The Blazers' Spanish strategy

by hurryup09 on Sep 29, 2008 1:05 PM PDT

For those of us who have long suspected that there were non-basketball considerations responsible for Sergio's continuing presence on the Blazers' roster, there appears to be confirmation in today's Oregonian.

It's laid out on page D5. Apparently the team has an international marketing strategy based on the presence of Sergio and Rudy on the team. The Blazers are even talking about staging an exhibition game in Spain next year.

Granted, the Blazers must be holding out hope that Sergio will improve to the point that he can be an adequate back-up point guard. I don't believe they'd keep him around strictly as a marketing tool. Roster spots are too valuable for that. But do you really think the team would have stuck with him this long if there weren't other factors in play? I don't think so; there are too many talented point guards out there--guys who can do more than dribble & pass. Sergio might still learn to score and defend, but that strikes me as a major long-shot. Generally, a player has to show a lot more than Sergio has in order to stick with an NBA team for this long. I've floated theories before: that Sergio was Paul Allen's pet project, and/or that Sergio was "Rudy bait." But maybe this international marketing angle is the real explanation for Sergio's remarkable staying power. The Blazers have to get into the black somehow, and they might view tapping into the global market as the solution to their fiscal woes.

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are they in the red still?

i thought last year they made a turnaround, got into the black and even the green a few months. Obviously I could be wrong.

by oden is GOD OF WAR on Sep 29, 2008 1:25 PM PDT 0 recs

In the article...

it says they are still in the red and expect to be thru this season at least.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Sep 29, 2008 1:30 PM PDT up 0 recs

Didn't see that article on O'live

I doubt Sergio is going to want to stick around with the Blazers for that exhibition if his minutes don’t increase significantly this year. Short of a major injury to Blake (and no veteran PGs added to the roster to replace Steve…) I don’t see major PT for Sergio forthcoming

by two4larue on Sep 29, 2008 1:57 PM PDT 0 recs

hes played for 2 years!

how is that a long time? he is still on his rookie contract for god sakes. why not get rid of martell for not living up to his high draft pick…or get rid of trout because he took so long to become a dependable player. besides its not like sergio is stealing anyones minutes right now. a roster slot isnt really all that valuable if they dont see the court like mc roberts or von wafer.

by Philthyanimal on Sep 29, 2008 3:20 PM PDT 0 recs

A half season was long enough for Taurean Green to be shown the door

And roster spots ARE valuable. Just look at how KP has agonized about whether to keep one open this season. Not having an open spot cost the team big-time last season. Remember? After GO went down, the team found itself with a grand total of one physical player (Joel P). After a rocky start to the season—in which the Blazers got pushed around with regularity—Nate asked KP for help and KP told Nate his hands were tied.

(That the team ultimately got it together enough to win 41 games is, of course, a testament to Nate’s coaching ability and to the heart of the players.)

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Sep 29, 2008 4:08 PM PDT up 1 recs

¡Esto es ridiculas!

Sergio had a good rookie season, good enough that this time last year people on this site were saying he’s going to be our future PG. He had a bad sophomore season at the age of 21. There were many people for much of last season who were saying that he should be getting more consistent PT. I think as Portland fans we have gotten a bit unrealistic at time when it comes to our young players immediate impact on the game because of the way Roy and LA started off their careers. Let’s not forget that it took Travis four years to become an impact player. It takes most PG’s years to develop.
How many people remember Steve Nash his first two years in Phoenix before he went to Dallas? Nash played four years at Santa Clara and still wasn’t an immediate impact.
Oden should be great, Bayless should be very good, Rudy may turn out to be astonishing . Sergio is not Roy but remember at 21 Roy was a six man in College backing up Nate Robinson.

The pictures kinda small, but Im giving the C's a big thumbs down

by Blazermaniac77 on Sep 29, 2008 10:19 PM PDT up 0 recs

Some good points there

I hope you’re right.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Sep 30, 2008 1:47 AM PDT up 0 recs

Thanks

me too :)

The pictures kinda small, but Im giving the C's a big thumbs down

by Blazermaniac77 on Sep 30, 2008 12:14 PM PDT up 0 recs

agreed

sergioftw, myself, and you have all stressed the same points, yet people must have short memories or tunnel vision as they cannot see the potential in sergio. nash’s fg % also dropped quite a bit from what i remember and is now dramatically improved from his all time low.

by Philthyanimal on Sep 30, 2008 6:38 PM PDT up 0 recs

The beauty of being a fan

Tunnel Vison and short memories unless of course it’s of something bad

The pictures kinda small, but Im giving the C's a big thumbs down

by Blazermaniac77 on Sep 30, 2008 9:51 PM PDT up 0 recs

Actually Roy at 21 was the top player on his team in nearly every category

You must be thinking of the year before when Nate was still there and Brandon was hurt. This from Draft Express who note his PER at 30.0 his senior year. But your point is still valid that Sergio is still developing well enough for point guards. The key to his tenure in Portland may be his shooting and turnovers. Defense will look better with the bigs we have behind him. I don’t ever remember anyone voting for Steve Nash for All NBA Defensive team either.

Aldridge said. "We feel like we can beat any team. We feel like we can beat the Spurs, Suns, Lakers, Mavericks, whoever any night right now, and we'll still be here when those teams get old and their guys retire. We're going to be here for a long time."

by lee3022 on Sep 30, 2008 11:32 PM PDT up 0 recs

sorry bout that

I was going from memory, but Im glad you got what I was trying to say :)

The pictures kinda small, but Im giving the C's a big thumbs down

by Blazermaniac77 on Oct 1, 2008 10:28 AM PDT up 0 recs

Pre-season games abroad are tricky

While they are usually sold out and pretty expensive, coaches often don’t really like them, travel costs are high, etc.

Dirk Nowitzki is trying to get Cuban and the NBA to have the Mavs play a game in Germany for years. Never happened. And Cuban sure knows how to make a dollar. Instead they send the Wizards and Hornets on a Euro tour this year. Two teams that have no well-known international players maybe apart from Peja (and the games are not near his home country). Strange.

Regarding Sergio, if there is an international angle to this I guess it’s rather to make the transition for Rudy easier than to sell Blazers stuff in Spain. He is much more marketable in Spain, and still probably sells less products than Pau and a lot less than other sports.

St. Bayno's 120 Haiku Prospects: Nicolas Batum in the paint—prairie grass, blown by wind. Jerryd Bayless—leaps over a kite string, and keeps going.

by Norsktroll on Sep 29, 2008 3:23 PM PDT 0 recs

No, they don't...

The Blazers have to get into the black somehow, and they might view tapping into the global market as the solution to their fiscal woes.

"It's not a joke -- it's not a game." — B-Rex

by timbo on Sep 29, 2008 9:56 PM PDT 0 recs

Yes they do

They have to get into the black by advancing to the Finals. Watch advertising revenue skyrocket.

The most amazing thing about my amazing ego is I have amazingly little about which to be egotistical.
The pick and roll this year will emphasize "roll" followed by "dunk", followed by the wailings and lamentations of your women.

by jscot on Sep 29, 2008 11:20 PM PDT up 0 recs

I like Sergio

But then again, I’m not normal because I care for all our players.

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Sep 30, 2008 4:30 AM PDT 0 recs

Me too.

But you know who picked up our brains.

The Midnight Rambler. Born to make mistakes.

by amlmart1 on Sep 30, 2008 5:23 AM PDT up 0 recs

Wrong

You are not normal for various reasons that we don’t want to discuss here. The fact that you care for all our players is not the cause of your abnormality, but only one of the symptoms.

I trust this little piece of information has been beneficial to you as you continue to avoid coming to terms with your abnormality.

by jscot on Sep 30, 2008 6:07 AM PDT up 6 recs

Why do you hate Roy?

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Sep 30, 2008 6:09 AM PDT up 0 recs

You just say that

because you know that when everyone else wakes up they will probably turn my comment green.

by jscot on Sep 30, 2008 6:24 AM PDT up 0 recs

I turned it green

By doing a farmers blow on my monitor.

I’m the most normal, well balanced person on this blog.

Blazers Edge has an alarmist vision

by tominhawaii on Sep 30, 2008 6:37 AM PDT up 0 recs

why is normality an ideal to strive for?

balanced I can relate to. but “normal”?? I don’t think so.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

According to James Kunstler, who writes a well-respected if slightly profane financial blog whose title I cannot repeat here, "The Republicans must be clearly identified as the party that wrecked America... it's hard to imagine the American people giving the clean-up task to the very group that created the mess -- no matter how many cute little faces Sarah Palin can make on TV."

by vavoom on Sep 30, 2008 12:27 PM PDT up 0 recs