July 25, 200421 yr Holy s***..... This might put Portland in prime position for the 7th or 8th seed, as opposed to the 10th or 11th seed (my previous rank). All of a sudden they'd have a starting squad of Van Exel, Hassell, Abdur Rahim, Randolph, and Ratliff. That is one hell of a squad. Depth is their weakness as of now, as opposed to last year, when they had Dale Davis and Ruben Patterson off the bench. And Darius Miles might turn into something. Who knows. Portland just became one of my five favorite teams in the NBA other than the Bulls, along with Detroit, Indiana, San Antonio, and Denver.
July 26, 200421 yr Is this the same Trent Hassel that, when with the Bulls, couldn't score if you put him in a room full of blind sex addicts?
July 26, 200421 yr Is this the same Trent Hassel that, when with the Bulls, couldn't score if you put him in a room full of blind sex addicts? He still can't score, but the guy is a madman on defense. Portland already has scorers in Randolph, Van Exel, and Abdur Rahim. Hassell can guard guys like Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Peja Stoyakovich, Michael Finley, Tracy McGrady, etc. Holy s***....the west has the vast majority of the outstanding shooting guards. Even the second tier guys like Latrell Sprewell, Jason Richardson, Quentin Richardson, and Manu Ginobli are damn good. And I'm sure that I'm leaving someone out. Hassell is valuable beyond words.
July 26, 200421 yr Portland just got done with dumping huge salaries, I am just stunned that they would throw stupid money like this at Hassell.
July 26, 200421 yr Portland just got done with dumping huge salaries, I am just stunned that they would throw stupid money like this at Hassell. Stupid money?????? They just signed someone who can cause havoc on the defensive end, and you think that it's stupid money? I suppose that Bruce Bowen would also be a dumb investment? What basketball school of thought did you graduate from? You sound like Don Nelson. Avoid defense at all costs! Seriously though, I know of at least one NBA expert in Sam Smith who has called Hassell one of the three best perimiter defenders in the NBA. The other two: Bowen and Artest. Sadly, the Bulls have had all three since 2000 (we cut Bowen in 2000- undrafted free agent).
July 26, 200421 yr Hassel is not worth 27 Millon this is a great way for Portlland to waste its money. dumbasses
July 26, 200421 yr Hassel is not worth 27 Millon this is a great way for Portlland to waste its money. dumbasses Hassell is not worth 4.5 million per year? And why is that? Because he can't score? What you fail to understand here is that if Hassell holds Kobe Bryant to 15 as opposed to 35, he just cut down the opposition's score by 20. Do the math. Defense wins championships. And Portland is looking good right now due to the fact that they have Ratliff down low leading the league in blocks, Hassell on the perimiter playing shut-down defense on the opposing team's #1 scorer, Zach Randolph crashing the boards and putting up a good 20 to 25 points while he's at it, a healthy and inspired Nick Van Exel running the point, and Shareef Abdur Rahim? The guy is only 27 years old. Check the career stats: FG% / FT% / REBOUNDS PER GAME / POINTS PER GAME 96-97 VAN .453 .746 6.90 18.7 97-98 VAN .485 .784 7.10 22.3 98-99 VAN .432 .841 7.50 23.0 99-00 VAN .465 .809 10.10 20.3 00-01 VAN .472 .834 9.10 20.5 01-02 ATL .461 .801 9.00 21.2 02-03 ATL .478 .841 8.40 19.9 03-04 ATL .485 .880 9.30 20.1 03-04 -- .475 .869 7.50 16.3 And they have a solid bench with Ruben Patterson, Derek Anderson, Damon Stoudamire, Vladimir Stepania, and if they resign him, Darius Miles. So, please, don't call the 2004 Portland Trailblazers organization dumbasses, because they're pretty f***ing far from it. At least in my world, anyway.
July 27, 200421 yr He still can't score, but the guy is a madman on defense. Portland already has scorers in Randolph, Van Exel, and Abdur Rahim. Yup, Portland has scorers, but at the time, the Bulls didn't. Still don't.
July 27, 200421 yr And they have a solid bench with Ruben Patterson, Derek Anderson, Damon Stoudamire, Vladimir Stepania, and if they resign him, Darius Miles. So, please, don't call the 2004 Portland Trailblazers organization dumbasses, because they're pretty f***ing far from it. At least in my world, anyway. I like you, because we both like the Blazers and Sox. Blazers should be good, but just need to get more size. Ratliff is awesome, but Stepania is a joke. He aired two free throws in one trip to the line at a game I went to last season. (Jan 15 vs. Suns) rolleyeyes.gif I think we (the Blazers ) should be good next year, just need to get one more big man.
July 27, 200421 yr (we cut Bowen in 2000- undrafted free agent). Bowen came over in the Kukoc trade...
July 27, 200421 yr Bowen came over in the Kukoc trade... I see. I don't remember Bowen, because he never played. I know that he was an undrafted free agent.
July 27, 200421 yr I like you, because we both like the Blazers and Sox. Blazers should be good, but just need to get more size. Ratliff is awesome, but Stepania is a joke. He aired two free throws in one trip to the line at a game I went to last season. rolleyeyes.gif I think we (the Blazers ) should be good next year, just need to get one more big man. During the 2002/2003 season, Stepania (then of the Miami Heat) came into a game against the Bulls and absolutely went to work. He was a terror on the boards. I mean, yeah, the Bulls are terrible, but they're still an NBA team. When Portland signed him last year, I thought that it was a smart move. He might turn into something one of these years. Who knows. I think that he's a good 8th or 9th man off the bench right now.
July 28, 200421 yr I agree with you about paying for defense can be worth it, but the thing is that the Blazers have been one of the most talented teams for years and years but it's about chemistry, and I don't see how Van Exel and Abdur-Rahim help that at all.
July 28, 200421 yr I agree with you about paying for defense can be worth it, but the thing is that the Blazers have been one of the most talented teams for years and years but it's about chemistry, and I don't see how Van Exel and Abdur-Rahim help that at all. Van Exel was damn good when he was with the Mavericks. He averaged more than 20 per game in the 2003 playoffs, IIRC. And that was with scorers like Dirk, Finley, Nash (to a lesser extent), etc. Basically, if Van Exel is on a winner, he plays like a winner. He played uninspired ball with the Nuggets and Warriors (when he was healthy, anyway). I'm not so sure about Abdur Rahim, though. Damn near a decade with the likes of Vancouver and Atlanta? That can't be good. Can he coexist with Zach on the offensive end? The Blazers' primary weakness towards the end of last season (from what I could tell) was their propensity to clog the lane on the offensive end with Ratliff, Zach, Abdur Rahim, etc. That killed them in their matchup with the Pistons, for instance. They need to open it up a little bit. But guys like Ratliff and Hassell are wonderful to have if we're talking about team chemistry. They take it personal when they're losing, as opposed to the vast majority of NBA players at the current time. They're a nice combination on the defensive end, just like Ben Wallace and Tayshaun, Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan, Ron Artest and Jermaine O'Neal, etc. You can compare them to those three tandems, just like you could compare Garnett and Hassell to those three last year. Garnett said that Hassell was his "Defensive Player Of The Year" last year when the award was announced. That's quite a compliment coming from arguably the best player in the league. Shareef could still be traded, and guys like Ratliff and Van Exel have been racking up the injuries over the years, but I like what I'm seeing.
July 28, 200421 yr From what I hear, Shareef is one of the nicest guys in the NBA. It didn't work out for him here last year, and I'm not sure why. He didn't play very much at all. I'd like to see him here, though, because I know that he can be an All-Star.
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