Kerry Eggers' Grab Bag of Blazers News

[e_blazer]

Some interesting tidbits in here about Greg Oden, KP doing some work for the Pacers, Roy, etc.:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=129583687627459900

 

[bluefrog]

This was interesting:

Asked again if he would accept the Blazers’ offer, Oden said, “It hasn’t happened yet. When the time comes, most likely, but it has to happen down the line.”

Complicating the situation is the possibility that another team could offer a more lucrative, multi-year deal. That could force the Blazers to pay more than they want or, perhaps, decline to match.

Think Utah — burned twice by Portland, once in re-signing restricted free-agent Paul Millsap, once in losing free agent Wesley Matthews — wouldn’t like some payback?

 

[maxiep]

I really do hope GO gets a multi-year offer from another team so we can match it and be done with the uncertainty. It would be a damn sight better than him signing the QO and us fretting all season whether or not he's going to leave.

 

[maybeso]

Eggers speculates that Utah might make Greg an annoyingly big offer to get payback for our overtures to two of their players (Matthews and Milsap). I remember there has been talk of their point guard being unhappy with Utah management moves. This made me wonder how I (we) would feel about a trade of Oden for Williams -- assuming Utah thought they were going to lose Williams at the end of his deal. (I think he has one more year after this one.)

 

[illmatic99]

I really do hope GO gets a multi-year offer from another team so we can match it and be done with the uncertainty. It would be a damn sight better than him signing the QO and us fretting all season whether or not he's going to leave.

I have some serious doubts whether we'd match a long term offer.

 

[HailBlazers]

This made me wonder how I (we) would feel about a trade of Oden for Williams -- assuming Utah thought they were going to lose Williams at the end of his deal.

Now That I could live with!! The Blazers, loosing G.O. after all we've come though, I could not.

 

[e_blazer]

I have some serious doubts whether we'd match a long term offer.

Depends on the offer.

 

[Rhal]

Eggers speculates that Utah might make Greg an annoyingly big offer to get payback for our overtures to two of their players (Matthews and Milsap). I remember there has been talk of their point guard being unhappy with Utah management moves. This made me wonder how I (we) would feel about a trade of Oden for Williams -- assuming Utah thought they were going to lose Williams at the end of his deal. (I think he has one more year after this one.)

Were do I sign for utah to give up there franchise player and #2 pg in the league to us for a player who has yet to prove himself (although I really hope we keep oden and he turns into a monster)

 

[illmatic99]

I just looked up the Deron news. Wow.
http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/david_aldridge/01/24/morning.tip/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1
From David Aldridge.

Williams said: "We lost Wes, we lost Kyle, we lost Booze, and it was like, 'What are we going to do?' And we bounced back and we added some good guys. We added Al, we added Earl, we picked up Gordon (Hayward) and Jeremy (Evans) in the Draft, and they've been two bright additions to the team. And I was pleased. We got Raj."

But is Utah as good defensively as it used to be? And does this team have the luxury of working all those new players in?

"Not really," Williams said. "My contract's up in two years. It's a now or never situation. I don't know what I'm going to do after this one."

Gulp.

Williams has not said what he will do in the summer of 2012, only that he won't have a half-hour program to announce his intentions. But he paid attention to what happened last offseason, when James, Chris Bosh and Wade teamed up and went to Miami as a package deal.

"Of course," Williams said. "You've got to. It's a different state. Guys are doing different things now. They're trying to change that with the CBA, that's for sure."

 

[e_blazer]

I'm not too worried about Utah. They don't have the cap space to do anything more than a front-loaded MLE offer like the Blazers did with Matthews. And that's assuming that the new CBA provides for such an exception.

 

[illmatic99]

BTW, from that same DA article:

"I continue to have 100 percent confidence in Jay and our medical staff," team president Larry Miller texted Sunday. "We will continue to do everything we can to address the health of our players."

Jensen doesn't hide when the injuries come. He explained why it made sense for Brandon Roy to return for the playoffs less than two weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery last April. He went over the litany of tests the team has put Greg Oden through the last two years, and all the people he's spoken to, to try and figure out why Oden's knees can't seem to hold up. And when the team announced last month that Oden would miss the whole season with another microfracture knee surgery, Jensen was front and center again, commiserating with the angry fans.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Good article for sure. I have to know though if Eggers is an idiot that doesn't know anything, or someone outside the Blazers that we can listen to before I can take anything he says seriously?

 

[HailBlazers]

This was interesting:

Furthermore:

Portland general manager Rich Cho has indicated he expects to tender the qualifying offer.

“I can’t control that,” Oden said. “I want to be where I can play and be healthy. Hopefully that will be here, but that’s out of my hands.”
...
“There will always be somewhat of a loyalty factor, but there’s a business factor, also,” Conley says. “It’s not like Greg has made his mark in basketball and has accomplished his goals and made the money he hopes to make in the league, and all that’s behind him. He’s not hardly started his career yet. We have to do business in relation to that.
“But at the end of the day, it’s not a Greg question, it’s a Blazer question. If they want to keep him, they hold all the cards.”

We can't see Cho's cards but I'm betting on him getting it done.

 

[e_blazer]

Good article for sure. I have to know though if Eggers is an idiot that doesn't know anything, or someone outside the Blazers that we can listen to before I can take anything he says seriously?

Eggers used to be the beat writer who covered the Blazers for the Oregonian. He's well connected and a solid source, IMO.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Eggers used to be the beat writer who covered the Blazers for the Oregonian. He's well connected and a solid source, IMO.

But Kenny Vance who used to be the beat writer for the Columbian isn't? Jason Quick is the current beat writer and knows less than the former one? I am just trying to figure out who to listen to

 

[Shooter]

Let me get this straight. We're worried that we're going to lose a guy who has done nothing except sit on our bench for 4 years??? What's the problem--we don't want him sitting on somebody else's bench and getting paid millions?

 

[BBert]

Let me get this straight. We're worried that we're going to lose a guy who has done nothing except sit on our bench for 4 years??? What's the problem--we don't want him sitting on somebody else's bench and getting paid millions?

Rhetorical question or trolling? You know the answer. Many fans are worried that after babysitting and rehabbing Oden for 4 years, he heals up and becomes a top 3 center in the league -- on another team.

 

[THE HCP]

I really do hope GO gets a multi-year offer from another team so we can match it and be done with the uncertainty. It would be a damn sight better than him signing the QO and us fretting all season whether or not he's going to leave.

Amen to this!

 

[e_blazer]

Let me get this straight. We're worried that we're going to lose a guy who has done nothing except sit on our bench for 4 years??? What's the problem--we don't want him sitting on somebody else's bench and getting paid millions?

It seems to me that it's a matter of calculated risk in going forward with Oden. Let's face it, guys who have his size and talent don't come along very often and the odds of the Blazers being the team to get a shot at another dominant center anytime soon are remote at best. So, you weigh that against the medical information available and try to determine how much money you're willing to bet that Greg will be able to contribute significant playing time over the life of his next contract. It's easy to be cynical on a message board and say that he's never going to amount to anything, but we don't have the inside information about his medical tests. It would truly suck to pass on re-signing Greg, only to have him develop into the player that we all thought he would be when we drafted him. For a team with the number one pick to miss out on both Durant and a healthy Oden would be a whiff of legendary proportions.

 

[oldmangrouch]

But Kenny Vance who used to be the beat writer for the Columbian isn't? Jason Quick is the current beat writer and knows less than the former one? I am just trying to figure out who to listen to

I get what you are saying. People need to stop worrying about who the writer works for, and look at their track record. I don't believe Quick because he is a numbskull. Eggers was actually a pro.

 

[PapaG]

This was interesting:

Asked again if he would accept the Blazers’ offer, Oden said, “It hasn’t happened yet. When the time comes, most likely, but it has to happen down the line.”

Which offer is he talking about? The next offer the Blazers can make is the Q.O. Is this a sign that he would "likely" sign the Q.O. and play out the season to be a UFA?

 

[Natebishop3]

I really don't understand why Utah would hold such a grudge... it's not like we were offering huge front-loaded contracts to Greg Ostertag.... Millsap and Matthews were two of the better free agents on the market. Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't the goal to actually sign the guy any way that you can?

With that said, I don't know what to think about Greg anymore. I've really lost a lot of faith in his ability to stay healthy. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times? I don't know... Am I just stupid at that point?