So: Robin in NY for ridiculous sums, Wesley in Dallas for ridiculous sums and LA in (presumably) San Antonio, for more defensible sums. Oh, and Joel in (possibly) CSKA for all the natural gas he can use. Two requests: 1. Somebody add up all the money that our FAs are getting elsewhere. Then work out how many hospitals it could build. 2. Has anyone heard if any of them might be sign-and-trade, if only for trade exceptions?
The only one that matters is Aldridge. If you're losing your All-Star who is still in his prime you have to get something back. Letting him walk and/or trading him for a TPE is a bigtime fail.
First, there's no alternative to "letting him walk" other than actually kidnapping him, and sadly that doesn't constitute a binding contract. Second, feel free to vent, but I'm looking for actual information.
I think that Olshey had talks with Matthews and Rolo and realized that they would be asking too much money for what he considered their value and/or they didn't really want to stay in the Portland area. One thing I never heard from Matthews was something like "Of course I'd like to stay with this team but....." . Not sure what Rolo said.
Aldridge to Miami would have to be a s&t. Probably Bosh if we agreed. Duncan and Ginobili basically have to sign for the league minimum unless they make another trade.
Olshey and PA realized correctly that our players wanted big money at this point of their career. Re-signing all of them would have meant that the team would NOT improve. They made a choice to move on. Wouldn't it have been a little funny if LMA, Wes, and Rolo had each signed with Dallas? I think it would have been interesting to see how good or not they'd have been.
Okay: one thing you might pin on Olshey: allowing so many of our players to hit free agency at the same time. Imagine that happening for the Warriors - I doubt even they could keep the team together. If it's one at a time, you can work full bore on that one. More than one, and any hint that one is leaving gives the others more reason to look elsewhere.
Also, I will never get the point of trading Batum. "Yada yada yada inevitable" Bullshit. Nothing is inevitable but death, and even that can be pushed back a bit if you're careful. One thing we really need is a versatile wing. Everyone wants to throw big money at Tobias Harris - bigger money that Batum was making for a player who hasn't shown he's Batum's equal in any way.
Really? I'm surprised? Maybe you missed the huge war that happened on this forum two years ago when Brian and I predicted that this very thing would happen and that we should trade him.
Matthews probably getting > $15M per. Lopez getting > $13 per. We didn't stand a chance of re-signing them AND being able to improve the team. Insanity reigns!!
So we have: Dame/Aminu/Frazier CJ/Crabbe Henderson/Gee Vonleh/Meyers Davis/Plumlee +how much cap-space?
