Blazers Talk

[nehalem]

Aside from the talent we'd have to give up to get C. Paul, I've got doubts about Roy's ability to coexist with a teammate that controls the ball other than him-which is arguably the best part of Roy's game. I'd be bummed to lose Batum, Camby, and to a lessor extent Bayless, but I do love Paul's game though.

[gregspechtismyhero]

Aside from the talent we'd have to give up to get C. Paul, I've got doubts about Roy's ability to coexist with a teammate that controls the ball other than him-which is arguably the best part of Roy's game. I'd be bummed to lose Batum, Camby, and to a lessor extent Bayless, but I do love Paul's game though.

Roy would have to deal with it, because the lineup of CP3/Roy/Mathews/LA/Oden(or Okafor) would be sick. Cho should try to get NOLA to take Rudy instead of Batum, I think I'd be most disappointed to lose him. Okafor would be a step down from Camby defensively, but realistically it would only be a half step back. Okafor averaged 1 less rebound and .5 less blocks per game than Camby. I don't see why they wouldn't do this deal, it would have huge upside for the Blazers. Cho is a numbers guy, he has to like this opportunity.

[nehalem]

Everything you say makes sense and the loss of Batum would be my greatest regret from the deal. You had to see the anti-chemistry between Miller and Roy, which I blame Roy for, more than Miller. That'll be Roys next big learning challenge-to alter his game without the ball in his hands. I'd do the deal though.(Prizbilla,Bayless,Camby,Fernandez-fine then,Batum)

[UOducksTK1]

Aside from the talent we'd have to give up to get C. Paul, I've got doubts about Roy's ability to coexist with a teammate that controls the ball other than him-which is arguably the best part of Roy's game. I'd be bummed to lose Batum, Camby, and to a lessor extent Bayless, but I do love Paul's game though.

I have to respectfully disagree. If you worried about who will get the ball in clutch situations, it will certainly be Roy. And even if it isn't, that's the last thing IMO that would bother Roy. Paul will get Roy MORE opportunities and more open looks for scoring. Paul is the best passer and decision maker in the NBA. He's exactly who you want because he'll make guys like Roy and Aldridge better players.

Adding Paul makes the Blazers the 2nd best team in the league behind LA.

[thomas time]

As much as we all love batum, why would the hornerts take rudy over batum? We like him over Rudy, so why would the hornerts want the worst of the two. N.O. isn't just going to trade cp for nothing, I think it will take either batum or oden (if not both). Blazers need to make it happened, cp is a top ten (if not top five) player in the league, while Batum is only potential sp? I would trade Batum, bayless, andre, joel and rudy for cp and okafor.

[nehalem]

If you worried about who will get the ball in clutch situations, it will certainly be Roy

That seems really unknowable, especially since Paul and Roy are both Alpha personalities and each are used to finishing. I would grant you that the star coming into a new situation usually defers to the existing star.

And even if it isn't, that's the last thing IMO that would bother Roy.

Again, I'm basing my suposition on what happened between Miller and Roy. While Miller isn't in Paul's class, he's arguably the best distributor we've had in a long time, that has the courage to drive the lane to keep defenses honest and for what ever reason, their was no magic, no chemistry, the kind of feel to the game you sense as much as see.(I wish I could remember how Roy's game was when he played with Nate Robinson.) I would like to believe your right.

Paul will get Roy MORE opportunities and more open looks for scoring.
Paul is the best passer and decision maker in the NBA.
He's exactly who you want because he'll make guys like Roy and Aldridge better players.

All true if Roy can adapt his game. Do you see Paul being as effective if he changes his game the way Miller did when he and Roy shared the floor? I don't. A hint would be in how Miller played when Roy wasn't on the floor-often good to occasionally spectacular.

Adding Paul makes the Blazers the 2nd best team in the league behind LA.

I agree, if Roy adapts.

[nehalem]

As much as we all love batum, why would the hornerts take rudy over batum? We like him over Rudy, so why would the hornerts want the worst of the two. N.O. isn't just going to trade cp for nothing, I think it will take either batum or oden (if not both). Blazers need to make it happened, cp is a top ten (if not top five) player in the league, while Batum is only potential sp? I would trade Batum, bayless, andre, joel and rudy for cp and okafor.

If I were the Hornets, I wouldn't do the deal without Batum. As the Portland GM I'd(probably foolishly) try to offer them expiring contracts and quantity over quality(bad choice of word-quality-but I hope you know what I mean.) You mention giving up both Batum and Oden if necessary, but you don't list Oden in your last line. Would you include him in your list of Blazers to trade?

[UOducksTK1]

If you worried about who will get the ball in clutch situations, it will certainly be Roy

That seems really unknowable, especially since Paul and Roy are both Alpha personalities and each are used to finishing. I would grant you that the star coming into a new situation usually defers to the existing star.

And even if it isn't, that's the last thing IMO that would bother Roy.

Again, I'm basing my suposition on what happened between Miller and Roy. While Miller isn't in Paul's class, he's arguably the best distributor we've had in a long time, that has the courage to drive the lane to keep defenses honest and for what ever reason, their was no magic, no chemistry, the kind of feel to the game you sense as much as see.(I wish I could remember how Roy's game was when he played with Nate Robinson.) I would like to believe your right.

Paul will get Roy MORE opportunities and more open looks for scoring.
Paul is the best passer and decision maker in the NBA.
He's exactly who you want because he'll make guys like Roy and Aldridge better players.

All true if Roy can adapt his game. Do you see Paul being as effective if he changes his game the way Miller did when he and Roy shared the floor? I don't. A hint would be in how Miller played when Roy wasn't on the floor-often good to occasionally spectacular.

Adding Paul makes the Blazers the 2nd best team in the league behind LA.

I agree, if Roy adapts.

I honestly think you're putting too much thought into Roy adjusting if we add Paul. I've been a Paul fan for a while and know his game. I truly think there will be no problems with Paul in our offense.

And you mentioned Dre, he's a very one dimensional player. While he does distribute the ball pretty well, he's very slow and can't shoot. That's a killer for creating for your teammates. And that's what Paul does so well! His quickness and speed will cause defenses to collapse inside, which will give Roy easy open jump shots and 3 point shots. And at the same time, Paul has a good enough shot to keep defenses honest as well.

A win win situation IMO.

[thomas time]

Giving up Oden and Batum is a very tough decision for me. I guess if it came down to both of them and the others I would have to pass on cp, man I would hate that too. I love cp and oden, with batum hopefully being just as great as we all think he will. So I guess if its just batum and the rest I would, but both and the rest I would have to pass on cp. Come hornerts take the deal with batum and the rest please, we can add 2011 and 2012 first round picks and cash instead of oden.

[oregontrack]

Roy has a reputation for dominating the ball, but he also played alongside Jarrett Jack and Steve Blake much of his career. Wouldn't you? Jack can't do anything, and Blake is a spot up shooter. It took awhile to adjust to Andre last year, but once Blake was traded and McMillan's ridiculous line-ups and substitutions stopped (remember that stretch where we started Andre at the 1, Blake at the 2, and Roy at the 3? Yeah, no wonder there were problems) Portland got in a real groove with Andre running the show. We finished last year very, very strong. Wasn't our winning % .700 after the trade, at least one of those losses coming late at GS when we rested everybody?

Yeah, Paul would be great here.

Lost in all of this is the giant defensive upgrade. If we could keep Oden in the deal (but lose Batum, sadly) we could potentially field a 1-5 of Paul/Roy/Matthews/LMA/Oden. Three elite defenders in Paul, Matthews, and Oden, a pretty good one in Roy, and admittedly a waste of defensive space in LaMarcus. But still, that's a pretty sweet defensive team. We'd have to bring in Okafor with Paul, and Camby and Okafor would both make for quality defenders off the bench.

[thomas time]

I heard on sports sunday that the magic have a low chance at getting cp cause of okafor's big contract. They said the blazers are the frontrunners for him, not really sure if that's just of hope or if this guy has any inside information. Anyways this should be a very interesting week for the blazers, cp's meeting today with the hornerts, so we will see what happeneds with that.

[oregontrack]

It should be noted, however, that if New Orleans loses Chris Paul, they're losing a future Hall of Famer and the face of their franchise. No matter what kind of package they can get in return, they are the losers here. Thus, I don't think for a second that the Hornets, if Paul forces his way out, are going to take his 'preferred' trade list into consideration. They're going to make the best trade for them, not the best trade that appeases the guy who's trying to destroy their franchise.

Maybe Portland can put together the best return package in the NBA and he'd be a Blazer anyway, but if Paul is going to be dealt, we're going to be competing with 25 teams trying to trade for him, not just 3.

[thomas time]

Today on "Wheels at Work" Blazer Insider Jason Quick joined Jay and Kenny and talked about "drama" in the Blazer Camp in the next 24-48 hours. He wouldn't go into details of what it was, but we will see if and what is today or tommorrow. Jason also said some guy in the trade talks with cp told him that the blazers had the best offer of all teams, so maybe blazers can get him at the trade deadline if the hornerts are out of playoffs picture.

[nehalem]

I heard that too; prevailing wisdom being that it was Rudy, but Quick adding that it could also be Miller. I was prepared for Fernandez, but just a little surprised if it's Miller. I just hope it's not Oden.

[oregontrack]

I agree, I'm sure it's just Rudy whining again.