[HurraKane212]

Originally Posted by ProfitByProphet

There is no ideal development environment and it's pretty naive to think so. I can't think of a better place in the NBA for a young player to develop. Why don't you tell me smarty? No team in the NBA can match Portland's development of their young players. You speak about playing against vet's like it's some perfect, proven standard of development when that couldn't be any further from the truth. There are many ways to develop players and pretty much every single player to ever play the game has likely been developed differently. Those aren't robots out there, they are real human beings and because of that they are all completely unique individuals who will learn and grow in a unique and individual way. The fact is putting Outlaw in the game too much early on would have done far more harm than good.



Do you even read what you write down? NEWSFLASH: Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge are YOUNG DEVELOPING PLAYERS! You talk about them like they somehow don't count as Portland developed talent. And Outlaw and Martell don't get enough playing time? Are you on acid or something? How much more playing time should they get?

I really think that 5 minutes of perusing ProfitByProphet's posts is reason aplenty to ban him. Now I am not trying to tell the mods how to do their job, I'm just voicing my opinion. Putting ProfitByProphet on ignore doesn't quite cut it because he's baiting and fighting with posters that I enjoy reading.

For the most part I am glad that the mods on this board are not iron fisted dictators with itchy trigger fingers, for instance I took issue with croco on style and tone but he never pulled the Mod card and for that I respect him.

That said, I believe that if you give someone enough rope they will hang themselves.
My only question is "how is he managing to dance the hemp fandango with 2 left feet?"

[ehmunro]

Originally Posted by ProfitByProphet

if you think Portland is a bad place for young players to develop. Portland is the 3rd youngest team in NBA history and was one of the very best teams before the All-Star break. Oh, and speaking of All-Star's, Portland has one... a young one... who was also last year's Rookie of the Year. Yeah, Portland doesn't know how to develop young players.

And what? It's a bad thing for young players to struggle for playing time? WHAT? Please punch yourself with great force in the side of your head; something needs to be realigned or something. You think they'd develop better if they were just thrown in the game ahead of better players? That's good for the players and team how?

Portland's success disproved your statement before you even wrote it down. They have developed all their young players very well so far. I couldn't possibly understand a person who can look at the current Portland team and say that Portland is not a good place for young players to develop. In fact I think you'd have to be stupid to say that.

Portland's success neither proves nor disproves anything. Did Chicago's success disprove the notion that teams with too many kids suffer developmental problems? Why have so many of them plateaued then? You may also want to actually read what I said since the last two paragraphs show absolutely zero understanding of what I wrote. Basketball is a vets game. If you're good enough, you can step right in and play. Say like Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron, Amare, Dwight Howard, et al. Those guys were really really good coming into the NBA, and were able to get on the court and ball from day 1. But the two or three guys like that from every draft aren't the rule, they're the exception. Guys like LMA and Roy didn't need to worry about the vet factor. Guys like Outlaw, Telfair, Webster, Viktor Khryapa, Sergei Monia, the BFKD, Jarrett Jack, James White, Sergio Rodriguez, and anyone that I've forgotten, on the other hand, are more problematic. No, a roster full of kids isn't the best environment for the development of guys that weren't stars stepping in. Yes, playing on rosters like that slows down their growth as players.

Most kids coming into the NBA need face time against experienced players, either in practise or actual games. Kids stepping onto vet rosters get that. They get to work on their games in practise against players that know a heck of a lot more than they do. In Chicago, while Deng and Gordon got all the court time they needed in games for development (because they were the best of Chicago's kiddie corps), the rest of them have struggled with getting minutes in games, and not having more experienced players to practise against.

Boston went through this the last three years until they unloaded most of their kiddie corps acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Having a vet team this year has made a huge difference for Boston's remaining kids, and they've all played a heck of a lot better this year than in the past two. Tony Allen suddenly no longer looks lost on an NBA court, and his ADD problems seem to be vanishing. A big part of that is that now when he needs to talk to someone about what he's doing wrong on the court, he's not asking the likes of Delonte West or Gerald Green. He's talking to guys that know that know the game, and working with them in practise to improve. You think Glen Davis hasn't learned a lot of what it's going to take for him to stick in the NBA as a valuable rotation player by being forced to practise against Garnett? It's a whole lot easier on those marginal kids when they're practising against more experienced players.

[ehmunro]

Originally Posted by ProfitByProphet

NEWSFLASH: Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge are YOUNG DEVELOPING PLAYERS! You talk about them like they somehow don't count as Portland developed talent. And Outlaw and Martell don't get enough playing time? Are you on acid or something? How much more playing time should they get?

Should we credit Cleveland for how good LeBron James was the minute he set foot on an NBA court? Were they secretly developing him in high school? Should we credit Miami with Wade being so good from the moment he set foot on an NBA court? It wasn't that Anthony was great, it was Denver? Since when were any of those guys (LMA and Roy included) not considered ready to ball in the NBA players? It's simply not a problem developing all star players. It's a problem, however, for the other guys, the ones that aren't ready when they reach the NBA, and need to significantly grow their games to be rotation players. For those guys, playing on a roster composed entirely of kids isn't an ideal situation, since it slows their rate of growth.

[GOD]

So far, the young Blazers have done better than expected because the coaching staff is good at teaching fundamentals and because there is a lot of maturity amongst the youngsters.

However, I do agree that for the Blazers to take the next step, some Vets will be very useful. Players like James Jones really seemed to help Martell Webster earlier in the season and Roy (yes he is young, but acts like a vet) has taken Outlaw under his wing. This is important not only in practice but also in developing the right mental attitude over an 82 game season. Two of the Blazers vets, Joel Przybilla and Steve Blake, seem to have a good grasp on themselves, but don't really guide our youngsters how I would l like.

Overall, the youngsters on the Blazers squad are much more valuable than the vets, or than vets that might be brought in, but those vets will help our players develop.