerBeav]

How could he not blow up? I'm sure over the summer he totally transitioned to being an NBA player.

 

[e_blazer]

What's the big deal? He's an inexpensive backup 2 guard who knows Stott's system, can hit the three and only has one year left on his contract. Smart move, if true.

 

[THE HCP]

With AC gone, we need Patty.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Okay, so what does Pat have on Olshey?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

What's the big deal? He's an inexpensive backup 2 guard who knows Stott's system, can hit the three and only has one year left on his contract. Smart move, if true.

He "can" hit the three, but "doesn't" and looked outclassed in SUMMER LEAGUE. (Until he got injured and the team immediately got miles better.)

 

[Rastapopoulos]

It better be because they're trading him or he all the sudden is going to blow up.

The only kind of blowing up he'd be doing:

 

[Rastapopoulos]

With AC gone, we need Patty.

No, we need an actual NBA player.

 

[e_blazer]

He "can" hit the three, but "doesn't" and looked outclassed in SUMMER LEAGUE.

Oh, bull shit. Summer-fricking-league? You mean where the Blazers experimented on playing him at PG for a couple of games, which didn't work, and then he got injured and didn't play anymore? Yeah, let's use that as a measuring stick.

 

[e_blazer]

What on earth does Olshey see in this guy?

 

[blue9]

 

[andalusian]

Good. PP is a nice player to have as a cheap sub - as long as he is not your leading guard - he works well in the NBA. Always liked his energy. Some people work well as a relief valve next to good players. This is exactly his role on this team. Smart pickup.

 

[julius]

The only kind of blowing up he'd be doing:

I've always wondered about that gif.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Random Note:
This signing along with the waiving of Nicholson makes it slightly more unlikely that we make a trade this offseason.

 

[andalusian]

Random Note:
This signing along with the waiving of Nicholson makes it slightly more unlikely that we make a trade this offseason.

Sure. Makes sense. They had deadlines and ran against them.

I am willing to bet however that something does happen by the trade-deadline.

 

[Denny Crane]

His contract is about $1.5M while we are $3M over the LT. Cutting him gets us 1/2 way toward under, but there's no real point because we have to find another $1.5M somewhere to get to LT.

If we are moving someone like Ed Davis for cap space, we'd be $3M under while keeping Pat.

Cutting Pat and moving Davis would get us to $4.5M under, meaning we could actually trade Davis for players with up to $4.5M in player contracts.

If contract amount is an indicator of the quality of player, the $4.5M player is likely better than Pat.

What's NO going to do? From watching his moves over several seasons, I believe his line of thinking is something like mine (in this post).

 

[THE HCP]

Blah blah blah Denny..... we need a practice body.

 

[Minstrel]

He's fine as the 14th/15th man. Maybe his shot will start to fall. If not, he's a scrub, but most teams have scrubs at the end of their roster.

 

[Boob-No-More]

He "can" hit the three, but "doesn't" and looked outclassed in SUMMER LEAGUE. (Until he got injured and the team immediately got miles better.)

Right, let's base his value on an infinitesimally small sample size playing out of position with R.J. Hunter as his starting back court mate.

Jeez, and I get lambasted for pointing out he shot .515 from 3-point range last season - because of the small sample size and playing the bulk of his minutes during garbage time. Well at least those were real NBA games and all of summer league == garbage time.

BNM

 

[Denny Crane]

Blah blah blah Denny..... we need a practice body.

How well does he pay you to wash his car?

I think it's good we kept him. He's got upside still and potentially at least one top tier NBA skill.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

He's fine as the 14th/15th man. Maybe his shot will start to fall. If not, he's a scrub, but most teams have scrubs at the end of their roster.

I'd rather have a Scrubb.

 

[Boob-No-More]

He's fine as the 14th/15th man. Maybe his shot will start to fall. If not, he's a scrub, but most teams have scrubs at the end of their roster.

I don't get the comments about his shot starting to fall. He shot .514 2FG% and .515 3FG% last season. Yeah, I know - small sample size, blah, blah, blah, but it's not like he shot .342 2FG% and .255 3FG% (Jake Layman, cough, cough...).

BNM

 

[Trackjack]

That pay about right for 13 thru 15 and you need those type contract when you have 3 big contract on top of the teams salaries.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

What on earth does Olshey see in this guy?

That game, presumably. I see all the other games.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I'm glad we retained him. He's making the minimum, so we could only replace him with another min contract player. After waiving and stretching Nicholson, we have a vacant roster spot if there is someone else we want who is willing to accept a minimum contract. So, we didn't really lose anything by keeping him.

He also showed a lot of improvement from year 1 to year 2. Just go back and compare his shooting percentages from his rookie year to last year. Limited sample sizes in both cases, but none-the-less a huge improvement.

I also realize most of his minutes came in garbage time, but on the rare occasions where he actually got meaningful playing time, he played well and didn't look totally lost or out of place.

After two years, he knows the system, he doesn't cause problems, seems well liked by the coaches and his teammates, and I think his most important role as a 14/15th man is he seems to be a good practice player.

And who knows, with Crabbe gone, he may see an expanded role. His defense, rebounding and passing are all already better than Crabbe's. The only question is if he can he continue to knock down shots in a larger role.

BNM

 

[blue9]

If contract amount is an indicator of the quality of player, the $4.5M player is likely better than Pat.

Unfortunately it's not. If it was, we would have at least made it to the WCF with Crabbe/Turner. But, as illustrated above, Pat wasn't really much worse - and in some respects, was much better - than Turner...statistically speaking.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Let's enumerate Connaughton's NBA talents.

(Possibly) hitting uncontested threes.
Being a decent rebounder for someone so short.

That is all.

He can't dribble. He can't pass above a rudimentary level. He can't move his feet fast enough to defend wings. I guess he must be an INCREDIBLE motivational speaker behind closed doors.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

What is this "knowing the system" bullshit. That only matters if either (a) you're an assistant coach, or (b) you're going to be out there playing. Well it sure as hell isn't (b) (unless something terrible befalls the rest of the team), so is he being paid over a million dollars to teach the other players? I'd be a bit envious if I was an ACTUAL assistant coach.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Right, let's base his value on an infinitesimally small sample size playing out of position with R.J. Hunter as his starting back court mate.

Jeez, and I get lambasted for pointing out he shot .515 from 3-point range last season - because of the small sample size and playing the bulk of his minutes during garbage time. Well at least those were real NBA games and all of summer league == garbage time.

BNM

If he was any good he wouldn't've been playing out of position - he would have been a featured player. After all he "knows the system" and this is FUCKING SUMMER LEAGUE.

 

[Boob-No-More]

If he was any good he wouldn't've been playing out of position - he would have been a featured player. After all he "knows the system" and this is FUCKING SUMMER LEAGUE.

Not necessarily. The coaches wanted to see how he would do playing PG. Turns out, not very well. So, he won't be called on to play that position during the regular season. It was an experiment, It failed. Back to 3rd string SG for Pat.

BNM