Wow, anyone hear that this morning on The Game? Interesting. to wit, KP: Signed Martell for too much Signed LA for too much Was almost fired prior to this season due to the Penn/Minny fiasco, plus not enough intel on Durant Goofed on the Hedo praise...would have been a monumental mistake had he signed here A fine draft day guy but depends on the scouting team too much Not nearly as good as Whitsitt was at getting PA's ear or, more importlantly, buy-in on decisions Plus a bunch of other mutterings.......... MIXUM, Kenny Vance is fast becoming you bff, bro.
Oh, and Vance also said that KP (and his agent) has been rather frustrated for awhile because, for whatever reason, he can't seem to get a contract extension.
I have not been impressed by his trades.... The Camby deal was a no brainer. He really missed other opportunities I think
Yep. I, along with others, have been screaming about not taking advantage of Raef's contract. That, to me, was a bigger blunder than Oden over Durant. I think taking Oden was a mistake, but most all GM's would have done it. When Oden has a single game of 29/7/1 blk most will say he is the best center in the league, but they need to be reminded that those are the numbers Durant averages for the year.
KP goes home every night, closes his eyes, then repeats to himself...."calm waters.....calm waters.....calm wat........"
Probably missed a couple, but every GM misses opportunites. They dont have a magic crystal ball. None of us know what offers he's declined. We cant believe all the rumors out there.
I don't have any disagreement with those two criticisms. I'm doubtful Vance knows much more than I do about the interpersonal relationship between PA/Allen and BW/Allen. I mean jesus, Paul Allen is dealing with cancer now. How do you compare Paul Allen now to where Paul Allen was 8 years ago? Webster has a reasonable salary. He's easily tradeable still. Not for a lot of value, but he's no albatross. Had he improved like we all hoped, he'd be a good value. But you don't always get progress. I don't even know what "depends on the scouting team too much" means. Is he saying KP should go off his own gut more because over-reliance on scouts has led to multiple bad draft decisions? Obviously, that's BS...
Typical KV monday morning quarterback kind of stuff. We need a smug face smiley for posts like these. "I would have signed LMA and MW for less, Traded RLEC for LeBron James, and drafted both Durant and Oden" (insert smug face)
Exactly. I'd like to see a list of GM's who haven't missed opportunities in the past few years. Hell, the highly vaunted Spurs management watched as Batum slipped through their fingers because they just got flat out-maneuvered.
I think we can all largely agree that he is a very good draft day guy but has not done much other than that. I believe the "let it bake" philosophy probably got in the way of some potential beneficial trades. There is a degree of Jermaine-fear in many of us (shipping away a guy who turns out to be really good) but there is also a lot of frustration with keeping some guys too long (read Sergio) and possibly too much "My Player" love. However, all that being said, there is no "perfect" GM and overall I think KP has done a good job. I also think that he is learning as he goes along and will become increasingly more willing to do trades mid-season and perhaps engender a bit more risk. Gramps...
The Webster contract looks bad primarily because of Batum's continued improvement. If Webster continued to start for us, and perform as he had this year(onconsistent with flashes), then his contract wouldn't be all that bad. It's the fact that he will never start for us barring injury, because of Batum that it's not that great, but I'm still fine with it. He's slightly overpaid, but a valuable piece of insurance. LMA might be slightly overpaid. His agent probably also knew that if they didn't get an offer they liked, being a restricted free agent the following season could have easily worked in their favor. Aldridge would have looked like a very nice consolation prize for anyone who lost out on Bosh or even Amare. Aldridge would look really nice up front with Brook Lopez, and they would have the money to overpay. I believe elsewhere someone posted that Aldridge is around the 13th or so highest paid PF in the game, and I would say that's right around where he ranks amongst PFs. Seems to be that that just might be a position where many are overpaid. Because of the old you can't teach height argument. Slightly more than I would have LIKED< but not horrible, and not horribly unexpected, guessing on what we would have had to match in restrivted free agency. I also would have not liked having him focused on his contract this season. I agree with the criticism about Hedo. Would have been a mistake. So be it. It didn't happen. No sense in beating him up for what didn't happen, in much the same way I find it stupid to praise him for wanting to draft Paul. It didn't happen, and for all we know, that's not the case. I can't speak to the others. I don't know how much of PA's ear he has. He sits by him at all of the games. He got him to drop a whole lot of cash on draft picks, buying a few up, and talked him into getting nothing for close to 30 million in Steve Francis. Not sure why it is a bad thing to trust your scouts. How is that criticism? He hires guys he trusts, and then trusts their abilities. What a fool.
Every GM has hits and misses. I think KP has had more hits than misses. Oden vs. Durant is pure Monday morning quarterbacking. Anybody who dings KP for that decision is either a bitter sourpuss or guilty of blaming KP for not having had access to a time machine. Webster is making a million or so under the MLE. He hasn't developed as much as the Blazers would have liked since the contract was signed, but at the time the deal was made it looked to be a good value for the Blazers. It certainly isn't hard to find lots of examples around the league of guys who are more overpaid than Martell. Aldridge's contract is in line with what other similar guys are making. In order to make the claim that KP overpaid him, you'd have to be able to back up the notion that LA wouldn't have been offered that much or more on the open market this summer. Given the number of teams with cap space and LA's skill set, I think that's a stupid assumption. Hard to say if Hedo would have been a better fit here than he's turned out to be for the Raptors. Both KP and Nate liked the idea of his playmaking and ball handling skills working with the Blazers' lineup. Maybe, maybe not. Bashing KP for imagined results of a guy he didn't get seems pretty cheap and snarky to me. Not as good at getting PA's ear as Whitsitt? Does Kenny have a tap on KP's phone? KP told us at the meet and greet that he talks with PA almost every day. I've been a Blazer fan for 40 years. I've seen these cycles where GMs and coaches go from heroes to goats happen over and over again. Maybe the media will be able to incite sufficient unrest to where the Blazers dump KP. Gee, maybe then we can get another Steve Patterson. Woohoo!
That's a good point. I think he's been pretty successful on a lot of low risk, high reward deals. Angling to get Batum, getting Rudy, picking Bayless, drafting Oden and Roy...even going with Aldridge over Tyrus Thomas. None of these deals at the time seemed that risky. The guys he chose over the guys he didn't were largely viewed as pretty equivalent players. It was only later on that many appeared to be real steals (with the huge exception of Oden, and even he was the consensus #1 pick). Kind of makes sense, though. A guy in a new career he wants to stay in doesn't start out taking huge risks. He isn't likely to swing for the fences with risky deals where you send out a promising young player to get back another promising young player. A "Jermaine O'Neal" trade fiasco in your first few years can kill a GM's career. Now that KP has built up a pretty impressive resume, though, things may change. He has the luxury of risking making a bad deal or two without worrying about losing his job. He's built up some equity. That's pretty much the only reason I can see why he went after Hedo. He felt like it was time to start branching out and start taking bigger risks. God knows why he chose that one though.
Maybe Nate has PA's ear? KP wants to push and run, and Nate doesn't. Maybe PA is listening more to Mr. Sonic than Boy Wonder?
KP has made some mistakes (like all GMs including Trader Bob) . . . but I really like the team that he has assembled. The players are good guys and talented. I think KP has been overall a big positive as a GM for the Blazers and I hope he gets extended.
