These are the last remaining above-average free agents unsigned. - Andre Miller - Ramon Sessions - Nate Robinson - Marvin Williams - David Lee Portland is either negotiating with one of them or is waiting for others to do so. Ramon Sessions is a polarizing subject on these boards. His lack of experience, I acknowledge, is reason to worry. 'Dre's outside shooting and age is also. Nate's size, Marvin's inconsistencies, and Lee's possibly inflated stats are real question marks. The obvious gem here is David Lee. He's also been linked to Portland trade rumors for over a year now. Even today, in an article, he singled out Portland as the one remaining team with cap space (which I found odd). Look, if we went after Millsap, we'll go after Lee. Lee isn't the defender that Millsap is, but he's a hell of a rebounder and hustler. The dude has a nose for the ball. I know I already started a thread about using him to pry away Kirk Hinrich from Chicago. After thinking about it, after reading the latest interview he gave today, and after hearing about Oden, I'm thinking we should sign him to as large an offer sheet as possible and go from there. Lee's desperate and frustrated at this point. Playing behind Aldridge and Oden while making $9 to $11M per year isn't the worst of situations. And it's not as if LA and Greg won't sit a few games throughout the season due to injury or sickness. Would Pryzbilla be fine relegated to the bench? At this point, I don't care. We have an opportunity to bring in a stud of a player and salvage the cap space Portland worked so hard to free up. Let's get David Lee and sort it out in the months leading up to training camp. If we can't work out a sign-and-trade where we bring in a point guard (i.e. Hinrich) or small forward (i.e. Wallace), just send Travis to Memphis for a future first rounder, free up another $3.6M, and use this to offer David Lee a toxic contract. With $11.3M in spending money, we could offer him a three-year $26M contract with a $9M signing bonus. New York won't have a hard time coming up with $17M right away, but they won't be happy with having a cap hold of $11.6M in year two of the contract either. We'll have spent $35M over the life of the contract, but this ensures he's ours IMO and $11M per year isn't ridiculous after Bargnani signed for a $1M less. Also, as far as league-wide value, in trade, we'd be looking at more reasonable numbers ($8M, $8.6M, $9.3M) I believe. Ultimately we'd be moving from Oden, Aldridge, Przybilla and Outlaw to Oden, Aldridge, Lee and Przybilla. And likely, we'd need to part ways with Przybilla. That's not really a terrible thing if it means getting Hinrich or Prince in some sort of a package. I'd be very happy with a tight rotation in the front court of Oden, Aldridge and Lee. I'd be even happier if we could add another big somehow in another deal*, free agency, or by bringing Freeland over. Our wings would be fine with Batum, Roy, Webster, and Rudy. And by moving say Bayless and Przybilla for Hinrich and a big (Noah*?), I like our point guard position of Hinrich and Blake. Am I crazy? Would you rather go after another player? Would you rather just stand pat? Is this money too much to throw at David Lee?
I'd be really excited to add Sessions. I'd be happy to add Lee or Williams. I'd consider Miller a solid addition. Robinson isn't of major interest to me.
Here's one reason I wouldn't tear my (remaining) hair out over a Miller signing - although the stat's out of date, while in Denver he led the league by a sizeable amount in Alley-Oop assists:
I've been saying it for awhile, Miller would make Aldridge and Oden look better statistically, and his ability to throw an accurate "oop" pass is a big reason. If the price and length of contract are right, Miller has the potential to be a very nice player. The Blazers have far more wings who can shoot than the Sixers did/do, he'll have two athletic skilled bigs to throw the ball to (Aldridge would love his outlet passes on the break) and Brandon doesn't have to carry the whole load of being a playmaker. And (no offense) he's a helluva lot more proven of a player than Pablo Prigioni.
Presumably you mean in the NBA, which of course I can't deny, because Prigioni hasn't been in the NBA. However, neither had Luis Scola when the Rockets signed him, and I don't think they've regretted it. And Scola played with Prigioni before coming to the NBA and still misses him, saying that Prigioni could start for any NBA team. Of course there's a downside to Miller's "proof". He's proven that he doesn't work well outside of a running game where he dominates the ball. He's proven that he can't shoot threes, and is too old at this point to change. He's proven that he's bounced around a fair bit, and none of his ex-teammates has expressed regret at his leaving. Of course, unlike Prigioni, he hasn't proven to be a world-class International player.
Andre Miller has a surprsingly low usage rate for such a supposedly ball dominant player and has shown he can play alongside a playmaking wing pretty effectively in Iguodala. As for his bonafides, I don't really care about an international hoops pedigree, I only care what a player is capable of doing in the NBA; Prigioni might be good, but at the same time he might be a massive flop as he adjusts from playing fiba rules hoops to NBA rules and style. Miller's former teammates liking him or loving him doesn't mean much to me either, I only care about his ability to play effectively and his ability to stay out of off-court trouble; the worst I've heard said about him is that he's an introvert, a very private person and isn't a "vocal" locker room leader. If on the flip side, if he's able to push tempo and take care of the ball is that really the worst thing that could happen for the team? People dog Nate for his slow pace and methodical offense, but I think that's mostly because he values possessions so highly; Miller has a very low turnover % and is able to play the way he does pretty efficiently. I dunno, I could be completely wrong about Miller's ability to play on this team and I concede there's a certain amount of risk considering his age and lack of a perimeter shot, but like I said, at the right price and right number of years, I think it's a risk I'd be willing to take.
Interesting points about Miller. I also liked this from Rastapopoulos: I agree with CTC we should sign Lee and then do a sign and trade for Hinrich or Miller. And uh, you know, with Przybilla. PG Miller or Hinrich/Bayless SG Roy/Rudy SF you know /Batum/Webster PF LMA/Lee/Cunningham C Oden/LMA/Lee/Pendergraph Looks pretty good. I also like the OP's idea of going for Wallace. I just wonder what Charlotte would want from us...
Info on David Lee. Sounds like there's still a chance with a sign-and-trade. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4354227
I'm glad they did try one last ditch effort to go after Lee. A sign-and-trade could actually still work with Blake, Bayless, and Outlaw as components going out.
