Memphis of course has been pretty prominent in both rumors and real deals. The player that seems to be the most likely up on the auction block is Mike Miller. Other rumors have mentioned Kyle Lowry as well.
So why do I care about Lowry though?
I never really thought much about Lowry when his name was being brought up in other rumors. I haven't seen him linked to Portland a single time--at least not recently. But Portland does need a point guard. He's not the sexy pick by any means, he's a bit undersized and has been rather unspectacular thus far in his short career.
But then I remembered an article from last summer in the Columbian talking about Pritchard's "money ball" system. While the Columbian news paper will make you pay for this article, I found a link to the full article posted on another site:
Link
Here's the quote that I remembered that could be of interest
Pritchard and Ma are quick to point out that the system is not foolproof, though, and its findings will raise some eyebrows amongst casual fans.
For instance, Memphis point guard Kyle Lowry, selected with the 24th pick, was Protrade's top-ranked player in last year's draft, while Portland's all-rookie forward LaMarcus Aldridge - taken with the second pick - ranked 22nd.
Now again, I'm just speculating, but maybe Pritchard has this guy ranked pretty high still and now has a decent shot at acquiring him. It seems to make sense that Portland would be interested in talking to Memphis in light of the Pau Gasol robbery to at least see if anything else is falling off the back of the truck. I always felt that Mike Miller would be a target here, but maybe Kyle Lowry could be involved?
I'll end with, I have no inside information on this, I haven't heard anything or spoke to anyone. This is simply me just being a little bored, and throwing out something to talk about leading up to the deadline.
