Lowe: Blazers were considering Dwight in free agency

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
illmatic99

illmatic99

formerly yuyuza1
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
Messages
57,763
Likes
56,275
Points
113
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16992129/rating-won-lost-nba-free-agency-period

The Blazers played the big-man market perfectly. They sniffed around Dwight Howard, recoiled at the price and waited out the spending spree. The market was overcrowded with big men, and Portland knew a few good ones would be left when the rush subsided. The Blazers nabbed Festus Ezeli on a two-year, $15 million deal with a team option in Year 2, and re-signedMeyers Leonard to almost the same contract Leonard turned down in the fall. Portland probably could have squeezed Leonard, but general manager Neil Olshey understands the value of sowing goodwill.
Click to expand...
 
I think Dwight as a person is in fact a good guy, very likable. I also don't think he is the chemistry "dwightmare" he is made out to be. His image is the product of really being tossed under the bus by the media for several years now.
 
Mediocre Man said:
I'll say this for Dwight. He was a hell of a great guy when I met him.
Click to expand...

Schilly said:
I think Deight as a person is in fact a good guy, very likable. I also don't think he is the chemistry "dwightmare" he is made out to be. His image is the product of really being tossed under the bus by the media for several years now.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with both... well Beleive you MM. But I still dont think he would be as good of a fit on our team. Too slow. I think we ended up better off in the end.
 
Dwight's contract didn't end up being that bad, I don't think.

I wanted Dwight on this team. With that said, we would have had to renounce some dudes. If Harkless leaves, I'm going to wish we had opened up the pocket book, because I would have rather signed Turner, Dwight, and matched Crabbe if we were gonna lose Harkless anyway.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Dwight's contract didn't end up being that bad, I don't think.

I wanted Dwight on this team. With that said, we would have had to renounce some dudes. If Harkless leaves, I'm going to wish we had opened up the pocket book, because I would have rather signed Turner, Dwight, and matched Crabbe if we were gonna lose Harkless anyway.
Click to expand...

Harkless will be a Blazer next year.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Dwight's contract didn't end up being that bad, I don't think.

I wanted Dwight on this team. With that said, we would have had to renounce some dudes. If Harkless leaves, I'm going to wish we had opened up the pocket book, because I would have rather signed Turner, Dwight, and matched Crabbe if we were gonna lose Harkless anyway.
Click to expand...

That's operating under the assumption that he would have signed here for what we could have offered. After signing Turner, if we had renounced Leonard and Harkless, waived Montero/Alexander, and not traded for Napier, the most we could have started Dwight at would have been about 25M, which isn't much above over what he took to go back to his hometown. Somehow I have the feeling that he'd rather play in Atlanta for 3 years for 70M than in Portland for $75M.
 
The second part of what Lowe mentions is also interesting. Neil could have low-balled Meyers, but didn't.

His agent is Aaron Mintz, Allen Crabbe recently hired Mintz a week before free agency this year. And by all accounts, we (BKN) overpaid AC as well. Mintz also represents Phil Pressey who we invited to training camp last year.

Mintz's high profile clients include: Paul George, Reggie Jackson, D'Angelo Russell, and Julius Randle.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
That's operating under the assumption that he would have signed here for what we could have offered. After signing Turner, if we had renounced Leonard and Harkless, waived Montero/Alexander, and not traded for Napier, the most we could have started Dwight at would have been about 25M, which isn't much above over what he took to go back to his hometown. Somehow I have the feeling that he'd rather play in Atlanta for 3 years for 70M than in Portland for $75M.
Click to expand...

Maybe he would have rather signed in the east where it's easier to advance. That's definitely possible.

I'm just saying that, if given the choice, I would rather have Dwight/Turner/Crabbe with no Harkless/Meyers rather than Turner/Ezeli/Crabbe/Meyers and no Harkless.
 
yuyuza1 said:
The second part of what Lowe mentions is also interesting. Neil could have low-balled Meyers, but didn't.

His agent is Aaron Mintz, Allen Crabbe recently hired Mintz a week before free agency this year. And by all accounts, we (BKN) overpaid AC as well. Mintz also represents Phil Pressey who we invited to training camp last year.

Mintz's high profile clients include: Paul George...
Click to expand...

Want!!!!

Maybe this will be that big consolidation trade we keep hearing about.

BNM
 
Mediocre Man said:
I'll say this for Dwight. He was a hell of a great guy when I met him.
Click to expand...
I actually wanted Dwight over Whiteside. But he was just too expensive (and possibly not interested).
 
BBert said:
I actually wanted Dwight over Whiteside. But he was just too expensive (and possibly not interested).
Click to expand...

After the nightmares in LA and HOU, he seemed like he REALLY wanted to go home. Can't really say I blame him. And, if he's happy and content there, he'll probably play better there than he would have anywhere else. Plus, it made an Eastern Conference team better at the expense of a Western Conference team. So, not a bad thing.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
After the nightmares in LA and HOU, he seemed like he REALLY wanted to go home. Can't really say I blame him. And, if he's happy and content there, he'll probably play better there than he would have anywhere else. Plus, it made an Eastern Conference team better at the expense of a Western Conference team. So, not a bad thing.

BNM
Click to expand...
It made boston better. Might have made atlanta actually worse.
 
JFizzleRaider said:
It made boston better. Might have made atlanta actually worse.
Click to expand...

I suppose it also made us better, indirectly. BOS let Turner go to help clear cap space in their hope (fantasy) to assemble a new Big 3. Well, they only landed one of the three, but their plan allowed us to swoop in and grab Turner while they were focused on Durant, Horford and Butler.

I wonder if they knew they weren't getting Durant and Butler if they would have let Turner walk.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
I suppose it also made us better, indirectly. BOS let Turner go to help clear cap space in their hope (fantasy) to assemble a new Big 3. Well, they only landed one of the three, but their plan allowed us to swoop in and grab Turner while they were focused on Durant, Horford and Butler.

I wonder if they knew they weren't getting Durant and Butler if they would have let Turner walk.

BNM
Click to expand...
For that money i think they would. They still have crowder and drafted jaylen brown.

They have marcus smart, isaiah thomas, avery bradley at guard spots.

Well, maybe they wouldnt have. Who knows?
 
While we are reminiscing about this year's Blazers free agent pursuits; has anyone read this piece on why Parsons picked Memphis? Looks as if their coach made a better presentation as to how he would be utilized. Of course it just could have been he thought there were too many other wing scorers to compete with on Portland and so he wouldn't get as many shots as he wanted.http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16956247/nba-qa-memphis-grizzlies-chandler-parsons
 
JFizzleRaider said:
For that money i think they would. They still have crowder and drafted jaylen brown.

They have marcus smart, isaiah thomas, avery bradley at guard spots.

Well, maybe they wouldnt have. Who knows?
Click to expand...

Yeah, hard to say. There is definitely a domino effect in the way free agency works these days. Teams scramble to clear cap space and unload assets, or let them walk for nothing so they can go after their top targets.

Neil seems to have made a habit of swooping in and snatching up these bargains while other teams are distracted by their sexier targets. That's how we got Rolo for practically nothing three years ago when NOP wanted to clear cap space to overpay Tyreke Evans. It's also how we got Aminu last summer, when DAL was focused on Wes and DeAndre Jordan. He also waited for GSW to renounce Ezeli to clear cap space for Durant and then snatched him up on the cheap.

Did he do the same with Turner? Hard to say, but at this point, I will take Turner at $70 million over Batum at $125 million. I like Batum, but I don't like him THAT much. Neil may not have hit any home runs with big name free agents yet, but he seems to have mastered getting solid player on the cheap (relatively speaking).

Ironically, he may be following in Boston's footsteps here. They consider Al Horford the first big name free agent to ever choose them as his preferred destination. They became an appealing destination for him by establishing a solid playoff team of young, inexpensive talent and a coach the players like to play for.

At the very least, we are accumulating young assets on reasonable contracts that can be used in a future consolidation trade. Or, worst case, we have a young team that continues to improve as our young, reasonably priced talent continues to develop.

BNM
 
UKRAINEFAN said:
While we are reminiscing about this year's Blazers free agent pursuits; has anyone read this piece on why Parsons picked Memphis? Looks as if their coach made a better presentation as to how he would be utilized. Of course it just could have been he thought there were too many other wing scorers to compete with on Portland and so he wouldn't get as many shots as he wanted.http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16956247/nba-qa-memphis-grizzlies-chandler-parsons
Click to expand...

He strikes me as a me first dude, not a Trail Blazer. Bullet dodged.
 
UKRAINEFAN said:
While we are reminiscing about this year's Blazers free agent pursuits; has anyone read this piece on why Parsons picked Memphis? Looks as if their coach made a better presentation as to how he would be utilized. Of course it just could have been he thought there were too many other wing scorers to compete with on Portland and so he wouldn't get as many shots as he wanted.http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16956247/nba-qa-memphis-grizzlies-chandler-parsons
Click to expand...

We probably didn't stroke his ego and Memphis did. They treated him like a Durant, bringing in Justin Timberlake to try to sway him.

Way too much drama for a dude coming off two surgeries.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BigGameDamian
Lowe: Capped-Out Blazers Are Free Agency Losers
2
Replies
39
Views
4K
Phatguysrule
Phatguysrule
ABM
Blazers Won't Take Free Agency Lying Down (Columbian)
2
Replies
59
Views
3K
Mediocre Man
Mediocre Man
BrianFromWA
(Grantland) LMA's impending Free Agency
Replies
26
Views
1K
Strenuus
Strenuus
BigGameDamian
Notice Every NBA Team's Blueprint for 2019 Free Agency
Replies
12
Views
1K
BonesJones
BonesJones
South East
Neal Olshey - Trade v Free Agency
Replies
20
Views
1K
BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94
B

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top