The New Red & Black

I can't believe it, Rochin. What you posted about Sergio is exactly what I feel. I swear we must have had a subconscious Vulcan Mind-Meld at some point. I wonder if we have other alike thoughts or it's just the Blazers.

(Stonehouse, or anyone else, please jump in and tell us if you're pumped about the Blazers current situation).

Haha who knows... I did watch a lot of Star Trek re-runs and whatnot when I was a young buck... But I would just say that brilliant minds think alike

Oh and quick note, I just remembered that all the Summer League games are viewable for free at http://www.nba.com/summerleague2008/scoreboard.jsp

I think you just need to set up an account (which is free) and then you can watch, yay, its like march madness all over again

But yeah, I second that... I mean as much fun as it is for FANatic and I to type back and forth what each other is already thinking... sometimes an opposing view is nice... Even if we do have to turn around and tell you why you are wrong

I think KP may have a real conflict on his hands over that 15th roster spot. Forget Bayless for a moment. I see flashes of real potential from our PG from Norway. Granted it's only SL, but you've got to start somewhere if you are in his position. Man I like the fearless way he plays. His court vision and lightning quick decision-making are way above Bayless at this early stage. He's not afraid to shoot, works relentlessly and is a true, albeit tall, PG. And tall is usually good in the NBA.

KP has sort of boxed himself in here as I see it. He probably has promised Rudy that Sergio would be here for at least one more year. Plus, Rudy needs Serg to help him learn English, which is critical and a top priority for the promising Spanaird. But that's just 13 spots, including Bayless. Where he really boxed himself in is that he, according to the Oregonian's Jason Quick, has signed Batum to a guaranteed contract, (because he is intrigued by the Frenchman's potential), thus giving him the 14th spot. Although he may spend a good part of the year in the NBA's minor league.

Now, KP wants an open 15th spot for flexibility. He may look to sign a veteran free agent later in the summer. Or use the open spot somehow before the trading deadline if he chooses to ship our LaFrenz and his contract.

(Time to stop. Not sure if I'm making sense anymore...)

Any thoughts, Red and Blackers?

The expiring contract of Raef LaFrentz is one of the biggest assets this team has right now... and could potentially be used to beef up this team during the run for the post season. From what I know Batum (Ba-TOOM) is still under contract in Europe but they were very likely to sign him up here for a couple reasons. First off leaving him there to season would likely produce little results since European teams often turn to vets and older more established players... whereas if the singed him here and sent him to the D-League he would be guaranteed lots of minutes and they could more closely monitor his progress. He is obviously a long way from contributing, but again I have yet to see KP's instincts on a player steer us wrong....

From every interview I've watched or article I've read the 15th roster spot is Koponen's to win or lose in the Summer League.... He is so much stronger and more poised than he looked at any of the games I went to last year and was the player of the year in the top league in Finland... (btw I gotta credit one of my friends on this, but the nickname "The Finnisher" is just too perfect). So basically if he shows he can earn a spot, why not bring him over?? Again it would be nice to have that open roster spot down the road, but at the same time if the kid is good enough...

OK, OK... I'll pitch in.

First things first... finally one of our Blazers has a good nickname in the Finnisher. It's perfect. The Natural is OK for Roy and the Thrilla is fine for Pyrzybilla, but Trout is awful, LA is boring, Spanish Chocolate is lame, and we don't even have one for Oden yet.

Anyway, I think we'll have to end up signing Koponen. Because if we don't, one of the European teams will sign him for a lot of money. And once that happens, we'll be in a similar situation to what happened with Rudy this summer. Petteri is a first round pick, so he'll be locked into his salary for at least three years. If he were to go back to Europe and make a few million bucks and play well, maybe the incentive to come play in the NBA will be gone. I think it would be a pretty big risk letting him go.

As for Batum... don't the Blazers HAVE to sign him? Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought he was no longer under contract with his French team. I mean... I thought (I'm no expert) that per the Collective Bargaining Agreement the only way a team can avoid signing its first round pick is if that pick is under a contractual obligation elsewhere. And I thought that Batum wasn't.

Anyway... I have no problem with signing them both and sending Batum down to the D-League. People talk about wanting the flexibility of an open 15th roster spot, but I'm pretty sure that is talk born from Message Board GMs and Talk Radio traders, not from the Blazers. I mean, sure, in an ideal world would they like flexibility? Sure. But isn't it worth more to have a promising young PG playing against the best competition and working with the best skill development coaches in the world?

After/during this sesaon we are going to see some things happen. Raef's contract will either expire or we will have traded him for some serious value. (If Kwame Brown's contract got Pau Gasol...). I also wouldn't expect us to resign all of Martell, Channing, and Ike Diogu. Obviously Diogu is the one we will likely let walk. Sergio seems like trade bait to me... either as a fill-in on the Raef deal or maybe for future picks after the season. They have a team option on Steve Blake, and if Bayless really shows something his rookie season, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't bring back Blake either.

I like all those guys, but the time for getting better is done. Now it's time to win. And to win, you have to keep on getting more talent. And while guys like Steve Blake, Ike Diogu, Sergio Rodriguez and Martell Webster are good guys, I think the Blazers will need better to run with the big dogs of the NBA.

Anyway, long story short? Sign both. Petteri to cut his teeth in the NBA, Batum to the D-League.

So here's a new question. Baring in mind that it IS still waaaaaaay early, how well do you think the Blazers will do in the '08/'09 campaign?

I say 50 wins and and the first round of the playoffs. . .

-SciFi

SciFi - 50 wins and the playoffs yes, if Oden plays most all of the season and plays well. If Oden can't perform to that standard, harder to predict. Maybe 45 - 48 wins and the playoffs? That could also happen.

Trust me, if Oden is healthy and plays to his potential we are going to be a playoff team that is very intriguing!

Stonehouse - Sorry to have to correct you buddy, but KP has been talking about that 15th roster spot almost daily. He DOES want to keep it open so he has options, such as signing a vet free agent closer to the start of the season. I don't believe he expected Koponen to be this improved. Now he is seriously considering signing the Finn for that 15th spot. But he sounds a wee bit conflicted to me, and that's the first time I've felt that from him since he was introduced as the new GM.

Its hard to say about the win total... or the playoffs for that matter... The west is the west, so 50 wins are kind of a pre-requisite into getting into the playoffs... Do the blazers have it in them, on paper, and measuring heart, definitely... And honestly I don't think the key to this season is necessarily Oden, if he can be at least an upgrade over Pryzbilla it will be beneficial, but I see the steadying improvement of LaMarcus and the development of another scorer to further spread out defenses that clamp down on our big 2 (I don't think we will see that from Oden QUITE yet... Big men usually take a few years to refine that aspect of their game... Even Dwight Howard is pretty darn limited in his offensive repertoire.... Haha and if Greg is even a shade of Dwight... Look out...). In other words I could see the emergence of Rudy, Outlaw or Webster being the real key... But thats just me....

I think it will be interesting this year I see Denver and Phoenix both dropping significantly, and its kind of a wait and see game with the likes of Sacramento, Golden State and the Clippers... But I definitely see Portland in the hunt with those teams for those 6-8 spots... Should be VERY exciting to watch this year!!

Granted on Oden's offensive game, Rochin. But if he can block shots, intimidate penetrators, play great "D" and rebound like I think he can, I think he will have a tremendoes impact on the team. Remember, defense wins championships.

Greg has the potential to elevate the games of everyone around him. Players can take more gambles on defense because they know if they get beat, their man is going to get the ball stuffed down his throat. I don't care if we average 75 points a game (yeah, exaggeration). But if the other team is only scoring 69, then we win, and we win a lot of games....

Let's agree to disagree on this one, Roch. Anyway you slice it, we are a team to watch next season, and the play-offs are finally a real possibility again.

50 wins is a nice even number. But I think it will be a fight and not as "easy" as some people are thinking. If you could guarantee to me right now that Oden will be 100% for the whole year and Rudy will be able to play right away, then I would be feeling a lot more optimistic.

But the fact of the matter is that we don't know what Oden and Rudy will be capable of, so at this point it's better to keep expectations somewhat in check.

And part of the reason I say that... the Clippers are going to be a lot better, the Kings are going to be better (if they keep Artest), the Warriors will still be tough, the Nuggets still have AI and Carmello... and if the Blazers want to make the playoffs, they have to finish ahead of EVERY one of those teams. It'll be tough.

The Spurs aren't going anywhere, the Lakers are on the rise, the Jazz haven't lost anybody, the Hornets haven't lost anyone either (though I don't know if they'll be as good as last year), the Rockets have TMac and Yao and Scola and Landry were really good rookies, the Suns are old but still have Nash and Amare... really only the Mavs seem to me to be vulnerable, but looking at their roster... Dirk, Josh Howard, Jason Kidd... they've still got a lot of talent.

Don't mean to be pessimistic... my point is that the Blazers will be in a total dogfight.

But can they make it? Absolutely. And there's no doubt that it's the goal. My big thing with the Blazers is that I worry about injury... Roy, Aldridge, and Oden have all had injury history, and all three of them will likely miss some stretches of this season at some point. In a normal year, that would be fine and they'd just deal with it, but in a season where they will need to be firing on full cylindars (sp?) to pass several other teams, it could become an issue.

Still... I'm still a wide-eyed optimist for this team. I think they could become very good very quickly if Oden is all we think he can be. Brandon Roy is a proven leader and an All-Star, LaMarcus is a 20-10 guy, Outlaw is a proven commodity off the bench, Pryzbilla and Blake are reliable and solid back-ups, and Webster can shoot and could turn into a nice player if he ever gets over the hump. Not to mention Rudy and Jerryd Bayless. There's just so many options and so much young talent. If everything goes right, this team could do what New Orleans did last year.

My prediction though? 48-49 wins and in a dogfight for the playoffs.

2009-10 prediction? Number one seed in the west.

Being a Finn myself, I hope that KP either signs Koponen, or trades his rights to allow the kid to sign an NBA contract, even if it is for a future heavily protected first. The kid has really worked hard to get here, and deserves a roster spot. For the first time I am in the let Sergio go camp, or cut someone else loose, I dunno.

Boy, I think we've gotten ourselves a real offensve threat in Bayless. I believe he's going to be in the playing rotation come November. This kid is very aggressive, fearless and has an obvious natural ability to score points in bundles.

Remember, even with the progress we've made in the last two years, we've still been a relatively low scoring team. No doubts with me that Jerryd is going to score a few here and there for the Blazers this upcoming season. Add Rudy's proven scoring and aggressiveness and it really could have a dramatic impact on how other teams prepare defensively for us.

We have quite the quality depth, don't we?

FANatic wrote:Boy, I think we've gotten ourselves a real offensve threat in Bayless. I believe he's going to be in the playing rotation come November. This kid is very aggressive, fearless and has an obvious natural ability to score points in bundles.

Remember, even with the progress we've made in the last two years, we've still been a relatively low scoring team. No doubts with me that Jerryd is going to score a few here and there for the Blazers this upcoming season. Add Rudy's proven scoring and aggressiveness and it really could have a dramatic impact on how other teams prepare defensively for us.

We have quite the quality depth, don't we?

Hate to burst the bubble..

One thing I haven't seen yet is that any of these guys can play defense, Don't they do that in summer ball?

Geezer - good point! I don't think defense is much of a priority right now, however.

But the Blazers will eventually need "lock-down" team "D" if they hope to make a title run in the next few years. Having the "Praying Mantis" in the middle is a great place to begin building, though.

But we do need to score about 10-15 more points than we have been. I'm most concerned with offense for the regular team, geez, because I believe in the last two years our players have begun to show the discipline, hard work and character of a good, solid defensive team.

Defense - as they say - wins championships!

I am still not sold on Bayless, I see that when he is the primary option he can score like crazy, but how will he do when he is the 3rd option or so? He seemed a bit selfish with the ball during summer league, and I don't blame him. But to me summer league is a poor representation of NBA success, heck Von Wafer dropped 40 last year with Denver in summer league.