Bayless and Rudy for ?

I think you do it for an upgrade at point guard. If both of them are gone and Miller goes down (I know he’s hasn’t shown it, but it’s the Blazers) I don’t think I would trust Williams, Johnson, or Mills as a full time back up point guard, or as a committee. If both are traded it’s probably part of a bigger package.

crazy.

 I think Bayless would thrive in New York or Phoenix. I’m not sure that NY has anything we want/need but Phx might. I’d take Jared Dudley straight up for Bayless all day long. Although my blood is Blazer Red, all the Sun’s games are on TV down here and Dudley is my fav Sun. He hustles and makes things happen, plays GREAT D and can hit the 3.

Just because Bayless has been here two years doesn’t mean his potential has been realized. He is 21 years old . . . less than a year older than Willaims and Johnson (also 21yo), and virtually the same age as Mills. He has has shown significant improvement and his ceiling remains unknown. You cannot give up on him in favor of any player (not named John Wall) who has yet to play a meaningful minute in the NBA. Like it or not, Bayless is Portland’s point guard of the future until someone outperforms him on the basketball court. He’s not going anywhere unless a superstar point guard talent comes back in return. I will not be surprised if he is starting ahead of, or instead of, Miller by the end of 2010-11 . . . because the price for Chis Paul is too high. (try Oden, Batum and Bayless).

Depends on how you value ’Dre but it might make sense for both squads. (I think Sessions/B-Easy might make more sense for New Orleans than ’Dre/Rudy in a CP3 deal.)

They need shooters on the wing and a center that can play with Okafor or West at the 4.

I think Bayless played his value higher because of his consistent play during this past seasons playoffs. I think Rudy doesn’t want to play here any more cause that’s not what he wants to do. He wants to be a star and he will always be living Roy’s shadow being here. I think we should try for CP3. Dre, bayless, rudy and prysbilla would be a very good trade for the blazers. Maybe even trading away one of the players they have stashed in Europe. I think they need to do something soon.

I don’t happen to believe that Chris Paul is currently on the table. New Orleans played around with it, but then walked away, and there’s no reason to believe that they’re going back there at this time. As far as Bayless and Rudy netting a very good player, it’s irrelevant unless that player is better at a targetted position than what we have. I don’t buy the Hinrich, Sessions options as being what some think, and neither, apparently, does the rest of the league. Neither Dre nor Pryz are good trade bait right now as well. Dre, because he’s simply a filler for a few years for any team – including Portland, and Pryz because no one will give up much for him until he plays and shows that the injury hasn’t affected his game. Right now, both are valuable primarily because of their contracts. In any case, most conversations at the PG slot “assume” that one of two players – Harris or Paul are actually in play. And, right now, that doesn’t seem very likely. Other than that, my take is that we wait – play the team we have, and then, try again prior to the trade deadline. Paul might come back to the table at that time if the NO ownership issue clears up, and if Paul starts making more noise because he doesn’t think NO will ever be in a position to be a contender. The best thing to happen to Portland could well be NO getting thru 1/2 the season and showing that they don’t really have the horses. At that point, they might look at rebuilding.

Portland has some pieces – but in the end, only a couple of teams have the PG’s we would really like – and incremental upgrades won’t help much.

If we’re talking about a consolidation trade, where Portland sends out JUST Rudy and JBay to bring back ONLY ONE player, there isn’t a ton that meets the criteria. Here’s a list… One thing I have ruled out are deals that work salary-wise, but there’s no way the other team does it (like Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, any trade with Utah since they now hate us). I also am assuming that this deal is because Matthews is coming to Portland, so we don’t really want a SG back.

Cleveland – Daniel Gibson, Delonte West
Dallas – Edjuardo Najera
Denver – Chris Anderson
Golden State – Brandan Wright
Minnesota – Corey Brewer, Johnny Flynn, Ramon Sessions
New Jersey – Kris Humphries
New Orleans – Chris Pa… I mean, Julian Wright
New York – Danilo Gallinari
Oklahoma City – Jeff Green
Orlando – Brandon Bass, Mickael Pietrus if you include Pendergraph
Philadelphia – Thaddeus Young
Phoenix – Grant Hill (Dudley doesn’t work)
Sacramento – Carl Landry
Washington – Andray Blatche, Al Thornton

So right off the top, I don’t think C.Anderson, C.Brewer, Sessions, Humphries, Gallinari, J. Green, Pietrus, T. Young, Hill, Landry, or Thornton could be had for these two. And I don’t think we would want West, Najera, B.Wright or Blatche. So we’re looking at Daniel Gibson, Johnny Flynn, Julian Wright, Danilo Gallinari or Brandon Bass. Gallinari is probably worth more, but NY seems to really like Rudy and yes, I think Bayless would do well there. Still, I’m not sold that is realistic, and then there would be the “who starts” debate between he and Nic.

Out of those, I like Daniel Gibson and Brandon Bass. Gibson can’t run an offense, but could rain threes if Brandon handles the ball in the half court. Or if he is in the second unit with a better ball handler. Not great, but… Bass is tough and rebounds well. Doesn’t do much else. Off the bench, he could fit next to Camby or Aldridge if one of them is at the 5, but doesn’t work
next to Greg or Joel, so his usefulness is limited.

All in all, I think the value of these two is clearly best when matched with at least one expiring contract. Portland should still take back less players than they send out, but these two together doesn’t net us anything worth doing IMO.