Which team would you invest in?

[DubaLakers]

Let's say you had the money to buy ANY NBA franchise, which one would it be? In this scenario you are looking for team success, not as much financial success. Like for example If you bought the Pats 10 years ago, I'm sure they aren't the most profitable team, but that would have been the correct pick in an NFL like question if you bought that franchise 10 years ago. So if you had the money to buy any NBA franchise right now, which one would it be for team success?

I'd buy the Portland Trailblazers. Oden,Aldridge,Webster,Roy, now they have their PG...Bayless. This team is gonna be sick. Bayless is the best player in the NBA summer league (11th pick in the NBA Draft PG 6'-3") avg 27.7 points, fast, quick, explosive, dynamic shooter.

Makes me so jealous as a Laker fan all this young amazing talent influx they have got over the past 3 years. We get the late rounders and the veteran large salary trades, we haven't had a superstar pg since what, Magic. My cousin lives in Portland. All his buddies are Portlandites, and we all play in a fantasy bball league every year and they hate on me the Laker fan, but they are sitting pretty now. I watched Bayless play last night in the NBA summer pro league. WOW!

[supaflash]

I'd still buy LA even if they had no realistic good future based simply on the fact that the City rocks and the fan support is probably the largest and most widespread in the league. Players will always want to come and play here so rebuilding periods will be short and far between. Its been 31 years since Portlands last championship and 12? since their last finals appearance?

Now add in our current situation where we likely have 2-6 more years of Kobe and a realistic shot at championships for the next 4 or 5 years if everything is healthy... Don't forget 3 of our most promising young talent in Farmar, Ariza, and Bynum are all very very young. I'm not totally convinced on Farmar yet, but he works very hard and is pretty athletic. If he keeps up his work ethic and keeps improving I think he can reach near Tony Parker levels but its a long shot. Ariza has a very high ceiling as well, I thought his shot showed a lot of improvement. If he works hard this offseason he could easily make all our SF problems dissapear. Right now though he's better then Devean George ever was

[milesfides]

Portland has a young, talented, and balanced team. They'll eventually be a contender, possibly as high as a top 4 team this season.

But:

Kobe > Roy
Bynum > Oden
Pau > Aldridge
Vujacic > Webster

Fish/Farmar < Blake/Bayless

Lakers. And it'll stay that way until Kobe decides to hang it up.

[Dexmor]

Miles are you crazy? Sasha over Webster? Come on.

[milesfides]

Any day of the week. Shooting-wise, Sasha's in another class.

He's also a better ballhandler, passer, and above all, a better defender.

[DubaLakers]

Miles I think you are underestimating the Blaze. We have exp.,
a better bench, and Kobe, that's why we'd win, but damn they
have a starting 5 all cheap, young, and talented.

Roy isn't afraid of anybody, he's tough and so skilled I watched him
all thru college can play the 1 or 2, Clutch already. Bayless wait till
you see this kid play...Explosion, can shoot, quick, fast, springs, 6-3
scoring PG. Webster is better than Sasha I'd have to say, he is
a natural shooter, at least offensively he's better. Aldridge is a double
double scored in big bunches last year. Oden is Oden, defense first center.

[LLcoleJ]

I would buy the Lakers no matter who is on the team. Plus, I would overpay to get them.

[milesfides]

Miles I think you are underestimating the Blaze. We have exp.,
a better bench, and Kobe, that's why we'd win, but damn they
have a starting 5 all cheap, young, and talented.

I agree, that's why I'd take the Lakers. Wait, so you agree that we're the better team, yet you'd take the Blazers?

Why am I underestimating the Blazers? I said they'd eventually be a contender and perhaps a top 4 team.

What do you want me to say? That they're the best team in the league?

[crazyeights]

You know they're not going to get to keep all of those kids, right? There's going to come a time when that core gets too good and too expensive to keep together. So now they have to try to win with zero experience.

Good luck, Portland.

[milesfides]

Roy isn't afraid of anybody, he's tough and so skilled I watched him
all thru college can play the 1 or 2, Clutch already.

Roy is an excellent player; but we've got Kobe, next.

Bayless wait till
you see this kid play...Explosion, can shoot, quick, fast, springs, 6-3
scoring PG.

He's a good player. He really played well in the summer league didn't he? Which means he has yet to play an NBA game. Randy Foye was the MVP of the summer league in 2006 and prompted some to hail him the next Dwayne Wade.

Webster is better than Sasha I'd have to say, he is
a natural shooter, at least offensively he's better.

Vujacic fg% 45.4
Webster fg% 42.2

Vujacic 3pt% 43.7
Webster 3pt% 38.8

Vujacic efg% 57.7
Webster efg% 51.6

Vujacic perimeter efg% 57.3
Webster perimeter efg% 50.1

Vujacic interior efg% 60.7
Webster interior efg% 58.9

Vujacic points per 48m 23.7
Webster points per 48m 18.1

Vujacic PER 15.06
Webster PER 12.07

The real question is this: is there anything, ANYTHING that Webster does better than Vujacic?

Aldridge is a double
double scored in big bunches last year.

Cool, but he's not Pau Gasol.

Oden is Oden, defense first center.

And has yet to play a game in the NBA. Meanwhile, Bynum is already one of the best centers in the NBA and is the same age as Oden. Who has more to prove?

[MAMBAEMD]

I'd definitely invest in LA before any other team no matter how much young talent they may have.
Young talent doesn't win championships.
Veteran talent and leadership does.

Portland has an amazing group of talented young players. Their biggest challenge will be chemistry and they may not be able to keep all those guys.
The Lakers will always be the jewel of the league and will attract veteran free agents as long as they have cap room. Let's also not underestimate the talent the Lakers have and will have for the next 4-5 years.
Kobe, Pau, Bynum, Farmar, and Lamar (assuming he is not traded and resigned)
Not too shabby.

Lakers all the way in terms of investment.

[SabasRevenge!]

Those are pretty convenient comparisons for the Lakers

I'd rather see a more thorough approach, maybe considering:

Fisher/Farmar
v.
Blake/Bayless/Rodriguez/(Koponen)

Bryant/Crawford/(Vujacic)*
v.
Roy/Fernandez

Odom/Ariza
v.
Outlaw/Webster/(Batum)

Gasol/Radmanovic
v.
Aldridge/Frye/Diogu

Bynum/Mihm
v.
Oden/Przybilla/(Lafrentz)

*Parentheses signify a player who is unsigned or will likely be non-active or in the D-League. Portland has 12 active players below.

LA is clearly a better team right now. They are fresh off a finals loss but were missing their true starting center. Anything less than another trip to the finals would have to be considered a disappointment. Without getting into specific player comparisons, depth and esp. youth(both overall and at key positions) favor the Blazers.

As far as Portland not being able to keep their players, I'd recommend reading an abbreviated version of the CBA and giving it a second thought. If any of their players leave it will likely be via trade because almost none of them have even reached restricted free agency yet and their owner has comparatively unlimited assets.

As far as a team to buy:
It would be the NY Knicks for me and it's not even close, even in their current incarnation. Portland would be a sentimental second choice.

[DowJones]

I get on Portland sometimes, but they are the easy choice for the "investment".

The Lakers probably are the 1st or 2nd choice (Boston?) right now, but their main core is in the 28-30 range (when the season starts). That is what you ideally want for now, but if you talk about an "investment" you don't want to buy into something that is currently at its peak. When you look at Portland you have a bunch of VERY talented young players that have already proven themselves as good players. They were a solid team in the West last year with the team they had, now they add Bayless, Fernandez, and Oden. That is one talented group of players and all are young.

-Oden (20)
-Roy (23)
-Aldridge (23)
-Fernandez (23)
-Bayless (20)
-Outlaw (23)
-Webster (21)

Those are 7 players all under the age of 24 that can grow together.

Now on top of all that, Portland will have anywhere from $11million-$22million in cap-space to sign a max-contract player for next year. That number depends on what the cap is set at and whether or not Miles plays again. The number gets even larger if Portland decides to let Webster and/or Frye to walk for nothing instead of picking up the team-option. Now imagine Portland adding a big-time veteran free agent in 2009...a year in which not many teams will have cap-space.

And if you are hoping that Portland will simply fall apart because they won't pay all of these players what they are worth, well you clearly don't know who Paul Allen is.

I think Portland is set for the future and they are CLEARLY the answer to this question....even if L.A. is poised to be better over the next year or 2.

[Rox_Nix_Nox]

I'd be happy with a 1% share of the Lakers

[Leonidas]

I'd be happy with a 1% share of the Lakers

Me too

[Walton'sBeard!]

You know they're not going to get to keep all of those kids, right? There's going to come a time when that core gets too good and too expensive to keep together. So now they have to try to win with zero experience.

Good luck, Portland.

Not true. Back when you guys stole that WCF game 7 from us we had 9 or 10 max/near max contract guys on our team. Paul Allen will pay whatever it takes to keep the guys that we need. Yes, some of these young guys won't always be here, but money won't be the reason.

Anyway, I guess I'm a bird in hand... guy. The Blazers still have to fulfill a lot of potential. The Lakers are already there. I'd put my money on the sure thing. Which is THE CELTICS! Kidding.

[milesfides]

In any sense of the word "investment," it's the Lakers.

For monetary considerations, the Knicks and the Lakers have been the two highest valued teams in the league for the past however many years. Even during down years, the NY and LA market power revenues. I'd choose LA simply because the difference between the Knicks and the Lakers in terms of value is similar, but the Lakers' finances are managed infinitely better.

Portland can't compare. It's a small market. It'll never approach the LA or NY or Chicago market. No matter how much they win - even championships. Compare that with San Antonio, who even despite winning several championships in the past decade, they reached only 10th in value and in net revenue.

The fact is, Paul Allen has lost many millions on the Blazers. It was one of the reasons for wanting the trade the team until very recently. Even if the Blazers are very successful, they're constrained by a small market and issues with the arena - the Blazers' arena deal is even worse than Seattle's - which caused the team to relocate. Paul Allen even sought governmental assistance to offset the staggering losses.

Basketball-wise, it depends on how one defines a good investment. Being competitive or winning championships?

I'm sure Portland is going to be a good team, but are they going to win championships? Because for the Lakers, and Laker fans, the only investment that matters is the one that yields a championship.

The Blazers have youth, no doubt. But neither the championship Spurs nor the Lakers were particularly young, but combined, they won most of the championships in this past decade. For that matter, the Pistons, Heat, and the Celtics weren't young either. In fact, most championships won in the NBA are won by teams with mostly veterans.

And on those championship teams, each had multiple all-stars, top 5 players in their positions, and some of the league's best defenders.

That's something the Blazers can't claim at all yet.

The only surefire all-star is Brandon Roy. Aldridge is nice, but there's a possibility that he'll never be an all-star. Oden has yet to play one game. Kwame Brown was the number one pick too, until he stepped onto an NBA court.

The best thing about the Blazers is their potential. Because Oden never played, because Bayless never played, because they're young, you can dream of anything.

Or, you can bank on the league's best player in his prime, a top-5 power forward, a 20-year-old center who's already proven he's among the league's best centers. Oh, and they already reached the Finals - without Bynum.

No doubt, there'll come a day when Kobe hangs it up, when Pau hangs it up, when even Bynum hangs it up.

But when all these great Lakers age and their time passes, all we have to do is look up in the rafters to see the only investment that matters: a championship culture.

[crazyeights]

You know they're not going to get to keep all of those kids, right? There's going to come a time when that core gets too good and too expensive to keep together. So now they have to try to win with zero experience.

Good luck, Portland.

Not true. Back when you guys stole that WCF game 7 from us we had 9 or 10 max/near max contract guys on our team. Paul Allen will pay whatever it takes to keep the guys that we need. Yes, some of these young guys won't always be here, but money won't be the reason.

Anyway, I guess I'm a bird in hand... guy. The Blazers still have to fulfill a lot of potential. The Lakers are already there. I'd put my money on the sure thing. Which is THE CELTICS! Kidding.

Those guys were also vets who were playing for a ring. I've just seen a lot of great young talent leave teams for money, more shots, or PT.

Do I admire the job they've done in Portland building that team? Absolutely, the way they went from being Jail Blazers to this young core in only a few years is astoudning.

I just wouldn't raise the banners yet.

And I wouldn't invest my money in a team that has about 16 million fewer people in its market. The Lakers raise ticket prices even after they missed they playoffs a few years ago.

Buss makes bank.

[Slava]

Celebrities paying for the overpriced courtside seats.

Fans from LA to the most remote 3rd world nation.

Players treating it an honor to wear your team's colors.

and having one of the biggest cities as your home.... easy choice for me.

[hermes]

besides the lakers


i'd totally be putting money into the hawks right now, their going up