Why We Don't Need Veterans: We Have Them

was a guy who kept us from going into 5-6 minutes scoring slumps. We had young guys that got overwhelmed especially on the second unit which led to large gaps when we couldn’t score (2005-2007). When we we cellar dwellers we really needed vets to break that cycle. But that problem has largely dissapeared as evidenced by last season. Roy and Aldrige give steady scoring on the starting unit. And Trout is mr Reliable in the second unit (though Frye may bring a steadier game this season).

My point is we have leadership and now we have scorers who don’t get rattled because the young guys have already matured to a degree (Trout). The only vets we need are Raef, who can fill in solid miuntes in case of player injuries provide leadership from the bench and provide cap relief when our guys mature. Francis is playing th esame roel (except he doesn’t do those first two things).

Michael Jordan’s name than Luios Pasteur’s. Just sayin’ we’re fickler than you give us credit for.

there are two very distinct yet similar sounding things being bandied about in this thread
1) Veteran Leadership
2) Veteran Experience (contributer to deep playoff run)

the 80s/90s teams of Drexler et al needed both. Buck Williams was the person who came over and fulfilled (1). After losing to the Pistons, we made acquired (2) in the person of Danny Ainge.

I think our current team does not need (1). We have very solid leadership right now. While we could possibly win a title without acquiring (2), I think doing so will A) open up the title opportunity sooner, and B) increase the chance of actually bringing home that first title.

I might also add that most coaches will tell you that if they had to make a decision, they’d take talent over experience. You can’t coach talent, players either have it or they don’t. But you can gain experience. In two years, I doubt we’ll be having this kind of a debate. And in two years, assuming Oden stays healthy, we’ll go deep into the playoffs – and maybe do that a year earlier. Experience is also defined as veteran leadership. Mac understands that it has value. However, if Mac had to make a decision between keeping a younger player with more talent or an older player with experience, he’d probably keep the younger player.

Teams grow together. The Blazers have the pieces in place, Next year, they’ll have cap space and some of the questions people have today will begin to be answered. Right now, if you looked down the bench, just who would you get rid of other than perhaps third squad players like LaFrenz, Batum, Diogu or Sergio? And those players will not get us a “better” player. Only, another player. And of these two, Batum will stay until we see if he can be a defensive stopper, and Diogu will stay if he demonstrates the ability to be a power player underneath. Neither will likely, after all, get you another player who can make any particular contribution that is better than what they can do.

You have to give to get in the NBA. Either you trade talent, or you pay in cap space, which, in turn, reduces your ability to keep the talent you have.

And right now – it’s about talent. Later, it will be about experience.

Let’s look at the past 25 NBA Champions to find cases of teams who got to the promised land after acquiring a “veteran playoff leader”.
Some ground rules:
1) If the player acquired is an all-star caliber player, it doesn’t count. The talent of the player likely had a far larger contribution towards the winning than the fact that the player may have been there before.
2) If some or all of the “core” 2-3 players on the team had themselves been there before, it doesn’t count. They already have “veteran playoff leaders”. Sure, maybe more didn’t hurt, but that didn’t push them over the top.
3) The acquisition had to have occurred within the season or two prior to winning. If someone who had previous deep playoff experience was acquired 4 years before the new team won the title, you can’t say that the previous experience was a difference maker.

2008 NO Boston – 2 of the big 3 were preseason acquisitions. Both were all-stars.
2007 NO Spurs – 4th title in 7 years with Duncan
2006 NO Miami – Shaq had won 3 titles and had another finals appearance.
2005 NO Spurs – 3rd title in 5 years with Duncan
2004 NO Pistons – Wallace had previous deep playoff experience. But he’s also an all-star caliber player. The team had been to the ECF the year before-thus they all had experience.
2003 NO Spurs – David and Timmy do it again
2002 NO Lakers – 3-peaters
2001 NO Lakers – repeaters
2000 MAYBE Lakers – Horry/Harper/AC Green. You can make a case here too, but Shaq and Kobe had been to the 2nd round twice and the WCF in ‘98.
1999 MAYBE Spurs – Kerr/Elie/Kersey. You can make a case on this one, although Robinson had previusly been to the 2nd round 4 times and the WCF once.
1998 NO Bulls – #6
1997 NO Bulls – #5
1996 NO Bulls – #4
1995 NO Rockets – Hakeem and Company had won the year before. Clyde no doubt helped – but see rule #1 above
1994 NO Rockets – Hakeem had been there before and the rest of the key players were either rookies or had been with Houston for a while.
1993 NO Bulls – 3-peat
1992 NO Bulls – repeat
1991 NO Bulls – had been deep in playoffs previous 3 years – they had paid their dues
1990 NO Pistons – repeat
1989 NO Pistons – had lost finals year before, and ECF the year (two?) previous to that. Paid their dues
1988 NO Lakers – 5th and final title for Magic
1987 NO Lakers – Magic/Worthy/Kareem had been there a few times
1986 NO Boston – 3rd title for the Bird crew
1985 NO Lakers – playoff veterans all around
1984 NO Boston – 2nd title for Bird & Company.

Most of these weren’t hard to figure out at all

So, looking back 25 years it’s hard to find a single case of a team acquiring a “veteran playoff leader” who was the difference maker in pushing that team over the top and to the title. Even the two possibilities on the list are a stretch at best, and if anything they may have brought the title in a year or two sooner, but in both cases titles were clearly inevitable for the core guys.

Look at this list of champions – it’s 99% about top-tier talent. Every team on the list had it. We think we have a pretty nice big 3 talent wise, along with some other nice pieces. All we really need is time. Acquiring a “veteran playoff leader” could open up our window sooner perhaps, but you have to ask what that player is going to cost us and is it worth it.