Wallace will thrive in Portland.

[Absinthe]

I've always posited that Gerald Wallace's numbers have been on a decline this season largely because of Stephen Jackson. I think that the locker room was divided and there was probably some resentment growing because Jackson was viewed as the number one option. Don't be shocked if he plays in Portland and completely fills up the stat sheet.

To be frank, I think the wrong player was traded. I'm fully aware that Wallace's numbers are down and he is injury prone, but he was invaluable as the face of the franchise. The team's first all star, well liked by fans, and was active in the community. It's obvious that Stephen Jackson can't be propped up in the same way because of his on the court antics and his past brawl.

I still think to this day that Gerald Wallace's numbers would have increased greatly if Stephen Jackson were traded.

One last thing. Jordan should not have traded unless he got Batum back. Portland's front office is full of shit when they say Batum is untouchable. If they believe that then they're truly delusional. The only reason why they wanted to keep him is because he also plays SF and they know that Gerald Wallace has an injury filled past. So Batum is there for insurance and nothing more.

Look at it this way, the young team would have looked something like this (if you omit players like Jackson, etc.)

PG Augustine
SG Henderson
SF Batum
PF Tyrus Thomas
C Brown

Not a bad young team to build around, but by letting them keep Batum they're essentially getting two late first rounders. How is that going to make an impact, exactly? If the front office can't draft well in the lottery position what makes fans they're going to get diamond in the rough talent in the late first round? They completely fleeced us by bullshitting that Batum was "untouchable".

[Dcarnys]

All I see on Portland's website is PF, Bobcats PF. If they expect him to hold down the 4 consistently, they have something coming to them. And it's not gonna be pleasant.

[Absinthe]

Wallace will either come off the bench as the sixth man or he'll start as the SF. It will be one of the two. He'll rarely, very rarely, play the power forward position when they play small ball. Aldridge is their PF through and through. I thought this Bill Simmons article was interesting:

THE FUTURE OF PRO BASKETBALL IN CHARLOTTE: D-minus-minus
In the past six months, the Bobcats gave away three of their best four players (Ray Felton, Gerald Wallace and Tyson Chandler) with two first-round picks to show for it: New Orleans' 2011 first-rounder (in the 20s) and Portland's 2011 first-rounder (ditto). That's a catastrophe. Even worse, you can't totally blame them: Nobody goes to their games, nobody watches them, and if they can't compete for a title, what's the sense of competing at all? Why not bottom out and hope for a miracle? Contract these guys. Move them to Vancouver. Move them to Seattle. Do something. The only way this situation could get worse is if Stephen Jackson decides to run into the stands and start inexplicably punching people.

Meanwhile, Portland stumbled into a front line of Marcus Camby, LaMarcus Aldridge (playing out of his freaking mind), Wallace and Nicolas Batum. Super-duper intriguing, especially from a rebounding standpoint: Camby and Wallace crash the boards as well as anyone at their positions. If Brandon Roy gives them anything, wouldn't Portland be lurking as a late bloomer this spring? Portland's crunch-time scorer (Aldridge) is playing as well as anyone in the West right now. You're telling me you'd want to play a Game 6 in Portland down 3-2? And besides, isn't the West totally up for grabs, or am I crazy? It's about time MJ did something nice for Portland -- he's been haunting the Trail Blazers for three decades much like Stevie Nicks haunted Lindsey Buckingham.

[DY_nasty]

Wallace will either come off the bench as the sixth man or he'll start as the SF. It will be one of the two. He'll rarely, very rarely, play the power forward position when they play small ball. Aldridge is their PF through and through. I thought this Bill Simmons article was interesting:

THE FUTURE OF PRO BASKETBALL IN CHARLOTTE: D-minus-minus
In the past six months, the Bobcats gave away three of their best four players (Ray Felton, Gerald Wallace and Tyson Chandler) with two first-round picks to show for it: New Orleans' 2011 first-rounder (in the 20s) and Portland's 2011 first-rounder (ditto). That's a catastrophe. Even worse, you can't totally blame them: Nobody goes to their games, nobody watches them, and if they can't compete for a title, what's the sense of competing at all? Why not bottom out and hope for a miracle? Contract these guys. Move them to Vancouver. Move them to Seattle. Do something. The only way this situation could get worse is if Stephen Jackson decides to run into the stands and start inexplicably punching people.

Meanwhile, Portland stumbled into a front line of Marcus Camby, LaMarcus Aldridge (playing out of his freaking mind), Wallace and Nicolas Batum. Super-duper intriguing, especially from a rebounding standpoint: Camby and Wallace crash the boards as well as anyone at their positions. If Brandon Roy gives them anything, wouldn't Portland be lurking as a late bloomer this spring? Portland's crunch-time scorer (Aldridge) is playing as well as anyone in the West right now. You're telling me you'd want to play a Game 6 in Portland down 3-2? And besides, isn't the West totally up for grabs, or am I crazy? It's about time MJ did something nice for Portland -- he's been haunting the Trail Blazers for three decades much like Stevie Nicks haunted Lindsey Buckingham.
Simmons has to take his hate out on someone after the Celtics traded Perkins. Not that I particularly care what ESPN, home of the big market sack riders, has to say.

But either way, I just hope that Wallace survives the season in Portland. He was already hurt... once he breathes the tainted Portland air, he may just burst into flames.

[Absinthe]

People are completely missing the point of the Celtics trade. Perkins has lost a step, he wouldn't sign for the money they were offering, and they play fine without him. He's right--they need perimeter defenders against the likes of New York and Miami. An out of shape, overweight Shaq is automatically better than Dampier or any center New York trots out. Who here is confident that Bynum will even stay healthy? Their front court is still fine and they built up their perimeter defense.

The Lakers have to worry about the post way, way more than Boston does. Oklahoma, Dallas, and San Antonio all have great front courts. Portland has a fantastic front court now with Aldridge, Wallace, and Camby. That's four playoff teams that have a great front court. The East has terrible front courts. Not a single team in the East has a solid one-two front court punch. Not even Orlando. Dwight Howard is good, but Brandon Bass? Or Ryan Anderson? The East sucks in the post.

Simmons is also right about Charlotte. I'm not even particularly sure this town even wanted another basketball team. The south is dominated by the college basketball scene. It's why teams like Atlanta and Charlotte have low attendance. I'd rather go to a UNC or Duke game than a Bobcats game and that was when the Bobcats were a playoff team. Now that they're rebuilding, who gives a shit? Honestly. The front office has completely bumbled drafts, the TV deals are complete shit, and there have been some questionable trades.

I'm moving to Portland so I hope I can see Wallace play.

[Dcarnys]

Simmons has to take his hate out on someone after the Celtics traded Perkins. Not that I particularly care what ESPN, home of the big market sack riders, has to say.


Why I like CBS alot better. They dont hate as much as ESPN
http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/27646299

[SWedd523]

1. Tyson was not one of our best players. Ray, DJ, Jack, Crash, Tyrus, Diaw, and Nazr were all better.

2. I love how the perception is when players are in Charlotte they suck, but when they go to Dallas they turn into a defensive anchor and great player or when they go to New York ZOMG they're an all-star, or when they go to Portland, they're awesome!


I usually like Simmons, but in this case, dude is a moron. And also, regardless if he's lost a step, you don't trade your only big man under 30 for a bench player.

[Deadshot]

I can't stand ESPN but I really like Simmons and don't necessarily regard him as a representative of them (although technically he is of course). I read both parts of his article today and thought they were pretty good. While I don't think Boston would have been able to keep Perkins in the offseason, I agree that getting rid of him now really hurts their chances at a title this year. What are the odds that Jermaine and Shaq can make it through the playoffs?

I do think Wallace will be serviceable in Portland. Considering their constant problems with injuries this year, they still have a good squad and should be able to compete in a Western conference that is quickly losing power. Adding Wallace makes their front line of Aldridge, Wallace, Batum, and Camby which should be pretty strong. With that being said, he won't be required to put up huge numbers, and he likely won't. His performance will realistically have little to do with his departure from SJax. I'm not a fan of SJax but there's no reason to try and put anymore blame on him than necessary. Great trade for Portland all in all.

As for Charlotte, I hope their draft picks materialize and I really enjoy living in an NBA city. While some of you might not like the moves he is making, the fact that Jordan owns the team is a relief in that it probably isn't going anywhere (I mean geographically lol) right now.

[Deadshot]

2. I love how the perception is when players are in Charlotte they suck, but when they go to Dallas they turn into a defensive anchor and great player or when they go to New York ZOMG they're an all-star, or when they go to Portland, they're awesome!


I don't know what the general impression is here of Felton, but I think for the most part he was a product of the system in NY. I expect his numbers to drastically decline in Denver. Chauncey should be an ample replacement for him there.

[Adam42R]

I don't know what the general impression is here of Felton, but I think for the most part he was a product of the system in NY. I expect his numbers to drastically decline in Denver. Chauncey should be an ample replacement for him there.

I have had this argument before and I think it's short sighted to look at Felton's body of work and say it's the "system" in NY that made him look better on paper. To say that is is to say that the "system" of Flip Saunders made Billups look great at Detroit or that Silas "system" made DJ great. Isn't it possible that the "system" of Larry Brown tends to constrict PGs rather than encourage them to play with confidence (at least in the short stint)?

I guess for me, it's not so clear what's the chicken and what's the egg.

And it should be noted that I do like both Larry Brown and Raymond Felton.

[DY_nasty]

People are completely missing the point of the Celtics trade. Perkins has lost a step, he wouldn't sign for the money they were offering, and they play fine without him. He's right--they need perimeter defenders against the likes of New York and Miami. An out of shape, overweight Shaq is automatically better than Dampier or any center New York trots out. Who here is confident that Bynum will even stay healthy? Their front court is still fine and they built up their perimeter defense.

The Lakers have to worry about the post way, way more than Boston does. Oklahoma, Dallas, and San Antonio all have great front courts. Portland has a fantastic front court now with Aldridge, Wallace, and Camby. That's four playoff teams that have a great front court. The East has terrible front courts. Not a single team in the East has a solid one-two front court punch. Not even Orlando. Dwight Howard is good, but Brandon Bass? Or Ryan Anderson? The East sucks in the post.

Simmons is also right about Charlotte. I'm not even particularly sure this town even wanted another basketball team. The south is dominated by the college basketball scene. It's why teams like Atlanta and Charlotte have low attendance. I'd rather go to a UNC or Duke game than a Bobcats game and that was when the Bobcats were a playoff team. Now that they're rebuilding, who gives a shit? Honestly. The front office has completely bumbled drafts, the TV deals are complete shit, and there have been some questionable trades.

I'm moving to Portland so I hope I can see Wallace play.Simmons is just fan at the end of the day. Boston loved Perkins, but lets be real. Their defense this year has been one of the best WITHOUT him. Honestly, I like the trade Boston made. Green can be their Odom - solid scorer off the bench that they need when Pierce has one of his morecommonthanusual cold streaks. Homers though? They're flipping out. Let em.

But when did Dallas, OKC, or Portland get a front court? lol And you've been following Charlotte sports long enough to know that Portland just traded for SF thats already injured. Not only does Portland's medical team suck, but the general idea for the Blazers so far has been to play Wallace at PF and we all know how that goes. So yeah, they do what now? Compete for a title with a disaster waiting to happen in Wallace, LMA (who's only been playing up to expectations for the past 2 1/2 months), and the corpses of Roy and Camby? Yeah. Thats a contender.

So lets be realistic for a second, Charlotte wasn't going to win anything more than an early playoff beatdown with the present core. How is trading an aging, injured, well-paid wing with declining defense and no range to fall back on for two mid-late picks, relief from his contract, and "screw it, why not?" prospects a bad thing?
We weren't going to get much better than the second round unless an epic miracle happened anyways and no one in Charlotte wanted to see their fan favorite die on the court. I don't see how this trade is bad. We need to rebuild right? You were definitely in the crowd that said it needed to happen and this is the first step in the process - its time to stop hating.

[Deadshot]

I have had this argument before and I think it's short sighted to look at Felton's body of work and say it's the "system" in NY that made him look better on paper. To say that is is to say that the "system" of Flip Saunders made Billups look great at Detroit or that Silas "system" made DJ great. Isn't it possible that the "system" of Larry Brown tends to constrict PGs rather than encourage them to play with confidence (at least in the short stint)?

I guess for me, it's not so clear what's the chicken and what's the egg.

And it should be noted that I do like both Larry Brown and Raymond Felton.

I guess I should have prefaced my post by saying that I think Raymond Felton is a good PG and will perform well wherever he goes. However, D'Antoni's offense was well suited for him and he certainly benefitted from playing with Amare. I don't see how he could possibly match that performance in Denver. So in a way, I guess you could blame it some on environment. Believe it or not, I actually had a similar conversation about environment with a friend last year regarding Livingston. I noted how I thought he was playing very impressive basketball in Washington considering he was expected to facilitate an offense with literally no weapons (probably the wrong word choice for Washington lol).

[Absinthe]

Simmons is just fan at the end of the day. Boston loved Perkins, but lets be real. Their defense this year has been one of the best WITHOUT him. Honestly, I like the trade Boston made. Green can be their Odom - solid scorer off the bench that they need when Pierce has one of his morecommonthanusual cold streaks. Homers though? They're flipping out. Let em.

But when did Dallas, OKC, or Portland get a front court? lol And you've been following Charlotte sports long enough to know that Portland just traded for SF thats already injured. Not only does Portland's medical team suck, but the general idea for the Blazers so far has been to play Wallace at PF and we all know how that goes. So yeah, they do what now? Compete for a title with a disaster waiting to happen in Wallace, LMA (who's only been playing up to expectations for the past 2 1/2 months), and the corpses of Roy and Camby? Yeah. Thats a contender.

So lets be realistic for a second, Charlotte wasn't going to win anything more than an early playoff beatdown with the present core. How is trading an aging, injured, well-paid wing with declining defense and no range to fall back on for two mid-late picks, relief from his contract, and "screw it, why not?" prospects a bad thing?
We weren't going to get much better than the second round unless an epic miracle happened anyways and no one in Charlotte wanted to see their fan favorite die on the court. I don't see how this trade is bad. We need to rebuild right? You were definitely in the crowd that said it needed to happen and this is the first step in the process - its time to stop hating.

Dallas has Haywood, Dirk, and Chandler. Marion is also serviceable. That's a pretty good front court. Better than most teams in the NBA. I feel like they can contend with the Lakers. Oklahoma has Durant, Ibaka, Mohammed, and Perkins now. Like I said before, the Lakers are going to have major problems. I feel like a lot of teams out there can put a body on Gasol and that instantly makes them a weaker team. Not to mention that Artest and Fisher are terrible.

And Portland is easily a top five seed in the West even if they don't get healthy because Denver, Utah, and Phoenix have gotten so terrible. A line up of Camby, Aldridge, Wallace, Miller, and Roy is damn good. Their bench is good too. So yes, they're not going to be winning any championship, but they can definitely contend.

[Adam42R]

I guess I should have prefaced my post by saying that I think Raymond Felton is a good PG and will perform well wherever he goes. However, D'Antoni's offense was well suited for him and he certainly benefitted from playing with Amare. I don't see how he could possibly match that performance in Denver. So in a way, I guess you could blame it some on environment. Believe it or not, I actually had a similar conversation about environment with a friend last year regarding Livingston. I noted how I thought he was playing very impressive basketball in Washington considering he was expected to facilitate an offense with literally no weapons (probably the wrong word choice for Washington lol).

I think on paper, we could say that Raymond 2010-11 > DJ 2010-11 > Raymond 2009-10 but in the bigger context, since there are so many player rotation and coaching implications (if that is the environment you are referencing), it's too many chickens and eggs to really compute . . . or compute accurately.

I have only seen Ray play four games this year, he's not been huge in those (but that's a small sample) but looking at his numbers, he wasn't playing at that level either. I did get to watch a fair bit of the Denver/Celtics game and that's probably the most I had wanted Raymond to be a part of a win since he was a Bobcat.

[Chef]

1. Tyson was not one of our best players. Ray, DJ, Jack, Crash, Tyrus, Diaw, and Nazr were all better.

2. I love how the perception is when players are in Charlotte they suck, but when they go to Dallas they turn into a defensive anchor and great player or when they go to New York ZOMG they're an all-star, or when they go to Portland, they're awesome!


I usually like Simmons, but in this case, dude is a moron. And also, regardless if he's lost a step, you don't trade your only big man under 30 for a bench player.

gotta disagree to point with you swedd. i think this trade goes one of two ways, we succeed in the draft or using the draft picks in other moves and dig ourselves out of a hole and become relevant to the NBA landscape or we fail. if we fail with the picks, simmons is 100% correct in his assessment. he is playing the % of our past and guessing we will eff it up. he is not a moron, he just can't right 1000 words on our team or take too many vanilla positions in his articles.

[SWedd523]

I wasn't arguing if we suck or not.


Just that he called Tyson one of our best players, and that the general opinion of our players is that they suck but when they go to a big market team they're great.

[Absinthe]

I think his argument is that if Felton, Chandler, and Wallace were all still on this team then we'd definitely be a playoff team and maybe even a contender.

[Chef]

I think his argument is that if Felton, Chandler, and Wallace were all still on this team then we'd definitely be a playoff team and maybe even a contender.

we would be a playoff team but not even close to a contender. i was arguing that simmons is a moron. i knew his take on us was bound to generate a bunch of reactions from the planet. i was just trying to show why i think he went the way he did. say what you want about him, he knows basketball.

[teej]

Simmons knows basketball really well, but only about the teams he follows. He could tell you everything a scout could in regards to the Celtics, Clippers, Thunder, Heat, and maybe the Lakers and Suns. But when it comes to the lower tiers of Eastern Conference teams, he has no idea. He goes by what his buddies Stein and Bucher and (God forbid) Chad Ford tell him, and we all know how they view the "MikeCats"

[frontpager]

Simmons knows basketball but he says some outlandish stuff. Bobcats would be a playoff team but we would not be competing for a title. DJ is better than Augustin because he helps prevent teams from playing zone defense. Remember when teams would run zone defense and it would prevent us from scoring, well with DJ and Jax on court teams cant do that.