Ifeaanyi Festus Ezeli is in town and preparing to interview w Blazers

[illmatic99]

Bobby Marks at the vertical estimates he can get an offer for 2 yrs at 10 per

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Bobby Marks at the vertical estimates he can get an offer for 2 yrs at 10 per

That would be fantastic.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Bobby Marks at the vertical estimates he can get an offer for 2 yrs at 10 per

So we'll need to double that for him to come to Portland, and hope no one else offers the minimum?

 

[Mediocre Man]

Today should actually be a pretty telling day in the life of old Festus. He legitimately seems extremely interested in coming to Portland, and Portland is looking for someone with his defensive skill set. I think if we see him leave Portland without a contract, it means his knees are in pretty bad shape. Just my opinion.

 

[illmatic99]

Read about this dude a bit last night. From Nigeria,wanted to be a doc so his fam shipped him off to live with an uncle who was practicing in Sac as a teenager. Grew up there and went to Vandy. Was projected as a mid first rounder in Dame/Meyers/Mo draft but slipped to the 30th pick (ahead of Draymond).

Seems like a smart, fun dude and hard worker based on some of the vids I've seen of him. He'd fit in with the team perfectly, both with skill and culture. My only worry is his knees.

A report in May mentioned that he would play for Team Nigeria with Aminu in the Olympics this summer.

 

[selloutking]

Read about this dude a bit last night. From Nigeria,wanted to be a doc so his fam shipped him off to live with an uncle who was practicing in Sac as a teenager. Grew up there and went to Vandy. Was projected as a mid first rounder in Dame/Meyers/Mo draft but slipped to the 30th pick (ahead of Draymond).

Seems like a smart, fun dude and hard worker based on some of the vids I've seen of him. He'd fit in with the team perfectly, both with skill and culture. My only worry is his knees.

A report in May mentioned that he would play for Team Nigeria with Aminu in the Olympics this summer.

great so an injury prone player opting to play over the summer for his home land, where have we heard that before....? went well right?

 

[Blazers Roy]

haha forgot about the Nigerian connection with Aminu.

Man, " The Nigerian Connection" sounds badass for some reason.

 

[Mediocre Man]

So Aminu is the Prince and Ezeli is the guy who sends the email?

 

[Mediocre Man]

Now bring in Mutombo as big man coach and we can start distancing ourselves from WABC syndrome

 

[illmatic99]

So Aminu is the Prince and Ezeli is the guy who sends the email?

Well he's from a pretty well to do family. And smart -- had a scholarship to go to Harvard.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-nb...grating-from-nigeria-at-14-064718515-nba.html

 

[Trackjack]

He hasn't sign yet I wonder what the hold up is could it be contract or his knees.

 

[Blazinaway]

He hasn't sign yet I wonder what the hold up is could it be contract or his knees.

today he undergoes a medical eval and knee check, they are not going to sign him without having that check out ok

 

[Mediocre Man]

He hasn't sign yet I wonder what the hold up is could it be contract or his knees.

Have to be waiting for his tests to come back.

 

[BBert]

The ideal situation would be Meyers accepting the QO, then trading Plumlee for a future 1st. That'd leave us with $15M to offer Ezeli which is enough to get him IMO. Then we can keep Montero, Connaughton, and Layman.

I would be absolutely good with this, and you won't hear a negative peep out of me. At least, until Azeli misses half the season with a knee injury.

 

[BBert]

Bobby Marks at the vertical estimates he can get an offer for 2 yrs at 10 per

$10-12 mil was my thinking too. Which is why I freaked at $20 mil and renouncing Harkless. $10-15 mil and trading Plums to make room and I'm good.

 

[BBert]

So we'll need to double that for him to come to Portland, and hope no one else offers the minimum?

Gotta pay the Blazers supplement. If he's worth 10, we pay 12.5. If he's worth 12, we pay 15. etc.

 

[riverman]

I would be absolutely good with this, and you won't hear a negative peep out of me. At least, until Azeli misses half the season with a knee injury.

BBert...you posted the unmentionable...first rule of ripcity2...never mention the kn-- word

 

[BBert]

BBert...you posted the unmentionable...first rule of ripcity2...never mention the kn-- word

Yeah. Very few 4-letter words are banned here. That should be one the filter picks up automatically.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Yup. Gotta move Plums. I like the dude, but he's going to get stupidly overpaid next summer with the cap going up again.

I'm not sure if I care if he is overpaid. It just means that Portland might go into the luxury tax area. I think he is a better fit to keep as he has different skill set than Ezeli. I think we will be using guys like Aminu and Harkless mostly as our PF's. Now as I am writing I guess that if Davis is backup C then it would be similar to the starting unit so more continuity, but I am thinking we might have a lot of situations or opposing teams where Plumlee would fit better. I still have hope Plumlee can develop a short jump shot. It's tough to say; but right now we can clear a lot more cap space by trading Davis than Plumlee.

 

[Trackjack]

Elezi is very good player he also will give us low post guy that actually have low post moves. On defense he is a rim protector and with Turner and Aminu playing beside him in front court we will be tuff on defense. He is upgrade from Plum and Davis.

 

[riverman]

What I like most about him...he wants to play in Portland

 

[Hobbesarable]

What I like most about him...he wants to play in Portland

I hope he's in shape. People in this forum are penciling him as a starter while he only averaged about 17 mpg last season and 14 mpg since he came into the NBA.

 

[TBpup]

What I like most about him...he wants to play in Portland

Portland needs a defensive center, is one of the few teams left that needs a big man and that also has cap space. I wonder where he would be if there were more options?

 

[Natebishop3]

What I like most about him...he wants to play in Portland

He WANTS that money. We can give him the most of it.

 

[Trackjack]

Elezi believe he can fit in and the big one is he believe he can get starter min.

 

[WarriorFan]

Hope he signs with you guys and stays healthy. You'll like him, I always did. If his knees hold up, he's definitely starter quality and is worth the money, realtively speaking.

 

[Turftoejoe]

Not crazy about him unless the price is right. In four years in the league, he has already missed a full season, and has not played in more than 46 regular season games the last two years. Can he be a guy you count on to stay healthy? Seems unlikely.

 

[BBert]

What I like most about him...he wants to play in Portland

I agree that's important. (For example: Whiteside didn't want to be here; therefore, I'm glad he's not.)

I understand Ezeli is also considered a good teammate. Honestly, our team culture should not tolerate anyone who isn't.

 

[Natebishop3]

I agree that's important. (For example: Whiteside didn't want to be here; therefore, I'm glad he's not.)

I understand Azeli is also considered a good teammate. Honestly, our team culture should not tolerate anyone who isn't.

I don't think it was a matter of Whiteside not wanting to be here. I'm sure he would have gladly signed here if we offered the most money. Whiteside wanted a max contract from the Heat, and he used the Mavs as leverage. I think Neil knew this so he didn't waste any time on him.

 

[Nikolokolus]

The way I look at is that the Blazers are going to have to take some serious gambles if they want to alter their fortunes. That's going to mean high-risk, high-reward moves that could have catastrophic consequences. The pipeline of young talent has been mostly cut off the last couple of years minus first-round picks and we just don't have enough star power to have any realistic hope of competing with the likes of Golden State, et al.

I think Ezeli blossoming into a 30+ minutes a night player who tilts the court is pretty remote (given injury history and the paucity of minutes he's played in the league). That said, while there might only be a 5% chance (probably less) of him becoming that guy we need, there's still a chance.

I'm much more on board with gambling on a guy like this than I was with throwing obscene amounts of money at a washed up guy like Pau.

Roll them bones.