Our boys aren't over valued

by Chief Play Good Play Hard on Feb 9, 2010 11:12 PM PST

They're team players and great guys! Right now the team agenda is to canvas Roy for MVP. These guys are just playing it down, sucking up a few losses before Roy (and Trout) come back for the second half and make Roy look like the only glue holding this team together. We all know what's best for the team is whatever's best for Roy, and right now thats an MVP campaign... Selfish.

No, back to seriousness. Our players are not over valued. They make a great team. We're depleted right now. Aldridge is busting his tail to give us any semblance of a post presence, but that's not exactly his strength and he's being asked to burden the full load without any semblance of another Center to make teams think twice or help with the boards. Are our other guys All-Stars. No, but could Rudy, Trav, Martell all compete for 6th man consideration. I believe any one of them could. How many All-Stars can this team afford - it is a business no matter how deep Paul's pockets. But, you bring back Oden and Roy, you can't ask for a better cast to complete this team.

Meanwhile, these guys have a slump and a dose of the wild west and all these posts come charging out. I believe in this team and I love that theres not a single man on the team I wouldn't love to hang out at the park or wherever with my son. They are a great group.

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Just because some of our players are overvalued doesn't mean I don't still love them.

KP has a history of overvaluing his players. There was a time when the Blazer balked at trading Outlaw for Devin Harris. Here’s what Blazer fan and blog legend Henry Abbott said about it at the time.

What’s more Travis Outlaw, lately, has been something of a marvel. He has been almost perfect at both ends of the floor in crunch time. He has a reasonable contract. He is young. His vastly improved shot shows he works. And he plays one of the few positions on the floor that lets him contribute alongside Portland’s keepers Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden.

If you give up a player like that, at this early stage of his career, you’d think it would be for something really special.

Devin Harris is a nice player, don’t get me wrong. But he doesn’t knock my socks off like that.

So that was my first thought. This is just crazy talk.-Truehoop

I think Rudy is in almost the same place Outlaw was a few years ago. He’s fun to watch and if he continues to develop he could become something pretty special. Here’s the thing though, he’s twenty five years old. Odds are that he’s very close to his ceiling and even his ceiling doesn’t really look like a perfect fit for this team.

At some point the Blazers are going to have to trade what they like for what they actually need.

I used to be called Nick Van Excellent, but I wasn't really all that excellent.

by The Running Man on Feb 10, 2010 12:14 AM PST reply actions

except devin harris is both over-rated and over-valued

so while pritchard does overvalue players i’m not sad we didn’t make that trade.

by colinmarsh on Feb 10, 2010 7:22 AM PST up reply actions

Perfect example of a Blazer fan overvaluing our players. :)

Harris is about a billion times better than Outlaw. He’s injured this season which hasn’t helped his production, but his durability would only be a reasonable argument if Outlaw hadn’t missing virtually the whole season with his own foot problem.

Devin Harris is not overrated. Let me show you why.

1.) Harris is literally the best PG in the league at drawing fouls.

2008-2009 Foul% among PG’s.

    Devin Harris: 21%
    Baron Davis: 16%
    Russell Westbrook: 14%
    Rodney Stuckey: 14%
    Andre Miller: 13%
    Deron Williams: 13%
    Chauncey Billups: 13%
    Rajon Rondo: 12%
    Chris Paul: 11%
    Tony Parker: 11%
     Rafer Alston:10%
    Monta Ellis: 9%
    Mike Conley: 9%
    Chris Duhon: 8%
    Derrick Rose:8%
    Raymond Felton: 7%
    Aaron Brooks: 6%
    Steve Nash: 5%
    Jason Kidd: 5%
    Derrick Fisher: 5%
    Jameer Nelson: 5%
    Mo Williams: 4%
    Jose Calderon: 4%
    Mike Bibby: 4%
    Steve Blake: 2%

2.) Harris is (was) an elite defender. Before joining the Nets, Harris was probably the best defensive PG in the league. With the Mavs he had a on court/off court of +12.6, which was better than anyone else on that team including MVP Dirk Nowitzki. Hollinger actually declared him the best defender among PG’s in 2007, using his metric, just slightly edging out Rajon Rondo. He’s only 27, so it’s not like he’s lost a first step or anything. It’s probably safe to say his defense will regress back towards his usual bad-ass self.

3.) Besides all that, he’s better than Outlaw because he’s better than Outlaw. Better TS%, better AST%, better Player Efficiency Rating, nearly the same TO%, better defense, etc, etc, etc.

I used to be called Nick Van Excellent, but I wasn't really all that excellent.

by The Running Man on Feb 10, 2010 8:10 AM PST up reply actions

I will never get...

why the same fans that covet Devin Harris hate on ’Dre.

by Escrote on Feb 10, 2010 8:39 AM PST up reply actions

It's funny how Harris is a lot like Dre only with outstanding defense.

Not the same sort of passer or post up game, but both get to the rim and neither shoots three’s very well. I’ve always like them both and I was all for the Outlaw/Harris trade at the time even though a few people around here said I was crazy.

I used to be called Nick Van Excellent, but I wasn't really all that excellent.

by The Running Man on Feb 10, 2010 4:25 PM PST up reply actions

Yup. He doesn't have Travis's patented "2 dribbles to the left pull-up contested jumpshot 3 inches inside the arc" that Travis does.

Also I think Trav might have a better 3pt%, but other than that Harris does everything better. He is a keeper PG.

"What people need to know is that those pictures were taken a year and a half ago, and I've grown since then." - Greg Oden

by dario argento on Feb 10, 2010 8:40 AM PST up reply actions

I believe that Pritchard does over-value our players

It does not look like he will become an All-Star caliber player. His ceiling is probably about no higher than 15pts, 4asts,4reb, 2 stls. I see him as a potential 6th man on a good team but a starter on a bad one. Right now he isn’t even scoring 10 pts a game so I don’t see how he’s ever going to score 20 a game. I would love to keep Rudy for his entire career but we already have Roy at SG and Rudy can’t effectively play any other posistion. I guess Roy could move to SF when Rudy comes on but he doesn’t compliment Roy like Batum does. If Rudy were to get stronger then he would be able to play with Roy more but I don’t see that happening. So I think that we should look to trade Rudy but we should not be expecting an All-Star in return. Rudy plus Outlaw should get us an All-Star though.

by VinnyB on Feb 10, 2010 6:50 AM PST reply actions

the time to trade rudy was last year

he still has value but not near what he had last year. pritchard is terrible at timing trades to player value though so that’s pretty much par for the course.

by colinmarsh on Feb 10, 2010 7:23 AM PST up reply actions

there is no good time to trade Rudy

As Vinny elicited above, “A potential 6th man on a good team…” I see him, Martell and Outlaw as invaluable. Granted, all 3 aren’t likely to play together in a second unit. But their contracts are appropriate for their roles and their skills are a cut above the money. Keep all 3 in a rotation, give McMillan the read on which one is hot to leave in the 4th quarter. Chances are at least 1 of those 3 will deliver game in and game out.
As for timing trades, do you time for the present and disrupt team chemistry to simply try and make the playoffs this year or hang on to the deep team you built by nearly flawless talent evaluation and wait for that window we knew would be another 1-2 years out? Making a trade out of desperation right now seems like the worst way to time a trade to value to me.

by Chief Play Good Play Hard on Feb 10, 2010 8:22 AM PST up reply actions

Every team in the league over values their players right now...

There is no need to make a trade for the sake of this season. This season is sunk. Any trade needs to be for next season and beyond. Eventually we may need to clear space but we can ride it out. If a 4/5 becomes available that will fit long term then giving up a Bayless, Martell, or Rudy is a good idea but other than that it only makes sense to give up Outlaw and Blake if the plan is to not resign them.

But as far as every team overvaluing there players it is that time of year. Once the trade deadline nears teams will lower their players value if they are serious about moving them. Although KP comes from a position of slight power because the Blazers are content on sitting on what they got for now.

by Escrote on Feb 10, 2010 8:47 AM PST reply actions