Another "what if" lineup

by blazerbud on Sep 4, 2010 7:54 PM PDT

what if the blazers traded miller, bayless, and fernandez plus cash to denver for billips? it works on espn's trade machine(though hollinger gives the blazer's a -17 on the deal). billips is basically miller with an outside shot and a championship ring. it would give the team a point guard that can spread the defense. and more playoff experience.

sign stackhouse to a vetern's minimum contract to fill at sf/og. they could use more experienced leadership ala juwan howard.

so here goes:

aldridge cunningham pendergraph

batum babbitt stackhouse

oden camby pryzbilla

roy matthews williams

billips mills or johnson mills or johnson

all speculation of course. why would denver go for it? they still get a quality starting pg, a young player with alot of upside. (with his determination he will make a excellent player in a few years) and a bartering chip with fernandez.

allen's cash wouldn't hurt either.

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Who's going to score off the bench ?

I keep looking at these “lineups” either with the current roster or with some dream trade and i can’t help but ask WHO’S GOING TO PUT THE BALL IN THE BASKET? Bayless ? Mathews? Canby? A Rookie of your choice? Really, who are we going to get as a viable first option without Rudy or Webster after the starters sit? Have we all overlooked this? Am i the only one who see’s a glaring problem?/

by BOSSMAO on Sep 4, 2010 8:27 PM PDT reply actions

Actually...

Bayless has always had the tools to score and he’s learning how to keep the defense from stopping him. Babbitt is supposed to have an excellent scoring touch and Cunningham has a pretty mid range jumper. Combine that with the fact those guys will be playing with some starters 90% of the time, they a lot of defensive potential and I’m pretty comfortable with it.

I’m not so sure Billups is that much better than Miller, but I can see the logic of him being a better fit alongside our numerous drivers.

by Decaf on Sep 4, 2010 9:08 PM PDT up reply actions

You asked, if I were Nate, here would be my answer:

The Blazers have acquired a bunch of guys who are very strong defenders for their second unit: Pryz, Camby, DC, Mathews. This is great from a defensive point of view, but it does lead to the question who is going to score off the bench:

My primary answer is that it makes sense to stagger the rotations so that some of the high scoring guys from the first unit should spend some time on the floor with the second unit. My two top candidates are LMA and Miller. LMA is tough to stop one-on-one, and most second units are less accomplished at bringing help. Overlapping LMA with the second unit helps balance out the number of touches for Oden and LMA. This means that Camby would spend time paired with Oden and the first unit. On offense, I would love to see Camby feeding Oden out of the high post. On defense, I would love to see Camby as a weakside shot blocker paired with Oden.

Second, I would stagger Miller with the second unit as well. This will give Miller a chance to QB the second unit and will make sure that either Miller or Roy is on the floor at nearly all times. This would allow the team to take advantage of Bayless’ scoring abilities without the down side of having him as the only playmaker on the floor. Bayless was the team’s second best per minute scorer last season, and his TS% was as good as either Miller or LMA. Having Bayless on the floor with Roy would help space the floor for Brandon better than Miller. Roy and Bayless could share playmaking duties.

by upper left corner on Sep 5, 2010 9:39 AM PDT up reply actions

makes too much sense

So, why do I expect the Blazers to mash all of the scorers in the starting lineup and try to play an uptempo, defensive-minded 2nd unit (that could lead to half-court stagnation and intermittent scoring droughts?)

If LMA starts, he’s not coming out early. He’s typically been the last starter to be subbed out—sometimes he plays the entire 1st quarter. OTOH, Greg has had to leave the floor early in the 1st-3rd quarters due to foul trouble. So, unless you want to bring Camby back into the game with Oden when it’s time for Marcus to replace LMA, then the ideal Camby-Oden “high-low, here-we-go” synergy is going to be hit or miss. The best way to ensure that these two big men will play regular minutes at the same time? Start them. But I suspect this won’t be done because LaMarcus would get his feelings hurt. (It wouldn’t his fault if this proves to be the case, after all this is the NBA and just look at what happened re: Andre last fall)

Speaking of Miller, I think the odds are better re: Andre being replaced by Bayless fairly early in the 1st-3rd periods. Then we’ll finally get a look at the Jerryd-Brandon backcourt. It might be a good idea to sub out Batum for Matthews at about the same time, then bring Dre and Nic back in when Roy leaves the floor (and I’ll leave it up to the jury who would leave the game at that point—Bayless versus Matthews—I suspect that it will depend on the matchups and the score, knowing Nate)

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Sep 5, 2010 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions

we don't need start the whole bench

We may need to utilize more starters playing with bench

"Knowledge will get you from A to B. Creativity will get you anywhere." Einstein

by Garden of ODEN on Sep 4, 2010 8:38 PM PDT reply actions

Exactly.

Didn’t see your comment until I posted my longer comment above.

by upper left corner on Sep 5, 2010 9:40 AM PDT up reply actions

-17 correct

by prof.mike on Sep 4, 2010 8:56 PM PDT reply actions

Miller has to be traded in any trade we make

We can’t trade Joel because we don’t have that many bigs in the first place. Joel is due back in Dec. Who knows what’s gonna happen with Oden. And Camby isn’t renound for being an NBA iron man.

I’d trade Dre Miller and Elliot Williams along with next years first rounder for Hinrich.

I’d keep Rudy and start him in the back court with Roy. If it doesn’t work out then we can trade Rudy in Feb and have Hinrich step in. But I’d like to keep Rudy and start him for three reasons:

1) We won’t get fair trade value if we deal him. So why make a move.
2) He’s an up tempo player and that’s exactly what we need in Nate’s stale offense. There were some games last season I couldn’t stand watching. I don’t understand why Nate doesn’t run more like the Sonics did in the early to mid 90’s.
3) We’ll match up better with teams. Especially the Lakers. If Batum is our best defender he’ll be on Kobe. Who’ll guard Artest? Roy? So he can get injured again. Great. I’d rather put Rudy on Artest and have Roy guard Blake or that bum Fisher.

I’d even rather have Hinrich guard Artest. He’ll get in his face.

We need to cut Mills too. I like him but we have to many guards and swingmen. We have too many players full stop. Maybe Cho can make a move for NJ’s Zoubek. It won’t take much to grab him.

Josh Boone is still a free agent too. Make a play for him.

Whatever happens… go Blazers!!!

by hugetrailblazerfan on Sep 4, 2010 10:55 PM PDT reply actions

I agree about JP, but I disagree with your approach to the PG position

I do not want to trade Pryz, especially not until we see that GO is firing on all cylinders.

I love Billups, and if he were available I think he would be a good, but short term, fit. I just doubt that Denver is going to trade him. If they do, I doubt they are going to want two PGs, because they already have Ty Lawson.

Miller is fine. When we need better shooting to spread the floor for Roy, we have three alternatives: Rudy, Mathews or Bayless. To me, Rudy is the worst of these three options. Neither he or Roy has proven they can consistently defend the small, quick PGs in the league. In addition, Rudy doesn’t penetrate or draw fouls. Mathews is good for spreading the floor and for defense, but he isn’t a great ball-handler or a playmaker. I think Bayless will probably be the best alternative to Miller. Of course, that depends on whether or not he continues to improve his three point % and his decision making.

by upper left corner on Sep 5, 2010 10:00 AM PDT up reply actions

No trade is preferable to...

giving up Miller, a potential gem in E-Will and next years 1st for Hinrich, who is a slightly better version of Blake.

Hinrich has none of the playmaking skills of Miller and would not help Oden develop.

Miller is better fit for this team now. Although I’m sure Washington would take this trade in a millisecond.

I see Matthews guarding Artest in most scenarios. Rudy gets killed in the post v. Artest.

Josh Boone is garbage. Pendergraph is twice the player Josh Boone is.

by Rip City Reign on Sep 5, 2010 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Umm.....

Did you really just mention Brian Zoubek AND Josh Boone is viable options for the Trail Blazers? Really? Really??? I mean…… really?

I want Greg Oden to tuck me in at night and tell me stories about the old times

"They get the shot we want and we get f***ed by f***ing Juwan Howard" -Mark Cuban

"It's a good thing." -Andre Miller

by Juiceman76 on Sep 5, 2010 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Miller headed back to Denver?

I doubt that the Nuggets would be interested in an older PG, and Andre was not happy when Denver flipped him for AI

I agree that Billups would be a good target, but there would likely need to be a 3rd team involved (Charlotte?) as a new “home” for Miller

Do I expect this to happen? Not really. But Cho is calling around trying to find a taker for Fernandez, and in order to make this happen he may need to put a larger deal together

So I’m saying there’s a chance…

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Sep 4, 2010 11:25 PM PDT reply actions

Your title is misleading. This isn't "another what if linup", its "another what about this trade"

Please, for the love of all that is holy, please stop using the following: "Book it.", "FTW", "Epic" & "Fail".

...no seriously--stop.

by nima on Sep 4, 2010 11:35 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs

Thank You

In KP I trusted!

by LaoTzu on Sep 5, 2010 2:21 AM PDT up reply actions

not likely

Billups has said that he wants to retire a Nugget and he is trying to convince Melo to stay. I seriously doubt they would deal him.

"Sasha? That's a sissy name." -Mike Rice

by koyote on Sep 5, 2010 9:33 AM PDT reply actions

Don't most of us consider Denver

our biggest rivals? Or at least top 3? Teams don’t usually trade their best player (that’s right ‘Melo I said best player, pay someone 5 g’s to slap me) to a division rival

by TP.5 on Sep 5, 2010 10:18 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs