I just see what the Lakers were able to do with their expiring last year (Kwame for Gasol), and this is a sweeter package and we weren't able to get anything done. Just frustrating in comparison.
I think that deal is kinda hard to compare things too though, as its pretty rare that something that nice comes along. Cleveland was hoping to move Wally's expiring contract today and they didn't either. But I hear ya. I wish someone would have taken one of our deals, or offered something worth our while. I am a little disappointed something awesome didn't fall into our lap. But I'm OK with it, because I trust KP. No matter what, our team is doing great, and it's past my bedtime. Talk to you soon, ADP.
Which raises an interesting question. Did KP and other GMs overvalue their expiring deals? Or did they know all the talk about the value of RLEC, etc was just bumpkis? Was KP knowingly yanking our collective chain all along?
Yeah, tough to know. I would guess that everyone assumed there would be a market for expiring contracts, but that market failed to emerge. Like, the Suns for example...they seemed, at first, to want to deal Stoudemire for significant cap relief...then they changed their mind. I think that probably happened a lot. Teams thinking of dumping good players for salary savings and then thinking better of it.
I think it was in KPs interest to talk up RLEC as something special - he was, after all, trying to sell it. It may be that all the owners thought about cutting costs, and then realized, hey, I'm rich! And this is my hobby! Costs be damned, I'm not giving up my best players. barfo
Well, the columnists were selling something too - the story. "RLEC is worthless" is a boring story. Who knows whether anonymous GMs even exist. barfo
This thread was actually a great read. It all comes back to me that if RLEC is so valuable to other teams, he must be just as valuable to the Blazers. From what I've been reading all along, the Blazers talked with the Bulls about RLEC and Hinrich but it was Paxson who turned down the deal. The cap relief wasn't enough. KP may also have offered guys who Pax didn't value. It happens from time to time that some great player is dealt in a fire sale situation (Gasol, KG), but not this year.
You said Wallace would make the team a title contender next year. I wonder what logic you used to make that claim since nothing in Wallace's background says he knows what it takes to even make the playoffs, let alone win a title.
I think it has more to do with being on the bench behind a really good player on a really good team (Peja and Sac) and then being on an expansion team. Brandon Roy has never sniffed the playoffs; does he suck?
Brandon Roy is a two-time All Star leading the 4th seed in the West. Gerald Wallace is a solid rotation player on a bad team. I didn't say Wallace "sucked", I wondered what in his past guarantees the Blazers are a title contender next season. Seems like it should be an easy question to answer if he is that important to next season's success.
Wallace is an apt scorer who gets to the rim, good defender and a great scoring option upgrade at the SF versus what we currently have. I think he brings a lot of to the team, I mean besides not being an "all-star".
