I'm not saying he wouldn't accept the offer. I'm saying that the offer will still stand and he could easily just wait and get the same offer in Portland after everything is said and done. Regardless, I don't suspect Portland matching anything over 10 mil per if the offer is made before they try and make their big time free agent signing or lopsided trade.
If Nic waits on an offer then what's to stop the team from rescinding that offer and looking elsewhere? They aren't going to want to tie up whatever cap-space they have on a guy who won't commit and the longer Nic waits the less money is going to be available as other guys get deals.
I guess we'll have to see what happens, but I think that the Blazers will have a plan in place even if there isn't a new GM.
I'm fully willing to reserve judgement, but you know what they say ... [video=youtube;eKgPY1adc0A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A&feature=related[/video]
Agreed. I don't think you go to all the trouble to clear cap space, and accumulate lottery picks and then have no clue on what to do with Batum and available FAs. You don't do the first without having a plan for the second.
Looks like he edited the article. The 12 million offersheet does NOT go as a cap hold on our books, just on the team offering it to him. So we still sit on his normal cap hold until matched.
So it is/was still better to wait, and have extra space than signing him to the same deal we might this offseason, but in January.
Yes. It appears so. I really hope they get to him and his agent and tell them we will take care of him, and please wait to sign a contract
My thinking is not that they were far apart in $$ in January, but were saying we want to wait to make our team better because of the cap space/hold/new contract, and Batum and his agent, obviously, wanted a new deal signed in January, as insurance, in case something happens during the season. bets to have long term security locked up.
Batum said he would never play for the Raptors. As did Kenny Anderson, who changed his tune years later--but he was desperate to get on with any team at that point. Dunno how much truth there is to this rumour. The Raptors are linked to just about any international player.
That's right. If Batum wants top dollar, wants to play in Ptd and wants to them to be competitive, that can all be achieved if Batum waits before signing any offer. Heck the Blazers should go ahead and make Batum a generous offer but don't have him sign it until after they sign a free agent. And if he waits, like Video Only, Blazers guarentee they will match any offer out there and add 10%.
7 winshares in 55 games equals about 10.5 winshares over 82 games equals about 15.5 million dollars of value
Blazers can't go too far with promises to Batum though, right? Isn't that kind of wink-wink the thing that got Minne in trouble a while back?
Since you are able to negotiate with free agents at that time, then it is ok. You can agree with him, and not sign.
From their moves since last summer I truly believe that they don't have a real plan in place. They are more 'go-with-the-flow' mode right now.
Their plan has already been laid out. They would like to compete right away, which to a rational mind indicates trading picks for vets. I think they have Willims number 1 on their free agent list, followed by Nash, Dragic and Gordon. I think they will try to deal for Rondo if those don't work out. We will probably have a couple of Robin's or a Robin and a couple of Batgirls, but no Batmans. We will sneak into the bottom half of the playoffs next year, lose in the first round, and I will kill myself. It should be a great season for a lot of you knowing that
MM, I'm not sure I have heard you spell out what they should do. Williams is clearly a Batman, but if that doesn't work out, where else do you get one? I'm not opposed to Dragic, but also recognize he is a nice Robin. I do believe that, for Portland, if they can't get Williams, then the only other Batman will come somewhere in the draft. Maybe not this year, but some year. Is that what you are thinking is that they should just lay low until they draft someone who can be #1?
Williams isn't coming through that door. The Blazers have said several times that they do not want to rebuild. They have mentioned if there was an opportunity to deal a pick for an established players they would like to do that. This is not my plan, it's Portland's.
