So If Memphis takes Rubio, is Conley available again?

[shamelessblazer]

With all the Oden hate maybe we should try to trade HIM & Outlaw for Rubio & Gasol...


I'm not in favor (not sure if they'd be either), but it would look interesting for us and them...

ConleyJR/Mayo/Gay/Outlaw/Oden (a lot of damn firepower)

Rubio/Roy/Webster/Aldridge/Gasol
Rudy/Batum/Pryzbilla

I think we would be a lot damn tougher that's for sure w/Gasol instead of Oden (in short term), but I think long term Oden's potential is still worth it.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

No...

Try to sucker the Clipps into trading Blake for Greg.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

No...

Try to sucker the Clipps into trading Blake for Greg.

Well that's about the most informative response I've heard all year. Immaculate. For me though? Give me Greg Oden over Blake Griffin any day. It took Dwight Howard a few years before he did damage, allow Oden some time to get acquainted with the NBA game.

 

[Minstrel]

I blasted Greg plenty of times this season.

You don't remember me calling him Jamaal Magloire - the Miami version?

Jamaal Magloire, the Miami version, was a FORMER ALL-STAR. Oden needs to accomplish something before we start comparing him to FORMER ALL-STARS like Jamaal Magloire.

You crazy Oden lovers amaze me.

 

[MrJayremmie]

Fez, if you don't realize Minstrel's sarcasm I simply don't know what to say...

 

[Tortimer]

know everyone is on the Blake Griffen bandwagon but I'm predicting from what I have seen which is only 3-4 games that he is going to be a bust. I wouldn't even think about trading Oden for Griffen. I also think this next year Oden is going to really improve his game after having one year back from MF.

I'm not a huge Conley fan and I actually think Bayless is going to be better but I would even try and make a trade for him if Memphis takes Rubio. Conley did play well after they made a coaching change. So, maybe most of his problems were how he was being used. I do think that is also a small part of Oden's problem this year.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/may/20/next-best-pick-opens-up-world-of-opportunities/

3. Stay at No. 2 and take Rubio: Yes, take Rubio. The guy can flat play. Before Griffin went crazy this year, the '09 draft was known as the Rubio draft. What's wrong with taking an electric prospect at the most important position in the game? Trade Mike Conley to Portland for Travis Outlaw. Trade Rudy Gay and the Grizzlies other No. 1 pick to Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire. Next year's starting lineup: Outlaw, Marc Gasol, Stoudemire, O.J. Mayo and Rubio.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Being able to get Blake for Greg is a pipe dream. Griff is a beast, and at 6'10.5" in shoes he can play center full time in this league.

I think Griffin will be a solid NBA power forward, but don't we already have one of those? No way will he be a center in the NBA. He's not Dwight Howard.

He'll probably score more than Greg Oden, but even if Oden ends up averaging only 9 PPG for his entire NBA career, I'd still take him over Blake Griffin. Defense and rebounding wins championships in the NBA. Oden gives you both. Griffin gives you one (rebounding) of the two. His defense is below average. Yes, I know Oden had a foul plagued rookie season, but that is correctable. A lot of his fouls were on smaller players from being caught out of position on defense. When he was on the court, Oden made a big impact at both ends. He also did a great job defending Yao Ming in the play-off series.

Ric Bucher had a great quote about Oden. I don't have the exact quote (it was on the radio) but to paraphrase, Bucher said forget about Dwight Howard, after the first round Yao is much more worried about Greg Oden. Oden did a great job guarding Yao and the mistakes Oden made defensively weren't again Yao, they were against smaller Houston players driving the lane - and that's correctable.

We will have plenty of scorers around Greg. I do think his scoring will go up with his minutes, and as he fully recovers from his microfracture surgery, but it's not his offense that excites me, it's what he does at the other end of the court. Even with the foul difficulties and injuries, he was a huge defensive presence as a rookie. He will get even better as he gains experience and gets back his pre-surgery explosiveness.

BNM

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Word is that when we (Travis) play in Memphis, their attendance increases significantly due to his hometown being about 150 miles away. Memphis is struggling financially, so adding Travis could put some money in their pocket.

 

[hasoos]

OK, I just listened to the interview and I have to ask where you come up with some of your conclusions ... I'm not getting it.

I think the facts are really, that some Portland fans are not enthused with Greg, and try to rationalize it by making it look to be the other way around. But overall, the whole paragraph makes little sense. Somehow Bayless is a hothead with no perimeter skills now? What has he ever done but play with emotion? There is little wrong with that in my book. Hell the team could use more of that. The whole paragraph just reeks of cynicism.

 

[Blaze01]

If we can parlay Outlaw & Sergio and change into Mike Conley Jr, then I would be all for it....anything other than that...pass

I think the Rubio to POR rumours can stop now, I don't see POR acquiring the #2 pick from MEM....also, I think the most likely scenario is MEM drafting Rubio and holding on to Conley and letting them battle it out, there is no reason they need to make a decision on Conley this year....

 

[oldmangrouch]

I disagree.

With hard work and perseverance Conley could eventually be a reliable backup for several teams, although not ours of course.

Rubio is a poor man's Sergio Rodriguez.

 

[Masbee]

I don't put too much stock in that.

Per all you want, his foul rate negates that, IMO. He was a foul machine and couldn't score to save his life. He also collected the most rim checks on dunk attempts I've seen in a long time.

3.9 Fouls per game in 21 min. of play...

Well, since Fouls and "rimchecks" are numbers fed into the PER formula, it seems clear you don't know what the heck you are talking about.

 

[LittleAlex]

Well, since Fouls and "rimchecks" are numbers fed into the PER formula, it seems clear you don't know what the heck you are talking about.

You are trying to use logic to argue against an absurd position. Pointless.

 

[PapaG]

Well that's about the most informative response I've heard all year. Immaculate. For me though? Give me Greg Oden over Blake Griffin any day. It took Dwight Howard a few years before he did damage, allow Oden some time to get acquainted with the NBA game.

Not really. Howard averaged 12/10/1.7 blocks in his rookie year straight from HS, played 32.6 minutes, and only averaged 2.8 fouls.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Not really. Howard averaged 12/10/1.7 blocks in his rookie year straight from HS, played 32.6 minutes, and only averaged 2.8 fouls.

Howard 32.6mpg, 12ppg, 10rpg, 1.7bpg, 2.8fpg

G Oden 32.6mpg, 13.5ppg, 10.6rpg, 1.6bpg, 5.9fpg

While the fouls are right at the limit, if he had played the same minutes he would have had a little better numbers than Howard as a rookie, Howard might have been right out of high school, but I would take that over recovering from MF surgery.

Oden makes stupid fouls, When they stop he becomes dominant.

 

[hasoos]

Howard 32.6mpg, 12ppg, 10rpg, 1.7bpg, 2.8fpg

G Oden 32.6mpg, 13.5ppg, 10.6rpg, 1.6bpg, 5.9fpg

While the fouls are right at the limit, if he had played the same minutes he would have had a little better numbers than Howard as a rookie, Howard might have been right out of high school, but I would take that over recovering from MF surgery.

Oden makes stupid fouls, When they stop he becomes dominant.

Exactamundo. What is funny, is I see Howard committ the same stupid fouls Greg does, but he does it at a much lower rate of "attrition". He usually picks up his 4th foul sometimes in the 4th quarter, rather than partyway into the 3rd.

This is why Portland needs better perimeter defenders. The better our perimeter defenders are, the less often our bigs are laid out to dry by penetration into the paint.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Exactamundo. What is funny, is I see Howard committ the same stupid fouls Greg does, but he does it at a much lower rate of "attrition". He usually picks up his 4th foul sometimes in the 4th quarter, rather than partyway into the 3rd.

This is why Portland needs better perimeter defenders. The better our perimeter defenders are, the less often our bigs are laid out to dry by penetration into the paint.

Yep. It's why Blake and Travis need to go. Neither are very good perimeter defenders. It's why when people say Hinrich isn't 5 million a year better than Blake I laugh because he is worth that much in the long run in the development of Greg Oden. He can keep his defender in front of him for the most part. Greg plays more, gets better, we go deeper in the playoffs making uncle Paul more money, we maybe win a title making uncle Paul even more money.

 

[hasoos]

Yep. It's why Blake and Travis need to go. Neither are very good perimeter defenders. It's why when people say Hinrich isn't 5 million a year better than Blake I laugh because he is worth that much in the long run in the development of Greg Oden. He can keep his defender in front of him for the most part. Greg plays more, gets better, we go deeper in the playoffs making uncle Paul more money, we maybe win a title making uncle Paul even more money.

Yea the other thing I like about Heinrich is he has some "Nasty" in him. When Rhondo committed what should have been his 3rd flagrant foul of the series, he said "Enough" and went after him. He has a record of playing better in the playoffs than in the regular season which is a bonus in my book. He is also much more physical than any of our PG besides Bayless.

The one thing that concerns me about the Blazers right now is that there are two types of teams in the league. Those that have a fast penetrating PG who can tear teams up, and those that are consistently victimized by said teams. Portland is in the latter category. We take the worst of it on the defensive end where we can't defend the faster PG, and they get our talented front line in foul trouble because of it, and on the other end, the Blazers don't force the other team to defend, because all we have is a jump shooter and a guy who couldn't finish or shoot to save his life, you can always just play him for the pass. The fact that Bayless got more foul attempts than Blake and Sergio combined in much less minutes should be a concern to anybody that watches this team.

 

[La Bomba]

Rubio has as much potential as anyone in this draft class. He is a pass first point guard who plays defense and is developing a shot. Now that Rubio is available, I wouldn't mind doing that Portland deal rumoured before the all-star break because it brings depth. I'd still rather trade Conley for a big man, plus I don't think we get equal value in a Outlaw + some for Conley deal.

 

[hasoos]

Rubio has as much potential as anyone in this draft class. He is a pass first point guard who plays defense and is developing a shot. Now that Rubio is available, I wouldn't mind doing that Portland deal rumoured before the all-star break because it brings depth. I'd still rather trade Conley for a big man, plus I don't think we get equal value in a Outlaw + some for Conley deal.

Rubio is available? Um where did that come from? The only people who think he is available, are most likely delusional.

 

[huevonkiller]

Rubio is available? Um where did that come from? The only people who think he is available, are most likely delusional.

He is a Memphis fan, obviously he's right on this matter. :]

 

[JE]

Fuck Memphis.

They put 9 million back on our cap out of spite. Let both of them cause team chemistry issues.

lol


Yeah, screw the point guard that we need so much!! Memphis meanies...

 

[Mediocre Man]

lol


Yeah, screw the point guard that we need so much!! Memphis meanies...

We don't NEED Conley. He would be an upgrade for sure, but it's not like we are talking about Chris Paul or anything. Conley has been nothing better than average so far in his career. There is nothing to say he is going to be a great PG.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Rubio for David Lee and #8 sure wouldn't shock me.

Hmm. That sounds dangerously plausible.

EXCEPT: D'Antoni has been insistent that his PG has to be able to shoot, and that's the biggest hole in Rubio's game. And if the NY plan is still to land LBJ in free agency, would Rubio really fit with that?

 

[JE]

We don't NEED Conley. He would be an upgrade for sure, but it's not like we are talking about Chris Paul or anything. Conley has been nothing better than average so far in his career. There is nothing to say he is going to be a great PG.

Never said you needed Conley, I just think its funny that Portland has a pretty evident need (point guard), yet you won't do business with one team that could very well have a point guard on the block on the grounds of their lack of niceness.

 

[rocketeer]

Rubio is available? Um where did that come from? The only people who think he is available, are most likely delusional.

rubio is available for memphis to draft with the 2nd pick.

 

[Minstrel]

And if the NY plan is still to land LBJ in free agency, would Rubio really fit with that?

Considering James is leading arguably the best team in basketball now, I think New York can forget about James. Cleveland can pay him the most, he's a hometown hero and he has a far better team in Cleveland than he'd have in New York. It's not like he's hurting for endorsements or media attention, so I don't think moving to a bigger market is worth giving up any of those things, let alone all of them.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

If they were to draft Rubio and deal Conley, the most sensible deal for them will return a starting PF, something we can't give them.

Well we COULD, but we wouldn't for Conley. But LaMarcus for Rubio would be interesting. It would be a HUGE gamble. But what if we knew that LaMarcus didn't want to be here long term anyway?

(It would seriously grate seeing Aldridge playing for the team that stiffed us so badly. But Memphis would get good FAST. Of course, we would have nothing at PF, but maybe we could get Millsap?)

 

[La Bomba]

Well we COULD, but we wouldn't for Conley. But LaMarcus for Rubio would be interesting. It would be a HUGE gamble. But what if we knew that LaMarcus didn't want to be here long term anyway?

(It would seriously grate seeing Aldridge playing for the team that stiffed us so badly. But Memphis would get good FAST. Of course, we would have nothing at PF, but maybe we could get Millsap?)

That is a deal I would like to see the Grizzlies do just because Aldridge is pretty much a sure thing. Plus that fills the Grizzlies one EVIDENT hole in the starting lineup, power forward. I'm pretty sure nothing like this happens though.