Andre Miller???

I heart Andre.

The two reasons you give, his salary structure and his not being a part of the Oden’s championship window are the reasons cited for not signing him. Counter arguments:
1) No outside shot:
 Brandon has too much responsibility on this team. His effect on the win/loss column would be even better, he would be better rested for a particular game, season and career, and therefore more effective when he needs to assert himself or focus in a different area that the team also needs (lock down defense, playing the SF position etc); if he had someone to share the load with. Andre’s tuff penetration to the hoop, while Brandon is on the court gives Brandon a non-heavy offensive load bearing role that would actually help Brandon’s game. Nate is already playing Brandon/Rudy/Blake combination at times. When the crunch of playoff time came this lineup was the one that was effective at countering the double teams. Imagine Nate having the option to play Miller/BlakeorRudy/Brandon where Miller is bearing the brunt of the offensive work(penetrating) while he is on the court and the other two are spotting up. Brandon’s three has to be respected by defensive’s as much as Blake/Rudy’s and Andre can penetrate (dare I say it) even better than Roy.
Using these 4 players in combination of three improves Portland three ways: PG play, SF play and a fresher Brandon at crunch time.

2). Age and production decline: He hasn’t declined yet, but obviously the contract would have to be structured in accordance with the risk of decline.

Since Oden, every players age has been measured by the Oden championship window. Gone are guys who’s playing time now would hamper development of players that would be here during that window.( Players like Udoka.) Bayless fits Oden’s window and could be Andre for the Blazers for many years to come and at less cost in the immediate next few years. But Brandon has thrown down the gauntlet by saying he wants to compete for the championship next year. If KP picked up Andre, it would be a major shift in direction, win now at the risk of developing (bayless in particular) for the future..

 (ie let Bayless develop by not having anyone around that would detract from that who wouldn’t also be around during O’dens window).

Blazers dream of getting him for MLE, but that’s not gonna be his price bracket. The team will have to go choppy-choppy to get enough cap room to get him. Not sure it’s even possible.

i seriously really wonder about you people sometimes.

Pretty funny coming from a guy who writes like a six-year-old.

the biggest problem with the offense is relying too much on jumpers. I wouldn’t mind a point guard that can post up or drive off the pick and roll.

There are hundreds of people commenting on this site. They will not all agree on anything. Get used to it—it’s a lot like life.

I have heard it many times about how bad fits there and how bad those choices will be. What about trading for Udonis Haslem. He is on the trading block after the emergence of Michael Beasley. Its been reported that the heat are looking to deal him this offseason. He could be our answer at backup PF. Dont know why he would want a backup position here rather than miami but just a thought

some people think Jarryd Bayless is a point guard. I suspect they will be cured of this misapprehension for good during summer league this year, where he’s playing the point but having about the same results as when he played the point last summer – a disaster.

Pretty sure of ourselves, are we?

I’ve been down this road before, but one more time won’t hurt. Last summer Bayless wasn’t asked to play point guard, at least not primarily. The SL team had Koponen and they wanted to take a look at him at the point, and the rest of the team was made up of stiffs and non-scorers (Batum and Steven Hill, included) Monty and the other coaches told Jerryd to just play his game and not worry about how it would look to his Blazersedge.com critics in the future. So Bayless averaged 30ppg and won the tourney MVP.

Most of us here were pretty happy with his performance, because we could see his potential and how he could eventually play alongside Roy. I saw all of the televised SL games and remember Bayless making passes to less-skilled teammates that seldom led to made baskets. How this reflects poorly upon Jerryd now is beyond me, but it seems to have created a label that has Bayless has found hard to rub off (as if he cares what we think) that he’s a “SG in a PG’s body”

Then there was the Steve Blake shoulder injury period where JB got the chance to play extended minutes. Small sample size to be sure, but he showed improvement towards the end of this stretch of games, as has been documented elsewhere. The final piece of news in support of JB came this weekend in the “Combo guards” fanpost right over there on the sidebar. As poorly as Bayless played this year, he still rated 38 on the “pure PG” scale, or the same “level” as Tony Parker.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll take my chances with Jerryd’s future as a PG in the NBA. Here’s hoping the Blazers put some scorers around him on the SL roster in 2009, so his PG play won’t be so “disastrous” this time around