Odom is the obvious choice- make an offer (quietly if possible) for 9 million a year. If we get him, then we can play him at both the 3 and the 4- with mostly starter minutes at the 3. He's been a good defender, can pass, and can score.
If Portland feels it has the money to burn, then make a huge offer to Sessions. He is a long-term answer at one of the two weakest positions on the team. Milwaukee will only match an offer than makes economic sense to them. Sessions is a 23 year old player, has excellent stats for his age, works hard on his game, and plays defense. Hollinger puts him at 13th best PG in the league, with a 17.7 PER. For a very young guard, those are excellent numbers. I'd be very happy with a long term deal at heavy money. Milwaukee are not going to break the bank for him. Pendergraph should be a fine, scrapping backup PF -- that is precisely why he was drafted. And at SF - If trading Outlaw+Blake+Bayless+picks cannot get us a Gerald Wallace, then continue to sit tight. Let Rudy/Roy play together more. Let Batum develop. We all know he will. iWatas
By CBA rules, the most Portland can offer is a deal starting at the MLE. Sessions is a second-round pick, which means he reaches RFA a season earlier but it also means he's restricted in how much he can be offered...by Milwaukee or anyone else. A deal starting at the MLE, Milwaukee will match without question. They cleared out Richard Jefferson and Charlie Villaneuva, presumably for this reason. I'd love to get Sessions, but I think the only way to do it is to arrange a sign-and-trade with Milwaukee, if they're willing.
Quite right, quite right, but I hope the point was not lost. We could not play SAR at PF because we had another one, so we started him at SF. His value went into the toilet. To me, that's the lesson of history. You don't BPA Free Agency, unless you are ready to trade your current players.
Hmm, it's a fair point, but I don't think 'Sheed's value went into the toilet when he was on the team with Grant. And, looking up SAR's numbers, he really wasn't bad at all. He collapsed pretty rapidly after he left Portland. And he wasn't out of position...he was a 3/4 when he was a star and he played some of both positions in Portland. Ideally, of course, you don't want to stack starters at the same position because you won't utilize one of them fully. Either they'll play less minutes or a role they're not used to. If there were a number of good free agents, I'd definitely pick for need because you can adjust the dollars for talent (whereas, you can't adjust the draft pick for talent if you pick for need in the draft). But, at this point, Portland is looking at potentially having to use all their cap space no matter who they get and the possible point guard options may not be as worth that as the power forward options. If you had to spend $50 million/5 years either way, would you rather spend it on a good, young power forward or an old, declining point guard? Even though Portland needs a point guard, I'd probably choose the good, young power forward and hope to spin a power forward off in trade later.
That has to be the MAD COW talking Denny. There is no way Portland would ever trade LMA for Rondo. I'd move LMA to New Orleans for Chris Paul, Paul is just a more proven player at this point and it would make Portland better, Rondo not so much.
I like the idea of giving big offers to Lee or Millsap. A frontcourt rotation of LMA/Oden/Lee or LMA/Oden/Millsap would be a huge improvement for this team. I love rooting for Joel and he has a great attitude but his offensive inemptitude hurts the team substantially. Houston destroyed our offense when Joel was in the game. Joel would however be a magnificent 4th bigman if we need some shot blocking or if an injury happens. An injury to one of those four is extremely likely over the course of 82 games. LaMarcus could also have the option of sometimes playing 30-35 minutes a game instead of near 40. Last year he was over played because we didn't have a good replacement on the bench.
As has been mentioned before, the CBA also allows for an much larger raise in the third year, as long as the contract average fits within the first year's cap figure. For instance, we can offer 5y/$40M if it's structured as 5.5M/6.0M/8.5M/9.0M/9.5M. Depending on how much cap space we actually have, we could offer a deal that Milwaukee would be unlikely to match.
I'm surprised people don't appreciate Rondo. He's one of the top young PGs. He shot over 50% from the field, he knows how to defer to a Pierce (Roy) type teammate, had a ~19 PER, averaged over 8 APG, and he was on one of the top defensive teams in the league. I'm also surprised that people don't appreciate David Lee. The guy was good 16/12 type numbers, and he complements any combination of PF/C types the Blazers have. New Orleans should be ejected from the league if they trade Chris Paul.
Oh they appreciate Lee. They just want to pay exactly what he is worth. Unfortunately that's not how it works with restricted free agents. Low ball offers get matched. You over pay or you don't get them. But I do understand not wanting to over pay.
I'm thinking about this strategy of us looking for the best player available or best asset. (Of course there is one difference when seeking a free agent and not a draftee, the free agent doesn't have to sign with you if they don't think it's a good situation for them.) But in general I think it is a good idea; and it seems clear that signing Turgoglu would not have been acquiring a good, appreciating asset. I think it would almost always be a mistake to sign a guy over 30 for five years. I know Joe Dumars hasn't always made the best moves, but look how he jumped on two free agents this year, Gordon and Villaneuva, both entering the prime years of their careers. Seems like that's the kind of guys you want to sign for five years. I guess of the remaining free agents, Trevor Ariza or Josh Childress or Ramon Sessions (if available) would fit in that category best, maybe I am forgetting others. Even if we decide to trade the signee a year or two down the road, it's gonna be a lot easier if he is in his prime than if he is declining. Oh, obviously I forgot the power forwards entering their prime, like Milsap and Lee.
Well it sounds like from the sound clip they just played on Wheels at work, that KP agrees with me. Grab the best player available regardless of position.
