But is he a tough negotiator? If he has good scouts, will he go with their pick or think he's smarter?
Knowing the cap and being knowledgeable doesn’t matter that much when it comes to being GM. What we need is creativity, vision, and daring.
A GM needs to be able to establish relationships with agents and have the ability to persuade and sell the franchise and city to players. Must also be able to convince ownership of what is needed to succeed. Dont want a yes man/women. Ainge, was good at all of the above and probably a pain in the ass. If he cannot do either, it's the wrong GM.
GM and the coach must have same vision what the team needs to look like. We need GM that makes smart decision to improve the team. To me the year pretty much lost due to injuries to key players and a roster that doesn't fit the system. This year you start weeding out the players that don't fit the system by trade and hopefully you get players to fit the system. Plus you trying find away to land so future draft picks.
he also has burned bridges with players/agents and has shit relationships. i have a feeling his removal wasn't exactly mutual as much as he was forced out behind the scenes.
I hadnt heard that take but wouldn't surprise me. Im sure he's aggressive and can pester/be a challenge. He always said what was on his mind, but so did the guy he replaced, Red.
The minimum salary players the Blazers sign to replace those guys can have a prorated salary that counts for far less against luxury tax than an 82 game minimum contract. So just switching those players might get the Blazers under the tax, if they find a trade partner, likely under the tax, to take on those minimum salary guys.
minimum salary cap charge is 1.67M. Blazers have 4: Zeller, McLemore, Snell, Smith. They also have Elleby at 1.52M Replacing 3 of those with vets signed later in the season would have pro-rated contracts applied. Say it's 3 replaced. That would currently be 5M in exiting salary, putting the Blazers 2M below. So the pro-ration would have to be less than 2M. That means Blazers couldn't do this till less than 40% of the season remained; sometime around the 50-55 game mark now that is for veterans. If Portland went for guys who have never played in the NBA before, the minimum is 900K. Pro-rating one of those contracts while replacing a vet, say for half a season, would knock 1.2M off the cap
this highkin fellow is the only one who mentioned that there would be a PC. I remain doubtful of it being streamed.
