Steve Blake vs. Vince Carter

[MilitaryMagic 0]

Credit emory889 for bringing him to my attention.

 

Check out this bit on Steve Blake:

 

quote:

With a month-and-a-half until the end of the season, Denver Nuggets guard Steve Blake's future with the team has crossed his mind. He is in the last year of a contract that pays $1.3 million and is an unrestricted free agent when the Nuggets' season ends. He hopes Denver will want him back.

 

"It slips in your mind every now and then," Blake said. "But mainly right now I'm just focused on the season. I don't know what teams are going to want me. Hopefully Denver will."

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/players/Steve+Blake/nba.p.3741

 

I've liked Steve from Day 1 and I have good memories of his days in Washington where announcers would talk about how they like his game but that he isn't physically ready to play in the NBA at 6'3" 170lbs (the dude is RAIL THIN). Well, I think that's been disproved with his play, especially for Denver this season.

 

For all this talk about how we can't keep Darko and pick up a difference making free agent, I think Steve Blake can be a difference maker for this team and allow us to keep Darko. I think Steve could be a possible key for our team's success.

 

Let me reason it out:

 

1. We get a starting pg that can distribute the ball in the half court.

 

This year for Denver, he has averaged 34 minutes and only 8 field goal attempts a game, making 3.3 of them for 43%. He had similar stats for Portland last year. For both teams he has averaged 1 assist for ever 5 minutes of court time.

 

This is in contrast to Nelson, who has averaged 11 fga's per game in less minutes and only gets 1 assist per 7.5 minutes for this season. Even last year, he averaged less assists than Steve Blake for the minutes given on the court.

 

2. This returns Jameer Nelson to the bench role that he was so effective in.

 

Coming in with the second unit, he will be expected to shoulder the scoring load for our 2nd team. This will also match him up against the other team's 2nd unit guards, giving him favorable matchups on the perimeter to abuse other 2nd stringers with his quickness. Once getting into the lane, he will find far fewer 7-footers with shot blocking skills that can affect his layups and floaters.

 

Finally, this will give him back that shoulder chip he lost this season.

 

3. With Jameer returning to a scorers role, it lessens the need for a Vince Carter type player that dominates the ball.

 

Jameer is a proven scorer. All of his offensive statistics were better last year, both percentage-wise and in terms of total output, when he wasn't expected to be a distributor. I believe that Jameer can fill the role of our 4th quarter clutch player if he isn't expected to do everything else for our team.

 

This will also allow our beloved JJ Redick to continue becoming a key part of our team =) The more room for Redick to grow, the more room our team has to grow.

 

Finally, this continues to give confidence to Dwight that we believe in him to be the most important player on our team.

 

4. By lessening the need for a marquee f/a guard signing, we can afford to keep Darko.

 

I knock on Darko a lot for being so inconsistent, but I do believe he's a talented player that is very valuable to our team. By keeping Darko, we keep the most difficult positions to fill filled with top talent.

 

5. By signing Darko and not an expensive guard, we give ourselves flexibility in the future.

 

This will continue our youth movement. Steve Blake is a young player, not a 30+ year old veteran. In theory, if we sign Blake and Darko, it will still be less than the 14+ mil that VC would require to be signed.

 

So not only does this keep us young and growing, it gives us flexibility in the future to make more moves to tweak our team. We can all see how handicapped our team is with one aging superstar (Grant Hill), so to sign VC to a 5 year deal to get 3 good years out of him puts us right back into this position MINUS one Darko Milicic and plus one more untradeable mammoth contract.

 

So is Vince Carter more valuable than Steve Blake? I'd argue no.

[MilitaryMagic 0]

Credit emory889 for bringing him to my attention.

 

Check out this bit on Steve Blake:

 

quote:

With a month-and-a-half until the end of the season, Denver Nuggets guard Steve Blake's future with the team has crossed his mind. He is in the last year of a contract that pays $1.3 million and is an unrestricted free agent when the Nuggets' season ends. He hopes Denver will want him back.

 

"It slips in your mind every now and then," Blake said. "But mainly right now I'm just focused on the season. I don't know what teams are going to want me. Hopefully Denver will."

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/players/Steve+Blake/nba.p.3741

 

I've liked Steve from Day 1 and I have good memories of his days in Washington where announcers would talk about how they like his game but that he isn't physically ready to play in the NBA at 6'3" 170lbs (the dude is RAIL THIN). Well, I think that's been disproved with his play, especially for Denver this season.

 

For all this talk about how we can't keep Darko and pick up a difference making free agent, I think Steve Blake can be a difference maker for this team and allow us to keep Darko. I think Steve could be a possible key for our team's success.

 

Let me reason it out:

 

1. We get a starting pg that can distribute the ball in the half court.

 

This year for Denver, he has averaged 34 minutes and only 8 field goal attempts a game, making 3.3 of them for 43%. He had similar stats for Portland last year. For both teams he has averaged 1 assist for ever 5 minutes of court time.

 

This is in contrast to Nelson, who has averaged 11 fga's per game in less minutes and only gets 1 assist per 7.5 minutes for this season. Even last year, he averaged less assists than Steve Blake for the minutes given on the court.

 

2. This returns Jameer Nelson to the bench role that he was so effective in.

 

Coming in with the second unit, he will be expected to shoulder the scoring load for our 2nd team. This will also match him up against the other team's 2nd unit guards, giving him favorable matchups on the perimeter to abuse other 2nd stringers with his quickness. Once getting into the lane, he will find far fewer 7-footers with shot blocking skills that can affect his layups and floaters.

 

Finally, this will give him back that shoulder chip he lost this season.

 

3. With Jameer returning to a scorers role, it lessens the need for a Vince Carter type player that dominates the ball.

 

Jameer is a proven scorer. All of his offensive statistics were better last year, both percentage-wise and in terms of total output, when he wasn't expected to be a distributor. I believe that Jameer can fill the role of our 4th quarter clutch player if he isn't expected to do everything else for our team.

 

This will also allow our beloved JJ Redick to continue becoming a key part of our team =) The more room for Redick to grow, the more room our team has to grow.

 

Finally, this continues to give confidence to Dwight that we believe in him to be the most important player on our team.

 

4. By lessening the need for a marquee f/a guard signing, we can afford to keep Darko.

 

I knock on Darko a lot for being so inconsistent, but I do believe he's a talented player that is very valuable to our team. By keeping Darko, we keep the most difficult positions to fill filled with top talent.

 

5. By signing Darko and not an expensive guard, we give ourselves flexibility in the future.

 

This will continue our youth movement. Steve Blake is a young player, not a 30+ year old veteran. In theory, if we sign Blake and Darko, it will still be less than the 14+ mil that VC would require to be signed.

 

So not only does this keep us young and growing, it gives us flexibility in the future to make more moves to tweak our team. We can all see how handicapped our team is with one aging superstar (Grant Hill), so to sign VC to a 5 year deal to get 3 good years out of him puts us right back into this position MINUS one Darko Milicic and plus one more untradeable mammoth contract.

 

So is Vince Carter more valuable than Steve Blake? I'd argue no.

[rdeezy 0]

i would take vince over him.

[Nyce_1 311]

Why can't we sign both? Blake will be cheap (3-4 mil) and, IMO, Vince won't be as expensive as most think. Maybe $8-$9mill.

 

Check out my off-season plans in this thread...

http://orlandomagiczone.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/88910298...131084543#8131084543

[chosen12 75]

quote:

Originally posted by rdeezy:

i would take vince over him.

 

I concur........I need VC!

[CaseyMullen928 0]

steve blake OVER vince carter. no way. id much rather have shard over vc...but if it came to blake OR VC...ha thats a no brainer. i mean both would be nice, blake can play, but i wouldnt take blake OVER vc

[Catman 380]

Steve Blake could be nice. We will still need a SG who can score also.

[richnba 3]

I like that, and I think next year if we give JJ that starting role he will surprise all of us with his ability to score.

[nate dizzy 0]

I like Steve....but we will still need a coach

[MilitaryMagic 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Catman:

Steve Blake could be nice. We will still need a SG who can score also.

 

I'm beginning to believe that JJ can fill the scorer's role in the future. I also am a firm believer in Ariza's new jump shot and that he can be an effective scorer as well w/o changing his excellent defensive-minded focus.

[MilitaryMagic 0]

quote:

Originally posted by CaseyMullen928:

steve blake OVER vince carter. no way. id much rather have shard over vc...but if it came to blake OR VC...ha thats a no brainer. i mean both would be nice, blake can play, but i wouldnt take blake OVER vc

 

The point isn't who you would take in a pick-up game, the point is which player would fit this team best in the present and in the future.

 

At what cost does signing a MAX or near-MAX player hit us?

[Berto 338]

We're not paying Jameer all that money to come off the bench. This franchise is banking on Jameer to be the pg for this team a long time. And getting Blake makes absolutely no sense because we already have a guard that can do everything he can, Travis Diener.