Merged: Breaking News: Hedo rejects offer

I've been on vacation, but thank you, thank you, thank you Hedo for rejecting Portland. What a huge contract for an unspectacular player. Also, a shout out to Bryan Colangelo for existing and making this all happen.

 

I'll jump in with some late thoughts: (I'm sure it's been said) KP got pritchslapped!

This whole grooming your free agent with dinners and invite over to tour the facility and the city is nice and all . . . but this is free agency and if Hedo is the #1 guy on your list . . . get it done.

KP miscalculated that either Toronto wouldn't offer more than the Blazers (the Blazers could have offered more than Toronto) or that this wine and dine process would convince Hedo to forget any competitive offers. KP was wrong, Toronto sat in the wings and let KP set a market price and then move in to get their guy.

Come on KP, your playing with the big boys and your evaluation skills don't come into play with free agency. If you wanted Turk, forget the song and dance, don't pick up TO and offer Turk more money than anyone else (60 mil for 5 yrs) to play for Ptd . . . then let's hear what Turk and wife have to say about Ptd.

Gorden got 55 mil for 5 yrs, Artest got paid . . . heck Kidd at 38 just got about 8 mil/yr for 3 yrs from Dallas. Why? Because Dallas needed to keep Kidd to stay competitive and they made sure to keep him.

We got the richest owner in sports telling us to go for it . . . for god sake, stop the vaudville show and pay Turk like no other team can . . . not that hard. Should have been July 1, 2009-Hey Turk how does 60 mil sound . . . Turk: "Where do I sign?" Rest of the league: "damn the Blazers and their rich ass owner"

I can't believe we got out bid . . .

 

Actually I believe we offered the max amount we could. I'm glad he turned it down.

 

I'm just reassured that KP will not be baited into paying more than he thinks certain talent is worth. I was very doubtful that Turk was worth the money we offered him, I sure as hell didn't want to pay him more. I completely disagree with "Target someone and pay them whatever it takes to get them here." Sure, it looks like it's just Paul Allen's money going out the window if we over pay him, as we aren't likely to be in a situation to sign free agents after this year, but still you never know. It offers nothing to our team to have a washed up player on a contract that nobody wants.

Hedo doesn't make us a championship contender this year, IMO. Any outside chance that we have will be predicated on Roy, and or Oden playing out of their freaking mind. The championship window is 2-3 years out, by which time Hedo would be way over the hill, so why take a risk that doesn't need to be taken?

 

If we didn't pick up TO's salary, we could have offered more.

 

My thought is 8 mil . . . 10 mil . . . does it really matter? There are few times Blazers can go after a free agent who gets more than the MLE. Use what we have if Hedo is the right person. A couple extra million a year is really going to hurt down the road? It would be OK to have Hedo at 8 mil/yr but not 10? Didn't we jsut get done paying Steve Francis 16 mil/yr? How much did we pay Lafrenz in his last 2 years?

I just can't believe KP singled out his player, put that much time and effort into trying to pursuade his #1 choice to sign with Ptd and then allow another team to come in and offer more money. If anything that is what Ptd has . . . cash. Maybe this state is 98% white and has very little culture to offer, but I'm guessing Hedo would have overlooked all that for the right price.

I realize it's over and Blazers will move on from here. . . just having trouble believing we got outbid. We may be a small market . . . but we got big market purse strings . . . something that doesn't fit into the San Antonio playbook.

 

Thank goodness that didn't happen.

Scenario A) We grossly overpay for Hedo
Scenario B) Hedo's wife still convinces him to play in Toronto and we just let Outlaw go for nothing.

 

What is overpaying Hedo? So that he isn't a tradeble asset in the future? There are a lot of overpaid players who manage to get traded at the end of their contradt . . . and even if you can't trade him, so you have to swallow his contract for a couple years, so what.

If he makes this team better (which according to KP he is a perfect fit being a smart vet who makes others better), I don't think "grossly overpaying" him for 5 yrs damages this team in any significant way.

 

Dallas just paid Kidd 8 mi/yr for 3 years. Did Dallas grossly overpay Kidd? Absolutely. Did Dallas avoid becoming a weaker team? Yes.

 

Thank you for making my point.

I do not want Portland to turn into Dallas. I don't want them signing Erik Dampier, Stackhouse, Antoine Walker, Jamison, etc. They went for it back in 2006, and couldn't pull it off. Now they are grossly overpaying players just to be a team that can win a series or two. They are so far away from winning a championship it's not even funny. They have no young talent, very few tradable assets, and nothing to look forward to.

I want Portland to be like the Spurs. Be patient, let their stars they draft develop, then once they hit that championship window, make the extra moves they need to. Yes, the Spurs will eventually fade out, but they've already had 11 great season because they rarely took on a bad contract, remained flexible, and stuck to the core that they drafted.

 

Oh, and there is a big difference from grossly over-paying a guy for 3 years that you know works in your system vs grossly overpaying a guy for 5 years that may not fit from day 1. I'd be less critical of Orlando for signing Hedo to a 5 year, $50 million deal than anyone else.

 

We are almost on the same page . . . I got no problem with developing the core that was drafted. (I didn't know SA was afraid to take on a bad contract, they just took on RJ and his contract or that they remained flexible . . . were they frequently under the cap?)

It's not like I'm pro bad contract . . . but if you are going to try and attract the top FA of the summer to Ptd (who clearly wouldn't choose Ptd out of thin air, in fact i would think PTd would be way down his on his list) . . . a million or two a yr shouldn't stop it from happening, IMO.

I get the idea of not having bad contracts . . . but I thought that was more of a problem for those small market teams

 

OK. I see things differently and respectfully disagree with your thoughts of grossly overpaying and when and when it is or not OK to grossly overpay.

If a couple million a year killed the deal (20%) . . . it killed the deal. Not my money and not my decision . . . just not used to being outbid.

 

To answer your question, yes, the Spurs are often at or under the cap. Even taking on Jefferson's 2 year contract, they only have $48 million on the books next year. Had Jefferson's contract had one more year on it, I bet the Spurs wouldn't have made the trade. Like I said before, a bad contract for 2 years doesn't worry me, it's a bad contract for 4-5 years that scares me.

I would have rather offered Hedo 2 years $25 million than 5 years $50 million. Obviously we couldn't do that, but that's where I stand with the contract stuff. I don't think you and I are that far apart based on your recent posts.

I understand the "it's not my money" point, but it's the flexibility I'm more concerned with.

 

So, if I hear what you're saying, you haven't gotten that "Sacramento Kings Forever" tattoo yet?

 

We've come full circle

 

What is with all the bumps?

 

Wtf?!