Portland Management has returned to its Boston War Room after spending a week scouting in Virginia. It's a pleasure to be back, and with that said....
With the 109th pick in the 2012 CBDraft, the Portland Trailblazers select Chauncey Billups - G
Thought you'd go with ____ ___ instead there. I love Chauncey, hope he comes back strong this year.
I was wondering where Chauncey would go. Not too sure what to make of him coming off that torn achilles. An awful bad injury for a near-36 year old guard.
Yep, it's gonna be touch and go for him, but the most recent reports have him returning at the start of the season, with Chauncey himself declaring that he'll play a full 82.
With Chauncey, I am more concerned about a decrease in performance than missed games.
Elton Brand struggled a lot with that injury a few years ago when he first moved to Philly. Tough injury that seems to effect your agility, lateral quickness and explosiveness.
High probability that it will hurt Chauncey as a defender/rebounder + offensively make it tougher for him to get into the paint, more reliant on his jumper, possibly less FTAs, harder to get separation from his defender so less of a shot-creator.
Maybe more of a 14-15ppg than a 16-18ppg guy. More of a 4th option than the 2nd/3rd option he has been in recent seasons. A slight decrease in scoring efficiency but should still be very strong in this department given his skill-set. Likely a liability defensively.
I am not sure whether the logic on that is right or not -- I am not good with injuries -- but that is the direction I am leaning towards in terms of expectations.