Now, let's just see how well KP understands/plays the FA game........ From: The O - Canzano (BTW, I was listening to a national radio sports talk show last night and there were many, many teams who were very concerned about Blair's knees........which is why he dropped so far. The last thing the Blazers need is another player with leg issues.)
I think a lot of people fell in love with a player who sounded (relatively) sexy, and have freaked out that they didn't get him. Or at least the team didn't take a 'flier' out on him. There is probably a good reason why a 6'7" PF who weighs 280 pounds and has two bad knees, didn't get picked by the Blazers. There have been players that the team didn't draft in years past, that people complained loudly that they didn't get. Joe Alexander is one name I remember from last year.
First, I have no doubt KP attempted to get what he wanted higher up in the draft, but the deals were unacceptable. It was reported by one of the Blazer people that everybody wanted Batum and we simply weren't offering him. Second, having tried but failed (I don't hold it against KP) to move up we did the smart thing. We essentially passed out of the draft with a player that has a 10% chance of playing for us but may be an interesting small chip in a future trade. And frankly, there isn't one player picked after Claver that I feel we needed on a 4 year contract. Third, and accordingly, the second round picks in this unbelievably weak draft were throw aways. Oh, we may keep one or two of them as practice players, but they have minimal NBA talent. It just wasn't our night and those things happen.
I don't have a big problem with the Blazers' strategy, but it seems odd that they didn't at least take a chance on Blair in the 2nd round. There was no guaranteed contract and they would have training camp to evaluate how his knee would hold up. It seemed like a low risk, high reward situation to me.
On paper it was a good draft. Trading Sergio was great because he didn't want to be here, KP thinks Bayless is the PG of the future anyway, and we got more cap space by doing it. Drafting Clavor was brilliant. Lottery talent that may or may not come over. Big whoop, by selecting him we lose the salary slot and earn even more cap room. I question the 2nd round picks, but whatever... The big question is what can the Blazers do with their cap room? As it sits now they will have around 7 million if they do nothing else. That's not enough to sign anyone of impact though, so now what? IMO both Blake and Travis will still get dealt, so for all intents and purposes let's say we have 14 million in cap room. I think 14 million is enough to do one of a couple of things, here's hoping KP can work his magic in FA and trades like he has in the draft.
You do know that a 2nd round pick is worth taking a risk on what was a top 4 guy even if he never ended up playing a minute. Most 2nd round picks don't make it in the league. What does it matter if it was due to injury or due to the fact that they suck?
Right now it's 7 million. If they let Blake and Outlaw go withouth guaranteeing their contracts for next season you get an extra 7 million+.
Yeah, I agree. I thought it really odd we passed him up, twice. I was really hoping they'd take a chance on Blair.
But Portland has already stated they are going to extend both guys. Your 14 million figure is way off. They haven't even renounced Frye yet.
"The Blazers could have more than $10 million available to pursue free agents beginning July 1, possibly more if they renounce the rights to Joel Freeland and Petteri Koponen. They've also retained a trade exception that would allow the organization to make a lopsided deal if it chooses to do so." I like his numbers better.
Based on what? Did you watch either play in college? Did you read reports of the pre-draft workout? Did you watch Mills play at St. Mary's and in the Olympics? I believe all three will be solid role players at varying degrees in the league. I think come pre-season you'll have changed your tune. Even if Mills plays overseas, he'll be back eventually to play in the league. They'll all stick IMO.
Explain to me how the trade exception gets us more space, please. Let's just use the IDTE and not the SRTE for example. 2.913M. If we keep the exception, it counts against our cap. Same as Frye's QO hold, same as Roy's contract, same as Miles' number. Of course, we can (and probably will) renounce it, but the fact remains that Trade Exceptions are not-quite-as-useful-but-the-same-number as any cap space we have.
Further, IDTE can only net us a player that makes under 2.913M. 2.913M more in cap space means we can, for instance, offer Ramon Sessions a 7M contract instead of a 4M contract. If you're targeting "cap space", then exceptions don't help you. Which is why you'd think we'd have used the exceptions before now, but if we're in cost-cutting mode and trying to get as much space as possible, the TEs are basically useless.
It's not way off at all. Assuming we renounce Frye, which we will, Portland will have 7 million in cap space. Not picking up the guarantees on Blake and Outlaw gives us 7 million more. 7 million + 7 million is 14 million I believe. I am not saying they will renounce Blake and Outlaw, I am saying I think they will trade them. Trading them is losing their salary just like waiving them is. For example. Let's say the Magic want Outlaw and Blake so they sign and trade Hedo to us for 9 million. Wouldn't that be the same as simply waiving Blake and Outlaw and signing him outright for 9 million? The answer is yes. Portland for all intents and purposes has 14 million to play with until July 1st
That first number of $7M sounds right. Assuming we don't cut ties with either Blake,Outlaw, Freeland, and Koponen (which Pritchard has stated he won't do), but do with Frye, our exceptions (including both of our traded player exceptions), our salary stands at $49.8M. The projected salary cap is $57M. Amount in spending money is $7.2M. If we trade Blake and/or Outlaw, and before the 1st, the most we could save is $2M (the maximum difference between their salaries and who is brought back). I suppose other possibilities to add free agent money is to trade Webster (not going to happen IMO), Claver, Koponen, or Freeland this summer. Excluding Webster, we'd open up another $2.6M in this case. Personally, I'd rather not move any of these guys until the values in the league are viewed higher. I'd rather use the $7M in a lopsided trade or on Ramon Sessions in free agency.
