I have a hunch that's a pretty good hunch. I have a strong feeling Miller has been in KPs cross hairs since at least last summer. I think there is a very good chance Miller is the Mystery Player KP mentioned at last year's Meet-n-Greet-n-Drink.
I hope when they come here, the crowd won't even acknowledge the guy. Their naivete will show when they boo him!
Hell no. I do not forgive him. He used us, and then rejected us. I will not forget that. He will be booed mightily.
how many times have we heard players say something to extent of "you always know that the NBA is a business"? There is nothing to forgive Hedo for... it's just business. I hope he plays well for Toronto as I happen to like to watching good hoops. I recall how overwhelming the positive reaction was here for offering him that contract so it's weird to see how many in this thread are claiming they were also dead set against it from the get go. Though he doesn't seem an absolute perfect fit with this club, Miller was on the top of my list of FA wants alongside a few others... clearly he's an upgrade from Blake. I really like that they'll have another good go to option when the clock is winding down to add to Roy, LA & Travis. We did have a lot of chatter about Miller going into this offseason. Dude made sense to quite a few of us so of course management probably had made all the necessary inquiries with his agent as to what he wanted contract wise by the start of the FA period. I'm guessing supply and demand significantly lowered the Miller camp's demands once PDX was down to the final serious FA player... if he doesn't sign w/Portland he's probably down to a MLE. At the end of the day KP got arguably the best UFA for Portland to sign onto a sweetheart of a contract... how can I be bitter about that? STOMP
Interesting results. Yes. <-=*PdX*=->, alex42083, andalusian, azsun67, B-Roy, barfo, BeerBoy, BIG Q, Blazed, BlazerCaravan, bobf, Boise Blazer, Boob-No-More, BoomChakaLaka, Bosco, craigehlo, Crimson the Cat, Draco's Evil Sidekick, ebott, Erroneous Subterfuge, e_blazer, graybeard, hasoos, holyorders, hoojacks, ironcrotch, it's_GO_time, jwhoops11, Love Monkey, Mediocre Man, MIXUM, MysteryMan, Nikolokolus, OdenRoyLMA2, oldmangrouch, Pinwheel1, RedHotAndRolling, Road Blocker, Shapecity, SodaPopinski, Spoolie Gee, SteelBlaze1, Stevenson, Sug, yuyuza1 No (for whatever reason). bintim, BLAZER PROPHET, BTOWN_HUSTLA, C_note, hypnosmurf, LJ Ginger, malarky, MARIS61, mook, number 10, PapaG, whatsmyname, WillG On the fence axs88, Black Mamba, blue32, BrianWheeler, brsinepyce, cdub503, Darkwebs, Ed O, Freshtown, HispanicCausinPanic, julius, LameR, LittleAlex, maybeso, Minstrel, Nate4Prez, NathanB, Pritchslap Madness, Rastapopoulos, RickyRubio, Rodolfo, STOMP, Todd, Tortimer, UKRAINEFAN, Webster's Dictionary, westnob, youngblazers, Zybot
Speaking only for myself..... If you were to plow through the archives, you would find many threads where I advocated signing Miller. That said: I *understood* KP's logic in going after Hedo, and I was willing to give the signing a chance. While I didn't consider him the best fit, it made sense to want to bring in a vet who could make plays (shooting or passing). The contract offer was too generous, but obviously the "market" felt otherwise. Same with Milsap. If KP 's priority was to bolster the front line, and that seemed to be the case, Hedo and Milsap were both reasonable targets. Contrary to what some folks here seem to think, I don't just automatically flame ever move KP makes!
I hated the idea of getting Hedo at the beginning, particularly at his asking price. When it seemed really likely that we were going to sign him, I started to convince myself that it could work. I quickly changed my mind after he jilted us. In my mind this entire episode will always be Trenton Hassle 2.0: Bigger, More Expensive and Slightly More Embarrassing. I don't hate Trenton Hassle, and I don't hate Hedo.
Minnesota matched the Hassell offer, which was not expected at all. While it was in very poor form to bring him to PDX for a presser, Minnesota definitely got the worst of that deal by simply matching the Blazer offer. I see some similarities, but I don't see it as being the same.
No, it's not the same. But the similarities are pretty striking. A fair amount of hype goes into a free agent acquisition SF who is supposed to shore up the position for several years. Portland loses him at the 11.4 hour. Lots of people are pissed off. A year or so later (I project) everybody is really, really glad that it never was consummated. You're right, though, in that it was Minnesota who screwed us and not the player. I'd respond that if you dodge a bullet, do you really care if you were kicked or shoved down? The important thing is that the bullet didn't hit you.
I was fairly happy but not totally excited about Hedo. But I was mostly excited because I was trusting KP that this was going to be a good move. As far as forgiving Hedo, I never held it against him that he choose a better offer. The NBA is a business and the players should be expected to do what's best for their family and their finances. For Hedo, that just meant Canada. Getting Miller I am also fairly excited about but still not over the top on the signing. I think Miller will help, but I don't think he will be that big of a difference maker. I hope I am wrong.
huh, it was my intention to vote no... I think my post in the linked thread makes that pretty clear. Though there were some positives about it, I didn't like the Hedo move overall but I didn't hate it like say the Sheed trade or passing on Chris Paul. STOMP
Yeah, my personal feelings about the offer aside, I can't begrudge Hedo for taking more money to be in a city he and his wife feel comfortable living in for five years. Business is business.
Both are old, declining talents with large egos and no desire to support our youth development. Both were a mistake to pursue, and now we're stuck with one.
Why do you think Miller has "no desire to support our youth development?" For that matter, what would constitute a veteran PG supporting our youth development? What action on his part would constitute 'not' supporting our youth development?
Here's how I rationalize it to feel like a winner on this. Hedo chose to go to a non-play off team heading in the wrong direction instead of a play off team that's on their way up because he only cares about money (i.e. CTC). So, in short, winning doesn't matter to him thus he's not a winner but is, instead, a loser and losers suck so we don't want him. He did us a favor and I won't boo him because he's an irrelevant loser. Ah, I feel better.
I wasn't singling you out. I thought it was interesting that well over half of those who voted were for offering Hedo a contract.
Contrary to the phrase below my avatar, I never had any hard feelings for him after his change of heart. Not really happier with Miller, but it will suffice.
Na, I don't forgive him. I'm glad that hes over there. His team is garbage and the team is already 2-5 in the pre season of 2009-2010. He's just going for money and not looking at a team thats on the way up (Portland). I pledge that the Raptors are going to miss the playoffs.
