I'm already geeked up. If we get Hibbert we will have a significant advantage in the frontcourt against just about anybody. If Lillard turns out to be legit we could be pretty good.
Well, in the old CBA, it was 11:59pm EDT on the 7th day. Unless there is some new "seconds matter" provision to the CBA, I assume it's still 11:59pm, but on the 3rd day.
So then Indiana could fuck with us and wait until the last minute, possibly making us miss out on Batum?
Yes . . . and I wouldn't expect any favors from Indy. (especially when Blazers add conditions that make it a tough contract to swallow). It is Batum that I expect to will give the Blazers a break and not sign an offer right away
That could happen, but I imagine I'd rather have the risk instead of the odd "he signed one second before your guy!" argument I'm seeing made.
Except the Indy's cap space will be tied up on Hibbert so long as they don't match, and they lose that space if they do match. 3 days is a long time to tie up money in what looks like it will be a crazy FA period.
That is insane, and I can't imagine the CBA having it work that way. Unless the CBA EXPLICITLY says that is how it is done, I am sure the league office will allow a team like the Blazers to hear the decision of Indiana and then immediately afterwards choose to retain Batum - assuming that Hibbert signs with the Blazers and Batum signs with another team on the same day (presumably July 11). Or, maybe the league office, with team's in the situation of the Blazers, would allow the Blazers to submit a conditional acceptance of Batum's offer. "Dear Mr. Stern: the moment after you receive a decision from Indiana regarding our contract with Roy Hibbert, you may process our decision to Match Nik Batum's contract offer from Minnesota." Or whatever. Come on people. Stop obsessing over this.
True . . . but this could get personal between PA and KP. KP has good people skills and may convince FA to wait a couple days for an offer. But one would think business before personal payback and you bring up a good point that if they know they aren't going to match they may make decision early to get someone else. Didn't Utah wait till last day/hour when it came to Milsap. And with Matthews, there was word Jazz wouldn't match but not official until Jazz didn't match in 72 hours?
Indy still has plenty of cap space even waiting on Hibbert's cap hold, so can't imagine the 3 day window tying up his hold will be a big concern to them.
FA smokescreens? When Indy started asking around about other centers, I thought this was a smokescreen to the Blazers wanting them to thing k that they don't intend to match. Indy's thinking being that if Blazers don't think Indy will match, they can leave any kind of poison pill term out of the contract Now the word is out that Indy will likely match. So I would think PA and company are barinstorming on writing up a contract that would be unattractive to Indy. Dose this mean Indy really isn't planning on matching but wants Ptd to write up the worst contract just to stick it to the Blazers? If I'm Indy and I plan on matching, I don't wnat the Blazers to know that. In fact I would want the Blazers to think Indy isn't matching in hopes of avoiding the poison pill term.
I'm not sure a poison pill really matters much to PA, though, so the Blazers may as well draw up the contract as if Indy will match it. Do everything legal under the CBA to make it as unattractive from a matching viewpoint as possible.
Where's this word from Indy coming from? Last couple of local Indy guys we've heard anything from says they don't think Indy matches.
Yep. Free Agents are already dropping like flies with verbal committments (which are rarely broken). And this is unusual in that so often the key free agent (Deron Williams this cycle) is the domino that must drop before most other activity happens. This year, most teams are ignoring Deron Williams and gettin' busy. Indiana will most likely know if they want to match the Blazers offer by July 11th. They HAVE to decide very soon. Because if they don't want to match, they need to start making verbal offers to free agents in the next few days. If they are NOT going to match, I think they won't wait til the end of the 3 day period, so they can sign the few remaining decent free agents out there. If they go to the 3rd day before we hear anything, then that could mean a lot of things: They are going to match, and they are holding up our cap space to fuck with us. They aren't going to match, and they don't want to make offers to any other free agents. They weren't sure they wanted to match, they wanted to sign some cheaper free agents or make a lopsided trade, but couldn't find anything, and now they are agonizing over changing their mind to match.
I would bet that today Indiana doesn't know for sure what they will do. So how can folks that are not the GM and the owner have any real clue.
Exactly-has there been any discussion of Shaw as our coach? It seems the magic like him but that place is more of mess than we are.
