[外電] Should the Blazers make a trade?

看板BLAZERS (波特蘭拓荒者)作者Aldridge (目標：季後賽我來啦)時間17年前 (2009/02/08 16:56)推噓2(2推 0噓 0→)

留言2則, 2人參與討論串1/1

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/02/calm_waters_or_a_ripple_should.html 縮址：http://0rz.tw/5R2bM Calm waters, or a ripple: Should the Blazers make a trade? Today, the Trail Blazers have arrived at an interesting stage in their history. The team is talented enough - offensively, that is - to win games and make fans dream of the playoffs. Yet, the team plays just hideous enough on defense to potentially jeopardize those postseason aspirations. This polarity, naturally, calls attention to the elephant in the room: The upcoming Feb. 19 trading deadline, and whether the Blazers should make a trade. I have never been more convinced than today that yes, the Blazers should make a trade. This franchise can not let this season slip away by not making the playoffs. After starting 30-17, staying home in April would be a crusher, and a tough sell to its rabid fan base. Now, I'm not saying the Blazers need to sell the farm in order to make the playoffs this season. I don't think anybody expects this team to make it out of the first round. They just aren't that good ... yet. But this team could be greatly enhanced by a minor deal that improves the team's defense, toughness and savvy, which only a veteran can bring. Something along the lines of, I don't know ... Channing Frye for San Antonio's Kurt Thomas? What about Sergio Rodriguez for the Spurs' Ime Udoka? Travis Outlaw and Frye for Houston's Shane Battier? (OK, Battier's contract is brutal, but then again, so is Outlaw's defense). I'm just throwing those names out as examples of attainable players that could help this team in the short run. Somebody who can show what it looks like to play tough defense. Somebody to set a physical tone. Somebody who can walk this team through the hardships, much like James Jones did last season. Jones' wisdom and approach was an incredibly valuable asset to this team last season, and is dearly missed. Guys like Thomas, Udoka, Battier - they have that. Somebody in their mold is needed for this team. There's another thing that is missing from this team: These guys are all too nice to each other. Earlier this season in Charlotte, Joel Przybilla and Rudy Fernandez got into it pretty good during a late-game timeout after Fernandez was late with weakside help, allowing Emeka Okafor score an easy, and pivotal dunk. The argument lasted throughout the timeout, and was volleyed back and forth from one side of the huddle to the other. After the game, Przybilla said he apologized to Fernandez for getting on him in front of everybody. One room away, in his office, McMillan was privately beaming. The next day in film session, he showed the team the Przybilla-Fernandez exchange. He wants his team to show more fire, but more important, he wants the players to hold each other more accountable for their actions. Remember how Boston's Kevin Garnett made Glenn Davis cry during the Blazers game in Boston this season? McMillan loved that. Good teams have players that police themselves. The problem is, the Blazers have no one doing the policing. Przybilla, who is the team's most veteran player at nine years, comes the closest. But everyone else is almost the same age, so it's hard for a Brandon Roy to say to LaMarcus Aldridge that he missed an assignment. Who is he to say that to Aldridge? But if say, a Kurt Thomas told Aldridge the same thing, it would carry some weight. Thomas has been around and fought through some wars. I asked McMillan on Saturday if he had gone to general manager Kevin Pritchard to ask for help with the roster. McMillan coiled up like a sea urchin. "I don't want to get into that. I don't want to go there,'' McMillan said. "We have to look at what we are doing and what we are and what the team is able to do. Then, we kind of go from there.'' Uh .... What? "We have some things to do. I can sit here and give you some things, but it's not appropriate right now to say or to talk about what's going on,'' McMillan said. "I don't think right now for us (pause) We have to play harder. I mean, that team last night just kicked us.'' Later, I asked Pritchard if McMillan had asked him for help. "He doesn't have to. I can see it,'' Pritchard said. "If we can improve the team, we will do it. And we are going to look at every opportunity to improve the team. But at the same time, I don't feel we HAVE to. Going into this season we knew there would be some challenges.'' I asked Pritchard whether he felt he had constructed a roster that was good enough defensively to make the playoffs. He paused. "It's proven out if you look at the defensive efficiency statistics that it is an area we need to improve on,'' Pritchard said. "Offensively, we are very good. Every team needs to improve. We know that's something we need to look at.'' Keep in mind that Pritchard has never done a big move at the trading deadline - all the big ones have come in the summer. He's always said he doesn't like in-season trades because it messes with the team's rhythm. Then again, on Saturday he was also quick to point out - "You know I'm not scared to pull the trigger on a deal". It was tough to get a read on him. Maybe it was because he was about to embark on his new hobby - working out. Maybe it was because he wasn't sure himself. My sense is that Pritchard likes this roster more than McMillan. "I don't feel compelled that I have to do something,'' Pritchard said. "Other years, I have felt that way. But I view what this franchise and what this team is about very strongly. Even though people want to go into panic mode after one or two losses, we evaluate over a period of time, not one or two games. When we won five in a row recently, we weren't thinking we had all the answers. It's all about calm waters.'' By Feb. 19, I argue, those waters need to see a ripple. Not a wave. Just a ripple. -- 難道防守爛是KP建隊方針的問題，聽說他非常喜歡Sergio，但是我可不想換GM耶無論如何，這客場三連戰連續被對手羞辱落後超過20分，這問題很大啊真的搞不懂，拓荒者的球員防守真有爛到這種程度現在每場看到對手命中率破五成都好像習以為常了，神哪救救我吧....... -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 221.169.172.177