Ifeaanyi Festus Ezeli is in town and preparing to interview w Blazers

Bobby Marks at the vertical estimates he can get an offer for 2 yrs at 10 per

 

That would be fantastic.

 

So we'll need to double that for him to come to Portland, and hope no one else offers the minimum?

 

Today should actually be a pretty telling day in the life of old Festus. He legitimately seems extremely interested in coming to Portland, and Portland is looking for someone with his defensive skill set. I think if we see him leave Portland without a contract, it means his knees are in pretty bad shape. Just my opinion.

 

Read about this dude a bit last night. From Nigeria,wanted to be a doc so his fam shipped him off to live with an uncle who was practicing in Sac as a teenager. Grew up there and went to Vandy. Was projected as a mid first rounder in Dame/Meyers/Mo draft but slipped to the 30th pick (ahead of Draymond).

Seems like a smart, fun dude and hard worker based on some of the vids I've seen of him. He'd fit in with the team perfectly, both with skill and culture. My only worry is his knees.

A report in May mentioned that he would play for Team Nigeria with Aminu in the Olympics this summer.

 

great so an injury prone player opting to play over the summer for his home land, where have we heard that before....? went well right?

 

haha forgot about the Nigerian connection with Aminu.

Man, " The Nigerian Connection" sounds badass for some reason.

 

So Aminu is the Prince and Ezeli is the guy who sends the email?

 

Now bring in Mutombo as big man coach and we can start distancing ourselves from WABC syndrome

 

Well he's from a pretty well to do family. And smart -- had a scholarship to go to Harvard.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-nb...grating-from-nigeria-at-14-064718515-nba.html

 

He hasn't sign yet I wonder what the hold up is could it be contract or his knees.

 

today he undergoes a medical eval and knee check, they are not going to sign him without having that check out ok

 

Have to be waiting for his tests to come back.

 

I would be absolutely good with this, and you won't hear a negative peep out of me. At least, until Azeli misses half the season with a knee injury.

 

$10-12 mil was my thinking too. Which is why I freaked at $20 mil and renouncing Harkless. $10-15 mil and trading Plums to make room and I'm good.

 

Gotta pay the Blazers supplement. If he's worth 10, we pay 12.5. If he's worth 12, we pay 15. etc.

 

BBert...you posted the unmentionable...first rule of ripcity2...never mention the kn-- word

 

Yeah. Very few 4-letter words are banned here. That should be one the filter picks up automatically.

 

I'm not sure if I care if he is overpaid. It just means that Portland might go into the luxury tax area. I think he is a better fit to keep as he has different skill set than Ezeli. I think we will be using guys like Aminu and Harkless mostly as our PF's. Now as I am writing I guess that if Davis is backup C then it would be similar to the starting unit so more continuity, but I am thinking we might have a lot of situations or opposing teams where Plumlee would fit better. I still have hope Plumlee can develop a short jump shot. It's tough to say; but right now we can clear a lot more cap space by trading Davis than Plumlee.

 

Elezi is very good player he also will give us low post guy that actually have low post moves. On defense he is a rim protector and with Turner and Aminu playing beside him in front court we will be tuff on defense. He is upgrade from Plum and Davis.