Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency Garnett is selfish. He's made enough money in his career. He should take the veteran minimum, and let Boston use the other $9+m on other players.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency I was under the impression that some of you think Batum's agent should work with Portland in order to give Portland more cap space to work with. How that helps Batum financially baffles me. Batum should take the first high money offer he gets; if he doesn't I assume that money will go elsewhere, and the finite amount of money available to FAs will diminish for Batum.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency Well, since I'm not 40 yet, and I'm not drunk, try again. I did assume that your rant about Batum's agent making Nic less attractive to be the ramblings of an idiot, though, or an inside joke.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency I think this is a good free agency to lay low, not enough good talent and too many teams with a lot of capspace. We ain't winnin anything next yr anyway, lets offer perhaps a few one-yr contracts and keep some of our powder dry for potential lopsided capspace trades or perhaps an amnesty pickup.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency Hmm, I wonder if we can make this workout for both parties -- The Hornets are one of the teams eyeing Batum. Gordon for Batum in a S&T? is that even possible?
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency Well I don't know what everyone else thinks, but you quoted ME and said: Why you'd assume I think that is beyond me. And why you seem to be under the impression that that would be Batum's only other option is also beyond me. In THIS article, it's laid out pretty clearly. All I'm suggesting, and all Blazer management would like, is for Batum and his agent to not IMMEDIATELY sign the first reasonable offer that comes their way. This gives Portland a few more days to try to sign a FA to play with Batum. Once he signs an offer sheet we'd only have 3 days. CLEARLY if a team gives Batum a deadline to decide and no one else is offering him anything he would need to sign. No one is EVEN REMOTELY suggesting that he turn down more money to sign a lesser offer sheet. However, Batum's agent seems intent on rushing to sign anything just out of spite to Portland. In my opinion, this isn't even in the best interest financially to Batum. Why not wait and see what other offers his client gets? Especially if doing so could help the team that Batum is very likely to be playing for next year?
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency You don't want an injury-prone SG sitting on the bench in a suit tying up big bucks? WHA??
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency The only halfway decent free agent I can see us having a chance at would be Ilyasova. Hibbert and Gordon are (a) RFA and vital to their teams (b) The only decent young players out there, so everybody will want them (supposedly the Suns are going hard after Gordon) Our best FA will be Nicolas Batum, unless we lose him, in which case it will be nobody. (NOLA might do Batum for Gordon. Would we want that?)
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency A promise to not retain Batum if NO doesn't retain Gordon? I'm fine with that. We can get Jeff Green to be our starter than. That would be pretty awesome.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency Yeah, and my point is that if Batum lets an offer sit without signing it, that the offer can be rescinded, and the team moves on to another target. Why would a team allow Batum and the Blazers a few extra days to tie up their own FA process by allowing Nic to 'consider' an offer for days until the Blazers can negotiate. I'm not even sure that's acceptable under the CBA, is it? If so, it would be a great way for a team and a player to fuck over another team by playing on a RFA offer, and then not even signing it once the player's team signs another player. What if Batum gets a $12m/y offer from Toronto or Sacramento? Not only does that destroy the "Batum's agent has killed his market" argument that Draco offered, but it also emphasizes that the Blazers had an entire season to work with Nic on an extension that would be fair to both parties, and either chose not to do so (my opinion, since there was no GM), or that Batum never really wanted to come back to Portland. Why Portland fans think Nic should work with the Blazers, which may potentially harm his own value, isn't realistic to me, IMO.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency I think Batum should look for the best offer he can get. Yeah it would be stupid for him or his agent to not sign a good contract just to give the Blazers a few days of extra cap room. But the rhetoric from his agent is overly emotional and very odd to me. This is nothing personal against Batum from the Blazers perspective, all NBA teams strategically use cap space first then focus on their own free agents when they have small cap holds. Batum's agent has been saying they won't speak to the Blazers and the team disrespected his client, I don't see any advantage for them to play this bitter victim card. I suspect its an inexperienced agent that doesn't know how to get the best deal for his client.
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency Good article on this, IMO: http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/06/30/kevin-garnett-boston-celtics-free-agency/
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency I understand what you're saying, but is it really that uncommon for a player to take a few days on a life-changing decision? Or for an agent to see what else is available? If a team is willing to spend $11 million dollars a year on a guy, I think they can wait a day or two for a decision, and if they need an answer quickly then I'm sure that would be conveyed to Batum. Any team making an offer to Batum knows that it'll be 3 days before Portland chooses to match or not anyways. And of course it's acceptable for a player to take a few days to decide under the new CBA...
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency ...in no particular order, these players are the only FA's that I would want to see the Blazers sign: Roy Hibbert OJ Mayo JaVale McGee Ersan Ilyasova Brook Lopez Chris Kaman Aaron Brooks Spencer Hawes DJ Augustin Omer Asik Gerald Green Al Thornton
Re: Now what? i.e. Free Agency He had a decent stretch there. For the haters, he raises a finger at y.... Aw shit, bad joke.
