Focus now fully on Andre Miller?

[Fez Hammersticks]

From TheKnicksBlog.com:

A source close to the Blazers front office has again confirmed to me that David Lee is not in the conversation despite the fact that Hedo Turkoglu has spurned the Blazers, apparently, in order to head to Toronto.

“Hedo’s wife had a ton to do with the decision,” the source told me. “And I haven’t heard Lee’s name in any talks since the trade deadline.”

As we reported back then, the Blazers did feel that adding Lee would add depth to their frontcourt with the question mark that was and still is Greg Oden. But the organization still has full faith that the former number one overall pick will be a franchise big.

The focus is now fully on adding Andre Miller and if they fail in that direction the team may try to make a move for Lee. The team chose to move in Hedo’s direction, so let’s see if they can reconnect with Miller.

But as for now, any discussions haven’t reached anything more than initial conversations and as we’ve told you repeatedly, if the Blazers don’t move more salary, it will be tough for them to bring in a much-needed and high priority PG along with another free agent.

Joy. I can barely contain my excitement.

 

[Freshtown]

a 3-year deal for anything less than 30 million sounds good to me. I truly hope Blake gets traded if this happens, though. It would kill me to see Jay-Bay-Bay rotting on the bench for another year. The guy needs at least 20 MPG next season.

 

[Idog1976]

Miller?


Man, that would be pathetic if that was our off season.

 

[Idog1976]

a 3-year deal for anything less than 30 million sounds good to me. I truly hope Blake gets traded if this happens, though. It would kill me to see Jay-Bay-Bay rotting on the bench for another year. The guy needs at least 20 MPG next season.

this ^

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I like Miller but I would be severely disappointed if this is the FA move of the summer.

S&T Outlaw/Blake for Miller I can live with.

Sign Odom to a 5-year deal.

Miller
Roy
Odom
Aldridge
Oden

Listening to Mike Rice fumble over Oden/Odom is reason enough to sign Lamar.

 

[ODENISGOD]

sounds like this is going to put us over the top! Good thing we held onto raefs contract. LOL

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

ESPN says they beg to differ...

Portland has engaged in serious discussions about making an offer to restricted free agent David Lee.

The Trail Blazers lost out on Hedo Turkoglu on Friday, freeing up a significant amount of cap space.

Agent Mark Bartelstein said on Friday that a dozen teams are trying to land the power forward through sign-and-trade deals with the Knicks.

The Blazers, like other interested clubs, are worried that they'll be in limbo until July 15 -- the date by which the Knicks would have to decide whether they'd match the offer -- and that they'll lose out on other free agents.

"All the elite teams are working hard to get him, and I know something is going to happen," Bartelstein said Friday.

Bartelstein says that he has no clear idea of whether or not the Knicks would match any offer Lee receives.

"Our first goal has always been to get a deal done with the Knicks -- a fair-market deal based upon who David is in this league among his peers, to get a deal that's fair," Bartelstein said.

"Because there's no ifs, ands or buts, David wants to be a Knick. But if we're not going to be able to do that, the reality I have is that the route I have to go is sign-and-trade, and that's even harder because he becomes a base-year compensation player, and it makes that trade an incredibly complicated event to get to happen, where you have to put in all kinds of players and teams."

 

[illmatic99]

blah blah blah.

Agent drivel. Been there. Done that.

KP just got used by one player and his agent. He's not gonna be susceptible again.

 

[dreamcloud]

Man that would really be lame.. we need more of an upgrade.

Sigh, I wish there was a way to trade for Gerald Wallace.. Charlotte often tends to have firesale on their talented guys, I wonder if we can get him..

 

[Mediocre Man]

A lot of you are down on Miller, but what if this happened?

WHAT IF we signed Miller and then turned around nd traded Blake and Outlaw in some sort of S&T for a SF? Let's use Gerald Wallace. Let's say our off season is Miller and Wallace for Blake, Outlaw, cash and a pick? I think that would be a great offseason. Even Miller and Lee, or Miller and Odom? Maybe we S&T for Miller and sign a FA?

 

[southnc]

I like Miller, but this is very risky.

With Miller, you are getting as aging player who is a lousy defender and cannot buy a 3. He can penetrate and pass, but opposing teams only have to zone and we're in big trouble.

Roy needs someone who can take pressure off of him by being able to hit the perimeter shots, play good defense, and penetrate on occasion. Miller only satisfies one of the criteria.

Worse, if Webster's foot is a no go next season, then you literally have no perimeter shooters on the starting team - a complete disaster.

I do agree that if the Blazers do get Miller, Blake should be traded - for 2 reasons: So Bayless would get some time AND to prevent an uncomfortable situation whereby Miller would have to take the starting position from Blake.

 

[Nikolokolus]

A lot of you are down on Miller, but what if this happened?

WHAT IF we signed Miller and then turned around nd traded Blake and Outlaw in some sort of S&T for a SF? Let's use Gerald Wallace. Let's say our off season is Miller and Wallace for Blake, Outlaw, cash and a pick? I think that would be a great offseason. Even Miller and Lee, or Miller and Odom? Maybe we S&T for Miller and sign a FA?

I think that's not only a very reasonable goal, I think it's also fairly attainable. My only question is whether or not that would be enough to induce Charlotte? They've already got Ray Felton and Augustin at point guard and Steve wouldn't really fit in there, Travis would be an obvious step backward in talent as a 3/4 compared to Crash, but would certainly be cheaper, they'd probably need draft rights to Claver or a promising young player like Jerryd or Batum to make it really worth their while

At any rate if the Blazers were to get Miller and Wallace while having to do nothing more than shed Blake and Outlaw and their available cap room I'd be pretty excited, they'd be tougher and have some more experience and a little more scoring pop.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I like Miller, but this is very risky.

With Miller, you are getting as aging player who is a lousy defender and cannot buy a 3. He can penetrate and pass, but opposing teams only have to zone and we're in big trouble.

Roy needs someone who can take pressure off of him by being able to hit the perimeter shots, play good defense, and penetrate on occasion. Miller only satisfies one of the criteria.

Worse, if Webster's foot is a no go next season, then you literally have no perimeter shooters on the starting team - a complete disaster.

I do agree that if the Blazers do get Miller, Blake should be traded - for 2 reasons: So Bayless would get some time AND to prevent an uncomfortable situation whereby Miller would have to take the starting position from Blake.

I keep hearing this kind of criticism leveled against Miller and while it has some merit (the guy is not a 3 point shooter by any stretch of the imagination) if all teams had to do was play zone to stop him, then why is that he's still been able to consistently produce his 16 or so points and 7 assists for most of his career? Secondly, Miller coexisted just fine with Andre Iguodala who has a very similar game to Brandon's (both like to slash, both are good passers who create off the dribble and both are ball dominant wings). Furthermore, he may be aging but the guy has been an iron man throughout his career.

Frankly, I think Miller would be a nice get. He wouldn't necessarily have to be inked to a super long term deal and wouldn't command nearly the money that Turkoglu was going to. He's certainly no lock down man-to-man defender, but he's smart and is perfectly capable of playing good team defense, plus he's big and strong and can post up and either hit a mid range shot or is very adept at finding bigs on the lob or cutters from this position.

This wouldn't be a 'push us over the top' move but it would certainly settle the point guard position down and would probably allow Greg Oden and LaMarcus some easier looks in transition and from the block, and would give Bayless somebody to emulate and learn from for the next couple of years and hopefully help him mature into the longterm starter at the position when the time is right.

Who knows, maybe I am crazy and this is a horrible idea. I guess I just want to see something that improves the team and maybe I'm starting to settle for even modest improvements or less than ideal players at this point. Meh.

 

[BIG Q]

I keep hearing this kind of criticism leveled against Miller and while it has some merit (the guy is not a 3 point shooter by any stretch of the imagination) if all teams had to do was play zone to stop him, then why is that he's still been able to consistently produce his 16 or so points and 7 assists for most of his career? Secondly, Miller coexisted just fine with Andre Iguodala who has a very similar game to Brandon's (both like to slash, both are good passers who create off the dribble and both are ball dominant wings). Furthermore, he may be aging but the guy has been an iron man throughout his career.

Empty numbers on bad teams.

 

[Wheels]

I like Miller but I would be severely disappointed if this is the FA move of the summer.

S&T Outlaw/Blake for Miller I can live with.

Sign Odom to a 5-year deal.

Miller
Roy
Odom
Aldridge
Oden

Listening to Mike Rice fumble over Oden/Odom is reason enough to sign Lamar.

watching our offense sputter with that perimeter shooting lineup would be worse than Rice fumbling

 

[Nikolokolus]

Empty numbers on bad teams.

So until this year I guess Brandon Roy was putting up empty numbers on "bad teams?" I mean, he's never been to the playoffs until this season and he got bounced in six games.

Empty numbers to me are playing selfish to pad stats, chucking lots of low percentage shots to increase your raw per game numbers and being an inefficient player. Miller has never been a star, but he's played in the league for ten years and has been in the playoffs five of those years (all within the past 6 years) -- and in those playoffs he's averaged a 16 PER, shot 45% from the floor, averaged 38 minutes, 17 points and 5 assists 5 rebounds.

Call me crazy but those are the kind of "empty stats" I wouldn't mind adding to this team.

 

[Wheels]

A lot of you are down on Miller, but what if this happened?

WHAT IF we signed Miller and then turned around nd traded Blake and Outlaw in some sort of S&T for a SF? Let's use Gerald Wallace. Let's say our off season is Miller and Wallace for Blake, Outlaw, cash and a pick? I think that would be a great offseason. Even Miller and Lee, or Miller and Odom? Maybe we S&T for Miller and sign a FA?

that perimeter shooting lineup would be worse than Miller and Odom

 

[SodaPopinski]

If we bring in Miller, watch teams double the shit out of Roy, LA and Oden, daring Miller to beat us from the perimeter.

This would be a lame ass consolation prize.

 

[Minstrel]

If we bring in Miller, watch teams double the shit out of Roy, LA and Oden, daring Miller to beat us from the perimeter.

If they double off Miller, he'll attack the hoop or shoot mid-range jumpers, which he can hit.

 

[Mediocre Man]

that perimeter shooting lineup would be worse than Miller and Odom

Yes, you are right. Ideally we could land a player that not only plays very good defense like Walace, but shoots better. Unfortunately those guys are pretty popular with their own teams.

That team would also be one of the best teams at attacking the rim, and more than likely would be near the top of the league in FTA.

We just aren't goig to find a 25 year old all star that is a great shooter and defender, who is also squeaky clean. and wants a small contract. Portland was one of the top 3pt shooting teams in the league last year, however that isn't as important as other stats maybe.

I will leave Cleveland out of this because they are not a team, they are Lebron and 11 other scrubs. The 3 other teams in the final 4 were LA, Denver and Orlando.

Denver, Orlando and LA were 1st, 4th and 8th in the league in FTA per game. Portland was 16th

Portland was 4th in 3pt %, Orlando, Denver and LA were th, 13th and 19th

LA, Denver and Orlando were 3rd, 6th and 10th in scoring. Portland was 14th.

For PACE, Denver, LA and Orlando were 5th, 6th and 12th. Portland was 29th

Def EFF (probably a better stat out there, but I don't know where to find it...Orland, LA, Denver were 1st, 5th and 8th. Portland was 10th.


I just think we shouldn't overvalue 3pt shooting. It's imprtant, but the best teams in the league don't seem to need it. And what they are good at Portland trails.

 

[Ed O]

If they double off Miller, he'll attack the hoop or shoot mid-range jumpers, which he can hit.

No doubt. Roy and Oden, in particular, are good (and willing) passers and if teams consistently left Miller alone I think he'd get a lot of layups out of it.

Ed O.

 

[SteelBlaze1]

I wouldn't mind Miller, but if we sign him outright, then we should trade Blake. Bayless should be our back-up PG this year.

 

[Tyler_Hansbrough]

I wouldn't mind Miller, but if we sign him outright, then we should trade Blake. Bayless should be our back-up PG this year.

Couldn't have said it better. But I would rather have Brandon Bass then Miller. The Mavericks are said to want Big Baby. Maybe they think Bass is going.

 

[Draco]

I do like Miller and would be intrigued to see how he fits with our team. However I believe there are better uses of our cap space, I'd rather see big offers to Millsap/Lee/Sessions/Childress/Williams first. If those don't work a lopsided trade would add more long-term value and talent then an aging point guard IMO.