STOMP

facts to the rescue

right now Travis is shooting a higher FG% then Martell... 0.443 vs 0.431

on 3's he's trailing 0.375 vs 0.385

Maybe it's the beautiful form on Martell's J that causes posters to think he's doing better then he is, but it's a myth that he's shooting better then Travis this year. The rest of the major stats are either even or well in TO's favor despite Martell averaging 2 more minutes per game.

check it out

STOMP

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"Don't watch the Blazers and think about this season. Instead watch them and think 2 or 3 years down the road, because they are going to be insanely good. I can't remember a time when a single team owned the rights to this many quality players under the age of 25... if the Blazers aren't crushing people three years from now I'll be stunned. "
-John Hollinger

BlazerFan22

I beleive it has Martell avg. 3 more minutes a game. If Martell would put the ball on the floor more and take it inside that FG% would go up also.

cimalee

T law i love this kid

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But it's not about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward

mook

I'm comparing year-to-year, not month-to-month or week-to-week.

Aldridge has had a nice growth curve since the day we drafted him. So I love having him on the team. But if he tops out right where he is now, he's still a great guy to have on our team.

Ratliff was a proven veteran who was doing what he always did (when healthy), so my analogy of growth doesn't even apply.

I didn't hate the Zach deal, but I wasn't wildly enthusiastic. He was so good right from the beginning that personal growth didn't factor much into my thinking. I just wasn't sure he was worth that much money.

Darius is an interesting case, and is a valid example of where the growth just didn't continue to happen. I didn't say my philosophy of chasing recent growth was 100% fool proof. Of course, we'll never know if he might've continued to improve with better coaching over his career and better health.

Perhaps a better example was Jermaine O'Neal. Didn't show anything here, but once in Indiana he took off. He was a fantastic investment after his first year in Indiana. Meanwhile, Jonathin Bender had shown steady and slow improvements, and wound up leveling off much quicker and was a bad investment.

There was a time when Amare Stoudemire and Randolph were equally productive on the court. Amare had gotten to that point much quicker, though, and his rapid growth as a player continued for quite a while. He was clearly the better investment at the time when their on-court productivity was equal.

Pretty much every Most Improved Player award winner is an example of somebody with sudden, surprising growth from out of nowhere. Very rarely do you see those guys traded immediately after winning the award for a player like Jarret Jack or Martell Webster who are slowly getting better.

It's not "being fickle." It's recognizing inertia. A player who is growing rapidly will tend to continue to grow rapidly. A player growing slowly will tend to continue to grow slowly. If you have a choice between the two and all else is equal (in this case it's not--Travis is far superior at most things), go with the guy growing rapidly.

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Family cookbook software.

HOWIE

Both have their ups and downs....it's too bad you can't combine their talents into one player. If Travis has Webster's fire I'd surely pick him, however if Webster had a cool player introduction (like Outlaw's) I'd surely pick him.

I say trade both and get an all star as I can not and will not pick either.

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BlazerFan22

Webster needs to put the ball on the floor more though. If he did this he could be really good and an explosive offensive player with decent defence and passing skills.

MrWonderful

If I'm judging between today's Webs and today's TLaw, I'm picking TLaw. I like his personality better, and I think he's more clutch. He's also great fun to watch...

PapaG

What have you seen in Martell that tells you he has that ability? Every shot he takes is off of a set play at this point. I think a big weakness of his is creating his own shot, and clearly Nate thinks the same thing due to the lack of letting him do it in a game. If he could, he would be allowed to do it.

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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."

BlazerFan22

How do you know Nate thinks the same thing? We have all seen alittle bit of Martell putting the ball on the floor getting to the rim and either drowing the foul or dunking the ball. He does have the ability he just dosen't do it enough. Maybe Nate just likes his 3 point shooting and his ability to come off of screens. I just think Martell has alot more in his arsenal than what he shows and we will see it in time. He is still learning.

BlazerFan22

Nate McMillian in todays Oregonian has said that Martell is definitely a keeper while he said that Outlaw is just a keeper. Purhaps while Travis might be growing faster Nate might see a higher ceiling in Martell?

BlazerFan22

Nate McMillian in todays Oregonian has said that Martell is definitely a keeper while he said that Outlaw is just a keeper. Purhaps while Travis might be growing faster Nate might see a higher ceiling in Martell?

BlazerFan22

What do people think now?

BuckW4GM

now? i've always liked outlaw more than webster. i'm surprised that there are actually those out there that thinks webster is better.

if nate actually places more value in webster than he does outlaw - which i really don't think he is - then my respect for his knowledge just went down another notch.

BlazerFan22