Hoopsworld Morning Report with Kevin Pritchard

Kirk is not an all-star but his skills seem to fill a void on this team: his defense plus an ability to play off-ball which would compliment Brandon pretty well. It's no great secret that Hinrich is also a better defender than Steve Blake ... a much better defender. The rest of his game is similar to Blake's but he's stronger, and a little more athletic and he would be a definite upgrade.

 

The problem I have with this is that its totally your own off-the-cuff analysis. When you look at stats Blake seems to be just as productive as Hinrich on both ends of the floor over the last year or two.

Besides, I'm hard pressed to think Kirk is a long-term starting guard on a championship team. And with the price tag next to his name for the next 4 years, I don't see why his salary combined with his abilities make him an upgrade at all over Blake.

40m over the next 4 years is a TON of cash for a guard who likely won't be starting in 2 years on this team.

 

It's 36.5 million over 4 years and his contract gets better each year (actually going down)

I beg to differ on defense Hinrich definitely has shown he can do a lot more than Blake.

 

The concern I have is if Hinrich's abilities over Steve Blake are worth the 28m or so we could save from either keeping blake or using that money elsewhere.

TBH, I can't find a way to justify Hinrich being worth that much over Blake.

 

I wouldn't care about the money because if we get a PG AND SF that are upgrades, it kills 2 birds with one stone. With the salary cap we will have available this offseason, we could only probably sign one of those two positions. If Hinrich and Deng, or a 3 way where we get say Marvin Williams and Hinrich is the best we can do, I'd say go for it.

 

Off-the-cuff analysis? How do you figure? I watch the Bulls play regularly on WGN, I can see with my own eyes the impact that Kirk Hinrich has on the defensive end of the court, he wasn't named to the second all-NBA defensive team because he's bad at it. His offense isn't A+ material, but he's a solid B at initiating and maybe a B- shooter.

As for his salary, it might be a shade high, but it de-escalates from 10 million this year and eventually falls to around 8 million per year ... for quality point guard who is only 27 right now and will be about 31 when his contract is up, that's pretty decent value and it's not like he'd be un-tradeable.

 

The way Blake has played in year's past he was worth the 4 million a year he makes, after his career year he's probably worthy of a contract that pays closer 5 or 6 million a year (assuming he can maintain this level of production).

 

I don't want to trade Bayless. Sacramento wanted him in the draft which is why we made the trade to get him.

 

Hinrich is a big upgrade over Blake. When we signed Blake, I was excited under the condition that he would eventually be the backup. Not the starter. Whether we move Bayless into the starting five, or trade for Hinrich, I would prefer to see Blake coming off the bench. The guy has proven this season that he can't guard anyone, and he's really only good as a shooter for us.

 

Q.F.T.

I think Hinrich is underrated, and Blake overrated, on this board. I guess that's normal. We are Blazers fans!

 

Blake overrated? He's underrated, even by Blazer standards.

 

Underrated in what way?