$#!&, or Why Ray Felton Is Secretly Still Playing For the Denver Nuggets

I really thought that Ray would be at worst a sideways move from Dre at the point. I never disliked Dre’s game, in fact I always respected it, it’s just that he had a hard time keeping defenses honest while he was on the Blazers squad.

I thought that Ray would bring that youth and vigor and most importantly 3 point shooting, but he has come into the season out of shape, lethargic, turnover-prone — basically a non-facilitating Point Guard who has rarely looked passable.

I’ll be the first to admit it, I was wrong- Ray is not the point guard for us. Not unless he changes UNCHARACTERISTICALLY DRASTICALLY, which has about a 1% chance of happening.

I say we look to get a big man and a decent point guard (not PGOTF by any means) and we try to get into the playoffs. If you were to get a nice big, even if overpaid, while unloading Marcus/ Gerald/ Wes/ Batum/ or Ray, then you do it. All those guys are replaceable one way or the other. Build around Aldridge and a big man.

Which got me thinking, how in the world did the Blazers decide the contract that was extended to Greg Oden as a qualifying offer replacement? Was that all for show, i.e. saying to the Portland fandom “Don’t Worry, Keep Hope Alive”? If he was considered to be playing at all this year, his contract wouldn’t have dove so sharply.
And if that is the case, how can the Front Office have any reasonable belief that Greg will be here next year, let alone play at all?

This Utah game showed that we don’t have what it takes to make it out of the second round, let alone making it past the painstakingly challenging first round.

I’ve always liked Dre, he’s a consummate professional, an ironman, and a floor leader. He plays above his ability sometime but it’s very rare – though it does happen – when Dre is “out of it”.

Although Felton’s time in Denver was brief, I saw enough to know that he has a LONG way to go to reach Dre’s caliber. He played here at a frenetic pace, too frenetic much of the time, leading to bad forced shots and turns even on the break. At first many of us thought he would be more fuel for the bullet train that is the Nuggets offense with Ty Lawson, but their skillsets are redundant. Like Melo and Amare! Just be glad you aren’t NY, I guess.

Anyway…I have to say that I attribute the trade to the GM uncertainty. Were there a stable GM situation in Portland, I can’t see that trade happening. I feel it was partly made because there were competing camps on the Blazers managerial side – one wanted to “blow it up” with Roy’s retirement and Oden’s medical DQ for this year, and trade away older players like Dre, and another wanted to try and keep the team competitive in the West with acquisitions like Jamal Crawford in the offseason.

He’s not working for us anymore, but it’s too bad he’s working for you guys. Felton has some promise, but he has a lot of developing to do to be good, and unfortunately it will cost you games. I hope you guys can get something for him if you go that road.

At least we know he can’t get any worse.

I would start batum in a wheel chair over felton

Dre & Co. took apart the Clippers on the road last night. Looks like he’s found a coach who loves his game. Even Rudy looks good under Coach Karl.

Our guards in comparison are horrible. And our team sucks in the half-court because our offense has so little movement and no one below 6’10" can hit an outside shot. The good thing is not a single ort of this is in anyway Nate’s fault. Whew! That’s a relief!

typical.

lol ;)