2011-12 Season Preview: The Centers

Say Zach Randolph, and he’ll get destroyed. No way his thin frame can keep up with stronger post players.

Sometimes we have no choice unfortunately. Unless someone here has a direct line to the FO and can affect massive decisions anyways.

You build when you can and roll the dice on a decent situation when you have the chance.

Sometimes you just got to ask and be willing to deal with the result. If you don’t at least ask you’ll probably never have to worry about her saying yes.

Just wanted to add that I always value your opinion, perspective and analogies even if I don’t always agree totally. We’re lucky to have you here Dave.

I have to admit at first I didn’t realize who Dave was talking about. Has it been so long since we last saw him play that I didn’t even think about Oden when I read this post?

So we’ll see how it goes.

See if NO would be willing to part with Okafor or Kaman for a reasonable price…

And we all know it. We need an everyday player to team with Aldridge, whether it’s a PF or a pivot. For now, it is what it is. And, we’ll have one more tough call to make. If Oden would sign for an amount relevant to a second team player, and then work his way into the lineup assuming he could stay healthy, we might have the room to get that player. If he tries for $8 million or more, and someone chooses to gamble on him, then we’ll have to look at the reality that with the new CBA, he could hamstring the Blazers for years if he doesn’t get on the floor and play realistic minutes. He’s been paid for not playing for what will amount to 4 of his first 5 years. Further, he is very unpolished. When Walton came to the Blazers, he had 3 championship rings. Oden, with one year of college and one playing basically a season of 20-30 mpg games, is still several years behind where Walton was. Oden, cannot have improved over the last several years sitting on the bench. He can only have regressed. So, it will be a tough call.

most nights playing power forward up front is good enough, so i think it makes sense to look at the 4/5 bigs as a unit:

aldridge / camby / thomas / smith / johnson and sometimes wallace

without major injuries it should be plenty, and with injuries it’ll be touch and go – but that’s okay, at least we have guys like thomas and smith who could fill in reliably without forcing aldridge and wallace to play 40 minutes at center like last season.

It’s how undersized we are at the four if we go that route. I actually think Aldridge does well at the five. A strong short quick guy like Cory Maggette can give him fits on both ends, but when he’s up against a seven footer like Duncan he’s usually got the edge in the quickness department and generally does well. What the Blazers desperately need imo is another strong four. Batum, Wallace, Rhino and Johnson are all good players, but we really need an athletic 6’10" guy who can body up and rebound – somebody with Lamar Odom’s body type. The Blazers as currently constituted are too small for a post-season matchup with a team like the Lakers…

If they can use KT for ~16min and Camby for ~20 a game they will be in relatively good shape using LMA (and CJ for spot minutes). My biggest concern is using Camby too much when he’s playing well and losing him for a few weeks at a time, which will put a ton of pressure on LMA to play 5, and Wallace to play 4, especially defensively. Both have expressed the desire to play the smaller position and while both are capable of playing the bigger position it will really stress them to play the larger positions for extended periods of the season.

Joel Freeman current stats at UNICAJA MALAGA basketball team (Spain-ACB)

GAME MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST BS TO PTS
11 26.5 59.2% 38.6% 73.5% 1.7 5.6 7.4 1.0 1.5 0.7 0.7 1.6 13.4

Born: 1987 – Height: 208cm / 6’10’’ – Position: Forward – Weight: 102kg / 224.4lbs

In 2009, Freeland joined the Spanish Euroleague club Unicaja Málaga on a 5 year contract worth €4.5 million euros net income.4 During the 2009-2010 season Freeland made his Euroleague debut and made 32 ACB appearances. The 2010-2011 season was Freeland’s best so far, averaging career highs of 13.3 points and 6 rebounds a game.

Given this info, I think I would like to see Joel Freeman over Chris Johnson. If this last team is willing to give him a 5 year contract, he must be doing something right.

(sorry for some formatting issues)

But it would be appropriate for Oden to sit on the bench wearing an orange suit. The head football coach at Oregon State used to wear orange all the time. Fans called him the Great Pumpkin back in the 70s.

If Oden wore orange to the games then at least all the Linuses on this site would have some tangible sign to support their delusional fantasies.

Saviors never die, do they? Look at pathetic little Linus huddled in the pumpkin patch, freezing his butt off waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Every year he is disappointed but still he clings to his asinine fantasy. I could say the same for religious fundamentalists but I don’t want to veer too far off topic.