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Originally Posted by Stepping Razor
The crazy thing about the 3-year extension we gave him after that (admittedly pretty good) half season was that his contract wasn't even expiring until after the NEXT (04-05) season... And then we gave him another THREE YEARS on top of that. Oy.
But three extra years for Ratliff, a year early, when he had no leverage whatsoever? Craaaaazy
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Yes, and a bunch of posters here said so at the time what a dumb move. There was no monday morning quarterbacking on this.
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Miles was out of contract so you can understand then new deal he got, based on what he showed that half season.
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And yet again, a bunch of poster here said it was bad negotiating to pay pay Miles significantly over the MLE, when 1) he wanted to stay in Portland unless he could get more money somewhere else, and 2) the teams that had caproom that summer had used the money on other players. None left for Miles. He was too far down on the sought after free agents list. As several of us said at the time, offer Miles a bit over the MLE and call it a day. I even suggested a player option on a straight MLE $ deal, if his agent was going to argue his "potential". If he blew up he could opt out sooner and renegotiate. Instead the team paid him over market value. Why? I will never know. I (and others) didn't trust his history to justify overpaying the market. Just dumb business.
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Zach still had a year left and would have been a restricted free agent the next year, so PatterNashAllen probably should have held their nerve and waited. But his agent was making all kinds of "now or never" threats, and he still seemed to be our emerging franchise player, so I can see how that happens.
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I (and others) said to call his agents bluff. We didn't buy it. Nor did I buy into the "Zach is our franchise player" storyline from management. I never saw Zach as a cornerstone. It is as if the Blazers bought into their own marketing campaign - which is idiotic. Or that they thought treating Zach like a franchise player - early extension on a (near) MAX deal - would turn Zach into something he probably wasn't - a dominating cornerstone player. I was more than willing to wait another year to deal with Zach's extension - and to set an example as a franchise to not be such pansies. The only time you roll over is when dealing with a true SuperStar level talent - in which case you DO lick their boots every chance you get.
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PS I guess by the trading deadline in '08 Ratliff becomes valuable again as a big expiring contract. But man that seems like a long way away...
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Except for one HUGE problem. With the current financial problems of the team - there is no guarantee that they will be anxious to use that asset if it means keeping the salary level higher.