We could have traded Outlaw and Frye for Devin Harris. Plus we could have traded RLEC for Emeka Okafor. And probably thrown in Przybilla and gotten Gerald Wallace. And I am fairly sure, though I have no evidence for this, that Webster and Bayless could have been traded for Millsap at the deadline. Utah didn't need two power forwards, they needed some scoring prospects for the future. PG: Devin Harris / Steve Blake SG: Brandon Roy / Rudy Fernandez SF: Gerald Wallace / Nicolas Batum PF: LaMarcus Aldridge / Paul Millsap C: Greg Oden / Emeka Okafor So, sure...Pritchard looks pretty good if you compare Portland's roster to what he inherited. But he looks pretty fucking incompetent to that roster that he could have acquired.
The off season wasn't good to the Blazers IMO. Any off season where all your trades fall through, you are not able to land your highest 4 to 5 free agents on your list when you specifically had money set aside to do such a thing is not good. Does that leave them in a bad spot? Only for off season goals. It just sets the team back to where we are used to them being: Waiting for young talent to improve. Any time you have uncertainty instead of certainty (in a good way) it is not the optimal position to be in. None of the moves we made this off season were going to be as important as Greg Oden improving anyhow. They were just to augment the team.
"Highest 4 to 5 free agents?" I think this whole blurb is all kinds of wrong, but I'm curious about your counting methods. Turkoglu, Millsap...who are the remaining 2-3 free agents that Portland had ahead of Andre Miller?
I would say we have as much "certainty" as any other team in the league. Even the favorites in the NBA. How certain are the Lakers that Artest can replace Ariza and possibly Odom? How certainare the Spurs that Duncan and Manu can last through another season? How certain are the Celtics in their big 3 staying healthy, and being effective as they get older? How certain is Orlando that changing from their game last season, to a mroe traditional style will get them back to the Finals? How certain is Cleveland that Shaq will be enough to get them over the top, and convince LBJ to stay? And for us, how certain are we that Oden will stay healthy, giving him the ability to propel us into the elite teams? I'd say we all have question marks, with moves done, not done, and attempted this offseason. I'd much rather question ROy adn Aldridge developing further than an aging player hanging on for another year or two.
I used the most common urban legend on this forum (the Devin Harris trade that Pritchard "turned down"), threw in the imaginary trades postulated in this thread and added one of my own for fun.
They talked to both Kidd and tried to work a deal with NY for a sign and trade with David Lee. That is in addition to Hedo and Milsap. That makes 4. I am pretty sure they talked to more people than that. That is only what we heard about. So that is 4 to 5. What's the mystery?
Ok good, I thought I was suffering from heat stroke! Either that, or OdenIsGod got a hold of your password.
Ah. I thought you were more sensible than using every rumour/report about "who they talked to" to imagine up Pritchard's list. Gotcha now. They also spoke to Ariza's agent and Odom's agent, according to certain reports. omg, that pushes Miller down to 6-7. And when you consider that they may have talked to all sort of people not reported, Miller probably isn't top-ten. Disaster.
I am hoping that if nothing else, that Portland became educated in how to court a free agent. Sometimes you have to learn from mistakes. Hopefully, they are somebody else's mistakes, but that doesn't always work out. Let's face it. This was KP's first attempt at landing a "big fish". Hopefully he learned from losing it.
I'm still confused. Besides which, Chandler is actually the better player, or at least, has done more. I'm also confused why the Hornets, who traded Chandler for chump change because they were broke, suddenly trade him for a much longer contract. Did Shinn win the lottery?
Have you considered running seminars teaching these rube general managers from podunk towns a little of your big city sophistication? Like when San Antonio tried to hook Przybilla and failed. They were inexperienced and small-time then. I think they learned from that, allowing them to land McDyess this year. After all, the only reason free agents choose not to sign with a team is GM failure. I am amused that his "failure to land this big fish" resulted in his signing a better player for a much, much better contract. With failure like that, he may just fail into a championship.
Andre Miller is not a better player than Hedo Turkoglu, especially at this stage of their career. I could care less about the contract if it brings a ring. People bitched about Rashard Lewis contract but last year he probably earned every penny when they made the finals and he made shot to get them there. I can tell you that from what I saw on the films of Hedo coming into town they could definitly use a dose of professionality. I can't speak of the Pryzbilla recruitment in San Antonio, because I have no perspective. I didn't see any film of his visit there, and I don't know if team leadership met with him to try and get him to come over. I can also say that when Orlando tried to lure Tim Duncan away from San Antonio, they made the mistake of going over the top. There is a fine medium. You want it to be professional, you want your team leaders to meet with them and talk with them about the possibilities and let them know they are wanted there. You want your GM to show up not still tucking in his shirt and looking like he had just got out of the bar. You shouldn't rush anything. If they are not willing to take the time to listen to your offer, and have a nice relaxed visit, it's not worth your time to pursue them either. Professional is the key. Not rushed. Portlands visit was rushed, and unprofessional. No team leaders were in place. Lastly, Joel Pryzbilla was never a big fish. You don't go ra ra ra over run of the mill free agents. They are lucky to get the contract they get.
Only one of those was reported by a half-dozen news sources. And we would've had to throw in Jack, as well. "So sure, KP looks pretty good when you compare the roster he inherited. I don't count LMA and Roy as "his", because it was just rumors that he was the one who orchestrated those trades. I mean, how do you know? Nash was the GM. He should get the credit. Jack/Sergio/Dickau Roy/Jones Udoka/Webster/Outlaw Z-bo/LMA Joel/Magloire #1 pick in 2007 Now: Miller/Blake/Bayless Roy/Rudy Batum/Webster LMA/Outlaw Oden/Przy Kopo, Freeland, Claver stashes. I'm struggling to find a single player other than Blake on this roster that wasn't a draft pick or last week's free agent signing. In the last 3 drafts KP has picked/maneuvered for Oden, Rudy, Bayless, Batum, Freeland, Kopo, Claver, Pendergraph, Cunningham, Mills. Maybe those guys will turn out great, but two have been injured a good portion of their (short) careers, two were underutilized last year, one barely got off of the bench, 3 are stashed in Europe. Meanwhile, the expiring contracts of Franchise, Magloire and Raef combined to net us nothing except 7.717M in space to get Andre Miller. His trades have brought us Von Wafer, Channing, Rudy, James Jones, Ike Diogu and Michael Ruffin--only one of whom still plays for us. One could say that he hasn't really done a thing to help the team other than let Roy, Blake, Outlaw, LMA and Przy keep doing their "steady" thing, bringing us up to the magical 54 win level and a 1st round playoff exit. But excoriate away on those questioning why our roster seems to be the one that isn't improving among the WC contenders. EDIT: I wish I was better at sarcasm. In case I haven't said it publicly, you producer guys are world-class!
