Now I know you all are saying you want Batum back only if price is right, don't wanna overpay etc..but look what Batum was saying in Exit Interviews. I hope he's back, but I also hope we don't pay waaayyy too much.. Twitter: EDIT: JC just said Batum also said he hasn't been promised, just told a lot.
I've been a little worried about this, as regard cap space. The Blazers have had no problem with screwing with other teams' RFAs. I'm guessing some team is going to offer him a large deal, heavily frontloaded, on the first day possible. That gives us three days to match. I think that screws up the idea of signing a max free agent with our cap space, then signing Nic regardless of cap space. I could be wrong (and hope I am), because I am FAR from a CBA expert. Go Blazers
I could totally see it happening. If a huge offer was thrown at him on the first day of FA, it would only give us three days to do anything. My HOPE is that Batum understands what we're trying to do and gives us a little bit of time, but I could also see him not wanting to lose out on money.
Oh well, he's still relatively young, still has some upside left ... but I dunno I think he's going to be severely miscast as a second fiddle scorer here. He probably needs to go to a good team and be their "glue guy" to optimize his particular talents.
Doesn't the window open on D. Williams at the same time? There's no mystery about how much he's worth. Can't you make the offer on opening day and then he can decide which team he wants to play for. It shouldn't take him that long, especially considering if he is interested in Portland, then he would certainly want to sign and see Batum on the team--I would think.
You have to remember that there are provisions in the new CBA that are going to make teams operate differently in the past with respect to offering players big contracts. Luxury tax penalties get more and more onerous as time goes on. Teams aren't going to be as free with offers of big money as they were in the past, particularly from the standpoint of making an offer just to screw with another team. Another team is going to have to really want Nic and see him as a guy worth a big contract in order to decide to make an offer that they might have to perform on if the Blazers pass on matching it.
What about offering Nic reasonable $$, but front loading the offer enough to screw the TB's? Go Blazers
Frequently teams don't bother with RFA's when their parent team makes it clear they're going to match any offer. That then leaves the RFA to deal direct with their team. And that may or may not lead to a one year qualifying offer and the player leaving as a FA after the next season.
This is just about exactly what I was going to post. It does the Blazers NO harm to say that they'll match any offer other than that Batum would ride out the offseason with just the single year QO. Maybe they will, and maybe they won't, but if they fail to match an offer from another team, Batum wouldn't really be all that upset about it, I can't imagine. Ed O.
Who have we screwed with besides Utah? Those were fair contracts to their players. We just happened to front load them. But who else? I can't think of any other team and Utah is loaded with young talent. I doubt they have any interest to offer crazy money to Batum when they have their own young SF's. And Crazy money is the only reason Batum would even consider them. Batum will get offers but I doubt it will be to screw with us.
I can see that you don't think it's likely that any teams will mess with the Blazers. I hope you're right. However, as you point out, Utah may still have a bone to pick. But they aren't the only team that has messed with the Blazers. The Nets backed out of the SAR trade over a mysterious failed physical. The Grizz screwed the Blazers with D. Miles to kill much of our cap space for no apparent reason. The Celtics seemed to be in on the Miles mess, too. Rich Cho might get a kick out of jabbing the Blazers in the ass. I'd say it's possible that there teams that have GM's that were Prichslapped at some point that might like a chance to even the score. Point being, teams have screwed with the Blazers for various obscure reasons in the past, so I haven't ruled out that it could happen again. Maybe I just worry too much. Go Blazers
One advantage to saying we're going to match any contract offer Batum gets is that a team might not want to lock up their cap space for the first few days of FA knowing that they probably won't land Batum in the end. If those first few days are as important as people are saying they are, then teams will be more concerned about landing the guys they want, not screwing the Blazers.
Especially given the new salary cap parameters.... Changes were made to the CBA make it easier for teams to keep their players. And with the tighter cap restrictions, I'll be curious to see if salaries come down at all.
I think you can cross the Jazz off of your list of teams to worry about relative to Batum. They aren't likely to have enough cap space to do anything more than make a mid-level offer.
Batum just sold his car and put his house for sale. Doesn't look like he thinks he'll be here. (Or he thinks he's going to get paid and just wants all new toys!)
