1. I think Martell actually has the best shot (possibly James Jones…). Travis Outlaw, if he stays (and I hope he does), I think is better suited to being a sparkplug off the bench. They could possibly bring in someone else, and to be honest, I could see them trading for a point guard this summer and then using the leftover cap space next summer to consider a small forward upgrade (consider is the key word there).

2. There is no way that in two seasons all three of these players remain on the roster (unless of course we determine that Travis is in fact a power forward- a decision I would question at this point). Each of three is too talented to be 11th or 12th men. As much as I hate to provoke ann and sabonis, I fear that Travis is the odd man out as bait for a point guard- I hope not, but that is the way I see it rolling.

This does not immediately pertain to the specific questions that Dave asked, but I think it factors in to the small forward quandry. One of our biggest concerns with a Roy and Rudy backcourt is the ability to defend quicker point guards. I remember back in the old Phoenix-San Antonio series, Phoenix had Marion guard Parker and San Antonio had Bowen guard Nash with some success. Likewise, the Spurs are now trying (with much less success) to contain Paul with Bruce Bowen.

Back to the subject at hand: if in fact we use a starting backcourt of Rudy and Roy, perhaps we would want a longer and laterally quicker small forward (none of whom exists on the roster currently) to match up on those quick (Paul, Nash, Parker, etc,) or oversized point guards (DW, Billups, etc.). Just throwing that out there, what do you guys think?

where there shouldn’t be any change…..unless something mind-blowing arises of course. they’re all still relatively young, let em grow, see who and what works for another year. the main concern is who is going to guard d will and c paul for the next 10 years? throw in d rose as well. honestly, jack isn’t that bad a defender, so far, he’s played them well. he seriously stepped up to skinner too, and i haven’t seen a blazer do that for a while (not since joel). i say keep him for another year as well, unless…of course,,,something mind-blowing arises

1. one of two options, IMO: Travis or somebody else entirely. With the lineup we have, we need a good perimeter defender more than anything, so I would predict that somebody else entirely will take the slot. I like the idea of someone like Josh Childress. He’s an RFA and Atlanta isn’t going to want to pay him as much as he might get elsewhere (they have to sign Josh Smith already, who will get big bucks). We have a wealth of young talent—got to give some up to get something back. I’d do a sign-and-trade for Childress with Webster and Jack in a heartbeat. Put Childress in the first unit and Outlaw in the 2nd unit, where he has shown he can thrive.

2. I don’t see Webster dealing well with being in the 2nd unit. Last year there was a lot of talk about leaving Webs in the starting lineup because he would lose confidence or whatever coming off the bench. For this reason, I would include him in a trade for a whatever-it-takes kind of player (such as Childress). I think Jones will opt out, and we’d be foolish to let Travis go, unless we have the chance to get an all-star.

3. First and foremost we need a perimeter defender. Childress would be great, and obtainable, I think. We know the core: BRoy, LA and GO. We have some dynamic scorers to complement them: Travis and Rudy (yeah, I know, counting our chickens, but still). Good fit role players: Blake, Przy and Frye. Add in a perimeter defender, and we’re getting very close.

BTW, I’m no Martell hater—I like him, I think he has a future in the league. But if I’m doing a forced choice of what value to trade, I’d choose Martell and JJack.

With Jack being a GA Tech alumni he might be attractive to the Hawks as a back up to Mike Bibby. Childress would be a great player to get back in that trade and would fit the Blazers well. However, this leaves the Blazers without a player (besides Roy) who can get to the bucket at will and contribute from the free throw line. It may be dangerous to assume (remember Bellinelli was supposed to come in and contribute right away in Golden State) but Rudy could possibly fill that role. I think Jack’s a great player and I would hate to see him live up to his potential for another team but at least it would be a team in a different conference!

biggest need is perimeter defense, although it looked pretty good during the streak and I believe it was a zone.

I say let the three of them ride one more year and see the impact on that perimeter defense GO has.

All three have great attributes: for a while TO was Mr. 4th quarter, Jones was Mr. clutch, and MW, is still young enough to keep.

was pushing hard to try to get Danny Granger. Which fits pretty perfectly with what I think we need, which is a quality two way player at the 3, with defense being slightly more important than offense. Granger’s good but not the kind of core building block for rebuilding that Indiana needs - he’s a second or third banana, not the top dawg- so I think they might be receptive to a trade that involves salary relief, picks, and young cheap players. Maybe if we take some of their bad seeds to buy out using paul allen’s money, too.

Other possibilities: Josh Howard, Shane Battier (although Shane’s maybe a little too crappy on teh offensive end to call a 2 way guy – more pure defensive stopper ala Bowen or Bell). Dream player would be Tay Prince. I have high hopes for Jared Dudley, who I think will be another one of these players in another year or two, and who I think could be picked up real cheap. Martell could end up being the guy, but I wouldn’t be overly optimistic—maybe 1 in 2 chance he develops into what we want.

One thing to keep in mind is that guys who become this role are pretty easy to find in the late teens and early 20s of the draft—Shane is the only lottery pick of the guys I mentioned so far. Granger, Howard, Prince, Dudley were all quality two way players that everyone knew about in college, but without the kind of jawdropping athleticism that gets you into the early lottery. So if we want to be patient, we can probably keep looking for Phoenix to sell their picks and for our own picks to be used for trying to identify swing defensive/hustle/glue guys.