Consider me a kool aid drinker if you will...but what has Pritchard REALLY done wrong? - He made Turkoglu the biggest offer he could. Hedo's wife took a better offer from elsewhere. How is this Pritchard's fault? - He didn't go after Odom. Well...Odom said repeatedly he didn't want to be here. He wants warm weather. How is that Pritchard's fault? - He didn't offer Ariza? Big fucking deal. - He offered Paul Millsap a bunch of money? Great. Millsap is a stud and has a lot of value. Which brings us to... - He couldn't get Tayshaun Prince or Kirk Hinrich in a trade? Well...summer has just barely begun. And the Millsap signing may shake Utah's tree hard enough to make them deal with Chicago so we can get our point guard. Either way, we get value. I really don't see how this can be a mistake.
He could have cut Blake or Outlaw to offer more. Not that it would have been the right move, but he could have offered more. That's horseshit. Odom will follow the money. If we offer 5years/50Million and LA offers 3 years/24Million, Odom is a Blazer. Probably, but it was a lost opportunity. Agree. I don't think offering to Millsap will net us someone like Kirk, but that's just my opinion.
KP's error wasn't his offering this season. His error was clearing cap space 2 years ago to make a "splash" in Free Agency with no real game plan of what to do with the money....in other words, he used his imagination and predicted what he could do with the cap space. Maybe he can fall ass backwards into a trade, but that would just be superfluous to some of the real faults of this team with KP and Tom Penn and their value of cap space.
Wow someone else speaks the truth too. Amazing what happens when you get a guy from the outside to take a clear look in at what KP has done this summer. Its been a complete disaster and anyone that thinks otherwise is a dam fool.
Nope, in other words, he created a speculative asset. The value of cap space is never certain, you can never "make a plan" for it ahead of time, but it's like investing in an oil rig or gold mine...either it yields nothing much or you hit it big. That definitely has value as an asset. If Portland does get Millsap or pulls off a nice unbalanced trade, then they hit it big. Otherwise, it failed to pan out. This isn't exactly a novel concept: all prospects are also speculative assets. Depending on how they pan out, you might hit it big or else not get very much. Or anything in between.
I am not talking about this summer. There have been deals out there for KP, but he has been unwilling to actually offer talent for them. RLEC was touted by the Blazers themselves as one of the best trading chips in history. They let it expire. They said at the time because they thought the deals that they were discussing at the deadline would be there thor them cheaper now. Well, they have done shit so far with it. For two years we have been told that every move we were making was for this summer. I don't so much care that we haven't made a move, but it appears we have all been lied to.
Sign Millsap. Trade Joel and Travis for Battier. Bang, wonderful offseason. Blake | Bayless Roy | Rudy Battier | Batum Aldridge | Millsap Oden |Aldridge
There was an 09 plan? apparently not. snooze. lose. the valued the cap space so much I think this prevented him trading RAEF so he can make a bigger "splash". Always looking for the bigger better deal....
No ty. Battier is going to be 31 and is just a 3pt shooter with good defense. You think that deserves Outlaw AND Joel?
I agree Probably a way to get Battier without Travis though, and then include him in a deal with Blake for a PG upgrade.
Yikes. If that doesn't take the shine off Pritchard, I don't know what will. It's embarrassing to think of the poor guy calling up teams over and over again and trying to sell them on the same lousy deal.
No, not IMO. There was an asset that might pay dividends in 2009. That's not a plan, that's just a nice thing to have.
So the lakers who just won a world championship does not want to keep one of their 3 best players by matching a 9-10 million dollar contract. Interesting to say the least. So if they don't think he is worth it, and they know him best....why the fuck should we? This is the lakers we are talking about. They make a lot of money. If this is true and they just aren't playing hard ball with him, that tells me he has issues that they don't like. That is not that much money for a player of Odoms stature. Where are the Laker fans when you need one? They sure are here when we don't.
Firstly, I don't believe that Pritchard kept coming back with the same deals in desparation. What does he have to be desparate about? He is in the best shape cap-wise in the entire NBA! How many of those other Gm's would love to be in his shoes? I think internet jockeys and journalists with an axe to grind need to take a step back and remember where this man has brought this team. He took over a team that was not only among the worst in the NBA, but also in salary cap hell (think New York Knicks), tied to multi-year contracts with players we all hated. Now, only three years in, the team is filled with players we like, with a combination of great talent, up and comers, and even young guys who could put this team over the top without ever adding a free agent. These guys are almost all under 25, they have at least a couple years before they even reach their prime, and already we won 54 games! How long did it take Drexler, Porter, and Kersey to do that? So now, KP has lost his luster because he didn't get some droopy-faced sloped-foreheaded dude from Turkey who you wouldn't have even wanted if not for KP's telling you he would fit in well? The fact that Turkey boy didn't come to Portland is hardly humiliating. That's all spin and stupidity. If the Blazers develop even a couple of these players, Oden, Batum, Bayless, and Martell, this team is going to be a power in the west for years. How can anyone think Pritchard is a loser when the games for next season haven't even started yet, much less the playoffs? Yeah, we lost in the first round this year. Did you catch that these guys had never played in the freaking playoffs before? They took a huge step this year...now give them a chance to take another huge step next year. Frankly, I wish this Yahoo and Jason Quick would shut up at watch what is actually happening. Pritchard's goal is to fill that cap space with good talent. He has until the trade deadline to do it, and then we will see how the team performs in the playoffs. I would think that, given where he has already brought this team, he would get the benefit of the doubt until at least the playoffs! Get mad then if you aren't happy with the result, not now, in freaking July, when the season hasn't even started yet! Okay, I said my piece. Carry on.
