A look at Joel Pryzbilla

[SinceClyde]

Joel Pryzbilla. 7'1, 255 lbs. Just turned 28 in October.

Makes $5,762,575 this season, and $6,857,725 in 2009/10 with a player option the following year.

Pros

Joel is an above average defender and shot blocker. On some teams, that's not important. On the Blazers, that's very valuable.

Joel is the sheriff of this team. Every time anyone on the team is disrespected, Joel is the first one sticking up for them.

Joel is cheap for his position. 7'1 guys are rare, especially 7'1 guys worth a lick.

Joel would be a good mentor for Greg and great bench center (thanks d train).

Cons

Joel has possibly two things he can do on offense; the occasional pick and roll, and he is developing a serviceable put-back dunk. Those two equate to very little if any offensive production.

Joel's contract is, outside the rookies, one of the longest contracts the Blazers have. Easily passing the "cap space" plan.

Because of Joels offensive 'disability', Nate plays him less than many fans would like to see.

Should we be hearing offers for Joel? Is he a long term part of the Blazers?

Personally I think he should be here for years to come.

[d-train]

You should edit your white team reference so nobody interprets that as being a racial reference.

I would trade him in second if the trade cleared cap space in 2009.

[borgradr]

I'm with D-train, trading Joel would mean adding $7 million to the projected $10 million we might have in 2009. Basically if we trade Joel in the next 2 years we have a legitimate chance at bringing in a big-name talent in 2009, which seems like a pretty good plan to me.

I kinda think Coach McMillan doesn't like his game that much either. Nate's never been a fan of shot blocking and while Joel rebounds very well, his lack of an offensive game makes him a liability without a big time interior scorer like Zach Randolph in the game. I say get expirings for him (something that is totally possible in my opinion) or package him with some of the other pieces we have to move by this summer.

[trentsdad]

I think he will be a good fit when Oden is healthy. Oden will foul a lot for the first couple of years, and will no way average more than 32 minutes a game.

His salary is in no way high for that position, look around at what is out there as far as back up centers go......it's slim pickens, in fact Slim Pickens would be an improvement over half of the centers in the league

Keep Joel unless it meant the difference in getting an all star point

[mojomarc]

The problem is that even though Joel's contract isn't good, it also isn't bad for what he does. He makes basically as much as such stud centers as Jason Collins, Nazr Mohammad, Jerome James, Jeff Foster, Dan Gadzuric, and Darko, none of which I think will contribute more to our team than Joel currently does both on and off the stat sheet. Yes, Joel's a limited player, but he's a limited 7'1" player and there aren't that many who are less limited at that size and the ones that are aren't really realistic options for us. The only ones out there that might be close are guys like Perkins in Boston, but who knows how he would fit in chemistry-wise. Plus, going to the next level up, to the Chris Kaman's of the world, would mean you're getting a player far less comfortable in the backup role to Oden than Joel will be.

So it's a nice idea, but he realy is the best backup center we can find for Oden who could be had for us that doesn't involve the risk of drafting for the position or taking on a major potential headcase issue.

[Butter]

What happens if Greg Oden doesn't recover 100% or aggravates his injury? The Blazers will have to rely on LMA and Frye at center.

There is no need to move Joel right away. We're not looking for capspace until 2009. If the Blazers really want real cap space in '09, they need to move Miles. Maybe they should try package Joel with Miles, but not until their sure what's going to happen with Oden after next year.

[J~Rush]

Trade the Vanilla Gorilla, no way, I love the Przybillakilla.

[Wizenheimer]

I've asked before, and I'll ask again in this case: a couple of people in this thread have advocated here for trading a legitimate asset simply to free up theoretical cap-space. I'd like to see some actual names of players attached to the theory...specifically, just which 'big name players' do you have in mind?? You can't be just be just wanting to dump an actual player for the hypothetical. Hypothetical players have never scored a point or grabbed a rebound.

Who is your target with the cap-space? Identify them and then we can examine if sacrificing Joel Pryzbilla now, for that other player 2 years from now is worth it.

[cucad8]

I'm with D-train, trading Joel would mean adding $7 million to the projected $10 million we might have in 2009. Basically if we trade Joel in the next 2 years we have a legitimate chance at bringing in a big-name talent in 2009, which seems like a pretty good plan to me.

Not trying to specifically put you on the spot, but who might you be looking at as that big name guy to bring over with that cap space?

**Beat me to it Wize**

[mojomarc]

Hypothetical players have never scored a point or grabbed a rebound.

You've clearly not seen the player I made up in NBA 2004 that was a combination of Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan

[southnc]

I like Joel's effort and the way he has improved his FT shooting.

However, it's the HANDS that is his down-fall. He just cannot catch anything that isn't practically handed to him and is easily stripped by defenders. He needs to work on strengthening his hands-on-ball coordination.

He can block good and flops with the best of them. However, he has no jump-shot and is strictly a one-dimensional under-the-basket scorer.

He has lots of room for improvement. His success with FT % (critical to inside scorers) makes me believe he deserves time to improve the other areas of concern.

[abuzz]

If there was any bright side to Oden going down this year, it was seeing the Blazer's need for Pryzbilla. It was a slap in the face to realize that you need a defensive big man starting and one coming off the bench. What I liked but never get to see enough of, is Pryzbilla and Frye on the court at the same time; that unit aside from being complimentary to each other, gives the Blazers a strong second unit.

The Blazers should not be stupid and entertain any offers for Joel until the Blazers have been made whole with Oden's return and seeing Oden perform after months of action, next year.

[Wizenheimer]

-= original quote snipped =-



You've clearly not seen the player I made up in NBA 2004 that was a combination of Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan

scored 60,000 points and 20,000 women...with his tongue hanging out!

[Wizenheimer]

about Joel Pryzbilla's minutes: it seems that last summer, Nate said they were going to be real careful to limit Joel's minutes because of his injury history. Am I just imagining that?

[Goldbum]

I get the feeling that Joel has a lot of value round the league right now. If you look at teams boards and beat reporters you are constantly hearing how this team or that realy needs a defensive big. Joel is above average for a starting center so haveing a guy like him on the bench is a huge luxury. The problem is that his game in incompatible with Odens on offense. I think Frye is a very adequate backup 4-5 as long as you don't stick him at Center with Outlaw playing Power forward, but as long as it's Oden/Frye or Frye/LaMarcus I think were fine especially if LMA bulks up a bit more. Add in Raef for emergencies and all our bases are covered.
So the question then becomes if Joel could be traded/packaged for a player who would have a bigger impact on our team and it's future why would you hesitate? There are a few reasons I can tell. The first is chemistry: even though we would assuredly wait for the offseason to move Joel he has been an important part of a real nice formula. The second is Odens injury history and his developement, I think that haveing JP on the team will lighten Gregs burden and push him to develope his offensive game in practice. And lastly is loyalty, Joel had oportunity to go elsewhere and he chose PDX because be belived/ believes in this team and the direction it is headed.
I don't know what I would do, I kinda go back and forth on subject. The reality is we have a minutes crunch coming up and a package that involves Joel may help ease that. The problem is most of us just love that the Vanilla Gorilla is a TrailBlazer.

[Wizenheimer]

I get the feeling that Joel has a lot of value round the league right now. If you look at teams boards and beat reporters you are constantly hearing how this team or that realy needs a defensive big. Joel is above average for a starting center so haveing a guy like him on the bench is a huge luxury. The problem is that his game in incompatible with Odens on offense. I think Frye is a very adequate backup 4-5 as long as you don't stick him at Center with Outlaw playing Power forward, but as long as it's Oden/Frye or Frye/LaMarcus I think were fine especially if LMA bulks up a bit more. Add in Raef for emergencies and all our bases are covered.
So the question then becomes if Joel could be traded/packaged for a player who would have a bigger impact on our team and it's future why would you hesitate? There are a few reasons I can tell. The first is chemistry: even though we would assuredly wait for the offseason to move Joel he has been an important part of a real nice formula. The second is Odens injury history and his developement, I think that haveing JP on the team will lighten Gregs burden and push him to develope his offensive game in practice. And lastly is loyalty, Joel had oportunity to go elsewhere and he chose PDX because be belived/ believes in this team and the direction it is headed.

those are good points.

Earlier, I wan't objecting to the notion of trading Joel for a specific player. It's one think if moving Joel can help portland land a player like Calderon.

It's another to move him simply as a salary dump as was suggested here.

[SinceClyde]

I am just all for keeping him because our rebounding without him is much worse. Even if he only gets 5-10 a game (maybe 2 OR), that's actually a big chunk of our rebounding. So I think trading him this season would have to be a sweet deal.

Of course, if another team values him more than we do and show it with offering a player we value more, I'd be hard pressed to pass on it.

[Tim Lehrbach]

I think he's an elite defensive player and a good rebounder and am glad he's on the team. I'd only trade him if the team is sure they can find a better value to be the third or fourth big man on the team.

Also, if the time comes to make hard choices I'd probably keep him for under $7 million per year, expiring in 2010, rather than keep Webster at that price for many more years.

[mojomarc]

Is it just me or does Joel look like he has put a good amount of mass onto his lower body? He just seems to set a much stronger base and to take up more room than he did last year.

[Dome]

-= original quote snipped =-



You've clearly not seen the player I made up in NBA 2004 that was a combination of Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan

Wichaelt Chamberdan?