Post by DERRENMATTS on Jun 29, 2006 3:55:23 GMT -5
Initially, this trade made no sense to me. If we were looking for a young PG who could be our future starting PG, we could have kept the 7th pick and drafted Foye. So why go out and trade for Sebastian Telfair, a guy who came in with a lot of fanfare but hasn't proved anything in his 2 NBA seasons?
Then when I started adding 2 and 2 together, my initial thought was that, with the Iverson deal on the horizon, we made the trade for Telfair to trade him to Philly as part of the deal. That made sense to me because we don't need him, and that's the end of the story--so I thought.
But looking at things after getting a breather from the draft coverage, I started looking at things from a different perspective. Maybe Telfair isn't going to Philly. Maybe Ainge genuinly thinks he's good enough to be our future PG. But what happens to Delonte? Ahah! That's where the road started to twist a bit. Maybe Philly wants Delonte as part of the Iverson deal. He is, after all, a Philly guy, having gone to St. Joe's for 3 years. He'd be a hometown hero coming home again and playing for the beloved city of brotherly love.
During recent interviews, Ainge made it clear that he was shopping for PG help, either picking up a veteran PG or drafting one. He did not seem to mind stating this in front of Delonte's face.
Would Philly want Delonte more than Telfair? They could very well want Delonte more than Telfair. First of all, we touched on the fact that Delonte played college ball in the area. It helps to have a player who the fans know and love. But secondly, Delonte is a much better shooter, and guys who can shoot the ball help open up the floor. And thirdly, Delonte is a steadier PG. He isn't a big time assist guy and he's not a guy who takes many risks. His assist to turnover ratio is better than Telfair's. This is good for a team looking to turn its fortunes around.
So why would Ainge want to take a chance on Telfair? Well, looking into some recent comments and previous activities by Ainge, we can see that he has had interest in Bassy. While in high school as a senior, Ainge has been said to have watched Telfair a bunch of times live. Andy Katz (I believe it was him who reported this) said that Ainge was carefully studying video tapes of Telfair's games at the start of last season before going down with an injury, and felt that Bassy was the most ready of any PG in this draft (this includes Marcus Williams, who many view is the best passing PG in the draft, Randy Foye, who some consider is going to be this year's ROY, and Rajon Rondo, who Ainge likes the most out of this year's draft class' PG's).
Looking at Bassy's numbers, he was the starting PG for Portland this year, before going down with an injury in December. While not eye popping numbers, he did show improvements as a floor general, averaging better than 2 assists per turnover. In 21 starts, only in 2 games did he have more turnovers than assists, and may I remind you that he played for a really bad Portland team which lost the most games of any team in the league this past year. They were a dysfunctional bunch who had no cohesion. Its rough being a young PG straight out of high school in only his second year, trying to lead a team that has no concept of how to win, or play as a team.
At the age of 21, he's only now turned the legal drinking age. He's got time to develop his game, and especially his outside jumper.
Can Bassy improve his game? Yes, he could. Can he become a better PG than he is now? Yes, he could. Will he do it? I don't know, but Ainge may possibly think so (we'll know if Telfair is not shipped off to Philly in the Iverson deal). Will he be better than Delonte as a PG? He has the tools to be a better playmaking PG, but for now, Delonte is the safer PG.
So who goes--Telfair or Delonte? I thought it was Telfair for sure at first. But now, I'm thinking there's a chance that Delonte may be the one to go. We shall soon see.
Then when I started adding 2 and 2 together, my initial thought was that, with the Iverson deal on the horizon, we made the trade for Telfair to trade him to Philly as part of the deal. That made sense to me because we don't need him, and that's the end of the story--so I thought.
But looking at things after getting a breather from the draft coverage, I started looking at things from a different perspective. Maybe Telfair isn't going to Philly. Maybe Ainge genuinly thinks he's good enough to be our future PG. But what happens to Delonte? Ahah! That's where the road started to twist a bit. Maybe Philly wants Delonte as part of the Iverson deal. He is, after all, a Philly guy, having gone to St. Joe's for 3 years. He'd be a hometown hero coming home again and playing for the beloved city of brotherly love.
During recent interviews, Ainge made it clear that he was shopping for PG help, either picking up a veteran PG or drafting one. He did not seem to mind stating this in front of Delonte's face.
Would Philly want Delonte more than Telfair? They could very well want Delonte more than Telfair. First of all, we touched on the fact that Delonte played college ball in the area. It helps to have a player who the fans know and love. But secondly, Delonte is a much better shooter, and guys who can shoot the ball help open up the floor. And thirdly, Delonte is a steadier PG. He isn't a big time assist guy and he's not a guy who takes many risks. His assist to turnover ratio is better than Telfair's. This is good for a team looking to turn its fortunes around.
So why would Ainge want to take a chance on Telfair? Well, looking into some recent comments and previous activities by Ainge, we can see that he has had interest in Bassy. While in high school as a senior, Ainge has been said to have watched Telfair a bunch of times live. Andy Katz (I believe it was him who reported this) said that Ainge was carefully studying video tapes of Telfair's games at the start of last season before going down with an injury, and felt that Bassy was the most ready of any PG in this draft (this includes Marcus Williams, who many view is the best passing PG in the draft, Randy Foye, who some consider is going to be this year's ROY, and Rajon Rondo, who Ainge likes the most out of this year's draft class' PG's).
Looking at Bassy's numbers, he was the starting PG for Portland this year, before going down with an injury in December. While not eye popping numbers, he did show improvements as a floor general, averaging better than 2 assists per turnover. In 21 starts, only in 2 games did he have more turnovers than assists, and may I remind you that he played for a really bad Portland team which lost the most games of any team in the league this past year. They were a dysfunctional bunch who had no cohesion. Its rough being a young PG straight out of high school in only his second year, trying to lead a team that has no concept of how to win, or play as a team.
At the age of 21, he's only now turned the legal drinking age. He's got time to develop his game, and especially his outside jumper.
Can Bassy improve his game? Yes, he could. Can he become a better PG than he is now? Yes, he could. Will he do it? I don't know, but Ainge may possibly think so (we'll know if Telfair is not shipped off to Philly in the Iverson deal). Will he be better than Delonte as a PG? He has the tools to be a better playmaking PG, but for now, Delonte is the safer PG.
So who goes--Telfair or Delonte? I thought it was Telfair for sure at first. But now, I'm thinking there's a chance that Delonte may be the one to go. We shall soon see.