What about our players in Europe (Freeland, Koponen) contributing?
by rip_city_swagger on Dec 21, 2009 11:45 AM PST
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With our roster as shallow as it is right now with all the injuries, and with the extended nature of Batum and Outlaw's injuries, I started thinking about our veritable "farm team" in Europe. We have some guys over there that can play, and while they haven't come over yet, maybe it's time to look at some of these guys as more relevant possibilities. I'm not up on their contract situations with their European teams, but with Freeland and Koponen in particular, they have skill sets that could help our team.
With Outlaw down, and Greg out, we are thin in the frontcourt, and need a banger/rebounder with some athleticism. Love Juwan Howard in an Obi-Wan role, but we need some Luke Skywalker action for the majority of the minutes. Freeland is big (6'10"), athletic, and rebounds the heck out of the ball. He's still pretty raw and won't be pressing LMA or Outlaw once he's back for playing time, but don't you think he might be a little more potent than Juwan Howard out there? I mean, good lord, we signed Anthony Tolliver. He'd only have to play 10-15 minutes a game or so, and I think he'd be decent in that role.
Koponen is the other guy, if we were to make a trade with Blake or Miller, that I think could come in and play. He's just as good as Sergio Rodriguez, who got some PT for us last year. I know fans want to scream "Bayless" here, but he's just not a PG. He can be a great compliment to Roy in the half-court if he can keep hitting the open J, but he's not a creator/distributor. Blake's deal expires this year, and Andre is only on the hook through next season, so we're going to need to address it at some point.
My whole point is I think we shouldn't pull an Arvydas Sabonis move and bring these guys over when they're past their prime. It's great to have some assets over there, but you can only let a guy "develop" for so long before it's evaluation time.
Anyway, what do you all think? When should we give a hard look at maybe getting these guys over here? Should we at all?
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Claver...
I watched a bunch of video of Claver on Youtube the other day. It’s really difficult to understand how the Spanish League game translates to the NBA. Everyone is a bit slower, and so it’s a relative contrast. He looks quick in Spain. But the league is slower… Watching his video, it was really hard for me to judge if he could make it in the NBA right now. He has great hops. His shot looks great. I really don’t think he could guard an NBA 3 (Small Forward). He’s a pretty big guy at 6’9. I think he would be really interesting as our backup Power forward.
My philosophy on the overseas guys is that if we do a consolidating trade for a star, which I think we should, then these guys are going to come over and fill-in for spot minutes. But that is tricky with the contracts and such.
I don’t think P.K. is going to make it over here, but then again, if Beno is making it, why not P.K.?
We have Pendy rounding into shape . . .
why not see if he can give us some BANG up front.
“Bangs, defends well in the low post.” Pat Riley
GO BLAZERS !!!!
It's GO time !
No roster spots
We had to get special permission to add Toliver and, as I understand it, he is here to stay until at least one player comes off the injured list.
Also, you are mistaken about the Sabonis issue – it was his choice to not come here until well into his 30s, not ours. If only he would have been our starting center on the Drexler teams the Bulls/Pistons wouldn’t have stood a chance.
"What we have here, is a failure to communicate."
you're right
I was not intending to suggest the Blazers were the ones who didn’t bring him over, my point was just that they are assets, but until we know what they can do in the NBA then they are undefined assets….I’d hate to see us sit on a guy for too long, to the point where his value decreases….
also, I’m not advocating bringing these guys over now as a stop-gap, but for a team without cap space now they could be had next year or in the future on an inexpensive basis, as opposed to us shelling out big $ in salary to get a guy that has been in the NBA a while
by rip_city_swagger on Dec 21, 2009 3:50 PM PST up reply actions
DITTO about Sabonis imagine him in his prime!
But this is the team we have, get use to it Pendy will help but Anthony Tolliver was just bad in the few min.’s he got in Miami.
several problems
1) we have no roster spots. in fact, we have 1 more player now than spots, thanks the the exception
2) those guys are all under contract with their current teams, and in the middle of seasons. Those teams aren’t going to negotiate a buyout just to help out some NBA team they don’t care about, and those players aren’t going to spend their own money on a buyout so they can come over here and be our 14th man for the next 4 months.
3) They aren’t as good (or as ready) as you may think. Koponen has yet to prove he’s close to NBA ready.
Also, Claver’s (he appears to be a stretch 4 in the NBA – not a 3) contract runs several more years and has a HUGE buyout. Freeland is probably closest to ready as a traditional banger 4/5 backup. It still seems likely we could give him a look this summer.
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
true!
and I wasn’t trying ti suggest we bring them over immediately. I’m just saying with Outlaw and Blake having expiring deals, and with Miller for only 1 more year past that, that these guys are inexpensive options that are already assets and we might as well see what they’ve got
I’m not saying Koponen is a stud, but it’s probably worth giving him a look. And i think Freeland brings more to the table (other than physicality) than Pendy does
by rip_city_swagger on Dec 21, 2009 3:54 PM PST up reply actions
I'd only put money on Freeland getting a look this summer.
Claver won’t give up his deal for the rookie scale, and he has a big buyout. More likely summer 2012 for him. Not sure of Kopo’s status, but I thought he signed a new multi-year deal this last summer. Could be wrong about him though. If you recall, he has played for us in the past – two summers in a row I believe, including a very extended look in Summer 2008. I think his biggest problem in the NBA may be that he is too slow to guard either guard position in the NBA, though you could probably get away with putting him on catch and shoot off-ball players.
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
I think Koponen is on multi-year
but with a buyout consistent with what NBA teams are allowed to contribute.
Last summer, I think they were talking about Freeland not coming over until summer 2011, but after this year’s injuries, they make look to move that up a year.
We’re hearing pretty good things about Koponen’s defense over the summer and this year. He shut down Tony Parker this summer, but Parker was fighting an injury, so hard to say whether that was at all indicative.
#52
No one of our Euros is Sabonis material.
Best case scenario they might be good NBA role players once they are developed. Freeland is not better than Marc Gasol. Claver is not better than Batum. And PK is not better than Sergio.
The Blazers need these players developing his game as much as possible in Europe, so they come ready to play in the NBA for a rookie contract.
I wasn't saying they're stars
Never said Freeland is better than Marc Gasol (who’s playing at an all-star level right now), or Claver being BETTER than Batum….
My point is that we have these guys as assets, and we have some needs in those areas. We should either find out what they have and get them over here, or if we’re going with Mills, Pendergraph, and those guys, trade them or consolidate them with some draft picks to bring us something or someone that does make an impact
by rip_city_swagger on Dec 21, 2009 3:56 PM PST up reply actions
Thanks for your reply.
I didn´t mean to critize your post, just I think we should bring them so much ready as possible, because I don´t want these guys losing their time on the bench or DNP because they come too soon. Maybe I´m here a little selfish and I want them playing in Europe for some time because I´m a Euro.
The last thing we want
is another Sergio situation.
#52
When is Koponen going to get his shot over here?
The last draft’s spate of PG talent has probably watered down the league market for Petteri’s marketable skills, and of course he’s one of Pritchard’s draftees so he’s not going to be a sell-low decision.
I’d love to see the kid get a chance, but it’s not going to be as an injury replacement. You can’t “call guys up” from Europe in that way, so the farm system analogy breaks down at that point.
Seems like a guy who’s going to fall between the cracks, and honestly I don’t see why he’s not as good as many bench PG types around the NBA. He’s got a good head for the game, too.
"It has come to the editor’s attention that the Herald-Leader neglected to cover the civil rights movement. We regret the omission."
right
Tolliver basically said the reason he didn’t take more money to play overseas is because players tend to be “out of sight out of mind” if they’re not playing in the US during the NBA season
Freeland will have the opportunity to come over this summer. It remains to be seen if the Blazers can (and choose to) use their MLE to sign Joel02. If they do, it’s because they think he’s ready to adequately backup LMA and beat out Pend/’Ham during next fall camp
I’d rather just make a deal and bring in Ronny Turiaf, myself. Brandon and the boys are showing a lot of heart, and the Przy needs a tag-team partner to help defend the paint for 48 mpg
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
don't need mle
Portland has Freelands first round draft rights. He can be signed without he mle.
by mrwonderfulone on Dec 22, 2009 1:15 AM PST up reply actions
there's been a debate about that
the draft rights will expire this June after 3 years, so Portland won’t be limited re: how much they can offer Joel02. Same situation with the Spurs and Splitter. The Blazers may "need’ to offer Freeland the MLE to entice him to come over
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
My suspicion is that
we’ll try to move Blake or Miller and bring over Koppenen over the summer. The PG rotation is pretty screwed up right now and there’s next to nothing in the draft past Wall.
I don't know where he's at
But I wondering about Steven Hill. wasn’t he that bearded guy at summer league? Granted he would probably just be another pryz ( with less D but a little more O ) but two pryzes are better than one I would think. Were are getting killed in the paint when he goes out and pryz needs his minutes reduced..
Petteri Koponen is improving like a storm!
He is now averaging 10,5 points in 27 minutes. Here are the stats:
http://195.56.77.208/player/?id=KOP-PET-88
And here’s a video clip from about a week ago:
http://www.legabaskettv.it/watch/3b03ae6d3f8540cd6362/Carife-Fe-Virtus-Bo
thanks
I’ve been speculating about the possibility of a future Roy-Rudy-Bayless 3-guard “rotation” for the past week, and one of my points was that the ideal “4th” guard to add to that mix would be a superior defender who can hit the open jumper. After watching PK in that video I could see him joining the Blazers around 2010-2011 to be that hypothetical 4th guard, especially if he continues to develop his all-around game in the meantime
SISU!
http://poski8.tripod.com/SISU/index.html
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
No.
None of our overseas white guys will contribute in the near term to the Blazers.
Also,
I think this injury is bad news for – Bayless. The Blazers are in serious debt at center and Blake and Miller’s stock is not enough to pay it down. Bayless is opening eyes and could fetch a meaningful big in return. Also considering how glaring our need for a big guy is, whatever we can fetch for one of our PG’s is getting downgraded severely.
M, period. Fresh, comma.
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