Look, I like Batum but at $10-11 million a year? I say let him go.... You have 2 draft picks, potentially a lot of cap space and a team that is certainly more than 1 or 2 players away for competing for a title.... I just don't think the risk is worth it to pay Batum $10-11 mil... Especially when you have 2 lottery picks in a strong draft, where you could pick up a replacement (Harrison Barnes, Terrance Jones, Perry Jones, Tony Mitchell, Moe Harkless, Jeff Taylor)..... If POR could get a mid 1st rounder and maybe another player for Batum and SAVE themselves from having to overpay to keep Batum, then I think they should definitely look into doing so at the draft.... You trade Batum away for a mid 1st in the draft and then you have the chance to bring in 3 impact rookies, 2 impact free agents plus Freeland, maybe Claver...and here is the key, if you drafted correctly and spent your FA money wisely then the team will probably be in a better position that it would be having signed Batum to a long term contract at $10-11 mil per.... I would like to have Batum on the team, I still think he has the potential to improve although not as much as I did, but the chances are more and more likely that he is now the player that he will be...inconsistent performer....stellar one night and invisible the next...at $5-7 mil I can live with that at $10-11? I remain unconvinced that he can develop into that #2 guy, not even sure about #3, he is just too inconsistent. Teams are going to make a hard run at him. I say pre-empt the hard decision that will need to be made and avoid making the overpaying for what you get mistake...be PROACTIVE in the draft and deal him for a mid 1st, rather than lose him for nothing if they make the right but hard call (not overpaying for him). Not to mention if a team offers him a contract on the 1st night of FA it really puts POR under the gun to sign a FA quickly or lose all of thier cap space b\c they have to match within 3 days.
I agree with you to an extent, but the fact is we need to keep talent right now, not let it go. Unless we can package him with a lottery pick for someone like Rondo, I think we will be better off keeping Batum, extending Hickson and signing someone like Dragic. Our cap space is going to be gone after this summer anyway, so who cares if we end up spending a couple million more a year on Batum.
Your post makes a good argument for trading Batum. However, the flip side is that with Batum we know what we have. He’s a very good complimentary player and is capable of some very good things. He’s now an NBA veteran and gets respect. He can shoot outside and slash. He’s an excellent defender. Why trade him for a mid round pick and some other player? The pick is, at best, a huge gamble. The other player, if he has to be bundled with a draft pick, probably won’t be anyone special. Another thought… with Batum we have the SF spot sewed up. With LA we have PF sewed up. We need to use draft picks and free agents to shore up our other 3 positions. In other words, we have so many needs, why create more? Good post, but to me it falls short.
I wouldn't pay him anywhere close to 10-11 a year. Ideally we could S&T him, but SA is going to be all over him, and he wants to play with one of him best friends in Parker. I'm not sure what the S&T would be for? I wonder if they would do Leonard and a pick?
Whats funny about the whole Batum thing is that if we had a hole at the 3 spot and needed to go after a SF in FA then he would be exactly the type of "potential" player a lot of people would want to go after. He shoots the 3 ball well, runs the floor well and plays pretty good defense. A lot of teams would be ecstatic to get that from their 3.
Does it make a difference who is making an offer to Batum? If someone like the Knicks or Cavs or Sactown make a stupid offer then let him go but if San Antonio suddenly offers Batum $10mill a year we need to look at keeping him.
I guess it all depends on where the market sets his value. 10-11 million seems kind of far-fetched, but you never know. The other thing you "never know" is just how the so-called front office will handle their business ... I'm not super optimistic that this will be handled deftly and shrewdly.
If you are willing to let Batum go you better damned well have a sure fire back-up plan. The last thing I want is let him go and then spend the next two years finding his replacement because we didnt have a good plan in place. Id rather over-pay a little for a piece that we already know can fit.
Be prepared to "over pay" him in order to keep him. The market value was set last summer with Afflalo and others. Only 23..... we got to pay him to keep him.
All trades and drafts are gambles, that is why it is IMPERATIVE that a team have a good front office, something which POR does not have right now. and just having the SF & PF spot sewed up doesn't = more wins. Nor does it guarantee more playoff appearances....IF you resign Batum to $10-11 mil, your stuck with him for awhile, you have attached your franchise hopes (in part) to him. Certainly I would agree to trade him is the more risky move, heck the EASY decision is just to match whatever any team offers for him...but often times the easy decision is not the right one or the one that needs to be made in order for a team to take that next step....sometimes you got step off that ledge and take the jump. I don't anticipate POR trading Batum, just too risky for them and mgmt seems incapable of making the gutsy moves that are needed in times like these....so likely they will retain Batum and they will hope isn't for $10-12 mil but even if it is they will likely match and probably make another in a long line of mistakes...Hey I hope Batum proves me wrong and he turns into that #3, #2 guy....but I just don't see it right now...
uhh, you would have to sign and trade him, right? so you trade batum for equivalent contracts (unless they have a trade exception) of lesser players? :MARIS61:
Another way to look at this is if you're Batum or LA why would you want to stay in Portland? I mean you have no coach, no GM, an idiot for an owner being advised by a committee of idiots in the Vulcans and no real game plan in place. Am I missing anything here? Oh yes..... Let's just say the Blazers stumble upon the greatest GM ever and he does a great job..... he's likely to be fired by Paul "I've got a GOD complex" Allen for no apparent reason. So keep that in mind while we're auditioning a coach too, that's got strike confidence in that postions don't ya think? Truly if I'm Batum or LA I'm praying for a trade, cause if you're player who wants to win, PDX is not where ya want to be, not the way it has been for the last 3 years! Honestly if I'm a top 5 player coming out of college and PDX is a contender for me the way they are being run today..... I'm staying in school!
Not sure on that, I think he would still be on his contract at\before the draft? Maybe someone can clarify...
That's True, AND he absolutely loves this city/team. It's possible he understands that by being overpaid it hurts the squad overall and ends up accepting a compromising deal, after all Batum is a consummate team player.
We should MATCH no matter what the offer! Then we should trade him if we don't like the contract after Dec 15. CANNOT LOSE ASSETS FOR NOTHING!!!!!!!!
IMO, the Blazers need to focus on getting another established All-Star this summer. If they can do that while keeping Batum and/or Hickson, great, but they can't let signing those guys keep them from achieving their primary objective. Strategy-wise, there are several approaches they could take. They could try to get their All-Star on draft day with trades involving players and one or more of our picks. They could also go the route of giving Batum & Hickson the QO, but not signing them to a new deal until they sign a FA using their cap space. That way, their cap space is only impacted by the cap hold on these players, not the amount of their new contracts. They're going to have to be quick if that's the plan because they only have 3 days to match any offer those guys get. There's the option of using one or both of them in a sign-and-trade deal. Any way you look at it, this is going to be a wild summer for the Blazers.
exacty, that would be close to "fair value" IMO and I'd be happy if we paid that, don't think it's likely though
If you trade Batum away for picks, you may as well trade LMA too. Because he's going to be getting old by the time your crop of rookies matures enough to be useful.
