95.5 The Game hints that Livingston signing has happened/is imminent

Wheels and Jay Allen trying to get Tom Penn to confirm it, but they just made it seem like this is a done deal.

Shaun Livingston signed?

-Pop

 

Damn, wouldn't that be something. We were talking about a deal where we sent some serious talent and cap relief to the Clips for him and now we get him for nothing? Sure, he has some rehab to do, but if there's a team that can wait on Livingston to get back to full strength, it's us.

 

I've been listening since about 2:40, but was busy doing stuff around my office so I missed this snippet. What was said exactly?

 

Wow, I hope this is true.

This would be an incredibly-low-risk / very-high-reward investment. I would almost call it an arbitrage.

 

I had errently referred to it as a high-beta signing, but it occurs to me that there's really not much downside.

 

If they want to sign him after taking a good look at his knee, then it seems like a no-brainer.

I'm very curious about the amount and contract terms if this is true. It should give us further hints as to how KP plans to approach the FA period next summer.

 

They first had Tom Penn on and were jokingly asking him "Do you have any other breaking news to report?" ::snicker snicker:: "You know this is the official station for breaking Blazers news."

Then they alluded to Shaun Livingston, and Tom Penn avoided the question.

Then they had KP on, and they posed the same question, and he said "Nah, nah, guys, this day is about Rudy."

Anyways, the guys couldn't have been more obvious with their prodding. May not happen, but Jay Allen and Brian Wheeler sure made it sound like they knew something about the Livingston deal, and I doubt they'd be bringing it up if the news was "we passed on him."

-Pop

 

The likely real world consequence of this is most likely to be nil, but it would be an extremely exciting lottery ticket for the 15th roster spot, and at a time when one doesn't normally get any interesting basketball news.

I would be delighted, too, as others have said. Low/no risk, high reward, as other have said.

 

Yeah my only concern is that it really doesn't help the imbalanced roster as it currently stands, but if the thought is that this move isn't going to pay dividends for a couple years down the road, you then have to look at the roster two years from now, and I have no idea how that is going to look.

But if the thought process is that both Steve Blake and Sergio Rodriguez are not Blazers in two years, this deal makes sense. We'd have three guys on the roster who could play point in Brandon, Bayless and Livingston instead of the five we currently have.

But for right now, with the current roster, an argument could have been made for using that 15th roster spot on a backup center or strong shooter or defender at the small forward position.

I like the move, though, and I don't necessarily subscribe to the above argument. I think we're building for a run in a year or two, and if we have a chance to sign Livingston and he pans out, that only helps us in our cause.

-Pop

 

AS you point out it doesn't help unbalance things as the roster currently stands, but he won't affect that anyway as he won't be ready probably till mid-season anyway. If he is signed though I think there is a fair chance that this is Blakes last season here.

 

The only thing I would say, is that I hope it would be fore 3-4 years. If he does come back, and he does play at a high level, then it would really suck to have him leave in a couple years because we didn't have bird rights.

 

Why would you care about a balanced roster? It looks to me like the Blazers have good players and backups at every position. With the 15th spot of a roster all you need to see is upside.

 

Yes, exactly! This happens all the time with second-round picks. Contracts that don't last long enough to ensure Bird rights if they unexpectedly turn into good players. If you're going to gamble on Livingston, do it right and ensure that you are able to re-sign him if he turns into a good player.

 

Even if they have a deal put together they would porbably not release it as it is "Rudy Day" today.


g

 

See Joel Pryz or Steve Blake, although we did end up keeping them in the end.

 

Great pickup! Let Bobby Medina work with him all season and get him out there in 09-10!

 

Medina? What are they paying you for? Why don't you get out there and push the kid to greatness?

 

This would be a really savvy piece of business. High upside, no big loss if it doesn't work out. (The opportunity cost is not having the chance to pick up Luke Jackson? I can live with that... sorry Duck fans.) If Livingston ever gets back to being healthy... wow.

SR