SB Nation User Blog: SpyderRyder

The case for Nicholas Kidd

SpyderRyder — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:57:25 -0000

It is my belief that at PG Kidd would be our best option for this upcoming offseaon acquisition period and that Nic would be the best option at SF.

The case for Kidd:

Out of all 4 Pgs discussed as possible targets Kidd, Miller, Hinrich,and Blake,he has the 2nd best PER but can hit the 3 much better than the first PER Miller.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/tiny.cgi?id=R6YP6

"Kidd has lost a step and cannot play D anymore"

Well not really as Kidd produced the best D win score of the entire group even over Hinrich.

"Well stats do not say everything Hinrich is still better"

OK well people who watch the NBA, you know the NBA head coaches that vote on the All-defensive team, have more of a subjective view as well if anybody watches games, it is the head coaches.

Everybody makes a big deal of the fact that HInrich was on the all defensive team but looking back, he was only on the 2nd team ONCE in 2006. However Kidd has been a perpetual All-defensive team member.

1st team: 98, 00, 01, 05
2nd team: 99, 02, 03, 04, 06

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_All-Defensive_Team

So pretty much every year since 98 Kidd has been on the All-defensive team consistently for 8 years.

"Well he is getting old and is slowing down he cant do it much longer"

Well that may be true but, the last 2 years he did not make it onto the team, however, 2 years ago, the first time Kidd did not make the AD team, he received 13 votes compared to Mr BlazersEdge all defense Hinrich who received only a single vote.

http://www.nba.com/news/defensive_team_080512.html

Even this year Kidd was again ahead of Hinrich in the defensive team voting 3 to 1 again.

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/05/06/defensive.team/index.html

"But, but Kidd is a wife beater!!"

As for the offcourt stuff he was plead guilty to a domestic charge back in 2001 and ever since then has kept his nose clean supposedly even going dry in the process. He had a nasty divorce and lots of mud was thrown around, but lots of times that happens when divorce and millions of other peoples $ is involved.
I would imagine that if you had lots of $, a public job and were divorcing someone they would exaggerate every little thing that you may have done wrong in your relationship to further their own case for your $. In the end that is what it came down to.

"He doesn't have much left in the tank!!"

Statistically, he is still better than either Hinrich or Blake and he will have enough to get us to when Bayless is ready to take over full time. Kidd has stated that he would not have a problem, later in his career, coming to a young team and being that mentor to a younger PG. I do not think that many teams are going to be signing a 36 YO PG for more than about 3 years perhaps 4 with a team option.

I can see the platoon much like 2 years ago with Blake starting but Jack playing most of the 4th Q and crunch time mins. Blake came in at 29.9 and Jack at 27.2 and Kidd/Bayless are unquestionably more talented than that pair.
Keep Kidds mins down to prolong his career/usefulness and creep up Bayless' to advance his development. Win-win.

So in conclusion, Kidd is has the highest PER among those PGs above 40%, a higher D win score than both Blake and Hinrich combined, and has had a proven track record of defensive team results.

Objectively and subjectively Kidd is clearly the better defender, has BBIQ that is off the charts and not to even mention the most important thing: 115 playoff games, playoff experience that we SORELY need.

We do not need to win 75 games, only 16 in the playoffs, in fact I suspect that we will come in at close to the same amount of wins as last year but with a far better showing in the playoffs.

The most difficult part of this all is getting him from Dallas, as all accounts he is happy there and thinks that he has a shot at a ring there. However the thing we have going for us is that if he does not think that Dal does not get it this year, we would have a better shot in 2 years and beyond, which would give us a shot.

A sign and trade using Blake and Webster/Outlaw and perhaps a future 1st pick would do wonders to clear up the roster and advance us deep into the playoffs, which is honestly the only thing that matters at all and why we should choose Kidd.

The case for Nic:

All in all keep Batum starting, allow him to mature and backing him up with to Roy/Rudy to maximize Rudys time. Per 82games, in the top 5 winningest combination of players, 3 of them include a Roy/Rudy combination, and 1 other includes Rudy, meaning that in 80% of the winningest combinations Rudy.

http://www.82games.com/0809/0809POR2.HTM

As for Nic, he is unquestionably better at defense than Webster and in addition he is the far superior athlete. Martell is average to below in terms on NBA athleticism.

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Martell-Webster-279/

Not a great athlete, but not a slouch either. Enjoys nice straight line speed, good leaping ability, and a deceptive first step. Has learned to better utilize his athleticism as he's gained experience, but still lacks the ball-handling skills to take full advantage....... he struggles to create separation........lacks the lateral quickness to consistently defend more athletic players..........Lacks the foot quickness to be a lockdown defender and is that fact that his athletic ability is fairly underwhelming...........Watching tapes of his from high school, players his age don't seem to have too much trouble staying in front of him........Webster's footwork needs serious work on both ends of the court, especially since his feet aren't the quickest................Defensively, his lateral quickness is extremely poor, and he'll very likely be a defensive liability..................Webster puts in the effort on the defensive end, but he just doesn't have the quickness or footwork to keep up with the athletic swingmen types he matches up with at the high school level. Playing as a professional, this problem will only be much worse.....................Webster has his work cut out in many areas of the game to show that he is not just a one-dimensional shooter and that his lack of athleticism does not hurt his ability to develop the rest of his game..............Martell is a good, but not great athlete

Contrast that with Nic

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Nicolas-Batum-537/

freakish athlete ........Blessed with fluid and quite freakish athletic ability.........Batum enjoys a god-gifted physical-athletic profile........ridiculous wingspan and athleticism .........his outstanding athleticism ..........freakish length and outstanding athleticism ........as well as a terrific athlete........impressive physical and athletic set ...........In terms of athleticism, he's an extremely gifted guy. He's quick, but especially a remarkable leaper, being able to perform some jaw dropping dunks. ...................showed the best athletic gifts in Mannheim ...............His athletic conditions are amazing. His vertical, his hang time, his extraordinary quickness, his explosive first step; all make him a player who is athletically almost unparalleled. He has quite long arms and displays great coordination in all his moves. .........

In addition I contend that Nic is the better offensive player as well

http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1∑=0&=b&p1=batumni01&y1=2009&=w&p2=webstma02&y2=2008&=&=

Even comparing Martells best year with Nics rookie year Nic is ahead in most metrics.

"The only reason Nic shot that well was the fact that he was wide open!!"

Well yes he was, but with much the same personnel and offense Martell only shot .388 while in the EXACT same situation James Jones, a career .353 shooter coming over to the Blazers, managed to shoot a career best .444 meaning that there must have been some open shots to be had for everyone. How else to explain a career best shooting percentage in the exact same situation when Martell could not take advantage of it?

There is no arguing that Nic has more potential being a 2nd year player than Webster does going into his 4th year, meaning that we are close to seeing a finalized product in Martell. We have waited on bated breath for Martell to turn the corner, always saying "Next year!! Next year he will breakout!!" and much like Telfair we will probably never see it. Case in point if you look at his per minute stats in his first 3 years in the league, they are exactly the same. Out of all players that have spent more than 3 years with the Blazers and were under 25(Roy, LMA, Webster, Jack, Sergio and Webster), coming into this year only Roy, LMA and Outlaw showed marked per minute improvement in their first 2 years in the league. Same crappyness just more of it.

Also IF he is able to physically perform in TC and does not get hurt, what will become of him? Even if he does lace up the Nikes, what good will he be not having played competitive NBA basketball in almost a year and a half? It will take him half the season to regain any semblance of a pro NBA basketball game, and by then Batum will have a year and a half of NBA basketball under his belt,

People will say that we need Webster to come back, but for what purpose? If Martell is deemed out for the entire upcoming year what will we have? Almost the same roster that won us 54 games and the 2nd best record in the west.

I feel that there is strong statistical and anecdotal evidence to support that both Kidd and Nicholas should be the answers to PG1 and SF1 in the upcoming year, it is the most realistic in terms of chemistry and avalibility and would be excactly what this team needs: a solid wing defender who can hit an open shot and a playoff experienced veteran who can mentor Bayless into a champiohship PG.

On a side note, Terry Porter played SG through much of college and in his senior year averaged much the same stats as Bayless did in his freshman year. Porter was also 6'3 200lbs and known in college for his scoring prowess averaging 19.7 ppg the exact same as Bayless and it was not until his senior year he assumed the PG position full time. It just goes to show you that there is a precedent that many here witnessed first hand and will hopefully witness again. IMO Kidd can help usher in that new era.

Ladies and gentlemen I rest my case.

Poll

What are your thought on this matter?

Want to See Patty Mills play vs Team USA?

SpyderRyder — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:55:20 -0000

Want to See Patty Mills play vs Team USA?

Have to do it in either IE or Firefox and may have to DL Silverlight movie player if you do not have it.

Also here is a box for it also

http://www.nbcolympics.com/basketball/resultsandschedules/rsc=BKM400304/index.html

ENJOY!!

Carter to Magic?

SpyderRyder — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:06:04 -0000

Carter to Magic?

"Vince Carter to Orlando for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee"

The Eastern Conference Cold War may be kicking into high gear.

Kings may be getting the 15th pick

SpyderRyder — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:27:12 -0000

Kings may be getting the 15th pick

"-Sacramento has reportedly offered Detroit the #23 and #31 picks in exchange for the #15. The Kings may target DeJuan Blair at 15 if he’s available, while the Pistons like Toney Douglas and possibly DaJuan Summers."

Might go through, perhaps to grab Blair now that we may have him in our sights? Might be too high for Omri @ 15 but in this draft who knows.

Interesting look at the 2005 HS Draft Class

SpyderRyder — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:00:33 -0000

Interesting look at the 2005 HS Draft Class

With many of these players coming out this year as seniors you can see why some have been calling this draft as the weakest ever.

Even those who came out early are all pretty weak as there is not one player I would even want on this team, besides perhaps Chalmers.

Contrast that with the 2004 HS class

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Evaluating-the-Madness-of-the-2004-High-School-Class-2639/
LMA
Dwight Howard
Al Jefferson
Josh Smith
Gay
Rondo
Horford

Congrats Joel 82 games!!

SpyderRyder — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:45:45 -0000

Congratulations to Joel Pryzbilla for his first ever fully completed season!! In honor of his first ever completed season let us look back and bask in his glory:

Vampire Joel

Blast from the Past Joel Pt. I

via imagecache.allposters.com

Blast from the Past Joel Pt. II

via cache.gettyimages.com

Blast from the Past Blazer style Joel

via cache.gettyimages.com

WAAAAY Blast from the Past Joel

via media.citypages.com

Little b*tch vs. Joel

Joel and his Arch-Enemy

via i.cdn.turner.com

Joel getting gritty how we likes it

via cache.daylife.com

"That's our ball, right?!?!" Joel

via photos.oregonlive.com

"NOT IN MY HOUSE, TIMMAH!!" Joel

via d.yimg.com

Model Joel Pt. I

via adidasgrassrootsbasketball.com

Model Joel Pt. II

via www.nba.com

Lastly and most importantly:

Joel and his own home team

via www.portlandtribune.com

Just think how big a deal it was when he resigned with us, turning down offers from Det. and SA, turning down the chance to compete for a title right away. Hopefully Joel will be able to get more championship rings with the Blazers than the Spurs have.

HERE IS TO JOEL RETIRING A BLAZER!!

BLAZER FOR LIFE: JOEL THETHRILLA/VANILLAGORILLA/GHOSTFACEKILLA PRYZBILLA!!

EDIT=yes he has only played in 81 games but short of him dying, do you actually think that anything will keep him from going after that final tip?

Is Nic the next Pippen?

SpyderRyder — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:30:35 -0000

Is Nic the next Pippen?

Eggers takes a look at our young Frenchie

Medina said. "In a lot of ways, he reminds me of Scottie Pippen. Scottie had a lean body and worked hard and built himself up. Nic has a lot of that same athletic ability. He just doesn’t have the strength yet."

OT=Ducks Win NCAA Indoor T&F title

SpyderRyder — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 03:22:06 -0000

OT=Ducks Win NCAA Indoor T&F title

Rupp took 3 events and Aston Eaton got the heptath. Way to go guys and now on to the the outdoors!! Any track fans here?

Why we lost and things for the future

SpyderRyder — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:38:27 -0000

Many peopl here are talking crazy and are wanting to trade everyone "Trade Blake for a sack of peanuts!!!" Crazy stuff from crazy people.

Now I am here to explain the reason we have been losing, and it is two fold, 1. Rudy has been sucking it up the last few games and only in Toronto, did he have a meaningful role. Everyone, including myself, loves Rudy but he has been getting a free pass over the past few games and it needs to be brought to attention, if he hist even at a little better rate, we would of won those games. in the last 5 games he is 13/41or 31% I do not know why, but he is off. Too many times we have seen him pass up wide open 3pters and then tonight it seemed that was trying to force the issue, with bad results. The season may be catching up with him but he needs to be on to replace that long distance shooting we lost in Jones. Without him opening up the lane Roy and LMA are having a hard time going to work.

2. Batum has been a no show so far this December he is 3/18 an atrocious 16.7% and has gone from 6 pts to 1pt/gm. His D has seemed to drift a little as well, namely his off the ball D, losing his man for a backdoor cut or an open 3. It seems that he may not be reading the scouting reports as well as he should be and sometimes is not identifying the shooter on the court and sagging off him to help on a player that did not warrant a 2x. The unfortunate thing is that early in the season they were the catalyst for much of the success of the team, now they have fallen off a bit, the team is struggling and Roy and LMA are being asked to put this team on its backs, but they cannot do it alone, they are not at that point in their careers yet. It is difficult sometimes to remember that this is the 2nd youngest team in the league and we expect so much out of them at such a young age. We forget that Rudy is a rookie and only 23 and Batum is still a teenager.

Too much has been expected and neededd from these rookies and it has finally caught up. Perhaps it is because of the fact that the season would almost be done in France and Spain 24 games into the season and they have played all of those games in little over a month and a half. In closing let us just hope that this is simply the closing to the roughest stretch of the season for our young Trail Blazers and the rest of the season we can return to that high level and even increase that even more. I would imagine that most of the guys will sleep long into the morning and possibly into the early afternoon today as much of it will be well deserved. Congratulations, young Blazers, the toughest part of the season is done and it is all downhill from here.

OT: Belotti to step down from head coaching job

SpyderRyder — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:32:13 -0000

OT: Belotti to step down from head coaching job

Chip Kelly to become head coach Belotti jumps up to AD.

It was a good run but it always seemed that Belotti could just never get over the top and that national championship. Hopefully Kelly can get us u over the hump and get that title.