If he plays well enough to ear $10 million plus; I think he will be traded. Portland can't afford to pay that when they have younger guys coming up who will earn less.
Yeah, my guess is Vonleh is traded this season. He's just going to cost significantly more than Collins/Swanigan, and probably won't be significantly better to justify the cost. Why pay $10M for 100% when you can pay $1.5M for 90%? (And that's assuming Collins/Swanigan don't end up as good as Vonleh by the end of the season...and I think it's likely one of them can be at least as good.) Now, if we could lock him in on an Ed Davis contract I'd be up for keeping him! Also, if we're somehow able to trade Turner and/or Meyers for someone on a much cheaper contract I'd be more inclined to keep Vonleh. We've cut 1/3rd of our bad contracts - only 2/3rds to go!
It was interesting in his post-game interview in his coming out party against the Suns the first guy he mentioned was Crabbe. I think both he and the franchise see Crabbe as the blueprint for his success. Pat has more athleticism and is a better defender, so you can see us actually keeping him around for the long term if Game 1 is an indicator of what we can expect.
Look at the way we had to endure social injustice. I used witch hazel, rubbing alcohol and other caustic liquids to eliminate acne. Nowadays, every other TV commercial is about script drugs and the product to clear acne can wipe your skin off and other serious physical afflictions may occur..
One game. I will not overreact to one game. I will not draw conclusions from one game. I will not get excited about Pat after one game. I will not declare him a legit NBA player after 1 good game. But if he does it again against Indiana...
Pat did his work in the off season and in preseason and the 1st game it show it. Summer league they tested him out to maybe to handle the ball more but that not his strength. Strength is play off the ball and hit the open shot.
The most important part that I saw was how comfortable he looked out there. He didn't hesitate on his threes and ran the court in transition really well. In summer league and preseason he was doing too much. In this game he only did what he was supposed to, and looked great.
Thanks to his baseball pedigree and his new instant-offense-off-the-bench role, 750AM radio host Justin Myers has now dubbed Pat "The Heater". Yay or nay?
I like it. We really need a thread dedicated to Pat's official nickname. Patty Ice, Patty Fastball, Thunder Pat, The Heater. What else......
