Does anyone fear, as I am starting, that we made a mistake not acquiring Vince Carter? The guy is two years older than Turkoglu, but he's a MUCH better player. He also makes a lot more money, but the number of years (two full seasons, then a third only guaranteed to $4m) aren't too bad. Taking on Vince would have eaten up our cap space (and then some) but I worry that we're going to end up only adding one more veteran, anyway... and that no one we add will be nearly as good as Carter is. Hopefully we can add two vets with the money we would have spent on VC, but thinking it over I am not sure that someone like Tukoglu would be as good an addition as Vince. Ed O.
I'm not sure I feel like we missed the boat, but let's say we're talking about the difference between adding a duo of Andre Miller and Turkoglu (as an example of something KP might be trying to do) or just Vinsanity by himself, I'd probably rather have the former than the latter , just because I think you'd have a fully set roster 1-5 with 3 or 4 very solid backup options (Nic, Rudy, Pryz, with Bayless as the maybe).
We have Batum, Webster, and Travis. Chances are, our guy lies in one of those three. We should use our cap upgrading at PG instead. Blake and Bayless doesn't look quite as good.
Vince would have been cool here I think. But Turk and Miller sounds really good. Although, I am kind of falling off the Turk bandwagon. All this 5 year 50 million talk is making me cringe.
I wanted VC back at the trading deadline, but I actually don't think we missed the boat at all. Our SF spot that VC would play may be a little weak, but that is not our biggest problem. We will get the biggest bang for our buck by investing in a better PG. Batum/Web/TLaw/ whoever we get via smaller trade or signing will be enough to hold down that position, but Blake is just not a starting quality PG. I like Blake a lot as a BU and as a person, but not as a starting PG in the NBA. At least 25 teams have certain upgrades at PG to what we have at the moment. Clear up the PG weakness, and our entire offense runs better including our lesser quality SF players. Also, Batum has a ton of potential at SF and I think we really just need a one year filler for Batum to fully come into his own. VC would have added a lot of firepower, but he is better at SG anyway, and we already have Roy there. VC is not a good SF defender, and with Roy and VC on our wings we would have a hard time on the perimeter. Although I wanted VC in the past, the more I think about it I think he was a bad fit for the team and would have used up resources that are better placed elsewhere.
Despite the protestations of many, I was always of the opinion that obtaining something of some value with RLEC would be better than getting nothing at all. Yes, it's possible that the addition of Carter would have impacted our team's chemistry adversely, or that his sizable contract would be a greater detriment than his talent would be a benefit, or that other important players would have had to be included in order to acquire Carter, or that his skill set just wouldn't have fit in with our current roster, and all of those possibilities could have made standing pat the better option. And I'm probably better off accepting that those possibilities or perhaps some other reason I've not considered caused KP to correctly not pull the trigger on some potential deal for Carter, Jefferson, or ?? However, until/unless we see something fantastic made of the upcoming capspace, I will have a nagging doubt in the back of my head about what might have been.
That was an unbelievable deal we were offered: RLEC for VC + 2 1st round picks. Furthermore, VC's last year is only partially guaranteed (something like $4MM), so in a couple of years we could have had another "super expiring" contract. The Blazers' brain trust must not only have not liked Carter very much, but must have thought he was the second coming of Bonzi Wells to turn down that deal.
...as long as it wasn't this boat [video=youtube;o8T095mFdW8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8T095mFdW8[/video]
Speaking of missing boats, I'll bet there was some poor guy who was running through the streets of Southhampton England late for his "boat" and was forced to watch in disgust and horror from the end of the pier as the Titanic set sail without him. Missing the boat isn't always a bad thing
If we use the money to nab a first rate PG, I am at peace with passing on VC. If all we wind up with is a modest upgrade at SF....I would rather have had VC and the picks.
I think Blazer management fucked up badly last year when they didn't move Raef's contract. I think KP needs to make a huge upgrade at PG and SF to make up for it because he said at the time that there would be better opportunities in the offseason due to the economy. Well KP, it's the offseson and we are waiting. So far SA, Orlando, and Cleveland have all gotten much better on paper.
