The Three Amigos - What's Your Approval Rating?

[ABM]

Thomas, Crawford, and now Smith.

Evaluating these FA acquisitions as a whole (group), what's your approval rating?

 

[3RA1N1AC]

i give it a solid 1+

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Given what we had to work with and what our needs were, I'd give them a cumulative B+. Solid, definitely better than what I expected to see from our management triumvirate, but not particularly overwhelming.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

Solid B. With no GM and the crushing blow of losing BRoy and another setback with Greg, they could have just quit and wrote off this year. They didn't. I'm very impressed with the Blazer front office in recent weeks, they've made me somewhat excited for the upcoming season. I have no doubt that Nate will whip these guys into a plodding, half-court frenzy and win 40 games, finish 6th in the conference and lose in the first round. DAMMIT, I'M READY!!!

 

[3RA1N1AC]

OOPS I MEANT 11+

wait is this like out of 100?

 

[ABM]

OOPS I MEANT 11+

wait is this like out of 100?

It's a 5-Point poll.

 

[Draco]

We had one of the better group of free agent acquisitions of any team in the league. The Knicks would've been better off doing nothing, at least in the long term, Chandler doesn't get you a title so whats the point? Now they can't sign Deron, CP3, or Howard. The Warriors gave Kwame $7 million and the Clippers gave DeAndre $40 million. We hit home runs compared to those teams.

I do like the Heat, Bulls, and Mavs acquisitions however. But ours have less downside then those, short deals mean we have far better cap flexibility in the future, and also higher trade value mid season if Crawford doesn't fit.

 

[Ed O]

We had one of the better group of free agent acquisitions of any team in the league.

Are you kidding? Other teams presumably added starting-caliber players, right? Portland certainly didn't.

Ed O.

 

[Ed O]

I voted 3. I don't know what else was better out there, but I'm utterly indifferent to adding those three guys.

Ed O.

 

[Pinwheel1]

The front office did well. The embellished comments this summer about not being able to do anything without a GM in place was IMHO..... absurd. The basketball guys that have been with the organization are not idiots. Bert Kolde is not making the player personnel decisions. They actually have "basketball" people in place. Not that any of us couldn't have made these moves.

But none-the-less Good job!

 

[magnifier661]

Just wait until the trade deadline. I have a feeling we aren't done. Now all we need to do is win and look attractive.

 

[Minstrel]

I voted indifference. I don't think the moves hurt the team in the present or long-term, but I also don't think they make a big difference.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I'm somewhere between indifference and "good." These were solid additions that shore up depth and give us some nice professional players, but it really doesn't make up for the loss of Roy and Oden (who knows what his status is and will be?)

It's fine.

 

[illmatic99]

Couldn't have done anything better with the moves they were dealt.

Solid job.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I'm in with the group that said they did the best they could under the circumstances. I wonder which team did better that had no cap room and only the MLE (Blazers didn't even knwo they had the full MLE until camp started).

It's always a good sign that Blazers signed a player whoose old team hates to see him go and other teams had interest (thomas), a player that had multiple offers from other teams and choose less money to play for Ptd. Ptd basically convinced two players other teams wanted to come to Ptd (one with money and one with friends and location)

Smith might have been a good pick up but I didn't hear there was much interest around the league for him so makes me wonder how good he can be or how much value he has.

Who knows, maybe smith turns out to be the gem and the others flops, but one thing is for sure, Blazers have been very aggresive in the last two weeks convincing 2 free agents to sign with Ptd and actually gettting involved in multi team trade talks involving Dwight Howard. GM or no GM, Blazers seem to always be active in trying to improve the team and personally this fan appreciates it.

 

[MARIS61]

We strengthened our bench considerably while ignoring the gaping hole that is 4/5th of our starting lineup.

 

[e_blazer]

I think the Blazers front office did some really good work in a short period of time. They swung for the fences trying to get in on the Howard deal and would have netted 4 first round picks for Wallace. The fact that Orlando backed away doesn't negate the fact that Buchanan & Co. were looking for ways to really improve the team going forward. Once that fell apart, they moved quickly to get the best FA left on the board (Crawford) while bolstering the front line with Thomas and Smith. Given the assets available and the short window to work in, anyone who thinks they could have done better should point out some realistic options that were missed.

 

[Draco]

Are you kidding? Other teams presumably added starting-caliber players, right? Portland certainly didn't.

Ed O.

I'm also taking into consideration the contract handed out. This impacts our ability to sign future talent as well as receive assets back in a trade. Players are worth more on smaller contracts. We have the upside of a 6th man of the year 20ppg scorer, but the downside of a short $5 million contract. Yes I agree with you the Knicks got a better player in Chandler, but it cost them 10 times the price. This was a terribly weak free agent class. We arguably got better players than when we were under the cap chasing Hedo and settling for 'Dre. Jamal has about the same upside as we thought Hedo did, a decent starter or great reserve with flashes of special talent along with some noticeable flaws. Except unlike the horrific near Hedo signing this comes with almost no downside.

 

[BBert]

Solid acquisitions considering our limitations. I'll take Thomas and Smith over Pendy and Dante any day.

 

[Elton]

It's close to 4 to me. Crawford can actually make a difference.