The only places that might be less desireable for NBA players are Toronto (Hedo Turkoglu says hello) and Sacramento (probably an edge there because they are in California). People that grew up on the East Coast sometimes don't even know what or where Portland is. When given a choice, people like to be close to home and family if they live elsewhere. We will never compete with the LA teams, Miami, etc. They will always be more desirable. For someone to want to play for us we need to target players from California, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, etc. California will probably still be many peoples first choice, but we would at least have a shot with some of those guys.
Nah Hedo just says ball. Toronto was widely regarded by this year's lottery picks as the best destination along with GSW, FWIW. Baby steps.
Theres more teams that aren’t a desired free agent destination than that are. The Texas and Florida teams have a huge advantage because of the income tax thing. The Lakers will always have it going for them. No one wanted to play for Golden State before they drafted Thompson and Curry. I mean it’s awful, but there’s plenty of other teams in the league who deal with the same thing. Best way is attaining talent through draft and trades. Build a team that other players want to come to and be a part of a chance to win it all. Aldridge tried to do that with San Antonio and it back fired. It doesn’t help though when you’re a small market and the last several 1st round draft picks you’ve made have been butt shitty.
While WE know Portland is “better” than Detroit and Cleveland or whatever, those cities are still a whole lot more diverse, and likely closer to wherever they are from unless west coast.
The truth is we have to build a team through the draft or trades... gambling correctly on undervalued guys is another way but mostly trades and draft.
Right and that’s got to change. Portland will never be LA- thank god, but we can’t be some podunk little town up by Canada to the rest of the country
The Raptors have done a great job. They won a title. They develop young guys. Those are big things. Just a harder sell being in another country. Times might be a changin' with the younger kids though in that regard.
We should be on the phone with Smart's agent offering more. 20M/Year. Then make them engage boston on a trade for DJJ+1st.
The bench will look a lot better next year running a motion offense with Zeller and hopefully Millsap as the bigs. Chauncey has been credited with helping various Clippers players with their playmaking abilities. Simons will look much better playing backup PG next year, as he won't have to constantly try to create 1v1 to bail out a stagnant offense. Giving up on Simons to sign a mediocre small guard who isn't a good shooter or defender and has attitude problems who could leave in a year would be a huge mistake.
And we wouldn't have to play him next to Kanter so the bench 4/5 combination wouldn't be absolutely hopeless defensively. I wouldn't mind it.
My guess is that for such a marketing campaign to work, you'd have to convince NBA players that your city is diverse with an active nightlife scene and a large selection of top-end restaurants. There are some young men who appreciate the smaller city vibe and the easy access to nature and that sort of thing, but I'd say most young people with considerable disposable income (basketball players or not) want a great club and restaurant scene and a diverse social scene. I don't think sales pitches or recruitment displays make much of a difference--if they're going to spend a significant percentage of their year in a place, it has to have the things they're looking for and the above things are, in my opinion, what they're looking for.
OMG -- NeO is smiling with Norm -- HOW DARE HE !!!! --- Some of you fans have lost your mind when it comes to NeO I am not saying he is bad or good just saying try and use some common sense when talking about NeO .... NM .. i know that's not going to happen so not going to waste my words. Good for NeO and he should smile he got Norm on a HELL of a deal but once the new year starts ( fiscal yr ) that's when I think we will see a few trades and going to be honest i really hope NeO takes what Dame has said to heart cause I sure as hell do not want to be saying goodbye to Dame in 6 months to a year .
I mean we can’t fake it, but if a guy lands in PDX and drives to Tualatin and that’s his exposure to Portland, they’re toast. I know it’s not a simple easy fix but there has to be a better way than just throwing hands up like oh well, we are who we are.
