We traded the following:

Rudy Fernandez (6'6" 172#)

Petteri Koponen (6'5" 194#)

Andre Miller (6'2" 200#)

Rights to #26 pick Jordan Hamilton (6' 8.5" 228#)

Average height 6' 5.375"

Average weight 198.5#

For:

Raymond Felton (6'0.25" 199#)

and drafted:

Nolan Smith (6'3.5" 188#)

and drafted but will cut:

Jon Diebler (6'6" 200#)

Average height 6' 3.25"

Average weight: 195.7#

Did this really happen?  Am I living in bizarro world?

Add your thoughts below.

A few quick-hit thoughts on the Blazers' draft day moves:

The Blazers accomplished one of their two goals. Going into the draft, there was a feeling the Blazers would try to use Andre Miller’s non-guaranteed contract to get help at either the PG position or in the frontcourt. And in drafting Nolan Smith out of Duke and trading for Raymond Felton, they became much younger at the point. Raymond Felton is a tenacious defender, deft passer and a good scorer (though his scoring numbers – including his career-high 116 threes made last year – were inflated playing for Mike D’Antoni in New York and George Carl in Denver). However, he is a better outside shooter than Miller (33.3% career mark versus Millers under 20% mark), though a worse shooter overall (41% shooter versus 46%).

Nolan Smith is an experienced 4-year guard out of Duke. Like Felton, he is a tenacious defender, but is a streaky shooter (he was a 45% shooter at Duke, including 37% on threes). He is blazing fast, can break down defenses off the dribble and get to the rim. However, he was never a PG until his senior season after Kyrie Erving went down with a toe injury, when he averaged 5 assists a game. So he has the tools to be a PG in the NBA, it remains to be seen if he can become a true PG. The recent success of Ty Lawson and Darren Collison suggests quick, diminutive PG’s can succeed in the NBA; though it is worth nothing they were both PG’s during their college careers.

The frontcourt is still the Blazers’ biggest weakness. The Blazers failed to improve their frontcourt whatsoever today. LaMarcus Aldridge is still the only legitimate frontcourt player the Blazers have. Marcus Camby is old and can no longer protect the rim or rebound like he once could. The Blazers have no other frontcourt players after those two, save for Chris Johnson who is rail-thin and not a viable option for regular rotation minutes.

The Blazers were one of the worst rebounding teams in the league (save for on offense) and without Greg Oden making a miraculous recovery the Blazers will remain both thin on the frontline and a terrible rebounding team. With the lockout looming, the Blazers have zero options for improving the frontcourt.

The impending work stoppage makes the future unclear. As it looks right now, the NBA owners are preparing to lock out the players July 1. Most of the teams are losing money (the Hornets are owned by the other 29 owners currently) and the owners are prepared to wait out the players as long as it takes to get a better deal. The hard-line stance is being driven by the small-market owners (think Milwaukee, Sacramento, Cleveland, Minnesota, Memphis, etc.) who are going to demand the following in any new CBA: 

1) A move to a hard cap; 2) a limit on the amount and length of contracts along with the elimination of fully-guaranteed contracts; 3) some sort of “franchise tag” similar to the NFL model to prevent LeBron James situations from happening to the Cleveland’s of the NBA. This will probably include some adaptation of the current Bird Rights. 5) A new revenue-sharing model; and 6) an amnesty clause allowing teams to wipe one contract off their salary cap (read, Brandon Roy); they will still have to pay the contract, but it will not count against a team’s cap figure.

Without knowing what the conditions of the new salary cap (amount, hard or soft) and the status of current free agents (i.e. restricted free agency could be done away with altogether), it is impossible to project what the Blazers’ free agent options will be for improving the frontcourt.

Overall, I give the Blazers’ draft a B- … so far. There is no way to predict how these moves will work out. Larry Millar and Chad Buchanan could have hit home runs with acquiring Felton and Smith, we just will not know for a few years.The biggest issue I have seen with the vast majority of Blazer fans is they vastly overrate this team. That is to say, Blazer fans think the Blazers are several years closer to contending for a title than they actually are. The reason for this, I think, comes from Brandon Roy’s performance in Game 4 of the Dallas series. His 18 point fourth quarter, single handedly winning the game for the Blazers, tricked Blazer fans into thinking “He’s back!” In reality, he is very likely not back. No one, not even he, knows how his knees are going to hold up over the course of a full season.

What Blazer fans fail to realize (or possibly do not want to admit) is how many years back the knee injuries to Roy and Oden set the Blazers. Roy and Oden were supposed to be franchise players, the Blazers' very own modern-day version of Kobe and Shaq (just infinitely more likable). Instead neither of them are franchise players and likely never will be.**

**In Roy's case he was a franchise player. However his knee injuries have made it unlikely he will ever return to the same level. Both Roy and Oden showed us their vast potential before their bodies betrayed them.

My biggest fear of this trade is if the Blazers do not make the Conference Finals this year the fans will judge it too harshly for failing to put the Blazers over the top. The correct way to view this trade is as merely one move towards the goal of being contenders in the Western Conference. The Blazers still need a massive amount of frontcourt help and until they get it this team will not be ready to compete for a title anytime soon.

Well, the Rudy saga ended today.

Rooting for Rudy has been frustrating at times, moreso towards the end of his Blazers tenure.
That said, there is still much that I appreciate about his having been a Blazer.

I'll always remember the excitement of his rookie year.  There was the build-up, watching Nate trying to contain himself in Beijing as he watched Rudy hit clutch jumpers and posterize D. Howard. Then there were the Rodriguez-Fernandez "Spanish Armada" alley-oops.  And there was Rudy setting the NBA rookie 3-pointers made record, threading crafty passes, and playing with fire and joy.

Somewhere along the way, things went south.  Maybe it was the Ariza foul, and Rudy's subsequent back troubles.  Maybe the rain and homesickness got to Rudy.  Whatever happened, the drama, the complaining, and the inconsistent play finally soured the fan-player relationship. 

Be that as it may, I'm glad we got to cheer for Rudy.  Things went sour, but at the beginning, the sky was the limit.  And even after we learned that Rudy would not become the Spanish Michael Jordan, there were occasional moments of magic... a steal, a big shot, or Rudy's "too-little-too-late-but-so-tantalizingly-exciting" 3-pointer explosion against the Suns in the first round.

Farewell Rudy, and fare thee well.

There was a lot of movement in the trade today, but the real meat and potatoes was Andre Miller for Raymond Felton.

It seems pretty clear to me that it's a downgrade for next year, but Miller is 35 and Felton is only 26.  My "things I kinda sorta remember hearing on SportsCenter" recollection is that Felton is a solid PG, certainly good enough to be a starter on a contender... as long as he's not one of your best couple players.  I don't like trusting a hazy memory though, so lets see how he compares to both Miller and other guards in the league.  I'm a big fan of advanced stats, so that's what I'm going to use for most of the comparisons.

Continue reading this post »

overheard from a dimly lit corner of a quiet room,


There are seven spots around the arc that Jon Diebler visits most days after practice. How long he spends at each is up to him. "I have to make eight of 10 threes to move on to the next spot," he said. "If I don't, I have to do that spot over."

what his coaches say

"The number of shots the guy has taken after practice doubles anybody else in college basketball, I guarantee it," said Archie Miller, who in his first season as an Ohio State assistant has spent hours coaching Diebler after practice and at other times Diebler wants to work on his game.
"He's a gym rat," said Miller, who, like Diebler, is the son of a high school coach. "He embraces coaching. He embraces getting better. He doesn't care how bad he shot it or how well, or whether we won or lost. His mind-set is to get better."
The dividends might be starting.

Felton for Miller

Diebler for Fernandez

Smith for Mills (who is a free agent and won't be offered a contract)

Don't worry about back up power forward, that will come in free agency, Nate wants vets.

In the end it's not as bad as people are saying. I few days ago everyone was saying we should just let Rudy go. Now he's gone and people act like we just traded Larry Bird.

Lots of talk about PG's today but there's the still the question nobody wants to think about (myself included): What if Oden is never healthy?

With Camby's expiring contract and the uncertainty of the new CBA, it would be nice if this were addressed as well.

What options do people see for improving the center position long term?

I don't think Nene, Horford or Gasol are plausible. The best one I've thought of is Al Jefferson. With the lackluster season the Jazz had and if they draft Kanter its possible he becomes tradable. Something like Camby, Batum and a future first rounder could be conceivable (although Utah might just not trade with us period).

Obviously not ideal, but I will say I think its important we get a center with enough of an offensive game to actually be guarded by the opposing teams center. I thought it really hurt us in the Dallas series when nobody had to guard Camby and both Chandler and Nowitzki could focus on Aldridge. As much as I love LA, he's no Duncan or Nowitzki and while he can dominate almost any other PF, he's struggles against many centers. That's why I'm not all that excited about FAs like Chandler or Dalembert. Plus, it would allow Oden to play a Bynum like role at ~20min/g if he's healthy since both Al and LA could play with Oden.

But what are other people thinking?

From ESPN:

From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: "Kings have made it privately clear that they expect to trade 7th pick, sources say. 'They're confident they have deal,' one official says."

ESPN's Chad Ford adds this: "I'm told that ideally the Kings would like to find a way to trade this pick for a veteran."

If the Kings do end up trading this pick for a veteran, names like Kemba Walker, Brandon Knight (if he's still available at No. 7), Jimmer Fredette and Kawhi Leonard -- all names that have been listed in the mix for the Kings -- could fall past No. 7.

I predict this deal is with the Blazers; the question is, who is the player? Miller? Camby?

What, exactly are the rules about resigning a player you traded if he gets cut by the other team.  I am wondering about the Blazers trading Dre w/ other assets (picks and/or players) to get Kemba Walker, for example.  If the team we trade with sees Miller as just a contract/salary dump, then we could bring him back as a mentor for a young PGOTF. 

So, does anyone think that Dre, Rudy, 21st pick and cash (maybe $2M - $3M) could get us Walker? 

Sorry if some of you think this belongs in the trade drawer, but my initial question is really more about trading then resigning Dre.  Of course all of this could be moot based on the new CBA.

Wow that would leave no point guard at ....it begs the question. What else is up? Some combo of the San Antonio trade with Camby in place of Miller? I could take a combo trade of Miller,Camby, Batum , and picks for Josh Smith and Tony Parker/Bad contract. Starting lineup of LA,Wallace, Smith or Oden, Matthews and Parker. Thats a pretty good lineup. Bench would be Jefferson, Roy, Smith/Oden.  What do you Think?