I think the Blazers will pay to keep him throughout his rehab. They will pay more than any other team for a short time to see what he can do. I personally think they owe him that much.
I would love Wes to stay, but with all the teams with money to spend and a very limited number of quality players this year, I think Wes is gone. Wes has always been an iron man and has built that reputation, making many GM's feel if ever there is an injured person to take a flier on, it's Wes. With Crabbe and CJ on deck, and AA being a capable starter, I just don't see the Blazers matching what will likely be a pretty lofty offer.
I think the chances of him coming back to the Blazers are extremely high. The more articles I read on this type of injury and how many players never fully recover from it, leads me to believe that the only team that Wes will definitely brings value to.....are the Blazers. And much of that value is "emotional". Wes is our emotional leader. No one else's. So why would someone else take the chance on him unless the contract was really low. Now I am not saying Wes can't come back from this injury, just that the statistics seem higher that he won't than from other injuries. In an age of "analytics" and limited cap space, teams will be looking closely at the statistics of other players who had the injury and didn't fully recover. And even though the chances are still around 50/50 ....is that enough for another team to use all their precious cap space on? I think the only way he does not come back is if he feels insulted by the Portland offer and takes a one year offer somewhere else in order to prove everyone wrong. We know Wes has a lot of pride and I think that his pride is the only thing that would keep him from coming back. So as long as he doesn't feel slighted by the Blazers, he will be back.
The good thing is, other teams can't sign Wesley to a huge contract and cause the Blazers to rush to make a move. Their free agents are all RFA, so it won't matter if their cap space is being used by Wesley on the first day or the last day of free agency.
I can't believe anyone would offer him a stupidly high contract and not expect to see instant dividends from him. Like Bert said above, he won't even be half into rehab. They are taking a real chance with a large amount of money with as one of your posts suggested him may never making it on the court again. But for fun, No I wouldn't match it. I don't think the Blazers will have to. And I have no concerns about him coming back. Blazers will in the end will be out to take care of him and will offer him a nice, fair contract to him based on all his hard work and previous contributions.
i think something protecting both sides could work, something like 2 years/16 million, with a player option after the first year. he makes good, he opts out and gets a massive contract. if hes a a desiccated husk, he gets 16 million to ride into the sunset with
whats the timeline? 6-9 months? i fully expect wes back starting by opening night next year, maybe ill be disappointed but i dont think so
And after further thinking about this I think the rehab time table makes it MORE likely they end up keeping both Wes and Arron.
i honestly wouldn't be surprised to see him come out for game six of the finals against the hawks when we win the series 4-2
I was thinking the exact same thing. It seems likely that his offer from the Blazers will be lower than before the injury, (around 8 million/yr -as you alluded to) Not sure how many years, but will have a player opt out clause in the event that he comes back strong.
Tough call, my guess would be to offer him a min contract and see what he can do. If other teams wanna offer him more, we let it pass. We basically would offer a min deal just to see what the results of his injury are, if he comes back the same, we extend. Have to make this tough call. I don't see them doing it any other way.
That might be the silliest thing anyones said on here. There is absolutely no chance he'll even be remotely close to being able to attempt a come back if the Blazers reach the WCF's, let alone be physically in shape by them even if by some miracle he was able to. This isn't a sprained ankle, it's a torn tendon for fucks sake. Although, maybe if he drinks like a fish...
Teams want to spend their money on players who are guaranteed to be ready on opening day. If he can't make it back, they'll have wasted their free agency money on a player that would become a very expensive hood ornament. Wesley will probably only, realistically, receive an offer from the Blazers.
