Are the blazers too deep?

[Jsun947]

Since when do you need a superstar to win a title? I'm sure Detroit winning a championship was a hoax. Kind of like landing on the moon.

How do you define a superstar?

Is Garnett a superstar?
Is Paul Pierce a superstar?
Is Ray Allen a superstar?

I'm sure. If so why can't Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, or Greg Oden in their prime play at the same level as any of those declining three players?

The difference between Portland's three players and the majority of other teams is that they are all very complimentry to each other and have specific defined roles. They have 2 big men and a guard and that doesn't hurt either because it brings a lot of balance to the roster both offensively and defensively.

[sims]

one quick note - there's absolutely no way rudy fernandez stays in the NBA if he's not a full-time, potentially big money player. in other words, if he doesn't become their starting 3 very quickly (assuming roy and whatever combination of blake, bayless, koponen, and rodriguez eat up the majorify of the minutes at 1 and 2) he'll sign an extremely lucrative deal to play in europe and be out of the picture.

so in that sense, yes, i could see depth being a little problem for portland. i think their next moves are going to be of the 'addition by subtraction' variety.

[LakerFanMan]

Travis may have more talent, but Webster is better for this team, especially starting. If he continues to work on his defense, like both he and Nate said he would, he could end up being a Shane Battier type player later in his career (although most likely not near as good defensively). What I mean by that is he isn't the focal point of the offense, but he can hit big shots when he gets open (or if he's covered by any of the Jazz wing-men). Add that to being as close to a defensive stopper as he can be, thats much better than a scrawney tweener thats going to clog the lanes for the slashing Bayless / Roy / Rudy as well as 2 big men.

A Battier type who isn't near as good defensively as Battier is pretty useless. Webster is a better shooter then Outlaw, but Outlaw is better at pretty much everything else, including defense.

[BlzrsExplosion]

We shouldn't put any real stock into SL play. Everyone was creming in their pants last year with Marco Belinelli and look what happened to him.

Sure one ought to temper their enthusiasm about a prospects summer league play but don't you think the Bayless situation is a bit different? He was after all considered a top 5 talent by...well darn near everyone. Belinelli was a bit of a surprise (at least to those of us who don't follow international ball closely) but was Bayless? The surprise with Bayless was that he fell to the number 11 pick in the draft. What has Blazer fans excited (and other teams worried I'd wager) is that the team might have hit the draft day jackpot yet again. Dominating the summer league is no guarantee of future success but Bayless has maxed our expectations to this point. So far sooooo good!

[Fitz303]

Travis may have more talent, but Webster is better for this team, especially starting. If he continues to work on his defense, like both he and Nate said he would, he could end up being a Shane Battier type player later in his career (although most likely not near as good defensively). What I mean by that is he isn't the focal point of the offense, but he can hit big shots when he gets open (or if he's covered by any of the Jazz wing-men). Add that to being as close to a defensive stopper as he can be, thats much better than a scrawney tweener thats going to clog the lanes for the slashing Bayless / Roy / Rudy as well as 2 big men.

A Battier type who isn't near as good defensively as Battier is pretty useless. Webster is a better shooter then Outlaw, but Outlaw is better at pretty much everything else, including defense.

Well said... Blazers coaching/management have all made it quite clear that they value Travis Outlaw more than they do Martel Webster

one quick note - there's absolutely no way rudy fernandez stays in the NBA if he's not a full-time, potentially big money player. in other words, if he doesn't become their starting 3 very quickly (assuming roy and whatever combination of blake, bayless, koponen, and rodriguez eat up the majorify of the minutes at 1 and 2) he'll sign an extremely lucrative deal to play in europe and be out of the picture.

so in that sense, yes, i could see depth being a little problem for portland. i think their next moves are going to be of the 'addition by subtraction' variety.

Nate said that he hopes to be able to go to a 3 guard rotation here soon. I would imagine that after next season, if Bayless and Rudy deliver, Blake will be gone. Bayless, Rudy and Roy would all split the time between the PG/SG positions. there's 96 minutes to go around. Roy will likely get 35, Bayless with 30, and Rudy with 30.

[LakerFanMan]

^^^ Yea and didn't Roy also play SF at times? I saw him playing next to Blake and Jack a few times last season. Bottom line is that it's never a problem to have "too much" depth. I always see people saying things likes "We'll have a log jam there" and etc.. and that's really not a bad thing. Unless of course you're paying backups a ton of money.

[Pinot love]

It will not be an issue because the established players, including Oden, do not care about their PT. I'm sure they will later on down the road, but they're all young and used to sharing at this point. Most importantly, they have all shown they're willing to share and get better together under Nate.