I'm a little peeved that we don't seem to be trying to sign some good value cheapies either to fill a position of need (Stiemsma at C) or serve as a good veteran voice for this young roster (Turiaf - who just became a Clipper) or to be buddies with Batum and bolster his confidence (Turiaf again). The only thing approaching that is Ronnie Price, and to be frank, we could do better. If Przybilla signs with the Bucks for the minimum then I really will be annoyed.
The only spot they really should address is a true defensive center ... I don't think ~2.4 million is going to be much use.
Not too concerned about missing on any free agents. I don't want any pgs taking time from lillard our Nolan. No sgs taking extra minutes from Barton or Williams. No sf taking extra time from claver, and no bigs taking extra time from Leonard, Freeland, hickson.
There aren't any difference makers left, so I'm not really concerned. We got Hickson, which was a pretty nice signing.
And I will relieved when he's gone. We need to get younger at the center position not slower/older. Yes inexperience at center will be tough at first but it can only get better. Joel would be a rip-off to sign at 2,375,000.
Notable free agent Cs: Darko Milicic, Ben Wallace, Greg Oden, Mehmet Okur, Jermaine O’Neal, Joel Przybilla, Kyrylo Fesenko, Hamed Haddadi, Daniel Orton, Tony Battie, Eddy Curry, Jamaal Magloire, Dan Gadzuric, Erick Dampier and Keith Benson. I think Gadzuric would be a good pickup
Let's take a flyer on that Oden guy. I know he's been injured in the past, but the kid's young still.
I'm totally cool with the team not bringing in anybody else. This is not a playoff team. So all winning games would do is ensure our draft pick isn't as good. If we can get someone that makes us a playoff team I'm all for it. But if we can't we should not be trying to bring in anyone that might be just good enough to win us enough games to push us from the middle of the lottery to the ass end of the lottery. I only hope who ever our coach is doesn't try to play LaMarcus 40 minutes a game. It would be SOOOOOOOOO depressing if his knees got warn out like Brandon Roy's did.
There are a lot of has-beens on that list of centers. I'm okay with developing Leonard and giving minutes to Hickson and Freeland.
^ What he said... was going to post that, and then I caught your post, ebott. This year's free agency pool was already shallow, and it's become especially shallow at this point. Right now, the best players in free agency are either going to get contracts that will overpay them or be too long. If the Blazers sign any of the aforementioned centers, it should be for a one year contract. A penny saved is a penny earned. Having cap room going into next season not only gives the Blazers trade flexability, but it also doesn't hurt for a much better free agency class next season. I know Paul Allen is loaded, but he wouldn't be in a position to have a $14.2 bill net worth if he wasn't smart, and it's not a smart move to go over the cap to sign any of those players. It's not like any of them will get you into the playoffs.
Wow. Dampier is still in the NBA? Seems like he was drafted like 18 or 20 years ago. I like Haddadi on that list as a 1 or 2 year experiment.
Dumb post. Even if he wanted to, right now the Blazers could not spend 14.2 billion. All they can spend is 2.375 mm
Well, technically they could extend all their players (except Hickson?) for the max, which would certainly be more than 2.375 million... but that's not on free agents.
