But what superstar is going to choose to come here? That's my issue with free agency. All the money in the world doesn't matter if players don't want to come to a small market where it rains the entire season and has high taxes. Portland is one of those places that seems to grow on players, so trading for one might give us a better shot at getting one long term
Doesn't mean you don't put yourself in position to land one, not too mention payroll flexibility is never a bad thing. It's better than tying it up in Jamal and Gerald. Aldridge has to be a player some stars (cough Deron Williams cough) could want to play with. Keep Wes as well as him and Deron are friends. That said, beyond unlikely.
Will Dallas have cap space this summer? Why would Deron want to go to Dallas if Dirk and most of the roster is nearing retirement? What other young star is on that team to pair him with? At least if he came here he'd have Aldridge and Batum.
This is the main thing that I never understood about Deron Williams going to the Mavs. Why? I get that it is his hometown and all but I wouldnt want to come "home" and have the team just be ok after Dirk and the others done. And when they are done Williams is right back where he was with the Nets, rebuilding around him. Is going home really worth all that?
We don't know what is (or will be) out there in terms of opportunity, but if the team is mediocre and you have a chance to get younger and better through trades, you should do it. I don't think that having cap space is going to be as valuable as potential trades could be, and comparing a Wallace trade for some faceless player to using cap space to sign Deron isn't very balanced, since it's comparing an unknown to a best-case scenario. Ed O.
Bump. This is still the way to go. Don't trade Felton or Crawford for some scrub player. If we can get a draft pick and an expiring, that's great, or another young player making a decent salary is fine too, but nothing stupid like trading for Blake.
I agree with this, we are open to trades for picks or if we can add a piece for the future, but anything like a Blake trade causes me to quit on this team as it would tell me Mgmt has no clue and they have basically quit on me and the POR fans.
If I was management, I would just come out and say, "it's a lockout shortened season, the team is not performing the way we thought it would, and we've decided to just ride it out and make the changes this summer. Please bare with us." Of course, I would say this during the news conference where I announce the termination of Nate's contract
Because we don't actually have any idea how power (and maybe more importantly accountability) is divided within the organization I can't help shaking the feeling that Nate has gained a lot of power over personnel (Hence the Nolan Smith pick) and if Nate does have power over some of these decisions he's likely only going to be thinking short-term about his job security and trying to squeeze a playoff run out of this team to save his job ... even though that appears increasingly less likely. If we trade for Steve Blake it will be because Nate has a comfort level with him. Furthermore, we've got an owner that has had some very serious health problems recently and my guess is that he's as accutely aware of his mortality as he's ever been. This also makes me think that there's more short-term thinking steering the ship. Allen already publicly stated that he'd consider selling the team if they had to endure another rebuild, so unless he's really eager to get out of the basketball business I suspect the decisions that this team makes at the deadline will be more about trying to salvage this season than not. In short, letting Nate trade for Steve Blake is just the kind of desperation, short-term, myopic move I'd expect from the team at this point.
Williams isn't coming to PDX. There are far more attractive teams with the cap money to max him out than the Blazers.
The Mavs are competent, successful organization that with an owner that is very involved with the team's success. Why the hell would he want that over the mess that is the Blazers organization right now?
Fuck this noise! If we stand pat, then I'm going to stop watching games. I can't stomach this insane play. I wouldn't care if we actually tried hard and just lost to a better team. Problem is we are the better team on paper and we can't even beat the bad teams. We need a PG bad! Even if we don't get Nash or Rondo; we gotta find someone that can run the offense without turning the ball over.
No bandaids. That should be a slogan. I'd much rather watch them suck ass the rest of the season than squander future assets in the hopes of making the 8th seed.
It's not a bandaid. We are talking about giving the fans something to watch. Like I said on another post. I wouldn't mind losing to the better team. I do mind losing to terrible teams. I want effort. I want to watch a team that actually cares about winning. Our management needs to get rid of everyone that has been a problem, including Nate. We need to start over and give us fans something to look forward to.
I don't care how involved Cuban is.... he has been successful because he's had the right pieces. They were LUCKY to get Dirk for Tractor Trailer, Finley was acquired in the trade of Jason Kidd before Cuban got there, and Nash was traded to Dallas for garbage. What big free agents have they signed? What history have they shown for drafting good players other than Dirk? I think it's great that Cuban is so involved, but Dallas is not LA, NY, or Miami. They aren't getting Dwight Howard and Williams will end up being the only good player on that team in a few years.
I guess I sound like a broken record but i still think we should go for Deron Williams at the trade deadline if NJ isn't able to swing a deal for Dwight Howard. I would only do it if we could somehow keep Batum. Would find out what NJ wants and (I would assume draft picks if they can't get Howard and know they are losing Williams) and try to trade Camby, Crawford and Wallace for draft picks and throw in Elliot Williams (and Felton for filler) for Williams. We would then have the three player core the OP referred to and would be the only team with bird rights to Williams. I think it would be problematic to try to sign him as as free agent in the summer.
