Trail Blazers waive guard Armon Johnson

[e_blazer]

I'd say the idea of signing him to a $1 mil contract for next season while he rehabs is a reasonable way of kicking the can down the road so the Blazers can make an informed decision the following summer.

 

[RR7]

informed how? are we informed when he'll need his 4th microfracture surgery?

 

[BBert]

Man the Oden saga continues.... Even if he doesn't have a single setback, after this microfracture, he wouldn't be able to contribute for about a year and a half, so he's out this season, out all next season, and ready to start training camp for some lucky team in the 2013-2014 season. I've lost track -- how old will he be by then?

 

[Nate Dogg]

Cut Babbitt and bring back Taurean Green ! (just kidding!)

 

[e_blazer]

informed how? are we informed when he'll need his 4th microfracture surgery?

Informed as to how he recovers, deals with rehab and whether his knees might possibly indicate he can play again or whether they continue to fall apart. Depending upon what the medical reports from Greg's surgery says, it might be worth $1 million to keep the Blazers' options open.

 

[BBert]

I'd spend another $1.5 mil of Paul Allen's money to rehab Oden next season. Then we'll finally know if he can come back healthy or not. Really. We'll really know this time.

 

[RR7]

Informed as to how he recovers, deals with rehab and whether his knees might possibly indicate he can play again or whether they continue to fall apart. Depending upon what the medical reports from Greg's surgery says, it might be worth $1 million to keep the Blazers' options open.

what could any medical report possibly show to give you confidence in signing him to a long deal? And his medical reports would be available to us as well as any team looking to sign him, regardless of sitting on his bird rights.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Weren't AJ and Babbitt friends since high school?

This will crush Babbitt and he'll be useless the rest of the season.

In other words, this move has absolutely no negative impact. We "lose" Armon, Babbitt continues to suck, and we add a hopefully serviceable back-up center.

BNM

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Informed as to how he recovers, deals with rehab and whether his knees might possibly indicate he can play again or whether they continue to fall apart. Depending upon what the medical reports from Greg's surgery says, it might be worth $1 million to keep the Blazers' options open.

Look at the 100s of games Amare, Zbo and Kidd played before needing MF surgery.

Now look at Oden and realize that he's needed MF surgery twice after only rehabbing. In other words, 0 games played.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

In other words, this move has absolutely no negative impact. We "lose" Armon, Babbitt continues to suck, and we add a hopefully serviceable back-up center.

BNM

Yes, something like that.

 

[e_blazer]

Look at the 100s of games Amare, Zbo and Kidd played before needing MF surgery.

Now look at Oden and realize that he's needed MF surgery twice after only rehabbing. In other words, 0 games played.

Look, I'm not trying to make some Pollyanna-ish case for Oden's future health probabilities. I'm saying $1 million is chump change in the NBA and if it keeps good will with Oden and his agent, it's probably worth it just in case things happen to work out and he's able to play a few years.

 

[BBert]

Look, I'm not trying to make some Pollyanna-ish case for Oden's future health probabilities. I'm saying $1 million is chump change in the NBA and if it keeps good will with Oden and his agent, it's probably worth it just in case things happen to work out and he's able to play a few years.

I agree with this. It's not like Greg is even a distraction at this point. He's not worth any stress by fans at all -- I hope any sane fan is beyond worrying about it. Greg's cost is like keeping any other non-player behind the bench in a suit or in the D-League. The only thing the Blazers have to lose is some of Paul Allen's pocket change. Paul spent more money moving up in the second round to draft Armon Freaking Johnson than he would spend paying Greg to rehab another one or two years. The potential payoff is far greater than Armon's potential ever was, even if Greg is never more than a 12 minute a game backup.

 

[Boob-No-More]

At the very least he has trade value.

As an expiring contract????

BNM

 

[RR7]

good will with his agent? why don't we sign one of his clients who might actually play?

 

[SlyPokerDog]

good will with his agent? why don't we sign one of his clients who might actually play?

You mean Joel?

 

[RR7]

He's not worth any stress by fans at all -- I hope any sane fan is beyond worrying about it. The potential payoff is far greater than the Armon's potential ever was.

These two statements don't jive to well, IMO. I would think any sane fan would be beyond the line of thinking that there is a huge payoff at the end of the Greg Oden rainbow. Otherwise, you're showing thereis still that worry, the worry that we cut him and he is good elsewhere.
Sure, it's possible. But at this point, getting him back 4 year removed from having ever played in a game, I'd say he's likely more Jamal Magloire than Oden Ohio State. And there's dozens of players like that to sign, and more probably in HS and college.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Personally, I would have cut Babbit. I think Armon Johnson is more likely to become an NBA player than Babbit. Sometimes it's best to not wait too long before you admit you made a draft mistake.

 

[RR7]

You mean Joel?

exactly. At least he can contribute.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I'd spend another $1.5 mil of Paul Allen's money to rehab Oden next season. Then we'll finally know if he can come back healthy or not. Really. We'll really know this time.

Agreed.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Let's also not forget how it affects our cap space this summer. To keep Oden's Bird rights, we'll have to not renounce his cap hold, which IIRC will be around $4M. Some of you seem to view the cap space as gold; is the prospect of a someday healthy Oden worth a big chunk of it?

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Armon Johnson > Nolan Smith

 

[B-Roy]

Let's also not forget how it affects our cap space this summer. To keep Oden's Bird rights, we'll have to not renounce his cap hold, which IIRC will be around $4M. Some of you seem to view the cap space as gold; is the prospect of a someday healthy Oden worth a big chunk of it?

I don't think there's any question we renounce him. What good are his bird rights when we're going to be ~20 million under the cap?

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

Weren't AJ and Babbitt friends since high school?

This will crush Babbitt and he'll be useless the rest of the season.

Why should the rest of the season be any different from the first of the season?

Gramps...

 

[Rastapopoulos]

This kind of sucks. Armon was not an NBA player, but I feel for the kid. He tried hard, he was a great bench presence and he seemed like he was a good guy. HCP: we need a highlight reel! (Focus on the glory days of summer league, 2010...)

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Personally, I would have cut Babbit. I think Armon Johnson is more likely to become an NBA player than Babbit. Sometimes it's best to not wait too long before you admit you made a draft mistake.

Babbitt has one NBA skill. That's one more than Armon.

 

[Sedatedfork]

I think this was a good move, at least for PR purposes. Neither Oden or AJ were going to do anything for the Blazers this year. If Oden rehabs and gets better and plays for another team, at least the Blazers can avoid the PR problem of fans questioning why they waived Oden for no reason. They may part ways with him this summer, but they can probably do so in a much more amicable way. Cutting him now essentially sends the message that the Blazers believe his career is over. Better to take the high road and say all the right things.

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

Babbitt has one NBA skill. That's one more than Armon.

Height?

 

[MickZagger]

He was supposed to be the next Greg Anthony. Then, we found out he had a mutated hand. Bummer. Another draft pick bites the dust.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I don't think there's any question we renounce him. What good are his bird rights when we're going to be ~20 million under the cap?

That's my thought as well. I was primarily responding to these posts:

but there's no chance he plays this season, and very unlikely next season, so what does keeping him do.

It keeps the Blazers in the position of holding his Bird rights, in the unlikely event that being able to offer him a longer contract than anyone else should be something of value. However minuscule that chance may be, it's greater than the chance that Armon Johnson was going to break into the PG rotation.

You keep the 7 footer who was the #1 pick for the year just because something could happen with him. MGM could decide to give him a 1 mill contract for next year once we use all our capspace up just to keep his bird rights and monitor his healthy. I don't really care but if you have a choice you don't waive you #1 pick from a few years ago when you don't have to.

People are suggesting that we don't cut Oden now so that we can retain his bird rights through this offseason and into a future offseason when (if he actually performs) those bird-rights might be of value. I'm just pointing out that in order to do so, it's going to cost us cap space this year.

If we want to put out a low ante on his long-term health, we should renounce him and then give him a low-dollar 3-year ($1.5-2M/yr?) deal, so that we'll have new bird rights when that expires.

 

[BBert]

Let's also not forget how it affects our cap space this summer. To keep Oden's Bird rights, we'll have to not renounce his cap hold, which IIRC will be around $4M. Some of you seem to view the cap space as gold; is the prospect of a someday healthy Oden worth a big chunk of it?

I had not considered that. Trade him for Nash!