I'd bet they try to keep him to back up Dwight. I'd sure as hell want insurance in case Dwight's back acts up again.
Hibbert is having his most inefficient season of his career. This co-incides with Danny Granger missing most of the season. Last season, with Granger, Hibbert was a 19PER 50% shooter, and he would probably average around that with the Blazers. The gap he and Hickson's offense does not equal the gap between their defense. The reason Indiana is winning is because of their (and subsequently, Hibbert's) defense, period. They are 25th in the league in offensive efficiency, 2nd in defense. It's not even disputable. They are a terrible offense team this year that has a winning record because their defense allows them to win a majority of their grind out games.
Why is this your only shot at cap space for a while? It's not like you have to use it this free agency, or am I missing something there? 2014 seems like a much more reasonable time to go after a center with Cousins, Monroe, Bogut, Gortat, Varejao, and Okafor out there. Also, let's say Lillard wants out of his deal early for a bigger contract. To ensure he stays in Portland long-term, the Blazers could do that next summer, but if they had Hibbert's contract on the books, that'd put them way over the luxury tax and probably mean losing Aldridge.
I don't understand this, that cap space is useless without a player to fill it. You either get someone that will impact wins and losses or you a group of players that don't add up to the same impact of that one player. That money is going to be spent, might as well spend it on a guy that will change your team from the start.
they got two young guys, Donte Monte and Olbrecht for backups, start payin Dwight big bucks and ya gotta move a guy like Asik ans cap issues start to mount.
Paul Allen doesn't give a shit about the luxury tax. He won't let Aldridge leave because of the luxury tax. The Blazers have to do something this summer, otherwise they have to let Maynor and Hickson walk for nothing.
What would be a better move long-term though: using the cap space on a better free agency class, or spending the money this summer, just because it's there? Go ahead and let Hickson walk. If the move's not going to make you an immediate title contender, wouldn't it be better to just be patient and hold out?
Yes, we could delay our cap space until next summer... but we'd have to convince all our free agents to sign one-year deals. That won't happen. Maynor and Hickson would be gone for nothing, and we'd have to suffer through another shitty season with a horrible bench. This is the summer. It's our last chance (most likely) to be in the lottery. It's our last real chance to hopefully sign a decent free agent before Aldridge, Lillard, and Batum eat up all our cap space.
At some point Aldridge is going to get fed up and demand a trade. The guy has said he's tired of losing. I don't blame him.
Letting assets walk for nothing is generally a very bad move for teams. Unless you're going full tank commander.
Thats not a bad idea but generaly when your "Franchise" player is going to hit FA soon you want to try and please him and show improvement in the team at the same time. Also we have a decent amount of contracts that will go up next year cutting into whatever FA money we will have (Lillard/Mathews/Batum/LA/Freeland/Claver) will all get a pay raise like every player does on the next year of their contract, so if we want to be players in next years FA we would have to give away an asset or two to have the same capspace we would have this year. Add onto that the fact if we suck next year LA could demand a trade and we would have a bad situation were we have to either deal him or hope that our moves in the 2014 summer are good enough to improve our team to the point LA wants to stay. Trying to avoid having that situation with LA hanging over the teams head and having our team make desperation moves to try and keep him seems a good idea.
It would never happen. Hibbert is one of the few game changers left on defense now that Dwight Howard is a bum. He's a good reason why the Pacers are such a good defensive team.
Golliver gets his opinions from reading his own board. He knows less than most posters (all, if you exclude me).
Nope. Notice how he's all smiles after and during losses? Notice his flopping body language until it's time to pad his stats? He'll say the right words about wanting to win, though.
You know the greatest thing about Aldridge? That all management thinks you are an idiot for ever thinking Aldridge should be traded. And thank god for Aldridge, able to open things up for Lillard. He may never get these 30+ point games without Aldridge demanding doubles. I'm not even tired of all the haters anymore. It's like being in full armor and some dipshit kid thinks he can use a wiffle ball bat to hurt you. It's comical at best.
