FanPost

Lets put an end to this trade Travis talk

Looking across the forums and the internet, so many people are thinking that Travis will be the most likely to be traded  if there is a trade. 

 

Now the only reason that Travis would be traded is if there is a trade for a top flight PG on the table and Travis is the missing talent piece to go along with RLEC, however a large trade includint a Harris or Parker is very unlikely to come IMO. 

 

However from a team standpoint, Travis is one of the most valuable and integral players on the team, moreso than Webster who will be the first SF to be traded and here is why. 

 

1. Everyone says that Travis is a "black hole" that once he gets the pass he dribbles around and has only one thing on his mind: getting his shot off. However the stats prove otherwise:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2009.html

Travis' usage percentage is actually 6th on the team very close to Rudy's which means that when Travis is on the court, he is used about the same as Rudy

 

2. Martell is 6'7 225 and swings more of a 2-3 and Travis is 6'9 215 and swings 3-4 so lets take a look at who we have at the 2 and 3

from top to bottom, best to worst

2:

Roy

Rudy

Webster

Bayless

3:

Travis/Martell/Nic

to me there is no clear cut differential between Travis and Martell and some may claim Nic, as they all bring different things to the table. 

however looking traviis and the 3-4 lineup it goes as follows

 

3:

Travis/Martell/Nic

4:

LMA

Travis 

Frye

which in conclusion means that Webster will be locked into the 3 position and will have to battle Rudy and Roy for any 2 minutes if he gets any at all while Travis is already used as a 4 smoetimes and actually does well as a 4 and can compete as the #2 PF with Frye. 

Travis allows us to be a more versatile team with more lineups to throw at opposing teams. 

 

 

3. Martell does not fit in any place. Where does he fit? with the 1st team as a shooter or on the second team as a shooter? That is pretty much all he does and even that he is only a .372 career 3ot shooter. True he did develop a little bit of an extended offensive game last year but many times he still relied on his 3pt shot. His entire game is based on something that has a 37%chance of going in. 

Travis actually had a better 3pt shot % last year and has worked hard on his 3pt shot over the offseason and is currently hitting over 50%. 

Now you may say "well last year Travis did have a better 3pt % but he only attempted 1/3 of his attempts" Ok so that may be true last year but this year Travis is on pace to TAKE 25% fewer 3pters but MAKE as many as Webster did last year. 

Overall it is pretty much obvious that Travis' O game is much more refined than Websters and if O is needed on the court Travis sohuld be the SF of choice.  D is a wash between Travis and Webster as both have their pluses and minuses, Webster tends to be a bit better on the ball but Travis is much better sas a help defender ala Kirilenko coming from the weak side to block shots, which leads me to my next point.

To me I think it is farily obvious that Nic is our best perimiter defender as the other night he was a large factor in holding Wade to only 12 pts, even with the quickness disadantage, his length more than made up for it and he is only a rookie to boot. 

I can say with confidence that is Nate wants do put a D team on the court Nic will be his first choice, does anyone disagree?

Nic is starting because of his d and more importantly his abilityto make an impact without needing to take a shot. Add to this the fact that he is hitting 3pt at a better rate than Martell and that leads me to think that he is the best fit @ starting SF. 

So in short, what is Webster better than either Travis or Batum than? He is not better than travis at O and is not better than Batum on D. 

 

4. Some will say that "Webster just signed a new contract so he is not going anywhere"

Actually that makes him more tradeable in the fact that previous to this Martell did not have a number attatched to him so far as trading  purposes go. Now that he has a contract  that is very reasonable for a player of his skill level, that makes him more tradeable than before. 

 

All in all besides the point that unless a top tier pg is in play, Travis should not be going anywhere, especially for a 2nd 3rd string pg such as Conley. As much as it sadens me I would guess Frye would be the one moved and Travis would slide over to the backup PF and then ading in Webster and RLEC to upgrade pgs allowing Batum to play more minutes and TO to play more. 

 

The bottom line is Travis is more valuable than Webster and is not going anywhere.