A Potential Lineup to Get Excited About

[riehldeal]

I know it might not be on the Blazers agenda and will probably be a long shot given where we would have to trade up from

BUT..........just the thought of this lineup makes me smile

** note- not neccessarily the starting lineup, just one that could be on the floor at the same time for stretches

Mayo...Rudy...Roy...Aldridge...Oden


I am all for trading whatever need be, besides Roy-LMA-Oden-Rudy, to land us Mayo

attractive assets available to trade- Jack, Webster, Outlaw, Frye, Lafrentz's expiring deal, Pryz


A guy can dream, right?!

[b_roy7]

I personally think Rudy would come off the bench in favor of Roy and someone else would play Rudy. I could see that lineup some times, but seriously not often.

Przybilla's stayting, and I think only one of Webster/Outlaw will go, not both.

[DanBlazer]

That would be so good to watch, I think Mayo will go around the 5 or 6 pick though so it will take a ton to move up that far. Still its worth a shot, KP might be able to get it done, it will be expensive though.

[PDXKnight]

I personally think Mayo is overrated. He's a turnover machine and from what I've seen, he's definitely shoot-first which isn't what the Blazers need at this time IMHO. I think you also have to consider his supposed 'issues' when considering drafting. While Mayo's a good college player, I seriously think too many people are overrating his value and while he'll be decent in the NBA, I'm not sold that he'll be a star (at least yet). I may take the risk on him but I think that Pritchard will have to look at all the options to determine which options are the best. As for the rest of the lineup, I think I'd like to see Rudy and Roy in the backcourt down the stretch at times depending on what happens with our PG situation. If KP can bring in a PG, moving Roy to SF down the stretch might work out well.

[DanBlazer]

IMO Mayo will be a star in the league, he has good playmaking abilities and court vision, he just isnt in the best situation at USC as he needs some more help. If he was playing alongside Oden, Aldridge and Roy though, I'm pretty sure he would mesh in nicely. Still, I think a more realistic option for us is Eric Gordon, his stock is dropping as well so we might be able to get him somewhere near our pick if we are lucky. If Rudy can play as a combo guard though then we will be set, I dont know how good his ball handling is though and whether he can bring the ball up. We will see soon enough though

[taufblazers33]

mayo isnt a good fit for this team.
he has attitude problems and not good work ethic.
he is also selfish.
i think his basketball career will be similar to that of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis - all star talent, but selfish players.

[PhilipNelsonFan]

mayo isnt a good fit for this team.
he has attitude problems and not good work ethic.
he is also selfish.
i think his basketball career will be similar to that of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis - all star talent, but selfish players.

Mayo's work ethic has never been an issue. Neither have his skills. The biggest questions related to him also related to Sebastian Telfair: how does he handle the spotlight's fixed attention upon him? He has held up rather well despite a couple of incidents. He strikes me as an intelligent young man who may be a bit in over his head...but if there's one person whose guidance I'd trust, it'd be Nate McMillan's.

That lineup, BTW, has a big but thin backcourt. Makes me wonder just how physically we could play some teams.

[Billy]

I'd love Mayo. I've said it on other threads, but to me he seems like a kind of player that would mesh well with other great players. Some super star caliber guys seem to never want to be anything but the man, some super star caliber guys are willing to share later in their careers, and some are willing to share now. To me, Mayo seems like the kind of player that is willing to share now.

Watching him at USC he seems very team oriented. I was incredibly skeptical of him at first, but watching the way he plays and the way he interacts with teammates on the court (which of course as we all know is only half the battle) was encouraging.

Mayo to me seems like he's destined for a high pick unless he starts failing psych tests all over the place. If that happens I'm not sure I'd want him anyway. But I can't imagine him lasting past the LA Clippers at this point.

[BlackMamba]

the blazers should consider that going after a high pick player might make them trade some of the depth the team could have and that from game to game makes you take away the win.

i think that we all tag oden, roy and aldridge as untouchables, i would add joel to that group aswell.

[ebott]

mayo isnt a good fit for this team.
he has attitude problems and not good work ethic.
he is also selfish.
i think his basketball career will be similar to that of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis - all star talent, but selfish players.

Couldn't agree more. The guy does nothing for me. I see the guy and it makes me think of Jarret Jack, but with a bad attitude.

Seriously, is there any lineup that doesn't excite us? Plug any small forward and any point guard into an Oden, Aldridge, ?, Roy, ? lineup and I'm excited.

Oden, Aldridge, Webster, Roy, Blake = Excited
Oden, Aldridge, Outlaw, Roy, Jack = Excited
Oden, Aldridge, Rudy, Roy, Sergio = Excited

And I'm not even adding anybody to the team. If I start thinking about making trades and drafting there's no end to the exciting lineups I can come up with.

[pdxblazers92087]

PNF.... arent u like 19 or 20? How are you going to start calling people "young men" ?

I think mayo would be a great fit. Having a more offensive minded guard would be nice. That way we wont have another telfair incident. If say Mayo would start with roy and rudy those are two above avg passers so its not like our ball movement would be poor.

[roy7]

jarret jack with a bad attitude are you serious mayo will be a great player in this leauge. he is not a ball hog, his attitudes problems are not that bad he has not got in trouble for a while, and he would be a great fit next to roy but i could see him going number 3 all the way to number 6 and that would probably cost to much for the blazers[/quote]

[mojomarc]

I also think that Mayo would work out well. It would be quite cool to see a backcourt with two players like Roy and Mayo that could either score from the outside, drive it to the rim, or distribute equally well. That would be a backcourt that you would have a terrible time trying to devise a scheme to take them out of their game. But I guess I'm seeing this a bit rosier than some because I think the selfishness angle with Mayo is really blown out of proportion and the "attitude" seems more a reflection of his chest-thumping bravado in high school than anything else.

[Butter]

This does bring up an interesting point. If actually never watched Rudy play, except for the the highlight clips. Is he a player that needs to dominate the ball to max his potential? In the few games that USC has played, Mayo didn't really dominate the ball all the time, but I got the feeling that we would need to be maximize his effectiveness in the NBA. And of course, we know that Roy is much better with the ball in his hands.

So this line up:
PG-Mayo
SG-Rudy
SF-Roy

Seems like it'd be a little unbalanced to me. Once again, I've never watched Rudy, so thats an X-factor for me.

Along those lines however, IF Rudy is willing to walk away from all of those Euro's to come to the NBA, I don't think he's going to be happy to sit on the bench. To me that means that Roy and Rudy are going to have to be on the floor together, a lot. So the combo will either have to be one of them at SG and the other at PG. Or one at SG and the other at SF. It might be fine to have Rudy as the sixth man his first season, but I don't think that'll fly in the long run.

[riehldeal]

This does bring up an interesting point. If actually never watched Rudy play, except for the the highlight clips. Is he a player that needs to dominate the ball to max his potential? In the few games that USC has played, Mayo didn't really dominate the ball all the time, but I got the feeling that we would need to be maximize his effectiveness in the NBA. And of course, we know that Roy is much better with the ball in his hands.

So this line up:
PG-Mayo
SG-Rudy
SF-Roy

Seems like it'd be a little unbalanced to me. Once again, I've never watched Rudy, so thats an X-factor for me.

Along those lines however, IF Rudy is willing to walk away from all of those Euro's to come to the NBA, I don't think he's going to be happy to sit on the bench. To me that means that Roy and Rudy are going to have to be on the floor together, a lot. So the combo will either have to be one of them at SG and the other at PG. Or one at SG and the other at SF. It might be fine to have Rudy as the sixth man his first season, but I don't think that'll fly in the long run.

I scouted Rudy extensively last season and IMO he plays exceptionally well off the ball.....high basketball IQ in his cuts and creation of passing opportunities/lanes for others.....will fit right in with Roy having the ball and then serve as an excellent secondary ball handler for when Roy needs a break

As for Mayo.....one of his most translatable skills on the offensive end is his uncanny ability to shot the ball off screens/pin downs......once again makes for a nice fit...and he is a very underrated distributor of the basketball and will excel in the pick & roll IMO

[riehldeal]

I also think that Mayo would work out well. It would be quite cool to see a backcourt with two players like Roy and Mayo that could either score from the outside, drive it to the rim, or distribute equally well. That would be a backcourt that you would have a terrible time trying to devise a scheme to take them out of their game. But I guess I'm seeing this a bit rosier than some because I think the selfishness angle with Mayo is really blown out of proportion and the "attitude" seems more a reflection of his chest-thumping bravado in high school than anything else.

attitude is NO concern whatsoever from what I can tell.........have watched countless USC games both live and on TV and not once did I see him out of control emotionally or more importantly on the court......if anything, he struck me as a potential leader

[mojomarc]

I agree with Riehl--Rudy is excellent off the ball. One of the most beautiful things to watch in basketball right now is how Rudy and Ricky Rubio play off each other. Rubio holds the ball, Rudy cuts and then you get the alley oop. Or Rubio holds the ball, Rudy cuts off a screen and turns and pops. While Rudy isn't bad with the ball in his hands, he definitely seems most effective when he can use his quickness and hands to break from a defender to get a little space.

In a lot of ways, he reminds me of how Bobby Gross used to play on the championship team.

[Discovery69]

I think Mayo and Love will be some of the top players Pritchard will go after in this year's draft. Pritchard is big on intelligent "basketball players" and Mayo & Love are known to have high basketball IQ.

When Pritchard was asked on KFXX what his ideal PG was and he said he wants to find guards that can play either position. Mayo like Roy and Rudy are combo guards.

Nate likes taller PGs that can play defense and shoot outside and Mayo fits that mold.

'08-'09
Roy, Fernandez, Webster, Aldridge, Oden
Blake, Rodriguez, Mayo, Outlaw, Przybilla
Jones, Love & McRoberts

'09-'10
Roy, Fernandez, Webster, Aldridge, Oden
Rodriguez, Mayo, Outlaw, Love & Przybilla
Blake, Jones & McRoberts

'10-'11
Roy, Mayo, LeBron James , Aldridge, Oden
Rodriguez, Fernandez, Webster, Outlaw, Love
Blake, Jones, McRoberts & Przybilla

[Fitz303]

I would love to get Mayo but its looking more and more unrealistic every day. Hes not going to be lower than a 7 pick and unless we pony up some big assets, I dont see us getting up there. KP has done some crazy stuff so who knows, he might fleece some more GMs, but this would be tough.

I would just be ecstatic if Augustin dropped to 13 and we grabbed him. I would take him and call it a day. Augustin is going to be legit. Hes the only smaller PG I would even think about getting, but what he brings to a team would be worth the lack of size.

[BlackMamba]

well, i haven't seen any play, but of what i've read augustin or collison sound like very good options for the blazers.