TMS wrote:both Bayless & Rudy have shown absolutely nothing since they've been in the NBA & u wanna trade our best player & Wilson Chandler who many of us were saying could be part of the future core going forward just last season for those guys? wow.i stand by my statement, we'd be idiots to offer that package for those 2 players... IMO if ur gonna trade D Lee & Chandler at the very least u must accomplish 1 of 2 things: 1 - get back a very good established & proven player that can make an instant impact on this team. 2 - unload either Fishlips or Curry's contract(s) & free up our cap to sign 2 max guys this summer.
Chandler by himself is worth more than Bayless & Rudy put together in terms of trade value if u ask me... even Nate has shown way more in the NBA than those 2 guys put together.
What's so hard to believe? I happen to think that both of these guys are very nice talents. Starting material on most teams even. Bayless and Rudy have shown nothing? Well Bayless I'll give ya because he's been buried behind too many different PGs ever since he's been there. Still is as a matter of fact - he's behind Steve Blake, a vet who they like and who's producing for them, and Andre Miller, another vet PG who they liked enough to throw a lot of money at during the off-season. Roy handles the ball a lot anyway which doesn't exactly help his cause either. And they drafted Paddy Mills deep in the 2nd round last draft and actually signed him to a contract despite already having the overabundance of PGs. Really can't speculate why Bayless hasn't gotten any burn and why they don't appear to like him very much. It's a mystery. Like I said, they have too many PGs where Portland obviously wants to go with more of a veteran presence to run the team, their star player is ball dominant and actually very good with the ball in his hands or maybe it has something to do with a clash between he and Nate McMillan. We saw it last year with Sergio Rodriguez - you get in that coach's doghouse for whatever reason, forget it. He'll bury ya. McMillan might be extra tough on his PGs, having manned the point himself for many years..Bayless was said to have come into the league with a slight attitude in the beginning (which wouldn't neccessarily bother me - I'd kill for a player with an edge to him, a guy that knows he's good and confident in his abilities)...Whatever the case, I know for a fact it has nothing at all to do with this kid's talent level. Two years ago when Nic Wise was out I saw this kid do an excellent job running the show for Arizona. And that was as a freshman. True he's a little shoot-first but who cares? He's a very good offense player - I wouldn't mind him taking his fair share of attempts as long as they came in the flow (which they did at Arizona). Dude's got adequate size at 6'3", he's a phenomenal athlete who can shoot and get in the lane at will. As far as the short arms criticism and the knock on him not being a true PG - I don't buy any of that at all. The short arms thing is rediculous - some guys talk about it like he belongs in a freakshow in a circus somewhere. To me it's a complete non-factor and way overblown. What does it affect exactly? At 6'3" I've seen this guy throw down dunks on people and post up guys in addition to everything else he does well. Would he be able to do that if he had these nipple arms everyone talks about? Come on. Absurd.. And he's fully capable of running a nice show and keeping everyone involved. I'd have to say that the majority of you who think this kid has no ability & potential just haven't seen him play enough. How'd Bayless look in the summer league two years ago when he ripped it up for almost 30 a game and MVP honors? And please, nobody bother to tell me how SL is only a week long and doesn't mean anything because most of you destroyed Jordan Hill for not dominating Vegas this past summer (and Hill wasn't even that bad btw, going for something like 14 & 8 during the week). Can't have it both ways. I'd definitely take a chance on this kid. His talent's through the roof..Plenty of offensive-minded PGs in this league have excelled and taken their teams far -- Tony Parker anyone??
And I'm gonna have to disagree with you on Rudy as well. Yeah he's struggling this year trying to find his way behind Roy, the team's best player and Martell Webster, another young wing the team drafted very high a few years ago and just gave a decent long-term deal to.. He's only played 7 or 8 games so far this year so instead, let's look back at the job Rudy did last season. You mean to tell me he didn't play well last year, stepping up when Martell Webster went down with that foot injury? Last year in 25 mins. a game he averaged double figure points, hitting on 40% from 3 on a large number of makes and attempts (159-398). I don't know how most of you perceive this guy but to me, he's big (6'6"), quick, athletic, possesses a great shooting stroke with a rediculously quick release, he can put it on the floor, handle it well, play above the rim and he shows good court vision & awareness when passing the ball. Very good overall IQ...What more can you possibly want in a young two-guard?
You talk about David Lee being our best player (which I disagree with, to me Harrington is, though Lee's good at what he does and continues to overproduce) and Chandler being part of our future -- Bayless and Rudy aren't young enough to be part of our future core? Jerryd's 21, 22 yrs. old I believe, and Rudy's only about 24-25. I stand by my statements -- Bayless and Fernandez in starting roles with more responsibility would really make this team look a hell of a lot more attractive. We have problems all over, but to me, our backcourt, outside of Toney Douglas, is our biggest weakness right now. Duhon's gone at the end of the year and we don't even have a legit SG on the roster. I think we should start there - look to upgrade the backcourt. And I wouldn't even wait until the offseason. There's only gonna be so much we'll be able to do. If something presents itself like this hypothetical with Portland, something with Golden State, New Jersey, Minnesota, Orlando or any other team with a surplus of young PGs and/or SGs, you gotta look at it. Having no real PG and SG is like having a car with no engine in it..
Like most of our players, I'm back and forth on Lee & Chandler. Lee's good but his lack of defense is really troublesome and while I feel he puts up good numbers each night I just don't feel like he'll ever be the type of player who can put us on his back and get us a victory (Harrington, on the other hand, can. He might be the only player on the roster capable of doing that). David Lee ain't ever scaring anybody - teams aren't designing strategies to stop Lee or shut him down. He's a nice player that's come a really long way but I still don't see him on that level. I could go either way - if we got a star player I wouldn't be opposed to bringing him back for the right amount of money but I'd also be willing to trade him in the right deal in order to improve as well. With Hill on board, we do have some flexibility if we ever needed to move him.. As for Chandler, first off, he's playing out of position at the 2. He's not a good enough shooter for that position - for every deep ball he makes, he'll throw up 2 bricks or a brick and an airball. Sometimes it doesn't even look like he can hit the side of a barn with that jumper of his. And his drives to the basket don't come with any dribble variety. When he puts the ball on the floor, he's going all the way to the rim in a straight line basically. No change of direction, no pass off. Just head down, right to the goal. All in all, he's good too but really not that advanced. I think as Knick fans, me included, we tend to make more out of our guys than what they really are..I'm also a little concerned that we haven't seen Chandler play above the rim yet this year which makes me believe that ankle's not 100% yet. Wilson does brings plenty of positives though. He can definitely play, not trying to say he can't. Like Lee, we do have depth behind Wilson (if you look at him in terms of being a SF) with Al, Gallo, Landry..Tough call. I like Lee and Willy but as far as I'm concerned there isn't one player on this team I wouldn't trade if the right deal ever presented itself. Bayless and Fernandez is a lot of value if you ask me.
11/10/2009 2:34 PM
