Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! Sam Adams, Randy Leonard, and the rest of the crew will probably be swayed by the latest rich kid with dreams of an NHL team anyhow.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! I think that 5yr/$50mil Barganini deal that Toronto handed out hurt the Blazers position. It gave Tellum a ton of ammo to hold his ground this summer.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! I don't think that's true. Canada has higher taxes so a contract there is not as valuable as in the US. Further, Bargnani only got five years, not six. Assuming it's true, though, Portland paid at the upper limit of your expected range. That's too bad. Ed O.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! Definitely. But the lack of a Travis Lee deal indicates how limited a players' choices are, and the fact that Millsap signed for less than half of the alleged $65m (at less than two-thirds as much per year) are strong indicators that there was no reason to pay so much. Oh, well. I'm not outraged by it. I'd just rather have my team getting good deals, rather than being measured with the Raptors' decision-makers. Ed O.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! Huh what? Weren't you ripping on me frequently this summer for insisting that the Bargnani deal set a market value for both Roy/LMA? I thought Deron Williams and Chris Paul were the market?
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! Since the day Vulcan became involved, the real goal has been to maximize value by getting a championship team with a young base of players and selling high. Paul will get his title, take his profit, and sail off into the sunset on this: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/octopus.ppt
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! I disagree on all counts. You don't know if Allen isn't willing to foot the bill. In addition, the team also stands to make more money than it has in the past with the new ticket pricing model, online streaming, increased advertising, etc. To be fair, no matter what proposals Seattle came forward with, they were deemed unsatisfactory by Bennett. From the point of purchase he had no intention of staying, and made sure that happened. I agree with this. From this point on we won't have anything besides the MLE and Vet's Minimum to offer anyway, regardless of LMA's final contract numbers.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! That Aldrdige/Roy draft was a hell of a draft. Nice to see the two will be in Blazer unis for a long time.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! I don't know what the market is. I can only give opinions on what I would like the Blazers to perceive it as. I talked about Chris Paul and DWilliams regarding Roy. I don't know what that has to do with the signing of Aldridge. As for the Bargnani signing: the Raptors overpaid, and the Blazers overpaid if they relied on that deal. Millsap? He's signed to a good deal. Travis Lee? Whomever signs him next season will probably get a good deal. The best we can hope with now with Aldridge is that he lives up to his contract, which is based largely on potential. That's not the optimal way to spend money in my opinion. Ed O.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! I'm happy he's gonna be here long term, but I don't think he's earned a contract that lucrative yet. The team will be paying him based on potential.
well they're technically able to go as far into lux tax land as they choose, but PA has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want the franchise to be hemorrhaging cash STOMP
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! Hahaha how is anyone complaining about this? Aldridge is a borderline all-star...All-Stars get max money. He is below the max....It makes no sense to dispute his contract length or worth. Glad its finally done.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! This is great news! We just locked up two franchise type players for the next five years. We have a budding center and a slew of young talent that we can develop or package in a trade to upgrade our starting lineup. Life is good. Now, if they can just stay healthy and find their chemistry again.
Re: ALDRIDGE SIGNED! After weighing the arguments here, it does seem pretty high. I'd feel a little more comfortable with it if Aldridge's numbers were trending up, but he's basically put up the exact same statistics two years in a row. Not exactly alarming for a 3rd year player, but not reassuring if you are paying him so much based on his potential to exceed those stats. This kind of feels like the big contract we gave Rasheed Wallace early in his career. He was paid like a franchise player, when he was never really more than a quality second banana. A lot of people held that against him. Still, though, I was happy to have him locked up to our team, just as I am with Aldridge.
