So, Let's Assume...

[e_blazer]

That after Melo bulldogs his way to New York, that the Blazers and Nets cut a trade of Miller and Przybilla for Harris and Outlaw. Let's further assume that Cho is able to work a trade of Cunningham and filler for Speights. If both of those deals were to happen and nothing further this season, would you be happy with the moves or not?

 

[MIXUM]

i hate losing miller. its sad. really sad. but we need a pg for the next few years and you simply cant pass on harris. with the way west is shaping up, melo traded, gay possibly out for season, utah collapse.... we should be able to back into playoffs even with the adjustment time for harris.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

That after Melo bulldogs his way to New York, that the Blazers and Nets cut a trade of Miller and Przybilla for Harris and Outlaw. Let's further assume that Cho is able to work a trade of Cunningham and filler for Speights. If both of those deals were to happen and nothing further this season, would you be happy with the moves or not?

I'm of the (minority) opinion that Miller is actually a better fit--even considering long-term impact--at PG for our team than Harris is. I also love Cunningham's effort and (dare I say it?) scrappiness over Outlaw's raw athleticism. Speights over Joel at backup C is the only real upgrade of the 3 (IMO).

 

[andalusian]

It's probably a downgrade for this year - but an overall upgrade long-term.

 

[MIXUM]

speights rumor was just that. not gonna happen.

harris is very real.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I'm not sure Haris is better than Miller at anything but being younger? He shoots better from 3, but probably not from mid range? He is also really injury prone.

I would be happy though because it would show me the team is at least TRYING to improve itslef.


Speights would make me happier yet.

 

[Blazer4ever]

Something I don't understand: are we NOT the winners of 6 straight? Is a 6-game win streak such a bad thing that we HAVE to make a change?!
And no, I'm not saying we're the best team in the league and are going to win a championship with the current team, but are we going to win a championship if we traded for Harris, Outlaw and Speights? I don't see it...
If the right deal comes along, sure, it'll be nice to improve talent-wise even if it hurts our chemistry in the short-term, and the deals suggested here are at least better than the Andre+Rudy for Harris and Outlaw that some fans here actualy thought was a good trade for us!
But, Do you remember Trader-Bob who was "not a chemistry major"? Well, we might not be the most talented team in the league but we do have the current longest win-streak and many of our players (Dante for example, Joel for example) seem to have a positive influence that is greater than how they're regarded 'on-paper'.

My suggestion, don't do any trade just for the sake of trading and don't do any trade unless it is Clearly something that will make us a better team.

I've said in another thread that I wouldn't offer more than Babbitt for Speights. I wouldn't trade Joel or Dante for him. Speights seems to be a potentially good player judging by his per-minute numbers but he also got a DNP-Coach's decision the last time I checked. That could mean we'll be able to get him for cheap, maybe for someone like Babbitt who's also potentially good but doesn't play much. You say that's lopsided in our favour? what I'm saying is I wouldn't want us to make ANY trade that is NOT clearly lopsided in our advantage. We're winning right now, we're in a position of power, we could only get better if/when Camby, Roy, even Oden come back, we don't have to make a trade. I don't understand some of the posters on this board acting like we're in terrible shape and MUST do something. And no - as I've said - I don't see us winning the championship this year with the current team but also not with the players mentioned above. We have to have at least some patience if we don't want to postpone the championship window even further.

 

[Blazinaway]

I think the odds are extremely low that Outlaw is involved in any trade to Portland, extremely low as in <5%

 

[Ed O]

Something I don't understand: are we NOT the winners of 6 straight? Is a 6-game win streak such a bad thing that we HAVE to make a change?!

Six games should have no bearing on whether a team trades or not.

Ed O.

 

[Eastoff]

Something I don't understand: are we NOT the winners of 6 straight? Is a 6-game win streak such a bad thing that we HAVE to make a change?!
And no, I'm not saying we're the best team in the league and are going to win a championship with the current team, but are we going to win a championship if we traded for Harris, Outlaw and Speights? I don't see it...
If the right deal comes along, sure, it'll be nice to improve talent-wise even if it hurts our chemistry in the short-term, and the deals suggested here are at least better than the Andre+Rudy for Harris and Outlaw that some fans here actualy thought was a good trade for us!
But, Do you remember Trader-Bob who was "not a chemistry major"? Well, we might not be the most talented team in the league but we do have the current longest win-streak and many of our players (Dante for example, Joel for example) seem to have a positive influence that is greater than how they're regarded 'on-paper'.

My suggestion, don't do any trade just for the sake of trading and don't do any trade unless it is Clearly something that will make us a better team.

I've said in another thread that I wouldn't offer more than Babbitt for Speights. I wouldn't trade Joel or Dante for him. Speights seems to be a potentially good player judging by his per-minute numbers but he also got a DNP-Coach's decision the last time I checked. That could mean we'll be able to get him for cheap, maybe for someone like Babbitt who's also potentially good but doesn't play much. You say that's lopsided in our favour? what I'm saying is I wouldn't want us to make ANY trade that is NOT clearly lopsided in our advantage. We're winning right now, we're in a position of power, we could only get better if/when Camby, Roy, even Oden come back, we don't have to make a trade. I don't understand some of the posters on this board acting like we're in terrible shape and MUST do something. And no - as I've said - I don't see us winning the championship this year with the current team but also not with the players mentioned above. We have to have at least some patience if we don't want to postpone the championship window even further.

http://espn.go.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/por/portland-trail-blazers
take a look at the teams we just beat, and the teams we will be playing soon. Not to sound like a certain troll, but we won't be hanging onto our 5th place standing for long. But I am confident with this group, we can get into the second round. 19 of our last 26 games are teams with a positive point differential. Or 18 of the next 26 teams are above .500

 

[Minstrel]

I don't know if "happy" is the right term. I'd be okay with the trades. I like Miller more than Harris right now, but I like Harris more as a long-term addition to the team. But not way more. Speights is meh, but Cunningham is even more meh. Outlaw's total collapse since leaving Portland leaves me pessimistic about his ability to help this team off the bench. So I'm fairly ambivalent.

 

[oldmangrouch]

I would give a lukewarm "yes", for 2 reasons.

First, all things being equal, I would rather have Miller....but all things are not equal. Miller represents "win now" - and that is silly for the Blazers. If the team can get younger at a key position, even if it is otherwise a lateral move, it makes sense.

Second, I have no faith in Joel returning to effectiveness this season (if ever). Having Speights would take the pressure off LMA (and Camby, when he returns) to play 40+ MPG. At this point, upgrading the bench is less about winning, then it is about not killing LMA!

 

[B-Roy]

I'm against anything that pairs Outlaw with McMillan again. Unless it's not on the Blazers, in which I would then welcome it.

 

[maxiep]

We get younger, more athletic and longer. We're really not giving much up and Outlaw gives us the scoring punch we need off the bench.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Six games should have no bearing on whether a team trades or not.

Agreed. So, let's look at a bigger sample size. How about 30 games. On December 15, the Blazers were 12-14. Their current record is 32-24. That means, that since December 15th, the Blazers are 20-10 a 0.667 winning percentage That's playing some pretty good basketball.

For comparison, lets look and see how the other top 10 teams in the Western Conference have fared since December 15.

SAS  25-7   0.714
[B][COLOR="red"]POR  20-10  0.667[/COLOR][/B]
DAL  20-11  0.645
LAL  19-12  0.613
MEM  19-12  0.613
OKC  17-11  0.607
NOH  18-15  0.545
DEN  17-16  0.515
PHO  15-15  0.500
UTA  13-18  0.462

So, over the past 2 plus months, the Blazers have the second best record in the Western Conference. Seems like they have a pretty good thing going - and they have Roy and Camby coming back soon. Of course, you always make any trade that obviously makes the team better, but I haven't even heard any rumors of such a trade in the works. The rumors have all been for marginal bench players - most of whom can't get minutes playing on teams with worse records than the Blazers - or "talent neutral" trades of Miller for PGs like Mo Williams or Devin Harris.

And, then there is team chemistry. Miller and Aldridge are playing very well together. Miller is able to consistently get the ball to Aldridge in the low post and the pick-n-pop. Big credit to Aldridge, but I don't think it's just a random coincidence that Aldridge started playing great ball the instant Roy went on the inactive list and Miller started initiating the offense. As a result, Aldridge's play has improved drastically and his confidence is at an all time high - by far. So, I'd hate to see a "talent neutral" trade for a different, or younger PG, as I think it would hurt Aldridge's performance.

Of course, this assumes Miller will continue to initiate the offense and the team won't revert to a Roy iso based offense when Roy comes back. I don't think anyone, other than maybe Brandon Roy, wants to see that.

The pieces we have no seem to fit well together, and that is backed up by their record over the last 30 games. Sure, if we can get a useful bench player without giving up anything significant, you do it. But with the team playing the way it has been for over two months, and Camby and Roy coming back, I don't think we NEED to make any trade.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

Outlaw gives us the scoring punch we need off the bench.

Does he? You realize he has a PER of 8.7 this season, is shooting 0.376 FG% and 0.312 3FG%. And yes, the sample size is significant. He's started 52 of 57 games for the Nets and is second on the team in minutes played at 1733. That's a huge drop off and a very significant sample size. His production with both the Blazers and the Clippers last season was also down compared to the previous two seasons. Given this trend, I don't think it's safe to assume today's Travis Outlaw is the same player he was in 2007-08 (his best season with career highs in PER, PPG, RPG and APG).

BNM

 

[BBert]

The pieces we have no seem to fit well together, and that is backed up by their record over the last 30 games. Sure, if we can get a useful bench player without giving up anything significant, you do it. But with the team playing the way it has been for over two months, and Camby and Roy coming back, I don't think we NEED to make any trade.

BNM

I agree. Trading our marginal players or picks for a good value young F/C and/or a good value young Guard is exactly the kind of thing we should be looking at, IMO. If we could get a proven guard for a good price, do it, otherwise, trade for young value and potential, as long as we are not upsetting to many established on-court relationships.

At the same time, we've also got Armon Johnson, Elliot Williams, Luke Babbitt, Joel Freeland, Victor Claver and Petteri Koponen as big question marks. I'm anxious to get those question marks answered, but it isn't going to happen this season. In the meantime we have to keep looking for cheap talent, but we don't 'have to' make a trade this week.

 

[maxiep]

Does he? You realize he has a PER of 8.7 this season, is shooting 0.376 FG% and 0.312 3FG%. And yes, the sample size is significant. He's started 52 of 57 games for the Nets and is second on the team in minutes played at 1733. That's a huge drop off and a very significant sample size. His production with both the Blazers and the Clippers last season was also down compared to the previous two seasons. Given this trend, I don't think it's safe to assume today's Travis Outlaw is the same player he was in 2007-08 (his best season with career highs in PER, PPG, RPG and APG).

BNM

I assume TO's problems in New Jersey have to do with the system, his role, losing a ton of games, the pressure of living up to his new contract and living in a different town. I suspect the Travis Outlaw we would get would be closer to the one that was here, not the Net version.

That being said, I would prefer not to make a trade for him. I wasn't an Outlaw fan when he was here, and I'm not one now, especially with that contract. But given the constraints, those trades would be a net positive for us.

 

[Dirty_F_Baby]

speights i like. ok with harris. dont want outlaw.

overall no. rather keep dre

 

[Sug]

We get younger, more athletic and longer. We're really not giving much up and Outlaw gives us the scoring punch we need off the bench.

I agree with all of this.

In addition I did not vote because for me it is a maybe. I need to wait and see what they do before I judge the trade.

 

[LittleAlex]

This trade would suck for the Blazers, badly.

Outlaw would get minutes, which is a huge negative.
Harris is very overrated by this board and fragile to boot.

The other trade moves a guy who tries hard at both ends of the floor for a guy that doesn't.


No thanks.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Miller is better than Harris now, but even with Harris' injury issues he's probably a better long term bet than hoping Dre will be able to keep this up for the next 3 years or so. Przybilla looks done, Speights would be a nice young big who hopefully still has some upside and although I would hate to add Travis back to this team (at any price) maybe he'd be able to return to playing small-ball four off the bench for Nate where he was modestly productive during his time here.

Is this trade a slam dunk improvement for this year? Probably not, but it does position them to be potentially stronger coming out on the other side of a lockout.

 

[Peaceman]

I like the Speights trade and Harris might improve with a new coach. I am really 50/50 on it because Outlaw is way overpaid, but if he could improve a little and be happy with 15 minutes a game off the bench, then I lean more to liking the deal. I would like it better if we resign Joel as a FA at the end of the season when he gets more healed from his injury. I think the Joel we have seen lately isn't the one we will see next year. Can never have enough decent bigs.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

What has grown more over this process, hatred for Anthony or Anthony's ego?

 

[Peaceman]

What has grown more over this process, hatred for Anthony or Anthony's ego?

Both, he problably loves that nothing is happening until he is taken care of.