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Goldmember · 12-11-2004, 12:35 AM

One good thing I can say off the bat is that he's probably better than Damon. But that's not saying much.

I don't see the great court vision or passing. He is very similar to Damon and after years of watching Damon I'm not excited with the idea of watching a clone of him for several more.

Telfair is extremely quick, but as is the case with Damon, he's too short. His quickness will be negated by his inability to finish amongst the trees. He has no confidence in his jumper. That will be exploited and his quickness will be even more negated once the defense realizes to just play off of him. His defensive intesity is good, but once again, just like Damon his lack of size will be a hinderance on D.

I'm afraid that his skill set does not fit this Blazer squad. We are an inside-out team that needs more than anything guards that can hit the spot up jumper. If Telfair doesn't improve tenfold on his outside game we will still have the same problem we have now.

PG's always need a lot of time, I'm aware of this. But I'm not as optimistic after watching these last two games. He has the makings of a servicable PG, possibly a starter, but I do not see a star in the making. I hope I'm wrong.

Ed O · 12-11-2004, 12:56 AM

Interesting... I've kinda swung the other way after these games... I feel MORE confident that he's going to be a good player than I did before.

Maybe it's expectations: I thought he was going to be a 5, and you thought he was going to be a 9, and now we both think he's going to be a 7.

The guy can get to the hoop remarkably well, and certainly does it better than Damon ever has in the NBA. Damon's always been a jump-shooter, and with the exception of his second NBA season (when he handled the ball so much and played a ton of minutes) he's never been good at getting to the line.

Telfair is not demonstrating the pass-first mentality that I hope he eventually will have--he looks like the guy who scored 38 ppg as a high school senior--but what he looks like he is (a smaller Stephon Marbury without a jumper) isn't the worst thing in the world.

And, at age 19, he might prove to be a lot more than that.

Ed O.

QRICH · 12-11-2004, 01:00 AM

Talk about judging a player too quickly. This is his 2nd game of real playing time.

Im sure we had Blazer fans b***** about Jermaine Oneal during his rookie year.

... He's straight out of HS playing one of the hardest (if not hardest) positions in the game. He's going to make mistakes, but with time he'll improve. IMO, he's improving game by game. He just needs experience.

PorterIn2004 · 12-11-2004, 01:08 AM

And, adding to Qrich and Ed, it seems to me that Telfair's doing a fine job of keeping his head up and staying in the game after mistakes, whether he stays on the floor or not. While it shouldn't be the case, that seems pretty rare to me these days.

MAS RipCity · 12-11-2004, 01:09 AM

I guess no one can please some Blazer fans. I can't believe how so many of you get caught up in labels. Who gives a rats behind if he if is a shoot or pass first pg. The only thing that matters is that he makes us better. If anything he is just a playmaker. If we actually ran a decent offesne he would do even ebtter. It's hard to make anyone look good with our offensive sets. I also love Telfair's ability to get to the time at any time on any defender. The only thing I was left scratching my head at was when he wouldn't take wide open 3's with the shot clock winding down. He has a nice stroke, he needs to have some confidance in it. He is going to be very special in given time. If we get a good caoch next year and solve our sg problems, we could be very good next year. Coaching and shooting are holding us back though.

Ed O · 12-11-2004, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MAS RipCity!
Who gives a rats behind if he if is a shoot or pass first pg.

I do, and so should you. Because he can't shoot, so he better be able to pass. If he learns to shoot even decently and can keep his ability to get to the hoop and the line, he can shoot as much as he wants as far as I'm concerned. Getting to that Iverson (on a good shooting season) level is not very likely, though.

Ed O.

**HKF** · 12-11-2004, 01:18 AM

When Telfair had that 6 assist game, what did you guys say then?

Please give him some time. The clock hasn't even struck 2005 and you're labelling the kid. He can pass, don't worry he will show it soon enough. Be patient for a change.

**Tince** · 12-11-2004, 01:24 AM

I don't know how anyone can say quick 6'0" point gaurds who haven't developed an outside shot yet are not any good.

You compare Telfair to Damon. I compare Telfair to Tony Parker. I could make a much stronger case those two are alike, than Stoudamire and Telfair.

There is no reason to worry about Telfair fitting in with this current Blazer squad. Miles, Randolph, and Outlaws are the only players I see possibly being around when Telfair reaches his prime, and even that is real doubtful.

I'll wait to fully judge Telfair until later, but the two things I already know is that Telfair can change gears way better than Damon during any time in his career. I also know that he gets to the line way more than Damon and that's a direct result to Telfair being much better around the hoop than Damon.

**Tince** · 12-11-2004, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed O!

Getting to that Iverson (on a good shooting season) level is not very likely, though.

Ed O.

A great shooting season for Iverson is 42%. I think Telfair could get to that shooting level.

Sambonius · 12-11-2004, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tince!

A great shooting season for Iverson is 42%. I think Telfair could get to that shooting level.

I think this comes from a guy who is trying to justify NOT wanting to take Telfair, keep in mind this is the same guy who would have taken Pavel over Telfair, it's amazing what some of these posters would say to justify their claims.

Ed O · 12-11-2004, 02:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sambonius!

I think this comes from a guy who is trying to justify NOT wanting to take Telfair, keep in mind this is the same guy who would have taken Pavel over Telfair, it's amazing what some of these posters would say to justify their claims.

Assuming you're talking about me (and I presume you are, with the Pavel comment, although I don't think that my thoughts about Telfair have been that negative either in this thread or generally), what you think and what reality is are not the same thing here, Sambonius.

First of all, I never said I didn't want to take Telfair. I said that I don't think we should have taken him at 13. We had two picks later in the round and I am still convinced that we would have been in excellent position to trade up for him, if necessary, later in the round. But have I reasserted that position recently? No. Why not? Because there's no point. The team made the pick, we won't know how wise it was for some time, and in the mean time I am rooting for Telfair and the Blazers.

I'm not trying to justify anything.

If you can read what I've written in this thread and think that I'm purposefully taking unfair shots at Sebastian for some ulterior purpose, then I don't know what to say.

Ed O.

**NateBishop3** · 12-11-2004, 02:34 AM

I'll say this....

Our team doesn't suit Telfair AT ALL....

What do you expect him to do? None of our guys move without the ball... None of our guys cut to the basket....

Not only that, but most of our players don't get out and run. Miles is one of the few. How many times was Telfair alone on the break, and had to finish himself?

A great passer can only do so much. What do you want him to do if his only options are to pass into the post, or swing the ball to DA?

Change our lineup a bit and see what the kid can do.

A guy that Telfair really misses is Richie Frahm. Frahm and Bassy work really well in practice together. Frahm moves without the ball. If you put SeaBass out on the floor with Frahm, Miles, Outlaw, and Zach, you might see what the kid can do.

futuristxen · 12-11-2004, 02:38 AM

I think the reason he wasn't passing in the last two games as much, is because what would happen is he would pass it and the ball would die in the corners with DA or occasionally Randolph. I don't know how many times they've just sat there for 5-7 seconds not doing anything while the rest of the team watches. There's no movement in the Blazers offense, so Telfair's passing is kind of going to waste in the Blazers offense. And to an extent so is Randolph's finishing ability around the basket.

Those two should be running pick and rolls every time down the floor ala stockton and malone.

But also the lack of a good shooting guard is also killing the offense, because there's no one to really drive and kick to, so most of the times Telfair is better off just driving and getting the layup than kicking it out for someone who can't shoot.

Get a better coach. And get a shooting guard without his head up his *** and you'll see a lot more of Telfair's talent, I believe.

Heck, it would probably be smarter to play NVE at the 2 with Telfair at the one, with the way that DA looks out there. I had no idea his game had really gotten that bad. I just thought you blazers fans were *****ing to be *****ing. What the hell happened to that guy?

Kmurph · 12-11-2004, 02:51 AM

Man, Can people here be a little over critical here or what?

I don't understand this backlash vs Telfair going on here recently. I suspect it is b\c some posters here are gushing about him, as FANS tend to do, nothing wrong with that. I suspect that other posters here are somehow miffed at that sentiment, which from a POR Fan is mystifying, I would think any true POR fan would want him to perform well.

But this critical analysis of blasting him b\c he didn't have 5? 6? 7? assists, or b\c his outside shot obviously needs work, is a bit mystifying. Particularly in 2 games? What did you expect? 30 & 10? 20 & 5? I guess I missed the memo on Telfair having a "Lebron-like" impact, which BTW took "King James" more than 2 games, try like 1/4 of the season.

Heck, I remember Jermaine O'Neal, and how pitiful he looked coming out of HS for his first couple of years, and yet strangely I don't remember this negativity or OVER analysis on every little mistake he did, or what he failed to do. I mean, this is really ridiculous. Making assertions on a kid b\c he only had 1 assist? or b\c he didn't hit an outside shot?

Like someone else previously stated, its not like he is a 5yr vet. He is a 19yr old kid, I can't see how ANYONE here could not expect him to have struggles or to have weaknesses\flaws in his game. I don't know many 19yr olds who don't, not unless they are once in a generation type playes like Lebron, who BTW is the only 19yr old kid I can recall who jumped from the preps to pros and blew up the NBA his first year out. Surely KG, TMAC, O'Neal, Kobe didn't have such an impact.

I guess the question to all of you who are bashing Teflair, or all so ready to call him Damon part deux, why the rush? Why the label after 2 games? Certainly you can't believe that after 2 games you know EXACTLY what type of player Telfair will be. That would seem a little premature, don't you think?

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