I love the line we are just rooting for Laundry classic. I'm not saying Lebron or whatever superstar shouldn't go out and get what ever money they can. My point is the way you handle it, coming out a year and half early and talking about leaving your current team is classless. Made me a loose a lot of respect for Lebron. Would I root for him on my team yes. Do I have to like the guy no, I'd also root for our team even if we sign Kobe this offseason. BTW we have the richest owner in sports, Paul Allen can choose and will likely choose to keep all of the key guys together.
Didn't Duncan take less to continue winning championships in San Antonio? EDIT: sorry, I didn't realize Duncan was just mentioned
I am beginning to think that LeBron is Pritchard's target... If POR lets Blake, Outlaw, Segio, Frye & Diogu go...or deals them for expiring contract or picks...they would have approximately $36.5 in contracts however they would have the contracts of Roy, Aldridge & Pryzbilla as cap holds. correct? Unless, like Webster, they were re-signed previously to this date.... The salary cap would probably be around $60 million? IF...big if...Pritchard was able to re-sign Roy & Aldridge to deals starting around $10 million/year? That would be another $7 million? Leaving $16.5 million to offer to a guy like Lebron? I know all prognosticators say LeBron is going to NY...but I guess it comes down to what is more important? His Legacy in basketball or being in the "epicenter" of sports\entertainment? Even if NY could sign Lebron and let's say Bosh...That doesn't guarantee them a title...not even by a longshot.... But the chance to go to a team that has Roy, Aldridge, Oden & Rudy? That has the potential to be a dyanasty, does it not? And he is right in Nike's backyard for advertising\entertainemt recognition and 1-1/2 hours away from the "Epicenter of the left coast" Los Angeles..... I know the guy wants to be rich, famous and expand into other avenues like music and movies, etc...but at the end of the day...His true greatness....legacy...will be determined on how many NBA titles he wins...Nothing else matters...and I think that in the end, that is what his decison will be based on..... Now if NY can somehow lure LeBron, Bosh & Wade to NY...then yeah, that could make some serious sense...but I don't see that as the "lock" that some people do... I guess time will tell...but I think Pritchard going after LeBron makes a TON of sense for both parties....
NBA players make way too much money, actors too. I really wish fireman, policeman, were able to be paid more favorably.
A couple things about going after LeBron. 16.5 milliuon isn't going to be enough to sign him. He is going to want the max (20-25 million) and if he was going to sign a lower contract it wouldn't be with a small market team like Portland. The other thing Roy isn't going to sign for 10 million and I doubt even LMA would. I think Roy and probably LMA would want around 15 million each maybe a little less for LMA if he doesn't start to play better this year.
LeBron isn't a free agent until the summer of 2010. The Blazers have cap space in the summer of 2009, but won't have any in 2010 (barring something crazy happening). The only shot at James would be a trade before he becomes a free agent, and I can only see that happening if he were to agree to an extension next summer. Not very likely.
i think he has to wait until 2010 to get the true NBA max anyway, since that's his 7th year. would cost him millions to sign an extension earlier than that.
If I was GM, I wouldn't give up that much AND Roy. LMA, Outlaw, Rudy, LaFrentz, 1st rounders....maybe 1 or two other players CLE wants. That would be the biggest blockbuster in history. All of the key players involved, at or below their primes. Doesn't happen too often.
They can engineer cap space for 2010, by letting LaFrentz, Frye, Outlaw, Diogu and Blake walk as free agents and not signing new players to deals extending past 2010 (they can still extend Aldridge and Roy). I wouldn't term that "crazy," but it's pretty unlikely.
Holy crap! If I'm reading this right, then there could be more to this idea than I thought previously. From Larry Coon's NBA FAQ page: Which would seem to mean that, assuming LeBron wanted to be in Portland (and that's a big IF), the Blazers could trade for him and, since they'll have big cap space available, would be in a position to offer him a brand new maximum contract. Since 2009 would be his seventh year in the league, the Blazers could pay him something in excess of $16.5 million (30% of the NBA salary cap, whatever that's set at next year). That's close to a million more than he'd make under his current contract with the Cavs in the 2009-2010 season.
Any kind of trade for LeBron would pretty much decimate our roster. Reminds me of the Kiki trade back in the day. Yes, LeBron is probably the best player in the NBA, but if you have to blow up your team to get him, it's not worth it. If we could, however, get LeBron without dealing Roy, Aldridge, or Oden... you definitely do it. I just don't think that would happen. Well.... Let me think about this.... If we dealt Aldridge, Outlaw, Bayless, and Rudy, plus Diogu for salary reasons.... that's a TON of talent. How much cap space would we still have this summer? I'm wondering, if we traded for LeBron would we still have enough cap space this summer to sign Boozer? We should still have most of our cap space, so we could potentially sign one or two really good players this summer. Blake/Sergio Roy/Webster LeBron/Batum Boozer/Frye Oden/Przybilla Interesting.... I'm still not sure. That's a lot of young talent to get rid of.
And yet, Saint Duncan was within a hairsbreath of signing with Orlando, was recruited and wooed by Orlando, and Duncan allowed all that b.s. to go on, until at the last possible moment he changed his mind after David Robinson flew to him and made a personal plea for him to stay.
And he's lucky he stayed... It would have been Duncan and Grant Hill, but Hill never played a full season with the Magic and he has never been the same player since his last season with Detroit.
don't you have to complete 7 years to get 30%, so lebron wouldn't get it until his 8th year in 2010/2011? i thought that's why all the top young players are signing extensions with an opt-out *after* their 7th year in the league.
Hmmm, good question. It isn't clear from the FAQ page since it says that a player is credited with a year in the NBA for every season in which he is on a team's active or inactive roster for at least one day during the regular season. So, does that mean that the contract amount could be set at the seven year figure of 30% of the cap if the new deal were signed after the start of the 2009 season? I'd bet that you're right though, in which case James would be ahead to wait until 2010 to sign a new deal. Anybody want to give Tom Penn an e-mail asking for clarification?
There is virtually no chance of this happening but it's fun to think about. I would go against the grain and start LeBron at PF (he's 6'9" 274 lbs, mind you) and Batum at the three. It's nice to dream, eh?
