Russell was a druggie who did not care to be in shape, nor did he ever play well on the field at all.
Jason quick sucks.. Oden will recover from this microfracture just like his exact same injury on the opposite knee recovered nicely from it. Hes proven it works for him, that dominant stretch last year was after microfracture.. You make the QO and see what the kids got after hes fully healed a year from now.
After reading some more; if I have this right, making the 8.8 million dollar qualifying offer really only gives us his services for a year in which we know he probably won't be playing effectively (if at all). He is then an unrestricted free agent. So it seems the only reason to give it to him would be the hope that he would be grateful and willing to sign with us after the one year (assuming we would want to sign him.) That just doesn't seem like a very good deal to me, for the Blazers.
He will be a Restricted free agent. So other teams will be making him offers at this time, potentially. Making him that qualifying offer gives us the opportunity to match any offer he may receive. If we don't make the QO, he is unrestricted.
Not exactly. The Blazers have to make a qualifying offer if they want to have Greg be a restricted free agent next summer. They then would be in a position to match any offers Greg gets for a multi-year deal. Greg only accepts the qualifying offer if he really wants out of Portland, is willing to accept the risk of playing on a one-year deal, and is willing to accept the gamble that somebody will offer a better deal after the one year he plays on the qualifying offer.
I am in total agreement with this.... I do think POR is better off to look at trading Camby, Miller, Przybilla and Rudy now if they can...PROVIDED they can get value... I think Camby has value to any team looking at adding pieces before the playoffs... Both Miller & Przybilla have value as players and as expiring contracts... Given the age, thier abilities\usefulness as players and expiring contracts (Miller & Pryz)....They don't fit in with the team long term anyway...I definitely don't think they should be salary dumps....but for young players and draft picks? IMO, that should DEFINITELY be on CHo's priority list starting today.... I wouldn't considering dealing Batum at all, unless it is an obvious upgrade....I think Matthews is a keeper as well and who knows with Johnson\Babbit\Williams, hold them if you can but if the deal is right, not deal breakers IMO.... Start there...add in Roy, who it appears may degrade as time goes on, will certainly have to change his game, but with his contract isn't going anywhere....Maybe Aldridge, maybe you keep him or if a great deal came around trade him...and build (again) through the draft and trades with a priority of PG and C.... I just don't see any other avenue for this team at this point....
Why do you assume re-signing Oden will be a mistake? I'm just saying we've taken fliers *cough* Theo Ratliff *cough* on players with similar injury histories and much less upside at significantly more money. It's a risk/reward calculation, and I think you take the risk.
And if Greg Oden played like JaMarcus Russell, then you'd have a point. Right now, GO is more like Bob Sanders.
I personally have pretty much given up hope on Greg, and at this point I don't think anyone can fault those of us who feel this way. Greg has had three (?) knee surgeries in less than four years. That's terrible. I think the blind faith in Oden needs to stop.
Blaze, I appreciate this lengthy, well written and logical post, but you really didn't need to post anything but the title of this thread.
There's no such thing as ZERO chance of winning the title if you make the playoffs. We should continue to retool our roster as we continue to win. Rebuilding through the draft almost never works. Trades and free agency is how you get it done. You're forgetting how much great young talent we still have. Aldridge, Johnson, Batum, Matthews. And we STILL have Oden. AND Roy who may not be who we was but could still be great. We can't tank with those guys. They're too good. The last team that tanked to get a once in a generation player was Cleveland. They now have no LeBron nor any titles to show for the time he was there.q
It was this from Dave at Blazer's Edge that confused me: "With his market value at an all-time low, Oden and his agent would certainly accept the one-year, $8.8 million deal, especially since there's no guarantee he'll even be playing ball at the start of next season. Worse yet, a potential lockout looms over next year so there's no guarantee anybody will be playing. The upshot is that Portland could well pay Oden $8.8 million to do little or nothing only to watch him waltz into unrestricted free agency afterwards. The only way around this is offering him a longer-term and more expensive deal instead of the qualifying offer...an even more unpalatable prospect at this point. The Blazers are stuck between the Scylla of paying Oden a fortune for an uncertain future and the Charybdis of letting him go with the only path between costing them $9 million in possibly-lost money then bidding against the entire league for his services with no guarantee he'll stay."
Exactly. So assume we give him $9 mil, he finally gets into shape sometime in training camp, takes a couple/few months to get back in the flow and start playing decent (like last year) and plays well and even miraculously avoids a serious injury for the year...imagine all of that best case scenario stuff happens...are you ready to sign him to a big dollar, long-term deal at that point or are you going to let him walk?
Oden will recover? Really? So, you're saying history never repeats itself? If I disagree with someones opinion, even strongly, I'm thankful to be mature enough to not call them an idiot. Wow. I say dump Oden. Move on. Rebuild around Batum and Matthews. Seal up this dreadful chapter with a welding bond and move forward.
while fans fret over their hopes and fears regarding the big picture of their rooting interest, players generally just play taking things one day at a time. I really don't think guys worry too much about injured players as thats an everyday aspect a part of their profession. People die every day in driving accidents but I still commute to work with a clear head. It makes sense that management would examine the angles and keep their options open especially with a player with a big upside. With Batum at the extension crossroads next offseason and several other large contracts on the books, the Blazers aren't dipping below the Cap where an extra 9M off the books means anything useful. Obviously this isn't the desired situation, but I'm for management deciding on the proper course to take regarding the QO depending on how GO's doing physically and mentally a few months from now... there is no need to rush to judgement today STOMP
Serious question: once the QO is extended, doesn't that mean he is no longer an expiring contract? Doesn't that destroy what minimal trade value he might still have?
They don't have to extend him the QO until after the season. So they can leave him an expiring contract until the trade deadline at least. Once they extend him the QO, if he signs it, he'll be on a one year deal and again be an expiring contract for the next season. Of course, if he gets a multi-year deal from another team and if the Blazers match, he stops being an expiring contract.
