Kind of surprised nobody is discussing the merits of the trade from a Blazers' perspective. Would we really expect George to re-sign after a season? Isn't that pretty optimistic so soon after we lost Aldridge? Can you imagine what it'd be like for the next decade looking at Collins in some other jersey while George moves on to LA? Ugh.
I feel like we'll look back on this as dodging a major bullet.
Yes, I absolutely believe had we landed Paul George we would have been able to resign him. Of course you have those type of discussions with him or his agent, prior to the trade - not specific contract discussions, but what his goals are and what he wants to achieve. Paul George has said all along he wants to play for a contender. He was happy in IND when they were pushing the Heat to 7 games and has said all along he would re-sign with IND if they could build a team capable of contending. Trust me, I'm from Indiana and visit there often. If he can be happy playing for a contender in Indiana, he would be thrilled beyond belief to play for one in Portland.
And, I do believe adding Paul George to our current (well, pre-draft) roster with a full season of Nurk catapults us all the way to the 2nd seed in the West with a > 50% chance of trip to the WCF. Yes, GSW is still better on paper, and probably wins a series against us, but getting to the WCF against them qualifies as being a contender. But, that is year one. GSW's two best players would be 2 - 3 years older than ours, and they don't have a 22-year old as part of their core going forward. We would challenge them immediately and our core would continue to get better as their's ages and declines.
Paul George is one of the top 5 two way payers in the league - arguably one of the top 3 (after LeBron and Kawhi). With him, plus a full season of Nurk we would have been one of the top 3 teams in the league and the only one other than GSW or CLE to have any kind of shot at a title. Paul George is the kind of player that steps up his game in the playoffs. Yes, IND was swept by CLE, but George kept them in every game and his second best teammate in that series was Lance Stephenson, who had been waived by two teams with losing records during the regular season. Imagine how elated George would have been to have Dame, C.J., and Nurk helping him out in the playoffs.
So yeah, I think coming to POR and winning 55+ games and a deep playoff run, while watching the Lakers win 25 games and another trip to the lottery would have been enough to convince him he's better off re-signing here than pissing away his career babysitting the Laker teenagers.
As far as Pritchard goes, he seemed WAY more concerned with Paul George's future than that of his own team. He didn't want to trade George anywhere where he might re-sign and he definitely didn't want to trade him to BOS or CLE. The last one kind of makes since - if IND wasn't in full rebuild mode. The Pacers would have to face George four times a year and possibly in the playoffs, but most likely not any time soon.
If he indeed rejected that much better POR deal, he hurt his team's future. I already discussed the shit package he took fro OKC above (below average 25-year old on a hideous contract and an underwhelming rookie from the worst draft class in NBA history). That POR package would have really jump started IND's rebuild - Mo Harkless, a younger player than Olidipo, who is just as good
on a team friendly contract plus 3 first round picks in a very deep draft. That gives them one young starter in Harkless plus three shots at landing future starters in the draft, or the option to combine picks to move up. Yeah, Pritchard may have screwed Paul Allen and Neil Olshey, but in the end he screwed himself and the Pacers organization more. To me, being more worried about covering your own ass than getting the best possible return for your team is the kind of move that gets a GM fired. Not a good way to start the new job...
BNM
