Would you do any trade just to make a trade? Do you even know if any of the talked about trades were really options?
No this is a huge failure. IMO with this situation this year, this is equivelent to letting a major free agent walk for nothing in other years.
If they decide they aren't going after a big name SF, then the front office needs to at least bring in short term depth at SF. Last news on Webster was another delay before that boot comes off. I love Batum, but the Blazers can't approach a playoff run 1 1/2 SFs deep, with the 1 being a 19 year old. Blazers have at least add a short term rental depth at SF. Just some fairly cheap veteran SF with an expiring contract will do.
As I understand it, the trade exception cannot be used to add into a trade with other pieces, it can only be used by itself, to trade for a player or a draft choice, without involving a player from our team. The economy is already in the tank, I don't think there is any advantage to waiting until summer and I still will be very surprised if we do not trade today. If we are going to trade for an impact player like Wallace or Jefferson, let's do it now and insure we make the playoffs this year. Part of building a championship team is learning to play playoff ball, and the sooner we start learning, the better.
Incase you haven't noticed, every team we are dealing with is standing up to KP more than anyone has before and are driving just as hard of a bargain as we are. I doubt KP blinks at all, but if for some reason he does it will be at 11:59 pst.
Not taking advantage of the current econmic situation, which we can't do after the season, would be a failure IMO. In no other type of market can you get players like Wallace, VC, Jefferson or others for a package that centers around Raef Lafrentz.
Yeah, I guess the most disappointing thing is all the hype and all the rumors that surrounded our team, which were probably all legit in that we were talking to a ton of teams, over the past week, we all figured a deal would get done. And then to see just a wimper and a trade exception come out of it, it's a little disheartening to me. But it's all right I guess.
We're heading to the playoffs 1 1/2 SFs deep. At the very least, we have to pick up a rental with an expiring contract for depth at SF
Really? You actually expect the economy to improve prior to this summer? The DJIA is yet again tanking today, unemployment will soon be over 8% nationally, and taxpayers are being gouged to buy up the assets of failed homeowners and businesses. This summer will make today look like an economic boom by comparison. I won't be surprised to see a few teams go belly-up as credit resources continue to dry up.
I think that part of that comes from some owners starting to learn from their mistakes, and getting better advise. Jordan has been trying to rectify his mistakes over the last few years of drafting and free agent acquisition. He is starting to to show some signs of actually becoming a competent GM. But now that being said, when you have a chance to grab Gerald Wallace, who has plenty of years left in him, and the fact that Batum was the holding point, and if you are extremely lucky, he turns out as good as Wallace, that is completely fucking stupid. Scrubs+1 possibly good player several years from now for a tier 2 star? No brainer, pull the trigger.
A) KP and the front office have way more info than you. B) They've also been doing their jobs infinitely longer than you have been doing their jobs, making them a bit more qualified to judge trades and financial decisions. Therefore, C) You calling their decision today (whatever it may be) a "failure" just because you don't see/understand the reasons for it is ridiculous. I know that you want to see a good trade. We'd ALL like to see a good trade. (emphasis on "good") But we have NO IDEA what these other teams are asking, and what the various ramifications might be. We also have no idea what the FO might be planning for the summer, regardless of what happens today. This is why I called your knee-jerk, unequivocal, and ignorant response an exaggeration.
No not at all. We have RLEC, and we won't this summer. That is the reason we can't take advantage of it then.
Everything you said above, does not mean they are making a mistake. All it says is their credentials. I have seen plenty of GM's with credentials, many of them with more credentials than KP in terms of experience, make mistakes. Your reasoning is flawed.
