Minnesota wants Batum @ 11.25M a year

[OregonHuskerMan]

This gets really interesting, if Minnesota amnesty's a player between now and the 10th.

That means they are serious about this Batum thing.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Nope. If it's a sign and trade, he wouldn't have to sign the offer sheet. He signs with us, we trade him. We can wait until after Hibbert is matched/not matched.

Need to be greedy. DIVISION rival.

Need to close it . No need to fuck around on things you won't get. Just get Williams and call it a day. I can't belive you guys are letting part of his rookie year influence you. The guy looked spectacular at times. Sure he was lost at other times, but he is a rook.

 

[OSUBlazerfan]

Need to close it . No need to fuck around on things you won't get. Just get Williams and call it a day. I can't belive you guys are letting part of his rookie year influence you. The guy looked spectacular at times. Sure he was lost at other times, but he is a rook.

After one year of college no less..

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Jaynes taunts the fans more than anyone in the Portland media.

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

Need to close it . No need to fuck around on things you won't get. Just get Williams and call it a day. I can't belive you guys are letting part of his rookie year influence you. The guy looked spectacular at times. Sure he was lost at other times, but he is a rook.

His rookie year isn't influencing me. I think the guy is special, and I'd love to have him. However; he plays the position our all-star plays - so it would be a little bit of a reach to make him play 3 AGAIN this year, when that's not his best position. Guy has talent, which we can always use, but he is an unproven commodity.

Lillard
Wes
D-Will??? (He is such a piss poor SF though)
Aldridge
Hibbert

Not exactly my favorite lineup. D Will is a poor/streaky 3 pt shooter, and isn't nearly as effective off the bounce/speed wise vs. SF's.

 

[Minstrel]

Re: Minnesota wants Batum @ ~12M a year

Well, the game of chicken just got really interesting. I'm still of the opinion the Blazers match if they get Hibbert and take a pass if they don't.

My guess: they match either way. I think their liking of Batum is sincere and the contract isn't crazy.

 

[Draco]

I would love a Batum for D Williams sign and trade. He would be an amazing backup PF, and could play alongside LaMarcus with LA at the 5. He is on a much cheaper contract. He has way more upside then Batum IMO he just turned 21 a few months ago. Batum is almost 24 but this will be his 5th year in the NBA.

I don't like the though of Batum at $11.25m a year at all.

 

[Draco]

Lillard
Wes
D-Will??? (He is such a piss poor SF though)
Aldridge
Hibbert

Not exactly my favorite lineup. D Will is a poor/streaky 3 pt shooter, and isn't nearly as effective off the bounce/speed wise vs. SF's.

I wouldn't play Derrick W much at the 3, I'd slide LA to the 5 when Hibbert is out of the game. Hibbert should be playing in the 28mpg range because of his asthma and fouls. I view LA as a Duncan style bigman in that the team plays best when he gets significant burn at both the PF and the C spot during a game.

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

I would love a Batum for D Williams sign and trade. He would be an amazing backup PF, and could play alongside LaMarcus with LA at the 5. He is on a much cheaper contract. He has way more upside then Batum IMO he just turned 21 a few months ago. Batum is almost 24 but this will be his 5th year in the NBA.

I don't like the though of Batum at $11.25m a year at all.

More concerned with what we would do with our starting and backup SF's. Babbitt/Claver are not NBA starter quality, if even bench quality.

We would look like...

Lillard/Nolan
Wes/Elliot/Barton
??/Babbitt
Aldridge/D-Will/Freeland(?)
Hibbert/Freeland(?)/Meyers

Two GLARING issues. Don;'t have a legit backup PG, nor do we have a legit SF backup or starter.

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

I wouldn't play Derrick W much at the 3, I'd slide LA to the 5 when Hibbert is out of the game. Hibbert should be playing in the 28mpg range because of his asthma and fouls. I view LA as a Duncan style bigman in that the team plays best when he gets significant burn at both the PF and the C spot during a game.

Refer to my post above this, but we would have a huge hole at 3.

Essentially, you wouldn't mind trading one of our better starters, for a lifetime backup PF (on our team, at least). Doesn't seem smart, IMO. Unless you believed in him at SF, or if you get other things in addition to him.

Never trade a starter for bench player, straight up.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Williams is a scorer. Don't worry about his position. Just ike you should not have been worring when we tried to sign David Lee and Paul Milsap. Especially if We lose out on Hibbert, and we will, LMA can log some minutes at C. Williams will get 2/3 of his minutes at the 4

 

[Pinwheel1]

Never trade a starter for bench player, straight up.

Batum could easily end up being the bench player and Williams the starter.

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

Williams is a scorer, I agree.

I do worry about his position, considering he is the size of a small forward, slightly bigger. Doesn't rebound well. No defensive presence.

Never cared for David Lee, Millsap is an animal. Rebounds extraordinarily well, smart on D, high bbiq. Compliments Aldridge, as Aldridge is a average to slightly above average rebounder. Derrick Williams is below average.

LMA is bound to log C minutes - I'd rather his partner be a good rebounder, rather than a below average-average one.

Once again, what do we do at the 3 w/o Batum?

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

Batum could easily end up being the bench player and Williams the starter.

Williams won't start for us.

Batum did.

Batum fills a need.

Williams doesn't.

 

[BengalDuck]

Is this new?

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8...batum-verbal-agreement-minnesota-timberwolves

 

[Draco]

Refer to my post above this, but we would have a huge hole at 3.

Essentially, you wouldn't mind trading one of our better starters, for a lifetime backup PF (on our team, at least). Doesn't seem smart, IMO. Unless you believed in him at SF, or if you get other things in addition to him.

Never trade a starter for bench player, straight up.

If we were preparing for a year of contention and a deep title run I'd be concerned about this strategy and positional balance on the roster. But I don't think we're close to that stage of team building yet. We are in asset accumulation stage. Build assets and worry about fine tuning the balance of the roster later.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

If we were preparing for a year of contention and a deep title run I'd be concerned about this strategy and positional balance on the roster. But I don't think we're close to that stage of team building yet. We are in asset accumulation stage. Build assets and worry about fine tuning the balance of the roster later.

Exactly. Williams is younger than Batum, arguably more talented, and definitely cheaper. Translation--we'd be more likely able to trade Williams for a core piece than we would Batum.

If we could also get Ridnour instead of Webster, we could solve our backup PG problem as well.

 

[OregonHuskerMan]

If we were preparing for a year of contention and a deep title run I'd be concerned about this strategy and positional balance on the roster. But I don't think we're close to that stage of team building yet. We are in asset accumulation stage. Build assets and worry about fine tuning the balance of the roster later.

Ah, that makes much more sense.

I, however, believe that we can make some noise if we do get Hibbert, which I stated above. If we do have Hibbert, we will make noise, and we will need a legitimate SF moreso than a backup PF.

Still, if we are accumulating assets, Batum isn't a horrible asset to have.

 

[Draco]

Ah, that makes much more sense.

I, however, believe that we can make some noise if we do get Hibbert, which I stated above. If we do have Hibbert, we will make noise, and we will need a legitimate SF moreso than a backup PF.

Still, if we are accumulating assets, Batum isn't a horrible asset to have.

Hibbert would be a huge step in that direction. When all is said and done I'll be shocked if the Pacers don't match. So I try to think of the impact of moves with us not already having Roy. Gotta admit it is nice to day-dream of him being here though!

If Batum is on a $11+ million contract I don't believe he has much of any trade value. But if you believe he can become a borderline all-star level player then I could see that viewpoint being valid. I think of him as an acceptable starter or a great role player and at $11 million he would be overpaid. In a couple seasons he won't have the untapped potential tag anymore that some credit him with. Without a significant increase in his production, with only viewing him based on current accomplishments, he is underwhelming as a key starter IMO.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

"But his heart went to Minneapolis"

This whole process never had to be this bumpy, his agent is something else.

 

[Natebishop3]

Fuck em.... sign and trade or let him go. He isn't worth that much.

 

[Draco]

"But his heart went to Minneapolis"

This whole process never had to be this bumpy, his agent is something else.

Thats what I've thought the whole time. But if he is able to get $45+million for Batum I can't argue with the results.

 

[ironcrotch]

Thats what I've thought the whole time. But if he is able to get $45+million for Batum I can't argue with the results.

I think he owes some of his commission to Kahn.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Look, with Batum's cap hold, the draft pick holds and the players on the roster, we have 41.3M spoken for (actually, including the minimum roster spot hold it's 41.8M, but once we sign someone it won't matter so I'll ignore it for now). Guesses from guys like Hollinger say it's going to be around 61.5M cap this year. That leaves us 20.2M under the cap, since Hickson's been renounced.

**All assuming IND doesn't match. If they do, it's all moot anyway**

Hibbert's "max" deal will start at 13.7M, based on the cap guess above. That gives us 6.5M to get other free agents, and then to match Nic's offer, if we choose. Freeland's being assumed to come over for around 3-4M (and we have to use cap space for him), leaving us around 2-3M for a backup PG.

Now, if we S&T Nic for just Williams, Williams' salary of 4,809,840 would basically replace Nic's 5.4M cap hold, so we'd have 7.1M to spend on FA's after maxing Hibbert. If we do Williams and Webster (and cut Webster), Webster's cap hit after being waived would be 600k, which basically makes it a salary cap wash. We'd still have the same 6.5M to spend that we would've after Hibbert, but we have Williams instead of Batum.

Where it gets tricky is if we take back Ridnour or Wes Johnson with Williams. WJ's 4,285,560 (or Luke's 4M even) would cut into that 7.1M space. So instead of Hibbert, DW, Freeland and maybe a backup PG...we would have Hibbert, DW, Ridnour or Johnson and less than 3M to fill the roster before we use the Room Exception.

It wouldn't crush us as long as it's ONE of Ridnour or Johnson coming back with Williams...as long as the cap guess is right. If it's only 60M, it's even more vital to not take the second contract back from MIN.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Not a great day to be a Blazer fan! Emotionally, to read that Roy is going to be in another uniform next year and that Nic's heart is with Minny . . . fuck Roy, fuck Nic, fuck the Wolves and fuck the NBA.


This sucks. If Indy matches, not much to look forward to next year.

 

[South East]

Look, with Batum's cap hold, the draft pick holds and the players on the roster, we have 41.3M spoken for (actually, including the minimum roster spot hold it's 41.8M, but once we sign someone it won't matter so I'll ignore it for now). Guesses from guys like Hollinger say it's going to be around 61.5M cap this year. That leaves us 20.2M under the cap, since Hickson's been renounced.

**All assuming IND doesn't match. If they do, it's all moot anyway**

Hibbert's "max" deal will start at 13.7M, based on the cap guess above. That gives us 6.5M to get other free agents, and then to match Nic's offer, if we choose. Freeland's being assumed to come over for around 3-4M (and we have to use cap space for him), leaving us around 2-3M for a backup PG.

Now, if we S&T Nic for just Williams, Williams' salary of 4,809,840 would basically replace Nic's 5.4M cap hold, so we'd have 7.1M to spend on FA's after maxing Hibbert. If we do Williams and Webster (and cut Webster), Webster's cap hit after being waived would be 600k, which basically makes it a salary cap wash. We'd still have the same 6.5M to spend that we would've after Hibbert, but we have Williams instead of Batum.

Where it gets tricky is if we take back Ridnour or Wes Johnson with Williams. WJ's 4,285,560 (or Luke's 4M even) would cut into that 7.1M space. So instead of Hibbert, DW, Freeland and maybe a backup PG...we would have Hibbert, DW, Ridnour or Johnson and less than 3M to fill the roster before we use the Room Exception.

It wouldn't crush us as long as it's ONE of Ridnour or Johnson coming back with Williams...as long as the cap guess is right. If it's only 60M, it's even more vital to not take the second contract back from MIN.

If the Blazers do decide to sign and trade Batum they could wait until they use that extra space and then go over the cap after the trades just as if it was Batum. So salary coming back is moot as far as the cap goes.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Quick predicts that Batum doesn't even sign the offer sheet.

I was going to suggest this myself. Just needed his price established publicly.

If anyone would know, it's Quick after his supposed off-the-record chat with Nico today.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Does anyone else feel that Neil's stance is part that he wants to get the message across to Nic's combative agent: You wont push us around, you have no leverage in restrected free-agency.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

He could just accept the QO.

 

[BoomChakaLaka]

Not a great day to be a Blazer fan! Emotionally, to read that Roy is going to be in another uniform next year and that Nic's heart is with Minny . . . fuck Roy, fuck Nic, fuck the Wolves and fuck the NBA.


This sucks. If Indy matches, not much to look forward to next year.

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