I think Neil sat around with LMA's cap hold with the hope he might sign. In the meantime, a lot of the FAs signed. He had his hands tied.
How bout Sergio? he's older but a few vets is fine, especially one whose passing skills can help develop the bigs and who can give Dame a nice rest
It's not necessarily tied really. Maybe his plan b was offering restricted players money. If Aldridge didnt sign, he knew he would have the most money come July 9th
I do believe we have enough to get Daniels, Sergio and Kanter this summer. It could be interesting really.
Blazers cleared a lot of cap space - for? Not Aldridge, they had his Bird rights. I can't help thinking something is afoot that we don't know about, maybe a push for Durant next year? Don't know. But while there are teams that cut costs for the sake of cutting costs, Portland has not been one of them. Right now I'm at wait and see mode.
So we know that long term we need a big time scoring wing. Neil has to keep space available for that opportunity. Whether or not that is this summer, during the season or next summer we have to have room to absorb the contract. It is possible we land a free agent (Not at the level of Durant) but more than likely we will have to get lucky and be ready when an opportunity presents itself. But I think we need to stick with young cheap player until that time comes. Right now we have: Dame, Frazier Henderson, CJ, Pat C. Aminu, Crabbe Leonard, Davis , Vonleh Plumlee, Kaman Kaman and Henderson both could be used as well as part of any "absorbing deal". But the question remains who are the player on Neil's list in the next 380 days that he is targeting? And in the mean time how much money do we spend on a back up PG and SF this summer knowing we need to keep space available? What is the cap going up to?
We have yet to make a move post Aldridge leaving. Before Saturday Olshey and crew were able to work under the guise that Aldridge might be coming back. Even though we questioned Batum being traded for a role player and a project, the trade for Plumlee, and our buying of second round picks to net us the insurance of Connaughton and Diez (not sure how much insurance that really is) and the signing of Ed Davis, etc. we kept up hope that Olshey was engineering some amazing lineup for Aldridge to rise up with. Now that the smoke has cleared and we know Aldridge has gone for sure, everything has gone quiet. Olshey and crew are like a deer caught in the headlights. They're next move is critical, they have to make the right trade, or sign the right guy, come up with the next pitch (checks these young guys out, they can really play; its gonna be interesting seeing them grow) Whatever Olshey is planning next, it better be a wise move, but he'd also like Canzano said, better start taking some hostages, because there are not many left. Most of what was left after the big free agents were all signed is drying up like a lake in the Sahara. So Olshey, whether you are gonna wheel and deal Kaman, trade nothing for a miracle, or sign some new young energetic force, you'd better get to it.
If Aldridge re-signed, Olshey could have re-signed the remaining 4 starters, too. Or as many as he wanted to, and assuming they would re-sign.
He knew Aldridge probably wasn't coming back and started a rebuild pretending that Aldridge was still a possibility...now that Aldridge left...we are looking at the man behind the curtain...and he has no where to hide...he is planning his next move accordingly
I don't want Kanter, he's a plodding C who may be the worst defensive big in the league, does not seem to fit the way this roster is being built IMO
