RealGM

Portland trades:
Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, all our draft picks in 2009

For:
Mike Conley, Marko Jaric.

Horrible for Memphis.

If this trade was presented to me in December, then I would have done it. Now? No.

Sinobas wrote:Portland trades:
Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, all our draft picks in 2009

For:
Mike Conley, Marko Jaric.

Interesting idea, but why exactly does Memphis want 8 picks in this draft? If we turned the Jaric savings into a real veteran to play alongside Mayo, and brought Blake and Outlaw off the bench, this is potentially a good deal for the Grizz, especially if Grizz upper management sees OJ ultimately as a point guard.

GrizzGT wrote:

Sinobas wrote:Portland trades:
Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, all our draft picks in 2009

For:
Mike Conley, Marko Jaric.

Interesting idea, but why exactly does Memphis want 8 picks in this draft? If we turned the Jaric savings into a real veteran to play alongside Mayo, and brought Blake and Outlaw off the bench, this is potentially a good deal for the Grizz, especially if Grizz upper management sees OJ ultimately as a point guard.

Bayless and Outlaw for Conley?

That looks pretty good for Memphis, but there are some big factors. A year ago alot of Seattle fans thought Bayless was the guy they should draft. He was highly touted in college and looked like he could be an impact player. So then quite a few teams pass on him and he drops to Portland and can't beat out the likes of Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriquez. And when he does play it's more in the role as a scorer rather than a floor leader. So someone knows something.

So now the Grizzlies have invested a considerable amount of time and resources to get Conley to the level he's at. I could see Bayless falling into the same category. A highly regarded pointguard with terrific athleticism that needs lots of coaching and grooming to put the whole package together. The term that comes to mind when players like this are discussed is how "NBA ready" are they?

So do they really want to begin again and go with the growing pains of a talented, but unpolished pointguard that will make a ton of mistakes and hold the team back a little as his development progresses? That's taking a short term hit just to get Travis Outlaw.

I'm not sure the organization has the time to go this route. But on paper it looks good return for Conley.

The Grizz are not trading Conley unless they have to out of necessity. That scenario is they drafted Ricky Rubio and in training camp it is pretty obvious that he is the real deal. Hence we have a ways to go prior to that happening.

Secondly, the need for a pretty good backup small forward and particularly Travis Outlaw has been complicated by the free agency of Trevor Ariza, meaning you may be able to keep your core and simply add a free agent for multiple years.

I can't see the Grizz and Portland doing any business together for a while but even the current deal seems unlikely for the reasons stated above.

With Hollins in love with Conley and after what he did from the point Hollins took over, I don't think he's going anywhere, anytime soon.