He's played a significant role on playoff teams the last two years. Milwaukie and Chicago. Since Shaq retired, he's the oldest player in the league.
Man, if this is for a reasonable amount of cash I love this move. Like MZ said Kurt Thomas is a bad ass motherfucker. He will knock you the fuck down if you hurt any of his guys and he will give you a hard foul and kids will not drive back in. He is like Joel with an ability to hit an outside shot and even more of an enforcer. No one going to be giving hard fouls to LaMarcus this year unless they want Kurt Thomas to knock them the fuck down.
The Blazers do need to put together a viable NBA roster. I know the on-paper min-maxers would prefer to play 5 fans off the street to get the top lottery chances, but the Blazers in real life can't literally have only 5-6 legitimate NBA players. Thomas is nothing special, but he gets the team one player closer to an actual NBA roster. Consider it the basic administrative business of running the team...you have to staff all the roster spots. I still think Marc Stein's "Blazermaniacs could use some good news" comment on this signing is comical, though. Finally, a reason to hope!
When all is said and done, I like this a whole fuckin' lot better than Reggie Evans at the MLE for 4 years. Not only is Thomas better, cheaper and on a shorter contract, he also gets an AARP discount on most meals and lodging. But, the Vulcan bean counters fucked up. If only they'd signed Thomas to a 1-year deal, he'd be eligible for the Veteran’s Minimum Reimbursement program and the league would have paid a big chunk of Thomas' salary. By signing him to a 2-year deal, the Blazers lose out on the Veteran’s Minimum Reimbursement. Oh well, just SPAM, I suppose. I thought it was the Vulcans' job to end that practice. BNM
great point BNM, I was just about to post this. It might be that in the new CBA they removed that clause, or made it more cap-friendly or something. But I agree that they did hose themselves out of 750k or so.
If the blazers had a good gm, we would be fine with trade pieces we have. It takes way too long to rebuild. Look at twolves, kings, bobcats, Knicks (10 years)
Rebuilding from scratch is out of question IMO. With the ownership uncertain moving forward you do not want a dwindling fan base/season tics. They must hire a competent GM who can re stack this lineup through trades. Otherwise this franchise (in my humble opinion) can withstand another rebuild.
Didn't we win 48 games and secure the 6th seed last season without Oden and Roy sucking (other than that one magical quarter against Dallas)? I know the general mood around here is pretty dismal right now, but why does everyone assume we'll be so much worse this year? Aldridge will be even better. Batum and Matthews should both be improved and will take all of Roy's minutes (which will improve our perimeter defense compared to last year). We'll have a full season of Gerald Wallace starting instead of Dante Cunningham for half a season. I personally think Felton is a minor downgrade at starting PG, but he's in a contract year and will be highly motivated. So, I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised. Thomas ain't great, but he's better than any back up big man we had last season. We lost Rudy, but that seems like addition by subtraction. Of course, the wheels could continue to fall off and we could suffer even more injuries. If Camby goes down, we are pretty fucked at this point. I like Chris Johnson, the energy, shot blocking and rebounding he brings off the bench, but if he's forced into the role of starting center, I'm afraid it won't be pretty. But, I'll worry about that only if/when it happens. BNM
Speaking for only myself, I like a team that can compete for a title. I don't mind a team that is building to do that either. What Portland is doing is standing still (partly no fault of their own)
No question about that, but that's setting the bar pretty low. If Thomas was signed at the veteran's minimum, then it's not as bad of a move as I had thought. I have a problem, though, with where the management seems to think this team is... adding a veteran presence to a team that doesn't have many young guys just isn't that helpful, IMO, and the team should be looking more to the future than they are. I guess maybe that's why Cho is no longer GM: he agreed with me that this team, as it's constructed, isn't nearly good enough to make a splash in the playoffs. Ed O.
This statement by Kurt Thomas speaks volumes about where this team is jwquick Kurt Thomas said he chose Portland over Chicago, Boston, Memphis and Miami. He said the opportunity to play, and a 2-yr deal were factors
He would have had an opportunity to play in Boston, Memphis and Miami. He did it for the 2 yr contract which probably wasn't offered by other teams. Good news, PA still looking to win.
