Twitter rumor - Blazers to deal F Gerald Wallace for picks

[3RA1N1AC]

wade was a top 5 player at the time

lma is not

at that time, miami was set to either lose wade, or add stars to him

do you not remember that?

 

[RR7]

Sorry Brian, by saying that, I don't mean to also imply then that the plan is worthless and not a good idea, or something to be intrigued by. I mean, I like our team this year. Not in a we are going to win the title way, but, I want to see Felton, Nola, Elliot, Wes, batum, Gerald, Aldridge, and maybe Jamal 0play together. I think it can be a fun season. But I have actually already started getting excited about next offseason,much, I imagine, in the same way you are. And have already started looking at who some RFA are, or might be, and what odds we have of landing different players, etc. I doubt Diwhgt and Deron or CP3 are a likely pair for us, but still see it being a fun time, and very interesting, with our desire it seems over the years to take shots at bigger names.

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

Sorry Brian, by saying that, I don't mean to also imply then that the plan is worthless and not a good idea, or something to be intrigued by. I mean, I like our team this year. Not in a we are going to win the title way, but, I want to see Felton, Nola, Elliot, Wes, batum, Gerald, Aldridge, and maybe Jamal 0play together. I think it can be a fun season. But I have actually already started getting excited about next offseason,much, I imagine, in the same way you are. And have already started looking at who some RFA are, or might be, and what odds we have of landing different players, etc. I doubt Diwhgt and Deron or CP3 are a likely pair for us, but still see it being a fun time, and very interesting, with our desire it seems over the years to take shots at bigger names.

What's fun about watching a 30-40 win team try to grind out an 8 seed every year?

 

[RR7]

what's fun about trolling the internet?

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

what's fun about trolling the internet?

lol, did I take a personal shot at you? who's trolling here?

I just find it odd (or maybe amusing) that such a passionate and knowledgeable fan base can be so content with mediocrity. It's ok to strive for more than that as a fan.

 

[RR7]

Can you not want and strive for more, while getting enjoyment watching the players you currently have, especially when it isn't the bare cupoboard of the Russians/Ha days? Yeah, I want better players, and a title contender. Should I just not watch this season, or curse the tv every time I turn it on to watch them play? I'm not content with mediocrity. Just said it could be a fun season.

As for the personal shot, I was around oregon live enough to call a spade a spade. You find the above amusing, I find someone spending hours on a computer trying to rile up unknown others odd(or maybe amusing).

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Agreed rr7

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

I'm not saying you should not watch and enjoy this team, I'm saying that you should realize that there is no way this team will be able to get to the top of the mountain without tearing it down and rebuilding. You know that yet you would prefer to have the team remain mediocre. Seems odd to me but to each his own I guess.

As far as me trolling the internet... I enjoy talking hoops. Oregon Live used to be a great place to talk hoops... it was just an added bonus riling up you guys.

 

[RR7]

Gotcha. You think trading away Aldridge is a good idea. Seems odd to me but to each his own I guess. You know what it takes to win.

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

I would trade Aldridge, yes. Or better yet his heart condition could cause him to sit out this shortened season and we could trade away Wallace and Felton and start this thing over in the draft next year.

The worst place a franchise can be is stuck in the middle without a true superstar to add pieces around. Roy is gone, Oden is done. Time to start over.

 

[Minstrel]

No, the line of reasoning is "look at the realities of the NBA, and not some probablistic model with faulty entering arguments."

The realities are that parlaying non-lottery picks into stars or turning cap space into stars is extremely unlikely. It's not some abstract "probability model," it observational reality.

There haven't been very many teams in the last decade who were a) playoff teams, b) had a young all-star-level player locked up long-term, and c) 30+ M in cap space. The ones who did have that...well, I'll let you look that one up.

I don't know, that seems like a pretty arbitrary set of conditions to work with. Why do you believe that those exact parameters are the crucial ones?

I mentioned MIA because it wasn't South Beach and Sunshine that made FA's go there.

No, it was having a Hall of Famer caliber superstar in Wade, a friendship between the three stars in question and, yes, the market. I don't think if Wade were in Charlotte, the Bobcats would have all three players, even if they had the cap space. More likely, Wade would have chosen to join at least one of the other two in another market.

Yes, the cap space made it possible...the cap space did not make it likely. As I said, unlikely things do happen, but they come about due to a group of unique factors. I don't feel you can take improbable, outlier situations and (in general) build a predictive blueprint from them. It's possible that the set of conditions you isolated will turn out to be the crucial set that lead to another "outlier" but I wouldn't plan around that happening.

 

[Nikolokolus]

lol, did I take a personal shot at you? who's trolling here?

I just find it odd (or maybe amusing) that such a passionate and knowledgeable fan base can be so content with mediocrity. It's ok to strive for more than that as a fan.

I think there's just a knee-jerk reaction a lot people have about the team risking being worse as they attempt to strive for more.

For instance imagine two hypothetical scenarios. In scenario A) you've got a 10% chance at a title and a 60% chance of sucking for 5+ years and being stuck in the lottery. In scenario B) you've only got a 2% chance at a title, but only a 10% chance of being truly awful for any extended period of time. I have a feeling a lot of people would prefer the second hypothetical; the route where they can say, "I know we got bounced in the first round again, but at least we gave 'em a helluva fight." In scenario B, every year you get to say your team is "respectable" and there's a probably a lot less heartburn.

And just so I don't hear a raft of shit about this, I'm not saying those percentages are real or predictions about the viability of the approaches being debated. I'm just talking risk tolerance and philosophy.

 

[THE HCP]

Miami and Portland just seem like two totally different destinations to me. I don't know why. Can't place my finger on it exactly.

Ya, one is clean and one is very dirty. One is safe and one isn't. One is cloudy and rainy most of the year and one is sunny and rainy most of the year. One has palm trees and one has pine trees. And finally one you can get shot during a botched coke deal at anytime of day and one you can get high from all the pot smoke any time of day.

 

[Draco]

I would trade Aldridge, yes. Or better yet his heart condition could cause him to sit out this shortened season and we could trade away Wallace and Felton and start this thing over in the draft next year.

The worst place a franchise can be is stuck in the middle without a true superstar to add pieces around. Roy is gone, Oden is done. Time to start over.

I would rather be where we're at then where the Cavs are at. The Cavs struck gold with one of the best #1 picks ever but couldn't put good teammates around him and now have nothing to show for it. Better to build a solid core of talent then put all your money in a few lotto picks. You have to suck for years, possibly a decade before you get one of those top picks and have that be the year there are game changers. Even if you win the lotto (as we did with Oden) it doesn't guarantee a hall of famer.

We need to keep collecting assets, get undervalued players, make smart trades, utilize cap space wisely. I think its more likely to build a contening team through incremental improvements then purposefully sucking for decades. Have the Lakers had to rebuild by being in the bottom of the lottery?

 

[Nikolokolus]

I would rather be where we're at then where the Cavs are at. The Cavs struck gold with one of the best #1 picks ever but couldn't put good teammates around him and now have nothing to show for it. Better to build a solid core of talent then put all your money in a few lotto picks. You have to suck for years, possibly a decade before you get one of those top picks and have that be the year there are game changers. Even if you win the lotto (as we did with Oden) it doesn't guarantee a hall of famer.

We need to keep collecting assets, get undervalued players, make smart trades, utilize cap space wisely. I think its more likely to build a contening team through incremental improvements then purposefully sucking for decades. Have the Lakers had to rebuild by being in the bottom of the lottery?

The Lakers don't have to "build" because the players come to them.

 

[blazerboy30]

I think there's just a knee-jerk reaction a lot people have about the team risking being worse as they attempt to strive for more.

For instance imagine two hypothetical scenarios. In scenario A) you've got a 10% chance at a title and a 60% chance of sucking for 5+ years and being stuck in the lottery. In scenario B) you've only got a 2% chance at a title, but only a 10% chance of being truly awful for any extended period of time. I have a feeling a lot of people would prefer the second hypothetical; the route where they can say, "I know we got bounced in the first round again, but at least we gave 'em a helluva fight." In scenario B, every year you get to say your team is "respectable" and there's a probably a lot less heartburn.

And just so I don't hear a raft of shit about this, I'm not saying those percentages are real or predictions about the viability of the approaches being debated. I'm just talking risk tolerance and philosophy.

People are typically more scared of losing or the negative scenario than they are excited for the positive outcome.

I probably fall into that myself with this team.

a) a team that consistently makes the playoffs, with a tiny chance of advancing each year.
b) a team that absolutely sucks (like the 21-win seasons) in the hopes that we hit the jackpot at some point in the future.

I'll take (a), but I can see why some would choose (b).

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

I would rather be where we're at then where the Cavs are at. The Cavs struck gold with one of the best #1 picks ever but couldn't put good teammates around him and now have nothing to show for it. Better to build a solid core of talent then put all your money in a few lotto picks. You have to suck for years, possibly a decade before you get one of those top picks and have that be the year there are game changers. Even if you win the lotto (as we did with Oden) it doesn't guarantee a hall of famer.

We need to keep collecting assets, get undervalued players, make smart trades, utilize cap space wisely. I think its more likely to build a contening team through incremental improvements then purposefully sucking for decades. Have the Lakers had to rebuild by being in the bottom of the lottery?

You can't really compare us to the Lakers can you? They obviously have an advantage in that FA's LOVE to go to sunny SoCal and play. We are a small market team in a cold/wet climate. I would trade our 20 year playoff streak for a 2-3 year legit run at a ring and then have to rebuild from nothing.

It's the only way to get it done in Portland.

 

[THE HCP]

You can't really compare us to the Lakers can you?

"US"? You aren't a Blazer fan.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Clearing cap space in the quest for big name free agents: big risk. Clearing cap space to have more leverage to make trades: worth considering. You don't need to trade Wallace to achieve the latter.

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

"US"? You aren't a Blazer fan.

that's mostly true... I root for the Blazers because I am from Portland and love hoops..but I don't just blindly accept and follow my marching orders like you goofs do.

 

[PapaG]

I think there's just a knee-jerk reaction a lot people have about the team risking being worse as they attempt to strive for more.

Is it really a knee-jerk reaction? If Brandon Roy had never been traded by Minny, the Blazers would still have been the terrible team they were the 5 years prior to Roy.

Great teams are built from existing players, and typically with a bit of luck. The Spurs got lucky on Duncan, and still had a capable David Robinson, Sean Elliott, and a true PG in Avery Johnson. Unfortunately for the Blazers, their shot at greatness went away when Greg Oden turned out to be a dud, and Kevin Durant turned into a Top 5 NBA player. One decision, that seemed like it was win-win regardless of the pick, set the course for where the Blazers are right now. Portland had its shot, and even if LMA turns into a year-after-year franchise player, it will take at least one other player at that level to win titles in the present-day NBA.

 

[THE HCP]

I don't just blindly accept and follow my marching orders like you goofs do.

Interesting. I would call what the majority of us do........ staying loyal to our favorite team. Standing by them through ups and downs..... good times and bad. Unlike yourself that comes around every few months to bitch and complain about everything and show your lack of basketball IQ thru every post. As you were.

 

[Pinwheel1]

that's mostly true... I root for the Blazers because I am from Portland and love hoops..but I don't just blindly accept and follow my marching orders like you goofs do.

That excuse is so fucking old and tired. The "homer/kool-aid theory just doesn't hold up.

 

[Hank The Dwarf]

Interesting. I would call what the majority of us do........ staying loyal to our favorite team. Standing by them through ups and downs..... good times and bad. Unlike yourself that comes around every few months to bitch and complain about everything and show your lack of basketball IQ thru every post. As you were.

I'm an adult. I don't waste my life away on this forum all year long. It's sad and pathetic.

I am however, a big Basketball fan that lives in Portland. I would like to see this team be relevent in my lifetime. If we keep treading water as a franchise, that won't happen. Blow it up. Start over. Its the right thing to do.

 

[Shooter]

Outfuckingstanding news.


It's time to rebuild, and someone down at one center court realizes it. That's good news

Amen to that. This Blazer team is going nowhere, and the sooner we do something about, the sooner we will have a winning team again.

 

[Shooter]

The loss of Roy and Oden (neither of which the Blazers expected) gives them a perfect justification to begin rebuilding NOW. I doubt many fans will question the strategy, especially if the picks are relatively high. Not only that, this is a short season, so the suffering won't last long--and there will be lots of excitement about the new rookies in only about 7 months from now.

It's all about "hope," and this is a good way to get it.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Is it really a knee-jerk reaction? If Brandon Roy had never been traded by Minny, the Blazers would still have been the terrible team they were the 5 years prior to Roy.

Without knowing how the next five years would have unfolded, there's no way to know that. Minus Roy on the team, the excuse of, "we already have a scoring wing, so we don't need Durant." wouldn't have been in play ...

Great teams are built from existing players, and typically with a bit of luck. The Spurs got lucky on Duncan, and still had a capable David Robinson, Sean Elliott, and a true PG in Avery Johnson. Unfortunately for the Blazers, their shot at greatness went away when Greg Oden turned out to be a dud, and Kevin Durant turned into a Top 5 NBA player. One decision, that seemed like it was win-win regardless of the pick, set the course for where the Blazers are right now. Portland had its shot, and even if LMA turns into a year-after-year franchise player, it will take at least one other player at that level to win titles in the present-day NBA.

I can agree with most of that and if there is some way of trading for that player then awesome, but usually high-caliber guys end up on the trading block for a reason (either attitude, decline or forcing their way to a preferred destination) which means you either have to get these top end guys via free agency, which seems very unlikely for a team like Portland in the current NBA or you have to draft and develop them ... which is also hard to do.

There is no easy or sure way to championship for this team moving forward, but the best they can probably do is manufacture as many opportunities as possible and this theoretical Wallace trade -- if it had gone through -- would have created more of those opportunities.

 

[PapaG]

Without knowing how the next five years would have unfolded, there's no way to know that. Minus Roy on the team, the excuse of, "we already have a scoring wing, so we don't need Durant." wouldn't have been in play ...



I can agree with most of that and if there is some way of trading for that player then awesome, but usually high-caliber guys end up on the trading block for a reason (either attitude, decline or forcing their way to a preferred destination) which means you either have to get these top end guys via free agency, which seems very unlikely for a team like Portland in the current NBA or you have to draft and develop them ... which is also hard to do.

There is no easy or sure way to championship for this team moving forward, but the best they can do probably do is manufacture as many opportunities as possible and this theoretical Wallace trade -- if it had gone through -- would have created more of those opportunities.

I agree with trading Wallace, especially if it gives Nic more opportunity, and it would give Portland the trade exception. My biggest problem was that TE was going to be used on a Carl Landry or some other 'B' player, at least according to Wheeler today on The Game. The one thing that Portland cannot do right now is trade away LMA without getting a similar player in return. I guess I don't think this team is as far from being a contender as others do, and I'd like to see what Oden's expiring $8.8 million along with Wallace's $10+ million might bring before the trade deadline.

 

[Stevenson]

Our last rebuilding took, what, 6 years? No thanks. Not sure I would renew my season tix if we went back to a team of rookies that are 3 years out, if that.

 

[Charcoal Filtered]

Our last rebuilding took, what, 6 years? No thanks. Not sure I would renew my season tix if we went back to a team of rookies that are 3 years out, if that.

I would renew my reds, but not my yellows and would spend less on 10 game packs. Likelyhood of making the playoffs plays heavily into how much I spend on seats as well as demand for regular season.

Would take a huge price increase to give up my years as a season ticket holder though. Even if we were horrible again, I would want to watch games and go to season ticket holder events.