PapaG

I've been pro-Travis as well, argued at length here in favor of his resigning both before and after it, and admit that his start to the season concerned me. That said, I hope that Travis now sees that this current roster CANNOT win without his contributions. I'm not sure he is ready to give consistent 15+ point games, but let's face facts here. Roy and LMA both now have confidence in Travis at the end of games. For a 6th man playing outside of San Antonio, that is pretty remarkable.

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...it's largely an anonymous bunch. After the 21-year-old Webster torched the Jazz for 24 third-quarter points on Jan. 5, Utah reserve Matt Harpring observed, "It was tough when what's-his-face got hot."

KingSpeed

Yea, Outlaw's performance at the end of last season meant nothing to me. So many were out with injuries and we lost those games. But what Outlaw is doing now is very impressive. It is not too late for him to be a star in this league. In fact, I can say that about almost all of our players. They're all sooo young.

Go Blazers

Masbee

Two huge games came against two of the very worst defensive teams in the NBA while longtime matadors like Ricky Davis and Mike Miller where checking him. That to me is very much like the garbage time games at the end of last season.

I won't put a lot into this until Travis has a couple of games like this against teams with better team defense and better individual defenders at the forward position. These games do give us hope that he has turned a corner.

KingSpeed

But the fact that he is doing what he's supposed to against teams/players who aren't that good.... that makes him one of the good guys. Just like Boston. They haven't played anyone yet, but you can't fault them for trashing the losers that they are playing.

Go Blazers

2k

When Outlaw is on, individual defense doesn’t seem to matter much. Lets not forget he scored more in the Indiana game than the last two games.

PapaG

Memphis is horrible on defense, but Miami ranks in the Top 10 in points allowed. You have a flawed premise.

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...it's largely an anonymous bunch. After the 21-year-old Webster torched the Jazz for 24 third-quarter points on Jan. 5, Utah reserve Matt Harpring observed, "It was tough when what's-his-face got hot."

majic_sean

The two pictures posted of Travis are so good. First that close up dunk then him yelling with the veins popping out of his head as Wade looks on...

Go Blazers

Go Outlaw

On a side note, ESPN highlights have the announcer calling him "Tracy Outlaw".

I'm so glad we held on to Travis. Ime Who-Doka? I was calling for Travis as 6th man of the year early but once the season started I quieted down about it. Looks like the Outlaw of the Wild West is back in the runnings. Whoot!

c_note

Garbage time games?

Travis scored his 36 against G State, a team playing for their playoff lives. If they lost that game, they were out of the playoffs. It was a must-win situation, so don't you think they were trying just a tad harder than normal? I would say they were playing as hard as they possibly could, and Travis still dropped 36 and 10. Golden State still won, but Travis was unstoppable.

To me, that was the definitive moment for Outlaw. That's when I realized, wow, he's gonna be a great player for us someday. That Golden State game was nothing short of amazing for a 22 year old bench player.

c_note

Umm k. I already provided the links, go read them yourself.

KingSpeed

Cnote- I think the point was that it was a garbage game for US. We had nothing to win or lose so there was ZERO pressure on Outlaw. We were playing for nothing. And we lost.

I'm a HUGE Outlaw supporter as many of you have read on the board, but it's probably impossible for Outlaw to win 6th Man of the Year as long as Barbosa and Ginobili come off the bench. Manu had like 37 pts tonight!

Go Blazers

Masbee

Outlaw - who is designated as a scorer, that is his role - has a huge scoring game against a team that is poor defensively and plays the fastest pace in the NBA - and that said to you Travis is going to be "great"?

Did you think Tony Delk was going to be great when he dropped 50?

dudleysghost

Ok, I did say we should move him in that trade, but I recanted, saying that there was no imperative to since the risk was low. Webster has definitely improved his game since last year. He's gotten in better shape, improved his defensive footwork, is a better rebounder and is generally more aware of what's going on in the game. There were rumors last year that he had a really bad attitude with the coaches (one of the major reasons I was down on him), and reportedly he has worked that out as well. His game definitely looks like it.

That said, he's still less productive almost across the board than Damien Wilkins, who you said is crap. What exactly do you think Webster has proven this year? He's shown enough improvement that I can believe he will be better than Wilkins, I'll definitely admit that, but still, how good do we really think he will be? I'm still expecting the kind of journeyman player who can contribute, but who is replaceable. We don't have to move him, because it's still a low risk/low reward move doing so. But I still think that KP's talk about "A-list" players stands, and that if we get the chance to get an A-list PG or SF and we have to give up Webster to do it, we should, because I don't think Webster is going to be one.

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Jeff Van Gundy to the Houston Chronicle: "Everybody gets excited about youth except the coach, because he knows youth means mistakes, mistakes mean losses, losses means you're fired."

Masbee

Points allowed is not an indicator of defense as much as it is of pace.

Did you watch Miami play? They are not good defensively this season, and they came to Portland in the middle of a slump - a defensive slump - as indicated by coach Riley. Making their defense pitiful.

PapaG