Just thought I would start this up since there's none at the top right now... and decided to bring back the original name too. A lot of names have been thrown around, so I thought there could be a poll for fun. Since this is informal and it's really up to Dave after today, I just went with some popular ones that I remember off the top of my head. My bad if I missed some, go ahead and post away in the comments.

Let's say that no good trades come by at the guard position and we go into the season with the same guards. I think most people agree that, on opening night, Blake will be starting at PG over Bayless. It's not a good idea to have a rookie PG running the team and starting with zero experience. However, after a short period, it's legitimate to consider starting Bayless.

Blake: Fits in the first unit because he's experienced, brings stable play, and doesn't demand the ball on offense. Fits in the second unit because it lacks a true playmaker without him (since Roy is guaranteed to start).

Bayless: Fits in the first unit because he can complement Roy by playing off the ball, shoots well, and could use the experience of starting to develop. Fits in the second unit because he can continue to brush up his skills by facing easier competition and having room for error.

It's somewhat like a development vs. success argument. Bayless will likely make more mistakes, but is that worth the reward of bringing him along with our timeline? The other thing to consider is which player's skill set fits better with each unit. For the purpose of discussion, I'll say the all-star break is the time frame. I have no idea if that's too long or too short; I guess we'll find out via the results in the poll.

Update: Sorry about that messed up poll temporarily.. I was trying to change the poll to make it more in depth, but apparently it keeps the old results. Just found out you have to delete a poll and then remake it. I was going to give a range of choices of when Bayless should start including each half of the next three seasons (First half of 08-09 to Second half of 10-11), but since this one has already been up for a while and it's pretty close, might as well leave it. Feel free to leave your thoughts on when specifically he should take over anyway.

Westbrook or Bayless? Just wanted a simple poll about this since it's draft day. Assume that we trade up to 5 and both of them are available. Rose and Mayo are gone and we can't trade for them. Which one would you prefer? We've already talked about these guys for weeks so I won't write an analysis of each guy or anything, this is just for answering the poll and commenting with your opinion. Thanks.

Update: Well, this hypothetical looks a little less likely with the Clippers trading up to 4 and targetting Westbrook apparently. But who knows, anything is still possible today with all the potential trades and Minnesota maybe picking a big man (leaves Mayo to go at 4 and gives us the choice). So continue with the topic, although right now it looks like Bayless will be the man at 5 if we trade up.

Anybody else up right now to see Game 7 of this series? Celtics looking tough right now but things might change. I'd love to see the Hawks pull off the upset, especially against the Celtics (never really liked them). Even if Boston wins, this series showed the struggle they're going to have with getting a championship this year. Regardless, I look forward to the Blazers being the Hawks of next year's playoffs.. except way better since it's the West. Leave any in-game or series comments here.

So it seems like the main issue to address this summer is the PG position, even the SF situation seems adequate to me now. Steve Blake has been a solid player and should be one of the better backups in the league, but most agree that he's not the answer. For now, it looks like Sergio isn't going to get a major role in the next year or two. Realistically, we aren't going to go sign a Chris Paul type of player next summer or land a lucky trade for a Devin Harris without significantly changing the roster, so I ruled that out for the purpose of discussion.

That means that our current main option for the long term team is Jack. He's shown his value when it comes to things like attacking the basket or shooting free throws. On the other hand, some of those turnovers are just unwatchable. The issue is that Jack has just three seasons under his belt and it seems like some of his flaws may be remedied or at least limited by more development. Is it worth giving up just yet?

Another possible option is to draft a PG this year, probably the last time in a while that we'll have a good shot at an immediate impact player in the draft. Russell Westbrook is the player most seem to be looking at, as he fits our team well and is within reach of the Blazers (assuming we don't somehow win the lottery again). Westbrook provides the defense that would stop all those random guards that were killing us all year while also being an okay option on offense. The problem is that he's another player who will need a few years to develop. Do the Blazers really want to go through the wait again and hope it works out?

We will probably need to move up a little to get Westbrook or hope he falls to us. Either way, it will most likely mean that Jack is gone in the long run. So which one would you prefer? Jack still has some potential and some experience going his way, while Westbrook has a lot more potential but no guarantees. Another thing to consider is that adding Oden alone may help with some of those defensive problems in the previous paragraph, making Westbrook a little less needed. It also depends if the Blazers are looking to seriously contend next year or just reach the playoffs and become readier for a championship run in the near future. We can't have a rookie PG playing lots of minutes in the first case, but I think we would still make the playoffs. I've been a Jack supporter so it's a tough decision for me, so answer the poll below and comment. Hope to be convinced.

Edit: As mentioned in the comments, another possible option is to use Roy at PG. Personally, I'm not a much of a fan of using Roy as the primary PG because I want to keep him in his natural role. Go ahead and select the third option if you want to choose Roy though.

While I was reading the game recap for yesterday's game, I noticed this statistic in the notes: The Blazers are 6-0 in games decided three points or less. It seems like we almost always pull it out at the end, but I didn't know we were perfect. Then again, there are games like Toronto where we end up losing by an inflated margin. So do you think this shows that the Blazers execute well at the end or do we just get lucky?

Wants to stay. Not sure if someone already posted, but I didn't see any discussion on it.

"For me, it has always been about just thinking in the near future,'' Jones said. "If an opportunity presents itself for me to opt out and stay here, cool. Or if it doesn't present itself - an opportunity for me to opt out _ and I stay here, that's fine too. But either way it goes, I want to stay here.''

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/01/jonesing_for_james.html

That's great news, I hope he gets a modest contract with the Blazers for the next four or five years this summer. Thoughts?