Merged: Breaking News: Hedo rejects offer

Yeah, I guess. But they did this special three-hour breaking news show on their supposed day off, getting impromptu guests for the whole thing. I wonder if they would've decided to do it all again in hindsight. Oh well.. moot point. Some inside source really jumped the gun on this one.

 

I don't understand why people are so blase about using our cap space... even on someone like Hedo..... this is really our only chance at making a big signing for the next 5-6 years (or longer). Next summer we will have Roy and Aldridge on the books for big contracts, the year after that it will be Oden, and then Rudy, Bayless, and Batum. We won't see cap space like this for a long time. This is our one time to essentially add a significant piece without giving anything up (except money). To add someone like Hedo, Andre Miller, Ramon Sessions, etc.... it's only icing on the cake.... and we're missing out on it. We didn't use RLEC, and this is really our only shot at getting something for nothing.

 

Ignore my retardness

 

Whew!

Dodged that absurdly over-priced bullet!

The wise move now would be to fire Nate and buy back Sergio.

 

I don't know squat about the cap stuff, but won't Roy and Aldridge be on their BYC status' next season, meaning that there should still be significant cap space...also considering Miles will also be off the books, as well?

 

No, until signed to an actual contract or renounced, they actually have a cap hold of like 3 times the previous season's salary. So, that would eat up the cap room.

 

I believe KP has said something about not rocking the boat during the season.

It gave me the impression he didn't make changes to the roster during the season.

Which means the cap space will be wasted.

Much like right now, actually.

 

That's not necessarily such a huge disadvantage. The free agent market in every sport tends to be the least efficient way to get talent, unless you're working the very highest end (superstars) or the lowest end (scrapheap guys who provide some value that you can get cheap). In the NBA, though, the superstars very rarely hit the free agent market. So Portland, if they really aren't a city free agents will come to (which I think isn't well-established...considering how rarely Portland has been under the cap and how rarely any team signs a major free agent, we're talking about a pretty small sample size to draw conclusions from), isn't really all that handicapped not being able to shop among the mid-range free agents.

They're better off, anyway, adding cheap talent from the draft and correctly priced talent through trade.

 

Turk in TO...rolls off the tongue.

 

This is very good news imo. I have no idea why the Blazers were pursuing Hedo so much in the first place. Our biggest need is backup power forward. Hopefully we can address that now. Fuck Hedo.

 

"Dynastys" are reserved for royalty, not the kitchen wenches and the bumpkins who muck out the stables.

Isn't KP on record as saying he dislikes in-season trades because they disrupt chemistry? (or is that just an understandable conclusion based on his actions?) I'm inclined to believe that if nothing happens this summer - nothing happens.

 

I don't think what Pritchard says for public consumption has any value in divining his actual plans and philosophies. He talks the generic, PR-friendly patter that comes standard to lots of GMs. My guess is that he didn't make a move at the trade deadline because he felt nothing available would actually improve the team. I don't think he refused to make a move on philosophical grounds.

I could be wrong. If I am, that would be a shame...it would be a real failing in Pritchard, in terms of flexibility.

For now, though, I'll proceed on the assumption that Pritchard doesn't purposely cripple his ability to build a team and is open to mid-season deals if they are good ones. If so, then he'll actually have more cap space flexibility to make a move later. At the trade deadline and, as Stepping Razor noted in another thread, at next year's draft.

Not that I am suggesting he wait, if there's a good opportunity this summer.

 

This is also a train of thought I personally subscribe to.

 

You never want to have your options limited as a franchise though by factors unrelated to basketball. And generally to sign or keep free agents here, we've had to overpay for them i.e. Brian Grant, Joel, Kenny Anderson, Derek Anderson and Ruben Patterson.

Sure, the sample size is pretty small, but maybe it's not coincidence that Whitsitt and Nash had to overpay players to get them here or keep them.
Whether the players deserved to be kept of course is another thing.

I agree that heading forward that adding talent through the draft and trade is probably our best bet now, but obviously that wasn't the plan KP and the Blazers brass had this offseason.
There were so many advantages basketball-wise for Hedo to sign with us, but it was the city that wasn't attractive enough and that makes me bitter about the whole thing.

 

Philosophically, I completely agree with this. (Which is why I was so PO'ed when we punted the draft.) As a practical matter, our eggs may already be stuck in the wrong basket.

I find myself very torn right now. I was underwhelmed by Hedo, and unhappy at the notion of over-paying for him. On the flip side, I want the team to improve, and this is the course KP commited to.....so the failure depresses me.


Sometimes, it's tough being a flinty-eyed realist!

 

It's not coincidence. You generally have to "overpay" for free agents (relative to the marginal wins/dollar of the entire NBA talent base), which is why the free agent market is generally the least efficient way to add talent. Having to overpay to get free agents isn't just a "Portland" thing. It's the norm. Every so often a free agent takes less than he can get to join a specific team, but that's unusual.

 

True, unless you're the Lakers.

 

lol, asshole.

Oh well, life goes on. I believe everything happens for a reason, so we will see. Can't judge until training camp, imo. This gives us more flexibility to make a lobsided trade. I still have my sights on Harris, and think a Rudy/Bayless/Outlaw/1st/Cash for Harris and a contract would be a nice offer.

 

It does. Portland not paying rolls of the tongue even better. I'd like Turk here, but I hated the idea of paying him $12 mil or so each of the last two years, when he's 34 and 35. And for a team like Toronto going nowhere, the acquisition makes no sense.