Blazers Won't Take Free Agency Lying Down (Columbian)

Wrong. Claver's salary counts against our cap this summer whether we stash him in Europe, or sign him to a rookie contract. He counts exactly the same against our cap this summer as any other player we would have drafted at 22. This whole stashing players in Europe to free up cap space for free agency is a complete fallacy. Unless we renounce them, Claver, Koponen and Freeland all count against our available cap space.

BNM

 

Well...he counts a little bit less by staying in Europe than if we signed him.

Nearly all rookies are signed to 120% of the rookie scale number. Unsigned players count for 100% of the rookie scale number. So it saves us 200,000 or so off the cap.

 

But, not until he signs, or agrees to a contract. All rookies are slotted at 100% of the scale until they sign (or agree to a larger deal). If the Blazers did intend to sign him to a 120% scale contract, they would take care of any free agent business first before even talking with Claver's agent. So, in terms of impact on our cap and the amount of money we have to offer free agents, Claver counts the same as any other #22 pick - stashed or not.

BNM

 

even less than that, about 1/2...as POR has a minimum player cap hold of 450,000 up to 12 players and Claver would make 11, Freeland or Koppnen 12...I don't see the cost of retaining their cap holds on these three guys to be as prohibitive as I first thought

 

If we had drafted an American player that wasn't being sent overseas, we'd have to sign him before the summer league, which begins July 11th. There's no guarantee that we have a free agent deal in place by that time.

 

That was music to my ears. As much as I think KP probably wanted to add another talented rookie, it's nice to see the brass agreed that going after vets was the way to go.

And damn, how much greater would this summer be without f'ing Chris Wallace signing Darius and screwing up our cap space. We'd have $15-16 million to throw out there!! Argh, Wallace makes me angrier day after day. The guy is an asshole.

 

Certainly John Nash had a hand, and is equally stupid for giving that extension. And I'm sure you expected to be asked, how did Miles help Memphis? He had six DNPs in the last 11 games.

 

Actually he said he liked his team and wanted to let it ride and see what they could do to get into the playoffs and what they would do once they got there. There's nothing disingenuous in that sentiment, he probably genuinely wanted to see how they would respond to the challenge before he pulled the trigger on a deal that he wasn't sure would bear fruit. At the time I remember being somewhat disappointed in the lack of moves at the deadline (Ruffin for Diogu didn't really count), mostly because I thought there was a real high chance that they would wilt under the pressure of an honest to god playoff push, to my mild surprise they performed much better than I would have expected and even got themselves home-court advantage.

Give KP some credit, he trusted his team to get to the playoffs and he got a nice unvarnished look at his squad in a seven game series with an experienced, tough team in Houston and it revealed some weaknesses that had be addressed, namely no option at backup point guard and backup power forward and limited options at starting small forward and starting point guard.

If he had pulled the trigger on a mid-season trade for say Vince Carter or Richard Jefferson and the team had still gotten bounced out of the playoffs (or not made it all) there'd likely be far fewer options now to improve the team and probably a lot more panic surrounding this off-season to fix a bad trade.

 

Nash genuinely believed that Miles was worth the extension. Wallace, on the other hand, signed Miles more to screw Portland than anything else.

 

Actually KP will have the option to do lopsided trades all the way up until the February deadline next season if he can't spend his money, but I agree it will be a major disappointment if this team heads into training camp having been unable to trade for or sign an impact player or two.

 

Sounds like a smart business man to me, if you can hurt your direct competitor with such a modest move you have to give him credit. Hell if KP had done the same thing to Memphis if roles were reversed, people around here would be crowing about another "pritch slap"

 

Also, I think KP will actually have more money to work with at the deadline, if he doesn't do anything this summer...because there won't be cap holds for internationally stashed players. I believe they only have cap holds during the off-season.

That said, I'd be disappointed if he did nothing this summer. I'd like to see him strengthen the team for the entire 2009-10 season with the resources he has.

 

if were lookin at artest it makes sense hes "only" making 8mil a year which is about what we will have. im liking the idea of artest.... as long as he doesnt go all ron ron on us and try to take over like he does with houston

 

I couldn't imagine the heat KP would take going into the regular season if that happened though, or the full-on meltdown mode that would go on with the fans. It'd be classic.
He'd have to sell his standing-pat theory once again, although he's admitted that he doesn't like making big trades midseason due to the disruption in chemistry.

 

I totally agree, going all the way to next year's trade deadline would definitely be a last resort in my opinion.

 

Yeah, the guy is still an asshole to me for doing the rest of the league's dirty work. He knew the move would screw us, but also knew at the same time, sending Gasol to LA would instantly turn them into a title contender.