Who would you build a team around?

by jscot on May 27, 2008 8:40 AM PDT

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24586773/

Michael Ventre of MSNBC lists his players. Few surprises in his top 5 -- Kobe, Lebron, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams. Any one of those guys would be a good starting point, for sure. Perhaps Deron Williams isn't quite at the same level as the other four at this point in time, but I'd be persuaded to take him if Utah waived him. I think he'd be good enough for us.

But then comes the interesting part, what he calls the "other players receiving votes". And the very first one he mentions in this category is....

Greg Oden.

His comment:

Yes, I know. He hasn’t played yet for the Portland Trail Blazers. But if he’s the kind of center everybody thought he’d be coming out of Ohio State, he’s definitely a player you would want to build around.

Other players in this category? Tony Parker, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Yao Ming, and....

Brandon Roy.

Smart, young, level-headed, gifted versatile guard who made a seamless transition to the NBA and still has lots of upside.

Out of his top 12 players to build a team around, only one team has two of them. And it isn't Pau and Kobe on the L*kers, or Paul and someone else on the Hornets. That's right, we are the only team that has two of his top 12 players to build around. And it's hard to find many teams whose third player is really a better option for the future than LMA.

It's a great, great time to be a Blazer fan.

Poll

Which of the following has the brightest future?

The hopes of 29 other teams to stop our championship run before it hits 15 straight years

12 votes

Amlmart1's Oxford University English teaching career

12 votes

Tominhawaii's Trans-Pacific message service

4 votes

TDarkstar's impersonation bureau

3 votes

Fatty's humility and grammar school

8 votes

Annthefan's "Trade Travis" campaign

6 votes

An Eskimo igloo in Phoenix in July

4 votes

49 votes | Poll has closed

2 recs | Comment 25 comments

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Comments

Titletown

USA

Blazer Fan

by leeroyjenkins on May 27, 2008 10:07 AM PDT 0 recs

Crazy, Sexy, Cool

I wonder why Tyler Hansbrough wasn’t on that list. I’d trade Roy, Oden, and LMA to get him.

Four

by tominhawaii on May 27, 2008 12:34 PM PDT 0 recs

If something comes to fruition,

it starts to succeed and produce the results that were intended or hoped for.

It never rains for everibody´s pleasure.

by amlmart1 on May 27, 2008 1:12 PM PDT 0 recs

that should be the last comment on every single blog/diary/fanpost

the end of speculation! the beginning of dreams!

But someone will ruin with some Tyler Hansbrough nonsense. That being said, please Big Kahuna, don’t, even in jest, make us imagine Tyler in Red and Black. Someone who needs to post something will start some kind of movement, complete with links to a bloodied Hansbrough doing that ridiculous ape-armed high-step up the court. The NCAA tourney was bad enough.

"its tough to play with one eye, unless you're a pirate." Delonte West

by Honka Playboy on May 27, 2008 3:19 PM PDT up 0 recs

Oh

I wasn’t joking 100%. Hansbrough is going to be our Milsap or Turiaf. I wouldn’t trade the big 3 for him, but I do want him on the roster.

Five

by tominhawaii on May 27, 2008 3:29 PM PDT up 0 recs

I see him as more of a Mark Madsen

Only not as smart.

by Junior Del Norte on May 27, 2008 3:39 PM PDT up 0 recs

I see him more as of the Melvin Ely ilk.

But seriously, everyone compares white players to other white players exclusively. I also like the Robin Lopez-to-Varejao comparisons largely based on hair.

BLZRS FRVR

by nightbluefruit on May 27, 2008 3:46 PM PDT up 0 recs

I saw this coming a mile away

It’s not that they’re both white. It’s that they’re both so weirdly enthusiastic it’s actually kind of embarrassing to me even though I’m at home watching on tv. Come on, Honka Playboy put it best with the “ape-armed high-step” comment. Plus, I think they’ll have similar NBA careers. The lack of melanin is just a coincidence.

by Junior Del Norte on May 27, 2008 7:11 PM PDT up 0 recs

Don't worry

We’ll draft him next year with our #30 pick at the end of the first round.

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on May 28, 2008 3:18 AM PDT up 0 recs

Yes

We’ll have th 30th pick because Roy at point guard will lead us to a championship.

by tominhawaii on May 28, 2008 1:06 PM PDT up 0 recs

Only trying to sound a little like un Oxford University English teacher

It never rains for everibody´s pleasure.

by amlmart1 on May 28, 2008 12:58 AM PDT up 0 recs

Best poll. Ever.

Current team + Greg + Rudy = Blazers losing narrowly to the Spurs in the 2008-2009 Western Conference Finals. Book it.

by prezofdeath on May 27, 2008 3:33 PM PDT 0 recs

I gotta say,

I don’t remember ever being listed on a poll that wasn’t my own. Of course, I forgot to lock the apartment when I went shopping this morning. Fortunately, I wasn’t gone long enough for anyone to notice.

So when can we start setting up my imposterization drawers?

One of Two Official Blazer's Edge Poets Laureate for the 2008-2009 Season

"Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary." - Patrick McManus

by T Darkstar on May 27, 2008 3:46 PM PDT up 0 recs

You aren't listed

It’s someone else impersonating you.

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on May 28, 2008 3:16 AM PDT up 0 recs

Maybe we should ask Timbo about that. He knows his polls.

"Besides, AnntheFan will be here any minute to #25 you." T Darkstar

by annthefan on May 27, 2008 3:56 PM PDT up 0 recs

I can make that statement dirty

in 10 syllables.

Five

by tominhawaii on May 27, 2008 4:00 PM PDT up 0 recs

I'll bet you can. But we musn't upset Dave. Remember, we just had a talking to.

"Besides, AnntheFan will be here any minute to #25 you." T Darkstar

by annthefan on May 27, 2008 4:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

Silly Goose

You were supposed to do Name That Tune and say, “I can make that dirty in 9 syllables.”

by tominhawaii on May 28, 2008 1:08 PM PDT up 0 recs

Thanks

I almost included an option about Timbo’s small-ball training course, but he’s not been around recently, so I left it.

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on May 28, 2008 3:16 AM PDT up 0 recs

If I'm building a team...

...I build it around Jscot and not look back.

It’s awesome that we are so sweet and rad and stuff. Other teams fans are foolin’ themselves; the Blazers are gonna be winning 70+ games in a few years. We will be insanely good.

If I wasn’t a Blazer fan, I would be morbidly depressed. How can I get excited about my core of Monta, Andris, and Brandon Wright when the Blazers have Roy/Oden/LMA/Rudy/Outlaw/Martell? There is no hope for anyone else.

Why waste time rooting for Boozer/Deron/AK-47, when Roy/LMA/Oden demolish their faces in?

And while Kobe is a better player than Roy, LMA and Oden are >>>>>>>>>>>> Odom and Pau. It’s not even close. And Bynum? He’ll have a front row seat to get SPALDING tattooed on his forehead from Oden’s repeated poster dunks.

I just feel so bad for every other fan. Oh well, I’m over it.

Mortimer

by Mortimer on May 28, 2008 4:18 AM PDT 0 recs

"NBA Fans Mental Health Care Without Frontiers"

We should create now this Organization. We might go to other sites to give some support to other team fans and try to take them out of depression, using a little part of the free time that this site let us to eat and sleep.

It never rains for everibody´s pleasure.

by amlmart1 on May 28, 2008 4:40 AM PDT up 0 recs

Hmm....

Within a few words, you are saying that you are building around me, and then you use a form of the word “insane” to refer to us.

This is almost as dangerous as impersonation.

What you have going for you is that sweet, sensitive side that the ladies admire:

I just feel so bad for every other fan.

Followed by the incisive, cut to the chase comment that really matters:

Oh well, I’m over it.

I can respect that. In fact, I could have said it myself. In fact, I have said almost exactly that before.

So I’ll let your indiscretions pass.

This time.

Otherwise, I would have to feel so bad for what would happen to you. But I would get over it.

...

Arguably, while we might not have one of the top 4 players to build around, our top two are unmatched. And when we add LMA, no one has a core of 3 young players to even compare. Not even close. And the thing is, Rudy et al could be just as phenomenal. We literally might have 6 All-Star level players on our roster. Not that they’ll all make it, but the potential is there.

I love it when a guy named Mortimer uses words like “morbidly”. Some people might think it casts a pall over proceedings, of course. But we Scots have been cutting each other’s throats and back-stabbing each other for so long that we’re into this kind of thing. You want morbid, Robert the Bruce’s heart was cut out and buried in Melrose Abbey.

I think I’ve just gone off topic. I wish I could find that little “post” button to click on to stop me typing so much stupid stuff. Oh, there it is.

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on May 28, 2008 6:33 AM PDT up 0 recs

Do you wear a kilt?

by tominhawaii on May 28, 2008 1:13 PM PDT up 0 recs

That's not off-topic

because Mortimer said he wanted to build a team around me.

So I’m not going to answer. I’m now in off-topic mode on this thread.

I can do that without feeling guilty, because it’s my thread. I do it sometimes in other threads without feeling guilty, too, but then I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. Sometimes.

It’s getting late here, and the quality of my posts reflects that.

What were we talking about?

Other people don't have as much practice at being wrong as I do -- HT, timbo

by jscot on May 28, 2008 2:34 PM PDT up 0 recs