1. 25

That means NO NO NO a thousand times over.

Besides, this proposal is preposterous. The Blazers do not need another guard, and they are sort of undermanned at the SF position, so it would be crazy for them to trade Travis for Connely. Where on earth do these bonehead rumors come from?

$$ Portland has been calling. The Trail Blazers want a point guard and are willing to part with Travis Outlaw (Starkville native) to get a floor general from the Griz. It’s probably more likely that the Blazers would want Conley — and not Kyle Lowry — in this scenario because Conley is the purest point guard in the bunch and Portland could pull off a reunion with former teammate Greg Oden.

If that’s the case, the Griz would need more than Outlaw in return. But I don’t believe trading Conley is a wise move. Trading Conley would put the Griz back at square one, again searching for a dynamic point guard to compensate for the loss of the GOOD Jason Williams.

And why would Griz give up on a smart, physically gifted point guard so quickly? So that Mayo can handle the ball? Take away Conley’s quirky injuries and remember he’s just 20 years old, and the Griz would be wise to keep him. My guess is that they will given Conley was a deal breaker in attempts to get the right to draft Michael Beasley.

for real, but Ron Tillery, the guy who writes that blog, is the Grizzlies beat writer at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. He knows his stuff. Not saying it’s more than speculation, but the man has talent and writes for a respected publication.

maybe trade bayless? or more raefs contracts and ike for a overpaid sf?

But why would Memphis trade a number four overall pick from 2007 for a SF, when their only perceived star plays that position? Interesting.

From Portland’s perspective, if this call really went through, it would seem to suggest that the powers that be think Roy can play some SF this year, and they’re trying to clear some time for Rudy.

I know everyone loves Outlaw, but I wouldn’t completely hate seeing him get moved. I get the feeling his value is a little inflated. I would like to see whether he can improve his D spending consistent time at the three spot this year, though. If so, he’s a keeper. If not, ship him out.

Why?

now I dunk a lot.

I think there would be more moves in the works if this were to happen.

First week of training camp. GM: “Mhm, this guy we drafted / traded for / acquired via free agency doesn’t look as good as advertised. And I’m still not convinced of our player x on position y. Time to pick up the phone and call the press. And this agent. And this GM.”

sigh

Travis has shown the ability to develop his game…. Martell hasnt yet been worthy oh his high draft pick status. I believe the curve continues in Travis’ game over Martell’s.

Martell was drafted to be the long gun the PTB sorely missed at the time. He has shown the ability to stroke the long ball, but its a case of when he’s hot he’s great, when he’s not the team struggles off the long rebound. Also, Martell seems to have tried to add certain aspects to his game that I do not see as so important, namely trying to go to the rim hard. If he learned some quickness to free himself off the dribble for a decent shot would be better then the amount of times he got stuffed at the rim.

Travis has shown growth and I cant figure why the curve wont continue upward. Travis can create his own shot (and often does) and he has the hops to leap noticably higher then Web. I also think Travis is a more confident player, as Web seems to get down at times, while Travis is ready to and has made many game winning or saving plays.

Many argue Martell is a superior defender. When I suggested its not that uneven Ive gotten shot down by many a Bedger. So, maybe so. Maybe Martell is a better defender, buts thats not acquiesence on my part.

Both Web and Trout are sitting pretty. With the new additions to the roster, there shouldnt be any reason, why after several seasons, these guys dont make the most of their games and really blossom into the players they are.

I cant believe KP would trade either of those guys for Mike Conley Jr. No way.

http://www.thememphisedge.com/2008/08/25/griz-moves-on-the-horizon/

They – respectively their fans – aren’t very high anymore on Hakim Warrick, who plays very questionable defense and hasn’t really found his position. He also is a bad outside shooter, so Travis might be a slightly superior player and is two years younger, which in turn would free up a trade for Warrick to a third team.

I saw a Perseid remnant streak across the sky last night and wished all Battier and Travis trade rumors would cease and desist. What did I ever do to deserve this?

I hadn’t thought of it, and I should have.
Nicely done.

Just saying…

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/teams/depth?team=hou

based on what?

seems like everybody is great….

dependent upon his ability to stay fit. From what I understand, he didn’t do a whole lot of conditioning last off season as he was attempting to get the highest possible contract and well you know those details. Because he suffers from asthma, any asthmatic, myself included, knows that lung conditioning is a long and arduous process. Even for a professional athlete this most obviously affected his overall game.

The dribbling skills, or lack there of is disconcerting for a 5th year SF. He has to obtain that skill immediatly in order to solidfy his long term role w/ the PTB. If he has been continuously working out and staying fit, doing drills should come easily and hopefully he will show marked improvement in that area.

As some people have noted in the Rudy thread on the main page, a major concern is Defense but then again not really a concern b/c defense can be an acquired skill and one can become a great defender w/ discipline and concentration. If Outlaw keeps his conditioning up I have no doubt that his D will improve. There is just no way it does not.

With that being said, he will never be a grat defender. I just cant see him staying focused enough to do so.

Sophia

So if he should get eventually traded, I would like to get a similarly athletic and versatile player back (a la Tayshaun Prince, Danny Granger). That said, Trout isn’t in this league yet, and there are questions he will get there.

On the positive side, he is constantly in motion (somewhat similar to Rudy) and has developed a pretty reliable spot-up shot off the dribble that he can get over most guys in the league due to his high jump. He is athletic and energetic, which could also be his best defensive weapon. He might be the best guy in isolation plays on the roster, maybe after Brandon. And last year finally he wasn’t afraid anymore to make the big plays to win a close game.

Negatives: He still favors his right hand way too much, making him somewhat easier to defend especially on drives. He is not a terribly good shooter when he gets the ball standing (no “catch and shoot” guy) or turning around, which is odd since he can get it off in motion. Together with his shot selection this makes his offense somewhat inconsistent / inefficient on some nights. And he just doesn’t use his physical abilities to shut down opponents enough. If he really set his mind to it, he could be a Shawn Marion type on defense with his speed and size, but he isn’t bringing it.

I already like what he brings right now. But will he get better? I don’t know. He may be destined to be a sixth man. Now I don’t think that’s too bad at all, and would love to keep him on those grounds. It’s hard to find good sixth men who don’t think that they should be starting, somewhere else if necessary. But Outlaw seems to fit that spot pretty well.

Would I give that up to have Conley? Not right now. I want to see what we’ve got in Bayless at the point next to Roy for a bit first, or for that matter, Blake with this lineup. Barring devastating injury, Outlaw wont hurt his value, and unless Conley is the next Paul or Williams, his value wont go up that much either, in my opinion.

On paper, does this trade make sense? Maybe yes, maybe no. But I wouldn’t risk team chemistry on a maybe. The grain of salt: I thought Conley was a little overrated to begin with.

I mentioned it earlier, and no one seems to even want to talk about it. We really need to get some of the value out of one of these SF boys before they both have disgusting contracts. Travis is marketable. We only need one starting three, and one backup. Luke seems like a perfect NBA backup.

If we’re actively trying to trade Travis, I sure hope it’s not because we’re depending on Luke Jackson.

They have his better clone in Mayo

It’s that Conley AND Bayless would be a decent PG depth chart-filler going forward if the only expense is Outlaw and letting Blake go after the season.
My opinion is that Conley would be decent off the bench behind Bayless in a year or two.

Is Memphis rebuilding or bailing out?….they may be trying to get attractive players for someone interested in buying the team. So it may depend on interests in players they now have….. and thus it simply is a “feel out the situation” sort of thing…..Outlaw may be the only attractive player, Portland has, that they are willing to part with……Problem for Portland is, they need more help at the 3, than point guard……So they can’t give up a prospective player like Outlaw without a return at this position …So I would think, if this rumor has any merit, that another team or 2 may be involved. What is Portland thinking of for this year? They, most likely, have the goal of making the playoffs….So, can they get there with the team they now have? They do have the luxury of waiting for a more lucrative window to open next season…..I just don’t see them making a move without justification for the future 3 position first.

And the risk of eternal damnation will make Oden stay in Portland for his career.

I will make KP trade for anyone, murder anyone, buy anyone to make sure Oden stays in Portland. HE IS STAYING DAMMIT.

Losing Oden is so far off as even a worry that I doubt he’s considering getting Conley to prevent that. Besides, Oden ain’t Lebron, looking to be the global icon with a known NY fetish.

I agree though— if Travis does not expand his game past scoring, he won’t be nearly as necessary for this team. I do not think we will have a problem scoring in either the 1st or 2nd unit and if that is all Outlaw does we will outgrow him. He needs to keep expanding his game to keep pace with his offense.

I can’t imagine the Grizz are considering Z-Bo. I doubt they are looking to add longterm money for that level of player. They woulda’ thrown big money at someone (not the fake-throw of big money at Josh Smith) or used the cap space in a trade or something. They’re staying as cheap and rookie contract filled as possible to keep costs down and position the team for a sale.

Mortimer

…maybe…?

He should have real good value league wide as a hot slutty young PG with lotsa upside, but I’m one of those who felt he was overrated because of playing with Oden and the focus on PGs being so-so important. Just in an asset-accruing sense, he’s valuable and the Blazers could benefit from trading for him perhaps… but in a win-now sense… Hmm.

I don’t know if he is a real upgrade, for now, over Blake/Bayless, but he did have some pretty good games over the last 2 months of the season. Is he worth what it would likely take to get him? I dunno, man, I dunno…

Before we got Bayless, this would likely be an easier decision. Conley will be a more pure PG I’m sure, but the back-n-forth between Roy and Bayless and Rudy might fit even better-er. I know I wanna see it first, that’s for damn skippy sure dammit.

If we need Conley later on, he’ll probably be itching to get out of Memphis and we can use Oden to lure HIM over. We’ll have won, like, 20 championships over the next 3 years and Conley will be a RFA itching to pull a ditching on the Grizztching.

Mortimer

#25

PG- BLake(19) Conley(19) Bayless(10)
SG- Roy( 19) Rudy(22) Bayless(7)
SF- Webster(30) Roy(15) Frye/ Jackson(3)

This could definatly work. Blake and Conley would split most of the pg duties, and bayless could get to play at pg and sg, which he showed he could do very well, at least the sg part. Rudy would get alot of the sg minutes, but with roy starting. And i think that roy could handle playing sf for at least 15 minutes. Paul pierce is one of the best sf in the nba right now and he is the same height as roy…6-6. THis would also give webster a better chance to break out a little bit, something i think the stage is set for next year. And it would be a way to get fye some more minutes. pull the trigger kp.

I wouldn’t call him defensive minded or offensive minded— he’s solid on offense and adequate on defense, but he’s not amazing at either one.

We don’t want any unproven guys on our team. Let’s get rid of Oden, Rudy and Bayless ASAP.