Minnesota wants Batum @ 11.25M a year

I would be happy with quality coming back in a sign/trade. (Which means Williams) and I would also be happy if they matched it and brought Nic back.

I would not be happy if they let him walk. We still need assets and I do not view cap space for Portland as an asset. Other teams yes, but not us.

 

We won't even have cap space if Hibbert ends up a Blazer.

 

I have not allowed myself to believe Hibbert is a possibility. i would rather not be disappointed on July 11.

 

Nate: Kevin I need you to stand in the corner and wait for Brandon to pass you the ball.

Kevin: But... I was the #2 pick in the draft.

Nate: That's nice. I need you stand.... right..... about..... here.

Kevin: But I can do more than just shoot.

Nate: That's great Kevin.... so when Roy passes you the ball, if you don't have a shot, just give it right back to him.

Kevin: So I was doing some DDR last night and now my knee feels kinda sore...

 

Maybe this video shows us why Batum doesn't shoot more coming off screens. I didn't count, but it looked like he made about 10% of these shots.

[video=youtube;EZmB2AFFiqw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZmB2AFFiqw[/video]

 

I'm trying to think of a SG/SF on an Adelman team who excelled at taking it to the rim.

Peja?
Artest/Battier?

Clyde's the only one I can come with, but his game was taking it to the rim long before Adelman started coaching the team.

The best SF Adelman has had was Peja (Clyde a SG), and Peja stood in the corner and launched threes.

 

That's a good point. Rick's offense does have a lot of movement, but most it is to free jump shooters or to get the bigs open down low.

 

The funny thing is, if Nic wants to do more on the ball, then he really shouldn't go to Minny, where Rubio is ball-dominant. He should stay here, especially now we've got rid of Felton and Crawford. I think most of Nic's frustrations last season came from coming off the bench with Crawford, who didn't even know HOW to pass the ball. Here we're in the ideal situation to run the offense through him a bit more, because Lillard can be a shooter off the ball (unlike our past two PGs).

 

I think this is a case of an agent poisoning the well. Plain and simple.

 

Excellent point. Now the question is can Nic handle it.

 

But why? He has his offer. It's not like Nic will make more with Minnesota

 

I'm guessing it has something to do with the negotiations earlier in the year. It seems like feelings were hurt and emotions ran high. I think this is a hangover from those bad feelings.

 

But as an agent, that is not serving your client well. Nic must obviously share at least some level of these feelings

 

Oh, I'm not saying it is a professional or intelligent way to conduct business, but he could very easily have convinced Nic that we wronged him by lowballing, or that we used him incorrectly and that he is truly a star player that needs a better system. The guy has publicly been a douchebag and you have to assume that Nic at least partially agrees with what he's saying or he would have either told him to stop or fired him.

 

Wasn't Minnesota the team that Tom Penn said was giving him a big offer and he tried to swindle Paul Allen into paying him more money? Wasn't that what ultimately got Pritchard fired?

If Allen is indeed "livid" about Minnesota, maybe he feels they are up to the same tactics again.

Maybe the Blazers think Minnesota was never going to give Batum an actual offer, they'd have to amnesty Darko and cut their starting center afterall. Maybe he wants them to put their money where their mouth is. I'd be pissed if this was just a ploy for Batum's agent to drive up Nic's bargaining price without being able to ultimately get teams to sign him to such a high offer.

 

Batum is going to get over $11m/year one way or another, which is ridiculously overpriced based on his production, and is based on potential, which is always a difficult sell. I felt a lot better with the Blazers giving Brandon Roy a max contract than I will when Batum is making close to $12m/year.

I'd say his agent has served him very well, and did what good agents do, which is drive up the value of their client.

 

True but he has made his client look like a tool in the process. They know they're a RFA, they know there's a good chance the Blazers will match, and they've done everything they can to burn bridges in Portland. Not the smartest thing they could do..... unless the plan was to intimidate the Blazers into passing on him. I just don't see Paul and the front office letting him walk for nothing. He isn't worth that kind of money, but he definitely has value and Paul doesn't like to let value walk away for nothing.

 

Who cares? Didn't Kobe Bryant look like a tool when he, and not his agent, pouted a few years ago and demanded to be traded.

Didn't LeBron James look like a tool when he went to Miami via a live interview on national TV, and then had a silly "celebration" with Wade and Bosh where they danced on stage and basically were celebrating, well, themselves I guess?

Business is business. This is what happens. Remember when LMA's agent was bad-mouthting the Blazers for not offering LMA an extension (which he finally got)? Lots of short memories here, but then again, it takes a short memory in business as well. Your competition yesterday can be your ally tomorrow.

Complaining about an agent's tactics seems like an obvious, yet irrelevant, concern in the grand scheme of things.