FanHouse JerrydBayless

On this episode of the Young And The Cap Flexible...

In our last episode, we clued you into a potential deal that would send Carlos Boozer to Chicago, Kirk Hinrich to Portland, and Tyrus Thomas to Utah, among other moving pieces. The deal was refuted by several sources, but ESPN's sticking to their guns that the deal is on the table, but has hit a snag.

That snag? The Blazers insistence on keeping a phenomenal young player so that they can ... not play him?

According to Stein and Ford (the newest cast members of Dragnet), the snag is Jerryd Bayless.

ESPN.com reports the Blazers have agreed to give Dallas the No. 24 pick, the No. 56 pick and a 2010 second round choice to move up ... two spots, to No. 22. The Kings sit at No. 23. I think it's safe to say Kevin Pritchard has his eye on a player he thinks Sacramento also covets. I wouldn't be surprised if said player was Israeli forward Omri Casspi, who had a marvelous workout in Sactown a few weeks ago.

This would be trivial if Pritchard didn't pull the same move last season. The Kings picked No. 12 last June, with the Blazers at No. 14. Coveting Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless -- who had been reported to be at the top of Sacramento's wish list -- Pritchard worked up a swap with Indiana to move up to No. 11. The silver lining for Kings fans is that Bayless barely got off the bench while Jason Thompson shone.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The Suns entered crisis mode over the weekend, with a series of late-night meetings and (you assume) some soul-searching. I think they found said soul. It was on the bottom of their shoes, shaped like the logo of the Sacramento Kings.

Thanks to stellar work from Jason Richardson and Amare Stoudemire, the Suns went by double-digits before most fans got settled into their seats and ended up with a 48-point victory (despite a full 15 minutes of garbage time). J-Rich went for 24/6/5/4 in just 24 minutes, a masterfully dominant performance through three quarters.

The Hornets should be very afraid. With Chris Paul leading the way (he had 12 assists by halftime!), they had the Trail Blazers on the ropes on Monday night, leading by as many as 20 points in the third quarter.

But when Paul left the game with an injured groin late in the third quarter, the Hornets completely fell to pieces, not only losing the game 97-89 but also destroying whatever confidence they may have had that they can win without their best player.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Not long after stepping up to the free throw line in the second quarter, [Nate] Robinson saluted some of his mates that he plays in 'Call of Duty, World at War' on XBox 360 Live. It was his way of proving that it was indeed him playing online." -- Newsday, via BDL.

Via P&T, reputable Tommy Dee of The Knicks Blog cites sources reporting that Portland is after New York forward David Lee. This isn't a particular surprise as every team in the league (including the Knicks) loves Lee. The last rumor had New York refusing Denver's offer of Chucky Atkins (expiring contract, decent back-up PG on a trigger-happy team) and two first-round picks for Lee. Two picks, even in the 20s ... that's a big of a haul, no? Given that reported rejection, actual players would need to be involved from Portland's side.

Dee mentions Jerryd Bayless and Sergio Rodriguez, either of which could fit in to New York's program. Better, the trade of either secures the back-up point guard position for the other, and that can't hurt in terms of confidence. (It's like Harry Potter's prophecy, or something.)

The concern with Lee for Portland would be this: isn't he superfluous? The Blazers have little trouble on the glass and have a surprisingly efficient offense. Lee's strengths are ... rebounding and efficient scoring. Portland needs help on swing defense and bench shot creation. That's not Lee. At all.

Further, doesn't Portland have enough offseason salary issues piling up without the quixotic restricted free agency of Lee mucking things up? Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge are eligible for extensions; Ike Diogu and Channing Frye will be restricted free agents and the Blazers could have some cap space available, depending on the Darius Miles situation. Since the Blazers must give up something to get Lee, the team won't want to let him slip for nothing. I don't mean to question Kevin Pritchard's ability to get things done, but it seems like an added trouble with little real benefit for this particular team.

The final result isn't indicative of how hotly contested Portland-Boston had been in the first half. The Blazers came out matching Boston shot for shot, and led by a possession most of the half. With three minutes left in the second quarter, Boston went into beast mode and turned it into a blowout (which would become somewhat close, but never really in danger).

One of the biggest threads from the first half to me was the verbal sparring between Brandon Roy and Paul Pierce. Pierce has always talked a good deal, and a) joining up with Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell, and b) winning a title ... those have only made Pierce's mouth motor stronger. Roy, though, isn't considered much of a talker. Portland as a whole has taken on a bit of a "soft" reputation, earned or not.

But Roy did not let the war of the words become one-sided Friday.

Note: Update at the bottom.

HOOPSWORLD reports the Blazers will announce the addition of Shaun Livingston to the roster later this evening (4PM EST). To be honest, Carl Landry's Charlotte offer sheet is the bigger news in real basketball terms (as in, Houston would lose a lot by shrugging Landry off), but Livingston's a big name 'til he retires, so a lot of ink will spill on this move.

Portland's point guard set fascinates me. Steve Blake is the incumbent, a crafty but restricted shooter who defends better than the others. Clearly, the Blazers aren't satisfied starting him. Sergio Rodriguez had planned to be the flower of the Northwest, but he and Nate McMillan have some sort of disconnect (likely to be defense-related). In successive years, the Blazers have drafted 19-year-old PG prospects: Finland's Petteri Koponen -- a kid the franchise almost brought over the sea for this coming season, someone both McMillan and Kevin Pritchard appear to be very high on -- and Jerryd Bayless out of Arizona. Pritchard moved up in the lottery to get Bayless at #11.

Blake's got to be trade bait if Bayless develops or McMillan gets Livingston minutes at the point. There is, of course, the possibililty Livingston has been acquired to add depth at the swing positions. As Livingston has made his recovery, murmurs that a loss in quickness from his gruesome injury would force Shaun to small forward or two-guard made the rounds. Without Koponen and with Rodriguez in flux, the Blazers would surely like an able point guard should Blake be jettisoned -- Bayless has a learning curve ahead of him. But this could also be a move for the next couple years, where -- should Portland move Travis Outlaw -- depth behind Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez and Martell Webster becomes a concern. Roy, Fernandez and Livingston, in particular, are flexible players who can run the offense or play off the ball. There's a lot McMillan can do here, and it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out (assuming HOOPSWORLD's report is accurate).

UPDATE: The Oregonian disagrees with HOOPSWORLD's report, and says Pritchard has told the media Livingston won't be signed. Timberwolves, Heat: you're back on the clock.

It's a quite Labor Day for the NBA, so an excellent Jason Quick Oregonian feature on Blazer mystic Travis Outlaw is drawing some chatter. The news hook basically goes that Outlaw expects more of himself than to be a sixth man in Portland, and there's an inkling he expects more of a chance from Nate McMillan and friends. Some vital excerpts:

[H]e says he would like to average 15 shots this season -- the amount [Brandon] Roy and [LaMarcus] Aldridge averaged last season -- and disputes the notion that he had the green light with the Blazers. "Noooo. Noooo," Outlaw says about the green light, prompting his imitation of Blazers coach Nate McMillan. "'Now Travis, that shot, you can get something better than that.'" [...]

"I shoot jumpers like layups," Outlaw says. "Sometimes I get on a fast break and I want to pull up."

That quote belongs on a Hallmark card, but let's hit the meat: Outlaw will never average 15 FGAs a night on this team. McMillan plays slow and controlled, so this isn't like Golden State or Denver where a sixth-man can average 20 per game. Roy and Aldridge were alphas last year ... and the team is adding Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless. Two of those fellows gun by birthright, the other is a potentially dominant post player. Dude's usage will go down, not up.

And that's before all these cats come of age. It will never get better. If Outlaw is spending his September counting potential FGAs, he's obviously not feeling the gameplan. It's awesome that he's talking about not giving McMillan a choice by playing magnificent ball. But the reality: Roy and Aldridge aren't slipping behind Outlaw in the pecking order, Rudy wasn't signed to become a defensive roleplayer, and Outlaw isn't ever becoming a top dog in Portland.

Thankfully, the Blazers have shown a willingness to include Outlaw in trade discussions. He deserves to shoot jumpers like layups somewhere. Maybe he'll get that opportunity in the next year or so.

Imagine Nate McMillan's Olympic predicament. As an assistant on Mike Krzyzewski's staff, he had to concerntrate at the task at hand -- or at the very least, keep a straight face -- as Spain's Rudy Fernandez torched the Redeem Team's collection of All-Stars (and posterized Dwight Howard) for 22 points in fewer than 18 minutes.

Behind the stoic front, though, he was going nuts, just like most of the fans back in Portland. From Jason Quick of The Oregonian:

"I'm sitting there (in the gold medal game) with a straight face, trying not to smile," McMillan said. " (Spain) are the guys we have to beat, but I'm caught. That's my player and I want to (he claps his hands twice) but I gotta (he makes a serious face) because we are going up against him."

[...] "I was so impressed with him that it was to the point where after the second time I saw him, I didn't sleep that night because I was moving my rotations around," McMillan said. "I swear I did not sleep. I could not sleep thinking about him. Because I'm saying, 'We can put him here, do this with him, do that with him and Brandon (Roy), and do this... So he's playing for us. Oh yeah. I see that right now."

So what did he dream up? For now he's planning on using Fernandez on the second team alongside Jerryd Bayless and Travis Outlaw, although Fernandez will occasionaly share the court with Brandon Roy. If Fernandez plays as well as he did in Beijing (which isn't out of the question given the quality of competition he faced), can the Blazers keep him out of the starting lineup? I like Steve Blake as much as the next guy, but I don't see how they could.