Should Portland blow it up?

[Arok325]

Roy will never be the same. Players, human beings in general, just don't recover fully from those type of injuries. He has bone rubbing against bone. I find it doubtful that he will even have much longer of a career in the NBA let alone playing at an All-Star level.

Oden is a bust unfortunately. He had so much potential but there must be something wrong with him to have so many injuries. It can't just be luck. He must not be built right or something. Yeah he'll only by 23 but with the types of injuries he's sustained I don't think he'll be much of a factor either.

Portland should salvage what they can but honestly I doubt that there's much they can do. Let Oden's deal expire. Try to salvage Roy or waive him if possible (maybe they can do this if his injury is career ending?). Head to rebuilding mode and see what you can get from Batum and Aldridge and the draft.

[GreenFaith1819]

Moiso - you are correct. KG was a superstar, and you are right about Ray and Pierce. I just didn't see Boston as having the same Talent Level as LA back then in 07-08, and yet we still won it.

Poster Who makes an excellent point here as well. Even with the bad news, their organization still manages to find these really good players. I was aware that Matthews was good, but not THIS good.

Plus - when they get Przybilla back, that will make them even stronger up front. Anything that can go towards neutralizing LA's height is a bonus.

On a side note - I hope that LaMarcus can continue his growth. I just don't see him as reaching his potential yet. I think there is still another ceiling with this guy that he can reach. I've seen and read in some places of him being compared to KG. He certainly has the tools.

[GreenFaith1819]

A correction to my assessment of our team last year - no disrespect to our PG meant. Rajon Rondo was in fact ranked among the top 3 PG's last year.

In 07-08, I think Rondo was among the top 8 or 9 PGs.

[JSD]

Yet with knowledge of his injury situation firmly in hand, Blazers brass signed Roy to a max deal. "He has earned this max contract regardless of what problems might come along," team president Larry Miller told the Oregonian.

Wow, oppisite of the New England Patriot approach, paying players for what they've done in the past? Interesting.

[Fan from VT]

In Hollinger's per diem he talks about the blazers potentially letting a lot a people walk and building around roy/aldridge/batum/matthews/capspace.
but that only works if they also trade camby for capspace.

so:
turiaf, baby perk, bos #1 to portland

nate, rudy to nyk

camby, chandler to boston.

[Celtic]

I say no, while I will readily admit Portland is not going to win a championship this year, there is still some hope for the future. The difference between the Blazers and the Celtics of the early 2000s that Danny blew up, is that Portland is hampered by "odd"injuries. They do have the option of sitting back and saying OK best case scenario, next year Oden and Roy are miraculously 100% healthy and we are competing for a ring. The Celtics had reached their limit talent-wise, Portland has just experienced a series of unfortunate events.

[papa shuttlesworth]

I think it was Hollinger that wrote about one glimmering splinter of hope.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas has such bad foot problems that signing him was a HUGE risk.  He probably could have retired.  But since those first few years, he's been a rock and missed very few games and performed pretty well.

It seems like Oden has had a mix of horrible luck with a brittle body, but he (Portland) has a staff of people whose job is to protect the health of their multi-million dollar investment.  So there is still a chance that he can recover.  As Z and Shaq now shows us, if you are huge and a decent player, you don't have to be that mobile.

[wdleehi]

Right now is a terrible time to do it.


There best players are at low trade values because of injuries. 

If they decide that is the way they need to go, they need to wait till some of those guys play well enough for teams to forget about the injury concerns.  (just don't expect the well run teams to forget).

[Fafnir]

Moiso - you are correct. KG was a superstar, and you are right about Ray and Pierce. I just didn't see Boston as having the same Talent Level as LA back then in 07-08, and yet we still won it.

You really think Kobe/Odom/Gasol was more talented KG/Allen/Pierce in 07-08?

The rest of LA's team wasn't any better than the C's that year. Sasha, Rad Man, Luke Walton, Fisher, Farmar, Chris Mihm Turiaf, and Ariza who was coming back from injury and didn't play.

Rondo/Cassell/Perk/Posey/PJ/Eddie/Davis/Powe stacks up well enough with that group.

[GreenFaith1819]

I think it was Hollinger that wrote about one glimmering splinter of hope.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas has such bad foot problems that signing him was a HUGE risk.  He probably could have retired.  But since those first few years, he's been a rock and missed very few games and performed pretty well.

It seems like Oden has had a mix of horrible luck with a brittle body, but he (Portland) has a staff of people whose job is to protect the health of their multi-million dollar investment.  So there is still a chance that he can recover.  As Z and Shaq now shows us, if you are huge and a decent player, you don't have to be that mobile.

You make a good point with Big Z, PS.

And didn't Big Z make the All-Star game, AFTER his stretch of injuries - 07-08 I believe?

The thing that Portland doesn't want to do (and I don't see them doing this), is giving up on Oden and releasing him.

And then Oden comes to Boston and brings us Banners 19, 20, 21......along with Rondo and Perk, etc - with perfect health, and avgs of 15-20 pts, 12-13 rebs, 2-3 blocks over the remainder of his career, with our PG feeding him the rock.

The window is not closed with Oden, not by a stretch. Life happens to all of us, but I just can't see someone like him suffering for much longer.

[GreenFaith1819]

Moiso - you are correct. KG was a superstar, and you are right about Ray and Pierce. I just didn't see Boston as having the same Talent Level as LA back then in 07-08, and yet we still won it.

You really think Kobe/Odom/Gasol was more talented KG/Allen/Pierce in 07-08?

The rest of LA's team wasn't any better than the C's that year. Sasha, Rad Man, Luke Walton, Fisher, Farmar, Chris Mihm Turiaf, and Ariza who was coming back from injury and didn't play.

Rondo/Cassell/Perk/Posey/PJ/Eddie/Davis/Powe stacks up well enough with that group.

Fafnir - I don't intend on deflecting the thread, but all I know is that LA was favored to beat us in 07-08, mainly because of Kobe. He was the best player on the floor back then, out of both teams. But we neutralized him.

And due to the fact that we struggled with CLE and ATL during that playoff run had some folks on here wondering about our chances with LA. I was not a member of the Blog back then, but I sure read it during that run as a guest.

[Fafnir]

Kobe. He was the best player on the floor back then, out of both teams.

KG was better, and had been a better player all the way up to that point too.

But you're right this is for another thread, tp.

[Eeyore III]

If I was Portland's GM, I'd be very interested in seeing what I could get for Roy and/or Oden, and if a decent deal came along, I'd probably do it.  I'm ready to write off Oden, and Roy's contract is just a killer.

Miller and Camby should have some value, and they're obviously too old to be part even of a "rolling rebuild."

But if they can't get anything for Roy or Oden, then they just gotta play their hand and hope for the best.  

[MBunge]

But if they can't get anything for Roy or Oden, then they just gotta play their hand and hope for the best.  

This is really the key.  They couldn't get anything for Oden right now, probably not even a 2nd round pick, and the only thing they could get for Roy is a max contract for a terrible player than expires sooner.

Mike

[Lucky17]

Absolutely not.

Portland has a great core going forward of Roy, Matthews, Aldridge, and Batum. Camby will be with the team next year, as will Oden.

Is Rudy Fernandez capable of backing up both Roy and Matthews in the backcourt? If not, Portland can exercise its option on Andre Miller.

If Rudy is, or if Portland wants to go in another direction with its roster, they still have the sizable expiring contracts of Miller and Przybilla, both still quite effective players at their positions, to combine with young prospects and/or picks if needed to add another piece to the core at this year's trade deadline.

The problem with Portland isn't so much its present roster as it is the ownership. Paul Allen may be richer than God, but he's already forced out a great basketball mind in Kevin Pritchard and replaced him with a yes-man in Rick Cho. Allen needs to step back and simply sign the checks, not call the shots.