Weekly Podcast

by Dave on May 21, 2009 1:20 PM PDT

And away we go with the weekly Trailblazers.com podcast starring Casey Holdahl of the Center Court Blog, Gavin Dawson of the Morning Sports Page on 95.5 The Game (check out their fancy new site!!!), and me, Dave from Blazersedge.

Today we gave our (sometimes surprising) votes for the Blazersedge Season Awards, talked a little Nate, some draft, touched on the Conley thing with a side order of Rudy thrown in, dished on Travis, and speculated whether there was any bad blood between the Grizzlies and Blazers among other matters.

You can download the .mp3 here or click on Casey's link above to stream it.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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Nice

I was about to walk my dog. You just bumped Dan Patrick.

"Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." - John Milton

by tominhawaii on May 21, 2009 1:27 PM PDT reply actions

Good one

Enjoyed it as usual Dave.

Didn’t need the visual of Gavin and Casey getting cozy sans deodorant at Casey’s place.

by MavetheGreat on May 21, 2009 3:20 PM PDT reply actions

I like it as well

All three of you guys are turning into homers because I find myself agreeing with y’all often.

"Hey Beavis, let's rock!"

by tominhawaii on May 21, 2009 3:49 PM PDT reply actions

Gavin has a mancrush on Ime Udoka :)

Maybe KP rewards him and brings him back as a veteran free agent (no trade necessary), though I doubt it.

by Norsktroll on May 21, 2009 5:40 PM PDT reply actions

Sessions won't come cheaper than Conley

by Norsktroll on May 21, 2009 6:25 PM PDT reply actions

Again, the Gasol trade was not as lopsided Gavin and others say

Yes, Pau was the best player in the deal. And it’s not close.
But the Grizzlies got Marc Gasol out of it, who has a significant impact as a starter and is posting good efficient numbers for a "rookie" which he is only by definition. His style fits their play and needs at least as good as the finesse of his brother. He is also considerably younger. And thus cheaper. And during the Rockets-Lakers series, announcers started to joke the Lakers traded the wrong Gasol brother when Pau bricked important free throws (he is a bit prone to that) and overall played soft. The deal is starting to show it’s real impact.
They got Javaris Crittenton, who is a decent player (and was compared to Steve Francis, which is likely too much hype), but they decided to pass him along to Washington to get their own first round pick from the Navarro deal back. Always valuable to have that as a likely lottery team (would have been a protected first round pick top 19 in 2008, top 16 in 2009, top 14 in 2010-12, top 12 in 2013, else 2014 second round pick).
They got two likely very low first round picks from the Lakers. The first one was 2008 #28, and they drafted Donte Greene and traded him for Darrell Arthur. 2010 is the second one, top 6 protected just in case
With the expiring deals of McKie and Brown, they saved a ton of cap space. Which they can still use to acquire free agents if the owner is willing to spend in 09 or 10 (he said he will, for a player that puts them in the playoffs)
Without Pau they tanked, got a #5 draft pick, and managed to convert Kevin Love and Mike Miller into O.J. Mayo. That also is not that lopsided, but so far they look like the winner of that deal.

Now, does that look as bad as many people make it sound? Let me make a guess: The owner and Wallace are happy with the effects of that deal! “Oh, they donated Pau Gasol to the Lakers, that’s so unfair, let’s all panic.” Unfortunately the Suns and Mavs did since they had no better plan in place.

by Norsktroll on May 21, 2009 6:53 PM PDT reply actions

The deal was that bad...

Getting Marc Gasol at a decent price was the only positive out of it. Pau Gasol is a top 20 player in this league and has a bevy of skills you don’t often see in a 7 footer. His shot and passing ability for a big are ridiculous. You can’t just throw it away like Gasol for Gasol was a slight loss. It is monumental for a team looking to win basketball games. Also, Crit is the suck, and two really late 1st round picks in the future really don’t change what is happening now, nor do they effect the loss of a superstar big man. Arthur was pretty bad, so that isn’t that great, and getting the #5 pick and converting it into Mayo doesn’t really tell me much, because they would’ve been a bad team regardless of the Gasol trade. You really don’t know, maybe they win the lottery if they’re in a slightly different position and get to draft him (Mayo) without having to give up Miller.

This is the reason in the NBA you can’t trade a bunch of B- or C+ players for an A player. It simply doesn’t matter how many of them you get, you’re not getting your money back.

by as11osu on May 22, 2009 2:32 AM PDT up reply actions

If I'm reading things correctly, the Crittenton trade pick is now the #2 for them (otherwise would still live in Washington)

Of course LA got the best player like I said. But Memphis got value out of it, and continues to do so.

by Norsktroll on May 22, 2009 4:51 AM PDT up reply actions

Yep

They already proved they couldn’t do anything with Pau so they had to reset. They wanted picks and to dump his salary and the Lakers gave them that.

"Hey Beavis, let's rock!"

by tominhawaii on May 22, 2009 5:05 AM PDT up reply actions

Let there be no mistake -- Pau is making a LOT of money, which Memphis escaped.

So, if he brother puts up decent numbers at 1/4 the price (or less) — who is to say that is such a bad thing for them? Particularly given the fact that LAL is up to their keister in the septic tank, salary cap-wise, and needing to resign key players this off-season: Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, and Shannon Brown.

"A bizarre and extremely rare hybrid Blazer/Laker fan, Timbo has always struggled to contain the Beast Within, like Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, or Ted Kennedy." — Miled Animal

by timbo on May 22, 2009 11:30 AM PDT up reply actions