Mills gets 15th spot

just confirmed by Jason Quick on 95.5

over 2 years ago douglast 31 comments 0 recs |

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your link is 95.5 the game home page.

by DephlatorMouse on Oct 21, 2009 2:57 PM PDT reply actions

i know

that’s where I heard it – on the air. I really didn’t want to link anywhere, but the fanshot feature is rather limiting – one of the choices just need to be “plain text”

How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009

by douglast on Oct 21, 2009 3:17 PM PDT up reply actions

pretty nuts. i thought it would go to ime; he’s a local guy (aka feel good story), plus a viable option right off the bat. mills joins pendergraph as IR players who are actually injured. we therefore have 13 guys available, barring further injury, until at least christmas. in KP we trust! (?)

GG MFer!
-joel przybilla

by hossticles on Oct 21, 2009 3:04 PM PDT reply actions

wow

ugh

by jksnake99 on Oct 21, 2009 3:06 PM PDT reply actions

Wish Ime and Jarron the best.

I thought Ime would get the spot as an insurance policy once KP trades a small forward or two before the trade deadline. I still think this will happen.

by mlsinpdx on Oct 21, 2009 3:08 PM PDT reply actions

I like it.

-Tin the blind homer

by TheTinfoil on Oct 21, 2009 3:08 PM PDT reply actions

I actually think this is the best long term decision

Good choice Blazer brain trust!!

by mlsinpdx on Oct 21, 2009 3:09 PM PDT reply actions

Jason Quick has "confirmed" things before and been wrong.

Just In Case – WELCOME TO PORTLAND PATTY MILLS…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tRLRvWUtI4

Ben also tweeted the Nate “was not happy”. Talk about chemistry issues. Hopefully this won’t be anywhere near the straw that broke the camel’s back re: Nate and KP’s relationship. Nate made it very clear that he wanted veterans. In Howard and Miller – he got them. Hopefully he rolls with this.

My concern is that now we have 4 pg’s (only two who have confirmed that they are NBA pg’s) and 2 injury-prone centers. Sure if one goes down you can move LMA over and play Howard or Outlaw at the 4, but that takes us completely out of our game plan. Meanwhile Patty is still sitting at the end of the bench doing nada. Even if we did lose Miller AND Blake it would probably be more likely that Roy or Rudy would pick up minutes at pg before Patty Mills.

As always, I would be glad if Patty proved me wrong and ended up being a phenom in practice and eventually takes over for Miller as our starting pg. It just worries me is all. The negatives, at least inititally, seem to far outweigh the positives.

....formerly GonzoFan. Now, this has been a message from "The People's Alliance to Continue to Encourage Greg Oden on his Path to Dominance"

by bforsythe on Oct 21, 2009 3:16 PM PDT reply actions

couple things

word is the decision was made above KP’s level even, so it’s probably about money — Mills will get paid about half what either of the other two guys would.

As for if Joel or Greg go down – we are no different off now than we were before. There is NO conceivable way Collins would have gotten the backup minutes if that happened, he just would have moved up to 12th man, emergency backup to the backup role.

How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009

by douglast on Oct 21, 2009 3:19 PM PDT up reply actions

Good points.

Just dealing with my own comfort levels. If this is a cost-saving move I guess you have to get behind it. Even Paul Allen is not immune to what is going on in our economy right now. Also, I keep forgetting to add Dante and Jeff into the equation as well (emergency 4/5 minutes).

I also like to hear that this came above KP so it can’t be viewed as “Nate vs. the Front Office” and more like
“Nate & KP vs. the Vulcans”.

Great points douglast – I will sleep better now.

....formerly GonzoFan. Now, this has been a message from "The People's Alliance to Continue to Encourage Greg Oden on his Path to Dominance"

by bforsythe on Oct 21, 2009 3:29 PM PDT up reply actions

If it's a cost-cutting move, then the 15th roster spot would then stay open to start the season.

To me, this clearly looks like Paul Allen has stuck his grubby fingers in basketball-related matters.

However, as Allen — who I’d’ve complimented on his business know-how and financial success, except for the fact that he’s bankrupted his own ventures in the past — has proven in the past with Darius Miles and others (e.g., Sebastian Telfair), he possesses the basketball acumen of a gnat.

I’d be cool with a hands-on owner, although that’s only if he’s well-versed in the field of scouting and advanced statistical analysis — with Mark Cuban being an example — however, it’s plainly clear that Allen is out of his element here. Allen should frankly stay at Vulcan, Inc. headquarters and in his suite at the Rose Garden, but out of the practice facility and let the men he hired to work for him do their damn jobs.

Stupid people have stupid ideas.

by AK1984 on Oct 21, 2009 4:51 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm behind Nate McMillan 100% on this one, as he's got every right to be pissed off at the utter idiocy ...

of management — with that likely being Paul Allen overstepping his bounds as owner from an intellectual standpoint — by giving the 15th roster spot to an overhyped waterbug, Patty Mills, who’s injured and lacks any worthwhile potential in the future as a point guard. The rugged, defensive-minded wing, Ime Udoka, should’ve got the final roster spot as injury insurance behind Nicolas Batum and Martell Webster, while Kevin Pritchard got to work finding Travis Outlaw a new home that’ll allow him a shot to further his career.

Stupid people have stupid ideas.

by AK1984 on Oct 21, 2009 4:36 PM PDT up reply actions

Paul's an incredibly good owner. If he wants to personally speculate with the 15th man,

it’s his money, let it be. A 15th-man veteran player almost never sees action anyway. So far this year he’s committed about $80M to Roy and about $70M to LMA, plus luxury tax implications. Next summer he’ll commit similar to Oden. We could do MUCH worse for an owner.

by BlazerFanSince1970 on Oct 21, 2009 5:38 PM PDT up reply actions

That's all fine and dandy, but I guess I'm looking more at the principle of the matter here.

Stupid people have stupid ideas.

by AK1984 on Oct 21, 2009 9:05 PM PDT up reply actions

What principle?

How about the principle that he paid the money to buy the team, pays the money to keep it running, gets no return on his investment, etc, etc?

As important as the Blazers may be to other people, to him it is an expensive hobby. So let him play with it, especially since we’re talking the 15th spot, which was never going to be filled by anyone who was going to play much, if at all, and certainly not in a key role.

Collins was not a reasonable option. If one of our bigs goes down for any significant time, we’ll need to either make a trade or cut Mills and grab someone out of the D League who can actually play a little bit (unlike Collins). So this is a total irrelevance.

I can tell you how to make an Excel spreadsheet that proves Portland wins 62 games this year.

by jscot on Oct 21, 2009 11:26 PM PDT up reply actions

I agree "[Jarron] Collins was not a reasonable option." I advocated keeping Ime Udoka.

Anyway, you’re absolutely correct that ‘cause Paul Allen owns the Portland Trail Blazers he thereby has the right to interject himself in any personnel decisions if that’s his fancy

Yet, no matter his right to toy around with his “hobby,” I wish he’d have the intellect to either not involve himself in constructing the roster — or actually study the game like Mark Cuban has done during his time owning the Dallas Mavericks, although that’s a huge long shot — since Allen will most certainly get himself sick if he tries to have his cake and eat it, too.

Man, I’m stealing a page from Kevin Pritchard’s book with these fatuous cake analogies. At this rate, I’ll finally lose all my marbels — even though I’m trying hard to keep those screws tight upstairs — by the season’s end. Dammit, if only I had $10,500,000,000 to play around with in my checking account. Some folks claim that money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it sure can keep you too busy to be sad.

Stupid people have stupid ideas.

by AK1984 on Oct 22, 2009 12:02 AM PDT up reply actions

But that's not a matter of principle

Right?

Actually, as I’ve posted elsewhere (just did a fanpost), to my thinking it was a matter of principle to keep Mills. I don’t know if you’ll agree with my reasoning, but I expect you’ll find it interesting, anyway, and I welcome any comments.

I’m glad you don’t have that money. Foster, Hinrich, Collison, and Miller are all nice enough players, but they wouldn’t make a very good core of a franchise. Perhaps better than Memphis, but less train wreck entertainment value.

But perhaps if you spent less time studying basketball and more time inventing something useful to others, you’d have some money. :)

I can tell you how to make an Excel spreadsheet that proves Portland wins 62 games this year.

by jscot on Oct 22, 2009 2:34 AM PDT up reply actions

Although I praise those four guys you named there, none of them are capable ...

of filling the two main franchise cornerstone roles — or even the tertiary role played recently by Lamar Odom in 2009, Ray Allen in 2008, Emanuel Ginobili in 2007, and the referees in 2006 (i.e., Dallas was screwed) — on a championship ballclub. So, while they’d all be fine role players in the 4-8 area, they can’t get it done themselves without superstar leadership.

Stupid people have stupid ideas.

by AK1984 on Oct 22, 2009 5:49 AM PDT up reply actions

I like this move as well

It doesn’t look all that sexy given the current state of our team, but there is no way I would be able to pass on a guy who has his upside. Look at what he did in the Olympics. In the long run when Blake is gone, and Miller is older who do we fall on? Long term this is the best decision for the team. – Just my opinion

by 2dVs4u on Oct 21, 2009 3:19 PM PDT reply actions

This move just makes me think even more that a trade is coming.

by dario argento on Oct 21, 2009 3:22 PM PDT reply actions

That would be great.

Especially if it was a lop-sided trade that freed up money and maybe even a few minutes for Ime (not very likely – I realize).

....formerly GonzoFan. Now, this has been a message from "The People's Alliance to Continue to Encourage Greg Oden on his Path to Dominance"

by bforsythe on Oct 21, 2009 3:30 PM PDT up reply actions

Ime is no longer on the roster. Mills made the final spot.

by dario argento on Oct 21, 2009 3:53 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah, I know.

Ime is now a free agent. He could still be re-signed if a trade went through that gave us the space on the roster and the cap.

....formerly GonzoFan. Now, this has been a message from "The People's Alliance to Continue to Encourage Greg Oden on his Path to Dominance"

by bforsythe on Oct 21, 2009 3:59 PM PDT up reply actions

Ben also just tweeted that...

…once the euro holds are taken off we will then have $1.4 million to facilitate a trade. Hmmmmm.

....formerly GonzoFan. Now, this has been a message from "The People's Alliance to Continue to Encourage Greg Oden on his Path to Dominance"

by bforsythe on Oct 21, 2009 4:01 PM PDT up reply actions

Good for him.

I hope his foot heals.

by Nick Van Excellent on Oct 21, 2009 3:28 PM PDT reply actions

I like it.

Mills is sick. I know the move was probably for financial reasons, but he’s a baller-if nothing else he’ll be a good looking asset for a trade in the next couple years..

Jason K.

by Stalker on Oct 21, 2009 3:48 PM PDT reply actions

I like adding Mills

but I am starting to worry about decisions being made above Pritchard’s head regarding the roster, makes me think we won’t trade or resign Outlaw or Blake and just let them walk to save money.

Trade players for picks and draft Cole Aldrich 2010

by jlarose78 on Oct 21, 2009 4:07 PM PDT reply actions

Maybe they just did this because Patty is on our NBA Live '10 roster.

No? Nothing?

....formerly GonzoFan. Now, this has been a message from "The People's Alliance to Continue to Encourage Greg Oden on his Path to Dominance"

by bforsythe on Oct 21, 2009 4:08 PM PDT reply actions

MMMOO!!

Now our lineup can sound like a cow:
Mills Miller Martell Outlaw Oden

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -- Thomas Paine, US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)

by Love on Oct 21, 2009 4:15 PM PDT reply actions