Webster Progressing

[LA12]

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2008/11/webster_progressing_hopes_to_r.html

I can hardly wait til Martell gets back. We are so frickin' stacked!!!

[fishnc]

How is the playing time going to break down once Martell returns?

Will Ike or Bayless get the inactive or will it vary from game to game? Certainly Batum has earned his place, but where does he now fit in the rotation?

It is already hard enough to get everyone the minutes they deserve. I could see us moving someone in December once Martell is back to full speed.

[LA12]

My gut tells me that Outlaw and one of our PG will be dealt for a more experienced PG a la Hinrich by the deadline.

[Billy]

I'm really looking forward to getting Webster back.

I'll be very curious to see what Portland elects to do. I think the most obvious is moving Ike to inactive. Of course, I'd still want to move him to the active roster for games against elite bigs as 6 fouls are 6 fouls.

I could see Batum possibly being moved to the D-League. In theory his position would be covered the most since Webster and Outlaw play the bulk of their minutes there and Roy and Rudy have shown that they can play spot minutes there. This would give him a solid opportunity at big minutes. I see this being the least likely of the options that will be available as I think Nate would rather have his defense/fouls to play on the perimeter.

The other option I could potentially see is Bayless going to the d-league. I think there could be some solid reasoning there as well. This would assume that Batum and Diogu would flip flop based on match ups, and that Nate is more likely to find an emergency need of Batum or Diogu than he is Bayless. This would give Bayless a lot of run, while still allowing Portland to cover just about every position with their 12/13 spot.

[PDXKnight]

That went by fast...

[Butter]

It is so crazy/ironic that Outlaw has finally "turned the corner" and now we are facing moving someone.

I think a lot of this will depend on how well Martel plays. Like Oden, Martel is going to be rusty and out of shape, and his position should be predicated on more movement than Oden's. The fact that he came into camp in such good shape should help. But I think we need to be realistic about his acclimation into the rotation.

[d-train]

History shows us that Nate is willing to sit his rookies to keep his vets happy. It will be bad for the team but Nate will probably sit Batum and give his minutes to Webster at least until the trade deadline passes. After the trade deadline, I expect Nate to go with Outlaw and Batum because that is the best lineup.

[d-train]

To make roster space the Blazers will move Diogu or Bayless to the inactive list.

[fishnc]

It is so crazy/ironic that Outlaw has finally "turned the corner" and now we are facing moving someone.

I think a lot of this will depend on how well Martel plays. Like Oden, Martel is going to be rusty and out of shape, and his position should be predicated on more movement than Oden's. The fact that he came into camp in such good shape should help. But I think we need to be realistic about his acclimation into the rotation.

That's true, but Martell is coming off of a far less serious surgery and also doesn't weigh 285 lbs. I am hoping he returns to form in a couple of weeks.

While Diogu has more to offer each game right now as a nice change-up to the LMA/Frye mold, I think it would be a bad idea to move Bayless to inactive. He needs to have a ball in his hands getting gametime experience at the 1 to grow, whether that be with the Blazers or in the D-League.

[BlackMamba]

well... once he gets back batum will lose all his mins, almost the same with frye, joel and sergio could see their diminish.

[SoHo]

I'm really excited to see Webster return. He's a shooter than Batum, and while he won't be as active on defense think about our starting five once Oden is in there... The only guy you could previously slack on a bit was Batum, but with Webster out there you have to guard him or he's going to hit shot after shot.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the rotation and who goes to the inactive list. Makes me wonder about the rumored Hinrich deal. If we obtain Hinrich and Simmons for Sergio and LaFrentz we just let Simmons go inactive and don't have to worry about putting anyone new on the inactive list until February (when we will likely have had a decent look at Bayless, or opened up more minutes at the three for Batum by playing Martell more at the two and Roy/Rudy more at the 1) Okay, I'll admit that was a bit of a stretch haha.

[derriko]

I don't think Websters return will cause Joel to lose any minutes, I think Greg will have more of a hand in that, he is sitting at 23 mpg right but even when Greg is in shape I don't see him going over 35. They obviously will never be on the floor together, so that leaves 13 for Joel. that's a problem

[listerine]

After Webster gets a few games to shake the rust off, I expect he'll be back in the starting lineup.

I feel the odd man out will be Frye. Outlaw will slide over to backup PF and Batum will continue to get his 12-15 as backup SF.

I expect the forwards minute distro to be something like:

Aldridge: 36
Webster: 24
Outlaw: 24
Batum: 12

It'll be nice to have that defensive wing player on the second unit.

[ph1sh55]

when webster goes out I'd really like to see batum stay in his current role.
Sergio, Rudy, martell in the second unit with outlaw PF and Oden C

That second unit would be ridiculous... Rudy and Marty seem to have good chemistry.

[Dogmont]

After Webster gets a few games to shake the rust off, I expect he'll be back in the starting lineup.

I feel the odd man out will be Frye. Outlaw will slide over to backup PF and Batum will continue to get his 12-15 as backup SF.

I expect the forwards minute distro to be something like:

Aldridge: 36
Webster: 24
Outlaw: 24
Batum: 12

It'll be nice to have that defensive wing player on the second unit.

I pretty much agree. I really like Frye, but unless Travis is dealt, this will probably be the scenario. I expect Channing may be gone at the deadline....

[Voodoo]

I'm really excited to see Webster return. He's a shooter than Batum, and while he won't be as active on defense think about our starting five once Oden is in there... The only guy you could previously slack on a bit was Batum, but with Webster out there you have to guard him or he's going to hit shot after shot.

Actually as an opposing team I would be happier to let Webster shoot an open shot rather then Batum, statistically Batum is doing better then Webster was last year. Batum is average 13 mins less then Webster was last year and is puting up similar to better stats then him. I am not psyched at all about Webster coming back, in some ways I think its actually a bad thing as it will just clog up our rotations even more right when we were starting to really hammer it out. I hope Webster can prove me wrong though and really break out this year!

Martell's seasons stats last year were : 28.4mpg, 42% FG, 38% 3PT, 73% FT, 3.9RPG, 10.8ppg
Batum's stats so far this season: 15.3mpg, 47% FG, 41% 3PT, 71% FT, 2.5RPG, 5.8ppg.

One thing I have always been disappointed in Webster is his rebounding and 3pt%, I really hope he can start picking both of those numbers up a lot this year.

[The Emcee]

Well I was just watching the replay of the Chi game and Mike Rice was talking about how Martell said his shot is better than ever, and how he's been working on it.

The only downside is I love watching Batum sooo much. Damn our super deep team!