FanPost

Who IS a Good Fit!?!

Let me begin by saying that this isn't a post intended to critique Nate McMillian's style of play, or debate whether Brandon Roy needs to share the ball more so lets not comment on those topics. Instead I want to focus on something different.

There have been numerous posts/articles talking about how certain Trailblazers' skills aren't being fully utilized in Nate McMillian's slow it down, walk the ball up, half court style of play. Players like Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez, and Nicolas Batum have been discussed as players that would be more effective in an up tempo system. With that in mind, it seems that every time I see a players name come up as a potential trade target for the Blazers (such as Melo, recently Josh Smith, etc. etc.) inevitably there is the comment that (that player) isn't a "good fit" for the Blazers. It is either a case of that player needing to handle the ball too much, thereby competing with Roy for touches, or that the player is more of a run 'n gun style player who would stagnate in Nate's system, or maybe they don't fit our "culture". Whatever the case may be I have to admit it gets pretty frustrating reading those type of comments over and over again.

I think it is fair to say that the Blazers have the assets to make a trade for nearly anybody in the league if they really wanted to. We could put together an incredible package of the expiring contracts of Andre Miller, Joel Pryzbilla, young talent like Rudy, Dante, our rookies, or god-forbid Batum, as well as our 1st rnd pick and the one we just got from New Orleans. Let's assume that Oden and Joel come back strong and our center position is covered. I don't really want to talk about trading Oden or Aldridge, I want to keep our core intact, and I don't want to hear about getting LeBron or Chris Paul, lets try to be at least semi-realistic utilizing the assets I just mentioned.

I believe in Rich Cho's decision making and think a big trade is still to come, perhaps by the trade deadline, so it bears the question who actually IS a "good fit" for the blazers with our current system and core players in place. I want to know WHY this player(s) would be a good fit, how does their skill set make us better, and would they be worth what we would have to give up to get them. Who is the missing piece of our championship puzzle? Ready - Go!