Exactly what bad has happened?

[Rastapopoulos]

So, supposedly Pritchard is having the worst Summer of his life, and the Blazers are spiralling down the toilet. Remind me again exactly what bad has happened?

First, what was the prize free agent that everybody on this board HAD TO HAVE this offseason?
It certainly wasn't Turkoglu.
In fact, there WASN'T one, was there? This is a crappy bunch of FAs, and we haven't exactly lost much by not getting ANY of them. I mean, are the fans of OKC railing at Sam Presti for "sitting on his hands"? Why isn't he a "free agent loser"? On the contrary, he gets called a canny GM.

So again, what do you know FOR SURE that has happened that will adversely affect this young, 54-win franchise in the immediate future? The worst thing that I can think of is that we lost Sergio.

 

[BTOWN_HUSTLA]

We kept Steve Francis' contract on the books for two years to clear up cap space when we could have been upgrading our roster with that money.

We didn't use RLEC.

that's all I'm upset about really. I never believed in the Summer 09 plan.

 

[Eastoff]

unless the duder over at BE is right, this Roy and LAM12 issue is RIDICULOUS

 

[RoyToy]

We kept Steve Francis' contract on the books for two years to clear up cap space when we could have been upgrading our roster with that money.

We didn't use RLEC.

that's all I'm upset about really. I never believed in the Summer 09 plan.

Francis contract > Randolph contract.

Couldn't find the right deal for RLEC. Only player that intrigued me was Wallace, and they wanted too much, although I'm more willing to give up Batum for Wallace now than I was before.

 

[rocketeer]

So, supposedly Pritchard is having the worst Summer of his life, and the Blazers are spiralling down the toilet. Remind me again exactly what bad has happened?

First, what was the prize free agent that everybody on this board HAD TO HAVE this offseason?
It certainly wasn't Turkoglu.
In fact, there WASN'T one, was there? This is a crappy bunch of FAs, and we haven't exactly lost much by not getting ANY of them. I mean, are the fans of OKC railing at Sam Presti for "sitting on his hands"? Why isn't he a "free agent loser"? On the contrary, he gets called a canny GM.

So again, what do you know FOR SURE that has happened that will adversely affect this young, 54-win franchise in the immediate future? The worst thing that I can think of is that we lost Sergio.

wow, a reasonable post. these are getting more rare every day.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The shit hit the fan.

It's been one shit storm after another.

 

[Minstrel]

The shit hit the fan.

It's been one shit storm after another.

I, personally, will be shocked if they even make the playoffs next year. This team has suffered one offseason loss after another. Has any team ever been dismantled as quickly as these Blazers? Maybe the Jordan/Pippen Bulls in 1998...maybe.

 

[Wheels]

I, personally, will be shocked if they even make the playoffs next year. This team has suffered one offseason loss after another. Has any team ever been dismantled as quickly as these Blazers? Maybe the Jordan/Pippen Bulls in 1998...maybe.

 

[Idog1976]

I will tell you exactly what happened this summer. It is a copy/paste from another thread but it applies here even more:

Absolutely spot on. I firmly believe the "Disaster offseason" is a function of the media. Once bored small one sport town commentators try and stir the pot and get some additional attention by making over the top claims you get a guaranteed echo-chamber effect nationally. Let's not forget that Quick and Canzano's employer is barely treading water right now and any attention they can generate is good attention. I've noticed that especially in the past 10 years or so sports writers have become exceptionally bi-polar and over the top. They are either putting people on pedestals or absolutely tearing them down, or more likely, both.

When you look out on national sports commentary you see guys like Colin Cowherd, Jim Rome (sadly a reasonable guy compared to some) and Bill Simmons and they are totally over the top at all times. It's pretty bad statement about sports media when I actually have to respect the talent of Bill "I hate Oden's guts" Simmons, but at least he has talent unlike alot of writers who amount to little more then gossip mongers. I mean Quick is reasonable when he keeps his own opinions out of the subject matter and just weaves a story but Canzano is...well...Canzano.

Once Quick and Canzano wrote their pieces it was certain they would be for paid subscription on ESPN insider rumors and equally certain that if nothing else was going on folks like WOJ would pick them up and run. There seem to be some writers with vendetta's (WOJ with KP and Simmons with Oden) and others who just appeal to sensationalism and venom (Canzano and Cowherd). Over all the media echo chamber guarantees that even wingnut writers will be echoed if news is slow.

There are only a few questionable things that happened this summer. One of them to me is the Roy thing just because I think you roll the dice on this guy and give him what he wants, he's special and top 7 PER already in his 3rd year. You pay that guy. On the flip side the near signing of Hedo horrified me as he has albatross contract written all over him. I worry that KP is over playing his hand with Millsap and I don't approve of potentially alienating trade partners by being so heavy handed. I think however, KP and Tom Penn are great for front office guys and we are lucky to have them.

Does anyone have a theory about why the 4 year contracts? Is the Rose Garden contract up in 4 years? Any major FA's that year? I've read the idea about being able to re-tool after a possible strike year 2011. Is there any other reason?

 

[barfo]

I, personally, will be shocked if they even make the playoffs next year. This team has suffered one offseason loss after another. Has any team ever been dismantled as quickly as these Blazers? Maybe the Jordan/Pippen Bulls in 1998...maybe.

Y'know, something nobody has talked about here, but one other disaster that happened this summer was the plans to tear down the Blazer office building at the Rose Quarter. If that isn't evidence they are moving to Seattle I don't know what "is" is.

barfo

 

[TehChad]

I, personally, will be shocked if they even make the playoffs next year. This team has suffered one offseason loss after another. Has any team ever been dismantled as quickly as these Blazers? Maybe the Jordan/Pippen Bulls in 1998...maybe.

lol I agree. The Blazers might as well start preparing for another draft lottery party.

 

[PapaG]

Gee, nothing bad at all!

- Tod Leiweke makes a public statement that Paul Allen won't continue to "subsidize" the Blazers in order to be in Portland.

- Top free-agent target plays the Blazers for a bigger deal in Toronto

- Bargnani signs for five years; Blazers won't give Roy anything more than four and things appear to be nearing a stalemate

- $8.5 million/per tied up for a week on a back-up PF who may be matched

- Negotiations with LMA apparently non-existent at this point

It's been a fantastic summer. The Blazers love "our guys" and show them that when negotiating with the biggest two of "our guys"! Bake it!

 

[oldmangrouch]

Let's see....our #1 priority *should* have been an upgrade at PG. KP has chosen to ignore that in favor of focusing on lesser issues.

I think it is perfectly legit to ask why we offered Hedo 5/$50 mil, when Miller (better player and better fit) was publiclly saying he would take a 3 year deal. (and NO, I don't blame KP for Hedo double-crossing us)

I think it is also legit to ask why, if we are willing to accept the inherent risks of pursuing an RFA, we chose Millsap over Sessions.

 

[rocketeer]

I think it is perfectly legit to ask why we offered Hedo 5/$50 mil, when Miller (better player and better fit) was publiclly saying he would take a 3 year deal. (and NO, I don't blame KP for Hedo double-crossing us)

andre miller the better player and better fit? i'm not sure you'll have too many people agreeing with you there.

 

[barfo]

Let's see....our #1 priority *should* have been an upgrade at PG. KP has chosen to ignore that in favor of focusing on lesser issues.

I think it is perfectly legit to ask why we offered Hedo 5/$50 mil, when Miller (better player and better fit) was publiclly saying he would take a 3 year deal. (and NO, I don't blame KP for Hedo double-crossing us)

I think it is also legit to ask why, if we are willing to accept the inherent risks of pursuing an RFA, we chose Millsap over Sessions.

Hedo would have been a good fit, except for the whole in-it-for-the-money thing.
Millsap over Sessions makes sense because Milwaukee is prepared and planning to match offers for him.
Utah, there is at least some chance that the offer won't be matched, or that we can force them to do something with Boozer that helps us.

barfo

 

[Eastoff]

I, personally, will be shocked if they even make the playoffs next year. This team has suffered one offseason loss after another. Has any team ever been dismantled as quickly as these Blazers? Maybe the Jordan/Pippen Bulls in 1998...maybe.

 

[Minstrel]

I think it is also legit to ask why, if we are willing to accept the inherent risks of pursuing an RFA, we chose Millsap over Sessions.

All RFAs don't represent equal risk. Utah is in a tougher financial position than Milwaukee. Milwaukee already cleared the space they need by dumping Jefferson's crazy contract and letting Villaneuva walk. Utah locked up Okur and had Boozer unexpectedly not opt out.

Utah may still match, but there's a chance they won't. There's close to no chance Milwaukee wouldn't match on a Sessions offer, IMO.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I personally think we're letting Pritchard off too easy for the whole Turkoglu thing. I mean, is it too much to ask that he drug him, take pictures of him with a hooker, send them to his wife, and say to Turkoglu that he has to make a new life here, as far away from his angry ex-spouse as possible?

 

[Idog1976]

I personally think we're letting Pritchard off too easy for the whole Turkoglu thing. I mean, is it too much to ask that he drug him, take pictures of him with a hooker, send them to his wife, and say to Turkoglu that he has to make a new life here, as far away from his angry ex-spouse as possible?

LMAO, exactly Pritchard how are you showing your "love for your guys" with this new FA potential Blazer? If you're not willing to go at least twice as far as this and involve mafia hit men and death threats then you aren't really trying!

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Speak of the devil - they're inteviewing Pritchard at the Summer League...

Argh! "We don't need a traditional point guard for our team" !!!

Okay, NOW it's been a crappy Summer.

"Nate and I have a great relationship" - LIAR! Woj told us you HATE each other.

"I had him over to my house and we had a great dinner..." Pppht. Pull the other one.

 

[Idog1976]

Speak of the devil - they're inteviewing Pritchard at the Summer League...

Argh! "We don't need a traditional point guard for our team" !!!

Okay, NOW it's been a crappy Summer.

Um, but we don't need a traditional PG...we have Roy!

EDIT: To clarify I meant Roy needs an unusual sort of PG next to him for maximum effectiveness.

 

[julius]

I, personally, will be shocked if they even make the playoffs next year. This team has suffered one offseason loss after another. Has any team ever been dismantled as quickly as these Blazers? Maybe the Jordan/Pippen Bulls in 1998...maybe.

I think that we're on the path towards the Baby Bulls collapse. The writing is on the wall.

 

[PapaG]

I think that we're on the path towards the Baby Bulls collapse. The writing is on the wall.

I'm not sure you meant it seriously, but there certainly are some parallels that I can see. Thank goodness Turkoglu didn't accept his 5 year deal here, because I'd feel even worse about the situation than I feel right now.

 

[MrSelfDestruct]

Um, but we don't need a traditional PG...we have Roy!

For now

[/Sarcasm] [/Genuine fear of not coming to an agreement]

 

[Nikolokolus]

Right now there's not much going on but bad feelings and bad PR ... will this translate to a bad product next season? Maybe yes, but probably not (unless hard feelings lead to big chemistry disruptions and underachievement).

Personally I'm going to let it all ride for the summer and see where things stand at the kickoff of the season, but so far I've got a pretty sick feeling in my stomach, but part of that could be the fact that I'm a Packers fan too, so I've been dealing with off-court/off-field/off-season drama for two straight years.

 

[Tyler_Hansbrough]

It's all a publicity stunt!!!

 

[maxiep]

I'm not sure you meant it seriously, but there certainly are some parallels that I can see. Thank goodness Turkoglu didn't accept his 5 year deal here, because I'd feel even worse about the situation than I feel right now.

I'm trying to reconcile the above statement with this one:

- Top free-agent target plays the Blazers for a bigger deal in Toronto

So, are you happy Turkoglu signed in Toronto or are you angry we got played? It seems to me you just want to be panicked and upset this summer. Good luck with that.

 

[Draco]

I personally think we're letting Pritchard off too easy for the whole Turkoglu thing. I mean, is it too much to ask that he drug him, take pictures of him with a hooker, send them to his wife, and say to Turkoglu that he has to make a new life here, as far away from his angry ex-spouse as possible?

Wow you have no clue what your talking about!

You KEEP the pictures so Hedo signs with us while threatening to send them to the wife if he doesn't!

 

[oldmangrouch]

andre miller the better player and better fit? i'm not sure you'll have too many people agreeing with you there.

Perhaps. A year ago, nobody thought Hedo was a special player - and a year from now they will be wondering what all the excitment was about. In the meantime, if people want to swallow the hype, that is up to them.

 

[oldmangrouch]

I personally think we're letting Pritchard off too easy for the whole Turkoglu thing. I mean, is it too much to ask that he drug him, take pictures of him with a hooker, send them to his wife, and say to Turkoglu that he has to make a new life here, as far away from his angry ex-spouse as possible?

Now that's the kind of competitive spirit our front office needs!