I'm surprised how bummed out some of you guys are. Who did we really miss out on? Whiteside? Chose to stay in Miami. Not a shocker. Attractive city for a lot of players. He had his breakout season there and they are a playoff team already. Durant? Wont even meet with the Blazers, so fuck him. Never expected to get him anyway. Besides, dude just choked away a 3-1 lead over the Warriors. Dwight Howard? Has crushed team chemistry on the last two teams he's played on. Even if we sign him, you have to question how willing he would be to accept a role. Parsons? Didn't want him. Overrated, bad knee. When I heard we targeted him, I couldn't help but think why. Never wanted him to begin with. There's still Horford, and Gasol out there, and there's probably a trade or two in the works.
Agreed! I'd take a healthy mobile Turner over injury plagued players or paying a premium for performance that is long gone at its peak.
I doubt Horford or Gasol come here...would be nice if we could lure Al.....im sure we will see a trade or two before the smoke clears
I think it's easy to be disappointed if you are one of those people that maybe bought into Neil's consistent message about setting the team up for a "needle mover" -- that all of of the moves of the last couple of years were about building a culture and a team that was going to transform Portland into more of a destination, than its been in the past. Personally, I didn't let myself get hyped, but I did go from completely cynical to mildly curious that maybe, just maybe he'd be able to pull a rabbit out of his hat and land a marquee name. Maybe we'll all be a little bit wiser ... at least for a little while. Maybe there's a trade lurking on the horizon that gets it done? That's probably our best hope to take another leap in the next year or so. We'll see I guess?
C'mon Nik, youve been around here for years. You know these dudes are gonna be talking about how portlands a destination again next year, maybe sooner. They will never learn. Some are already beating the dead horse that we made the right signing.
I think folks have said repeatedly that Portland is a great situation for the right players, not that Portland was a big market destination. For the likes of me, I don't know how some place like LA, Atlanta or even Detroit are such great places to live and maybe raise kids in. I like that Portland is a bit of a secret as to the quality of life...don't come here! Rains all the time! High crime! Poor schools! Bums everywhere! Are you listening California?
I think that's NO's MO from the Clippers experience. Assemble talented guys on reasonable contracts and then wait to trade for the right disgruntled star. Hope it works.
I love my home state, we have it all... Mountains, beaches, lakes, desert, all the seasons.... What we don't have is a great culture for young millionaires who want to party, pop bottles, have 11 kids by 10 females, model, etc. We just better hope one day there is a top tier free agent who does have a close knit family, who LOVES the outdoors, and is okay with going to a farmers market then fishing on a Saturday instead of sleeping all day then going to the club to get drunk and hook up with women.
Before this off season started I was under the belief that Portland could not waste this opportunity to add someone that could be a difference maker. I was wrong. They can afford to lose this opportunity if the alternative was overpaying a mediocre finished product. I would rather just resign everyone from last year and bank on their potential.
Pretty much the only way we get a star. We would have to be a bottom 5 team to get one through the draft and as long as Lillard is here and healthy I don't think we would drop that low.
Sign Austin Rivers, bring back TRob, re-sign our own free agents and we'd be contending for the title
If I was a free agent without bias I would be swayed towards Portland just because of the beauty. I love trees and nature and greenery.. well guess what, to have that you have to have some steady periods of rain so I don't care that it may rain during the winter. The night life? I'm not a partier and the I'd view the lack of distractions as a good thing.. I could stay focused on basketball. I guess there's not many NBA athletes that value the same things as me...
Nightlife is what young twenty somethings do, specially Millenials, which all of these players are. They mostly could give two shits about the beauty of Oregon. Shake in shitty traffic, shitty property taxes (specially multnomah fuck all county) income tax and vagrants galore there really is no reason for these guys to come here except when they retire and want to just recover their liver from the 10 years of NBA party. Hell even then they'll probably go to somewhere warmer. If my family wasn't here and my job could move id bounce out of here too.
