There's not much risk in signing him for a < 10 mil /yr deal. The question is rather if we let him dangle in FA to max our capspace. There's like 20 teams with max capspace or something. Someone will throw him some big $.
So...some of us focus on what Meyers can't or hasn't yet done...while other observers consider what he can and may yet do?
If someone out there is going to throw him big $, then I imagine his agent knows that and won't let him sign a below-market-value deal. If he re-signs here early (QO or otherwise), it's because his agent has received indications that he can't get anything better.
The one angle I really want to put out here is something that I think is very important. Timing, and the concept of how signings of any of our players affect our bottom line. Lets assume that we will likely have to renounce Henderson due to his cap hold and how that affects our ability to make offers in Free Agency. If we were to get a true full max guy (Durant/James) to agree to sign with us, then we might have to decide between Meyers or Crabbe. But if we are going for a less than max guy, or basically someone in the sub $27mil range we can keep both players without it affecting our bottom line. So if we identify the true max players this summer I really only see Durant and Lebron as full max players, some other guys will probably get in that territory, but I don't think Portland is going to go after guys in that range. I can see us absolutely going after someone in that $25-$27 range which would enable us to hang onto all three of Crabbe, Harkless and Leonard, as long as we sign that FA before we have to match. Call it addition by addition.
We only need to renounce him by the time a FA signs with us and we need the room. We can keep his rights while negotiating with the FAs.
I would offer him a $7m/year for 4 years with a player option after year 2 - that way if he really blossoms he can opt out in 2 years to get a huge contract - and if not, he has a very respectable contract with financial security. As I said however, anything up to $10m - I think it makes sense to match.
My take is we want to keep both if the price is right. As little as you might think of Hendo, he's been a starter in this league. I'm fine with Crabbe as 6th man, 1st off the bench. However, if CJ or Dame misses a stretch of games, you are looking at Roberts or someone like him moving into the rotation. I'm a lot more comfortable with Hendo in that situation. I'm not good with Hendo at $10M or some other ridiculous amount. Leonard can still be something special. He's huge and has a 3pt shot. Those things in one player are not so easy to replace. He's gotten better since being drafted. Earlier in his career, a lot of fans thought he'd never turn into a useful player in the least.
I like how Roberts played. We could do absolutely nothing but let Henderson and Kaman walk, and I think be better just from growth and experience of our young guys. The Blazers could run a Rotation like this and be fine. PG Lillard/CJ/Roberts SG CJ/Crabbe/ SF Harkless/Aminu PF Aminu/Davis/Vonleh C Plumlee/Leonard Garbage time Connoughton/Montero/Alexander That's not going to happen we are going to add pieces to this team this summer, as we should. If you aren't moving forward you are moving backward. The question becomes who do we target? Whoever we target and add, we have done exactly what we need to do, add assets for a larger trade.
I'm actually interested in how our rookies progress this off season...Connaughton, Vonleh and Montero...I have no clue about Alexander but the other 3 showed a lot of promise.
We aren't getting Meyers for 7 or 8 million. Someone is going to offer him more than that. I'd say at least 12-13 million per year. There are simply too many teams with money, and not enough players to spend it on.
Time will tell. This is going to be interesting, for sure. Glad it is Neil's job and not mine to make this decision.
I think we get him for under 10 (slightly) easily now due to his injury. This is a guy who might not see the court until January. And yes a lot of teams have cap space. But there are plenty of players in Meyers range for teams to blow their wad on.
I can definitely see us getting Monroe. No way we get Parker as well though without giving up CJ plus Vonleh imo.
