Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Magloire to Blazers
The Trail Blazers have had a very good offseason thus far, and most of the credit should go to de facto GM Kevin Pritchard. Some of their draft-day deals were questioned, particularly by borderline maniac Steven A. Smith, but the fact is that we do not know what discussions took place behind the scenes and it is entirely possible the Blazers had to make the moves they did to end up with the players they wanted. Although it appeared to be a somewhat unspectacular draft class, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were the #1 guard and #1 big man (or close to it) on many draft-day boards so coming away with both of them (at a minimal cost player-wise) was one of the more memorable days in recent Blazer history.
The latest move by the Blazers was to trade Steve Blake, Brian Skinner, and Ha Seung-Jin to the Bucks for Jamaal Magloire. This appears to be another solid move by Pritchard. Blake is a young PG who has some skills (he had an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio last year), but the Blazers appear to have confidence in Jarrett Jack who was streaky but often effective last season. Jack is not an outside shooter but he looks like he could grow into a solid playmaker in the NBA. He will also be backed up by the newly-acquired (and hopefully healthy) Dan Dickau and Roy. Skinner, a backup center, certainly did not fit into the Blazers' '07 plans, and Ha is a total stiff.
In return, the Blazers got a solid center to back up/compete with Joel Przybilla. Magloire is a very good rebounder and an OK shotblocker. His offensive skills aren't great, but he nearly averaged a double-double last season, and there just aren't many guys like that around the league. Furthermore, he's pretty durable; I believe he started every game last season and played about 2500 minutes while Przybilla has never played more than 1900 in a season.
The Blazers' frontcourt is now somewhat overloaded, with Przybilla, Magloire, Zach Randolph, Raef LaFrentz, and Aldridge all competing for minutes at the 4/5 spots. This could create some issues; Randolph will undoubtedly get his minutes, LaFrentz and Magloire have been known to complain about playing time in the past, and Przybilla will likely become disgruntled if he is not the starter. Still, having too many big men is not a terrible problem to have. It's possible the Blazers are not done dealing, although each of these players does bring something a little different to the table.
All in all, the coming NBA season will be one of the first I have looked forward to in a long time. It finally feels like the word "rebuilding" is appropriate for the Blazers. There are a lot of new pieces in town, many of which have a lot of potential. Bad-attitude guys Randolph and Darius Miles (ugh) are still around, but I still think the team will start bringing back some of the fans they have lost in the last decade. They won't be competitive yet, but I think they'll be a lot easier to root for.
The latest move by the Blazers was to trade Steve Blake, Brian Skinner, and Ha Seung-Jin to the Bucks for Jamaal Magloire. This appears to be another solid move by Pritchard. Blake is a young PG who has some skills (he had an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio last year), but the Blazers appear to have confidence in Jarrett Jack who was streaky but often effective last season. Jack is not an outside shooter but he looks like he could grow into a solid playmaker in the NBA. He will also be backed up by the newly-acquired (and hopefully healthy) Dan Dickau and Roy. Skinner, a backup center, certainly did not fit into the Blazers' '07 plans, and Ha is a total stiff.
In return, the Blazers got a solid center to back up/compete with Joel Przybilla. Magloire is a very good rebounder and an OK shotblocker. His offensive skills aren't great, but he nearly averaged a double-double last season, and there just aren't many guys like that around the league. Furthermore, he's pretty durable; I believe he started every game last season and played about 2500 minutes while Przybilla has never played more than 1900 in a season.
The Blazers' frontcourt is now somewhat overloaded, with Przybilla, Magloire, Zach Randolph, Raef LaFrentz, and Aldridge all competing for minutes at the 4/5 spots. This could create some issues; Randolph will undoubtedly get his minutes, LaFrentz and Magloire have been known to complain about playing time in the past, and Przybilla will likely become disgruntled if he is not the starter. Still, having too many big men is not a terrible problem to have. It's possible the Blazers are not done dealing, although each of these players does bring something a little different to the table.
All in all, the coming NBA season will be one of the first I have looked forward to in a long time. It finally feels like the word "rebuilding" is appropriate for the Blazers. There are a lot of new pieces in town, many of which have a lot of potential. Bad-attitude guys Randolph and Darius Miles (ugh) are still around, but I still think the team will start bringing back some of the fans they have lost in the last decade. They won't be competitive yet, but I think they'll be a lot easier to root for.
# posted by Smooth : 10:49 AM
