Nice little Oregonian article to-day about Sebastian Telfair's reaction to his trade to the Celtics. He said all the right stuff: I liked the city and my team-mates; though McMillan was a bad fit for my style, I learned a lot from him, etc. Now, I know full well that this is just Telfair turning on the bland machine and issuing forth the requisite jockspeak script for his role of "good-guy player type three"--remember even before he was drafted, he mentioned that he wouldn't be getting any tattoos because he wanted to present a wholesome image. Perhaps it's just a gesture on his part, but it's a gesture I appreciate.
So I can wish him well and forget about him now. Ah, closure.
-Fat
(All that being said, I think it's likely the Blazers will miss him badly this year. While I was far from sold on Telfair as a viable starting point guard, at least he had talent and speed. Steve Blake and Jarret Jack are probably already as good as they're ever going to be, and both are comparatively quite slow, which is a bummer. And this supposed master plan of throwing a rookie in at the point? An out-of-position rookie? Yeah, McMillan's going to sign off on THAT all year.)
(And though I've got some closure on Telfair, I (will) still have a bit of interest in his career. He seems not unlike Kenny Anderson to me, so let's say the best-case scenario occurs and he maxes out at Kenny Anderson's best numbers: 18.8, 9.6 over 82 games in 92-3. If this happens, I will be more than a little bitter that the Bs bailed on him just to get out of a contract they gave to injury fan Theo Ratliff. Forewarned!)
2 comments:
(A) overall, I agree with you completely. although I will prolly remain more bitter. I, for one, STILL think Damon should be here. Even tho that makes little to NO sense long term.
(B) Consensus seems to be that Blake's meat seems to be of the trade bait variety. Mainly to attract biters on Miles. Jack the starter with Dickau the reserve, maybe with some ROY here and there?
(C) If (A) and (B), Jack may just get to increase his value this year and be traded next season. The combo of a purported deep draft and a good FA crop may mean the Blzrs hope to get the PG of the FUTURE down the road.
Bassy, I miss you. It took me three tries, but dang it, I won an O'Brien with you at the point in NBA Live.
Since LaFrentz has three years left and Theo only two, this looks less like a salary-cap move, and looks more like a combination of:
i) moving a guy who wasn't a good fit with McMillan;
ii) dumping a pet project of a deposed front office regime.
--You pointed ii out to me on the phone, as I recall. I feel okay-ish about i, but am not real stoked about ii as a trade rationale. Think about it. If there's no cap repurcussions, is trading Telfair/Ratliff for Dickau/Lafrentz a worthwhile move? Well, at least they got the rookies they wanted...
BTW, relating to ii, Pritchard strikes me as infinitely weaselish.
The point guard combo outlined in (B) doesn't win 25 games. I will bet up to thirty-five dollars on this point.
-Fat
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