Okay, the dead horse has been beaten about how the blazers need to improve at the 1 and the 3, so I won't go into that. Now that we have determined what we need, targets should be established. At the three the best targets seem to be second teir players aka. not LeBron, Granger, Melo, and to some extent Durant

After the first teir there are still some solid players out there for the blazers to aquire; Gerald Wallace, Caron Butler, Jeff Green, Wilson Chandler, Loul Deng, Brandon Wright, Julian Wright, Rudy Gay, Trevor Ariza, and Ron Artest

It is also difficult to determine who we would be willing to give up in order to obtain a high-caliber starting 3. IMHO the untouchables are; Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Bayless, Pryzbilla, Webster(Until he plays this year), and Batum. The players who I would like to keep but also may be able to net us a good player are; Fernandez, Outlaw, Blake(value?), Sergio. Throw ins; Frye, Diougu, Randolph And finally the major piece in most moves for a big name; LaFrentz.

Here are rough offers for each player

Loul Deng + Drew Gooden - This trade would involve giving up our biggest bargining chips; Rudy, Travis, RLEC. In return we get a starting SF and a solid backup 4, two areas of weakness. It also gives bayless a little more time on the court, problem would be having 4 backup PF's.  Starters:Blake-Roy-Deng-Aldridge-Oden Backup Bayless-Webster-Batum-Gooden-Pryzbilla. This could be followed by Diougu+Frye for a combo guard

 Caron Butler - Although this specific trade is very unlikely the concept is there, trade a salary dump for a 3 that fits well within the system and plays great defense, we would definitely have to give up some talent to push this through, draftpicks +travis/rudy/both and maybe sergio. Starters: Blake-Roy-Butler-Aldridge-Oden Backup Bayless-Fernandez/Webster-Webster/Batum-Batum/Songalia-Pryzbilla

 Wilson Chandler + David Lee - This trade would clear a logjam for us at the 4 by consolidating talent in David Lee, it would also give us a viable option at the 3 with Wilson Chandler, another young talented player who would add to our nucleous, New York would do this to dump Starbury on us, and take some of that salary and push it to 2010 with lebron, yet they also get some off this year, none of the contracts they would recieve run past 2010. Starters: Blake-Roy-Chandler/Webster-Aldridge-Oden Backup Bayless-Fernandez/Webster-Batum/Webster/Chandler/Lee/Pryzbilla

 Jeff Green + Nick Collison - This trade is about equal in talent, just depends where you want it. We give up the spanish connection + travis, we get an upgraded 3 and a tough backup 4, we also keep RLEC. Starters: Blake-Roy-Green-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Bayless-Webster-Batum-Collison-Pryzbilla. This lineup is versatile with Bayless able to back up the 1 and 2 Webster the 2 and 3 Batum 2, 3, possibly 4, and Collison the 4 and the 5.

 Gerald Wallace - This trade puts all of our eggs in one basket at SF, yet still allows Batum to develop, and still has an explosive second unit, the main problem would be getting Bayless some PT. We could end up playing small ball with the second unit. Starters: Blake-Roy-Wallace-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Felton/Bayless-Bayless/Fernandez-Fernandez/Batum-Batum/Diougu-Pryzbilla. This improves our starters slightly defensively and alot offensively. The second unit is now alot better at getting in the lane and drawing fouls, still with Pryz grabbing boards and keeping the inside D solid. At the end of the season one of Blake/Felton could be resigned depending on Bayless' development.

 Brandon Wright - Giving up outlaw for Wright is a risk, production for potential,we also give up sergio getting Azubuike in return. Wright can score, rebound, and block shots, yet he doesn't have three point range. Starters: Blake-Roy-Wright-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Bayless-Fernandez-Batum/Webster-Diogu/Frye-Pryzbilla

 Julian Wright + Rasual Butler - Just like for Brandon, giving up Outlaw for Julian is a risk, yet here the kicker is better. Rasual Butler is shooting 43% from 3 so we get two options for one at the 3. Biggest problem would be that we still have log jams at the 3 and 1. Starters: Blake-Roy-Wright/Butler-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Bayless/Rodriguez-Fernandez-Webster/Batum/Wright/Butler-Diogu/Frye-Pryzbilla. This trade may create more questions than answers.

Rudy Gay + Mike Conley - This is probably my favorite trade so far, we do give up our primary bench scorers but I think overall it improves the team. Rudy Gay is a terrific player but that is OJ Mayo's team now, Rudy could be the sixth man and Travis could start at either the 3 or the 4. As for the blazers we lose the spanish connection but we gain the ohio state connection, this also allows more flexibility with bayless and batum. Starters: Blake-Roy-Gay-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Conley-Bayless-Batum-Arthur-Pryzbilla this brings alot of the same score alot of points fast mentality with the second unit and brings another player on offense for the first unit, less playing 4 on 5 out there.

  Trevor Ariza - We swap seventh men with the l*kers, Unfortunately we give up rudy, but we bring in a solid defender, although he is not a great three-point shooter. The L*kers need some more backcourt help since they are very thin. Starters Blake-Roy-Ariza-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Sergio-Bayless-Batum-Outlaw-Pryzbilla

  Ron Artest - This is a case of giving up offense for defense at the 3 and a tenacious rebounder at the 4. The main drawback is Ron Artests' personality/image issues. Starters: Blake-Roy-Artest-Aldridge-Oden Backup: Bayless-Fernandez-Batum-Dorsey-Pryzbilla

I was reading the Jason Quick article that Dave linked about Travis outlaw, after saying that travis hopes to be an all star quick mentioned that mccmillan is still envisioning travis of the bench and webster starting, also saying webster is the best three point shooter on the team.

"McMillan said he still envisions using Outlaw off the bench this season because he fits better with the second unit, where he won't have to compete for shot attempts with Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden. Also, McMillan figures Martell Webster, the team's other small forward, is better suited for the starting unit because he is the team's best three-point shooter, which will be needed when opponents double-team Aldridge and Oden inside. "

Although alot of people around BE think Outlaw should be the starter and that his stats say he is as good of a three point shooter, i think two things should be looked at.

1. Martell Made 123 3pointers, and Travis Made 40, the pure volume lowered websters percentage but he is obviously comfortable taking threes and made most of them

2. It also mentions that travis needs alot of work handling himself on the perimeter

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PG

-starting: Bayless 22 minutes

-backup: Blake 20 minutes

-situational Roy- 6 minutes

SG

-starting: Roy 28 minutes

-backup: Rudy 18 minutes

-situational: Bayless 2 minutes

SF

-starting: Webster 24 minutes

-backup: Outlaw 20 minutes

-situational: Rudy 4 minutes

PF

-starting: Aldridge 28 minutes

-backup: Frye 10 minutes

-situational: Diogu/Outlaw 10 minutes

C

-starting: Oden 28 minutes

-backup: Pryzbilla 16 minutes

-situational: Aldridge/Frye 4 minutes

This leaves the players with the following amount of minutes

Bayless-23

Blake-20

Roy-34

Rudy-22

Webster-24

Outlaw-24

Aldridge-30

Frye-12

Diogu-6

Oden-28

Pryzbilla-16

I think this would give everyone reasonable time, sergio and koponen would get very limmited time, but they would end up taking blake or bayless' minutes if they prove themselves, the biggest problem I see is that we have to many power forwards. I think channing frye should be traded for something minimal, or a young developing player just because he has the same game as lamarcus aldridge and diogu brings another type of game, this would also open up a few more minutes at PF for travis, this lineup only has roy playing more than 30 minutes, which means that the playing time would be pretty even, and everyone should be rested well enough for some late runs.

with the rumors coming from the arizona republic about trading barbosa for webster the #13 and someone else, is this the right deal for the blazers. Barbosa helps the PG situation but this trade would hurt the SF situation. 

Questions

1. Would it be worth giving up a starter for a sixth man?

2. Is the need at PG greater than that at SF?

3. Is a Barbosa-Outlaw combo better than Blake-Webster?

4.Can Outlaw start with his asthma?

5.Will we resign James Jones?

6. Will Barbosa be the starter?

7. Is there another combination of  players that would get this deal done?

please help anser these questions, i think they shed light on wether or not this would be a good trade.

If Memphis is interested in getting the number 13 pick from us which of their players outside of Rudy Gay would you most likely be interested in? Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley are both young point guards who have potential but haven't proved much. To make this trade work who would we have to give up? It would most likely be Travis. Who would you be willing to give up to get Conley or Lowry?

As I see it portland has four avenues on which to pursue a SF, Martell, Travis, JJ, or Bring someone in

1. Martell Webster

Drafted for his smooth jump shot, Martell is still developing in the NBA, he is younger than Travis and has better mechanics on his jumper, their defense is about equal but Nate has said that he is looking for Martell to become a lock down defender. In my opinion he is the second best dunker on the team behind Travis and works better as a part of the offense, as he develops his dribbling and spot up ability he could have a triple- threat potential.

2. Travis Outlaw

Travis Outlaw is an athletic freak, this creates mismatch problems for the other team, he also has a solid jumper that he can get off no matter what. He also provides the fans with some monster dunks.  He has developed a reputation as a clutch player. But, he doesn't play great defense (I see him having the potential to block a lot more shots than he does with his amazing leaping ability), and he also has a tendency to take a lot of wild shots, it works great when hes on but he is very inconsistent.

3. James Jones

James Jones is a good shooter from beyond the three point line but is an average defender and has already hit his ceiling as a player, he struggled at times through the season and doesn't have much potential, he seems to be a good character guy and may be a back up/ roll player if Travis or Martell get traded.

4. Elsewhere

Some players that have been recently discussed are Josh Childress of the Hawks and Josh Howard of the Mavericks

    a. Josh Childress

His stats look about the same as Webster's in more minutes, both teams have a strong PF and SG (Joe Johnson, Al Horford) although he is better defensively, unless he is available for a straight up trade for Outlaw /Webster or even jack we shouldn't trade for him

    b. Josh Howard

He is a worse three point shooter than either Travis or Martell, although he has higher scoring averages, he also plays more than either of them and is a key part of the Dallas offense. He fairly good defensively but his character issues, or at least speculation of issues almost negate the advantages he would have over the combination of Outlaw/Webster.

Conclusion

Personally I think Webster has the potential to be the best of any of these players and is already a solid contributer, as he develops he will fit in better with the team and will improve statistically, between he and outlaw I think small forward is not a weakness for this team although many seem to think so. Pursuing Howard or Childress seems like a fruitless effort in my opinion because what we would have to give up would not warrant the slight improvements unless we get rid of players KP thinks don't fit well and make a steal of a trade.

As I have read through several posts about the blazers needing some veteran leadership, I always ask myself the same question. Why get older? Raef is the oldest player on the team at 31, and he will most likely be gone next year. Przybilla  and Blake are each 28, and will most likely be coming off the bench in the future. James Jones at 27 does not necessarily have a future with the blazers. Other than these four players everyone on the roster is under 24. That means a good six years before age becomes an issue for this team. Why bring in a player who is any older than 25 when it just limits the window for the blazers in the stacked western conference.

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