Dan

The Blazers have the MLE and the Vets min to tinker with.

Most of the guys so many of you want the blazers to sign and are *****ing that they didn't, weren't going to sign for the MLE or the vets min.

Brent Barry isn't a top notch free agent (which is why he was going for the MLE) and he (apparently) decided between Portland and the Spurs. Thats not bad to be 2nd place against the Spurs.

San Antonio spends their money wisely. Yes, they are lucky in that they have Tim Duncan, and he makes his team much much better, but they also didn't grossly over pay players to play there. They also had the cap room on top of being a winning team.

The Blazers have 4 guys who make more money than the whole Spurs team does almost. If you ad in DA, thats more money than the Spurs team is paid.

Man, thats just sad..

Where have the "big name" stars gone this off season?

To teams that a lot of money under the cap.


All this hullaballoo said, this next month (or hell, half a month) of the off season could be a "water mark" on the next season.

Quick is reporting that the offer to Miles has "frosted" the lines of communication..that can't be good. With the offers players who aren't better than him, aren't much better than him, and are in his "potential" class being around what he figures he should get, maybe the 8 million per isn't that unreasonable.

Losing him would not be a good thing for the team, unless they can somehow con another team (and thats what it might boil down to) into taking SAR and giving up a very very very good SF/SG.

__________________
A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

RedHot&Rolling

Whoa, boy!! Don't go over the cliff just yet.

First, a correction - DA makes about $9M per the Spurs team is at about $40M with signings.

Second, Miles is a Restricted FA - we can match ANY OFFER. We may not want to but we can. The only option left to Miles is Denver. All others have closed up.

We resign Miles to about $6-7M per. We also sign Person to the veteren's minimum $1.6M. And with our MLE we add either D Fisher, S Jackson, C Andersen or M Doleac. We've upgraded our bench.

We still have SAR to dangle in front of other teams with little or no options. Our need is a Starting SG and/or a B/U Center/PF.

So....relax and enjoy the ride. It isn't you with your job and reputation on the line, its Nash.

__________________
Trail Blazers Fan since Walton was injured the first time!
OSU Beavers Alumni & Fan since Ralph Miller's Orange Express -

"Fans cheer when they have reason to." Stop the programmed noise!!

Dan

I am relaxed, thats why I said "put things in perspective".

__________________
A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

Trader Ed

I have always liked the idea of getting Wes back in the right circumstance.. with Breant Barry now out of the picture... it might make sense,


With BB out of the pic, I think we shold make a pitch to Derek Fisher..... (yes I am serious).. he is a good guard and plays good D. Although I loathe him for wearing purple and gold all those years, he might just be a good pickup.

then dangle the carrot of Rahim as the season progresses. I would still want to upgrade Miles to a Lewis type of SF if possible


ROSTER
PG Stoudamire or Fisher, Telfair, *Dickau
SG DA, Person, *Woods, **Monia
SF Miles, Patterson, *Khrayapa
PF Randolph, Rahim, *Outlaw
C Ratliff, Davis, Stepania, **Sin, **Sinonovic

*IR
**Overseas

Too many players I know... but we can still package Rahim and others for a upgrade somewhere before the season starts.

__________________
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts..."

Heart, desire and hustle! Its the fire within that makes a champion.

FeloniusThunk

The Spurs don't have to overpay for anyone because of the draft: they got Duncan and as long as they pay him, everyone else is virtually interchangeable. Picking up guys like Parker and Ginobili through the draft has helped a lot, too. Having one incredible anchor like that makes he gm job much easier, I would think.

Teams with heaps of cap space haven't managed to rebuild their teams with it very well. Denver's strength now is through the draft (Carmelo and Nene) and trades (Camby). THey picked up Andre Miller and may pick up another good one soon, but they didn't pick up anyone who is the senter of the team. The same is true with Utah. I can only think of way back when the Lakers lured Shaq over as a true franchise player being acquired via free agency.

So, no, the Blazers probably aren't/weren't going to be getting anything big via free agent pickups. What I would like to see is some huge, nifty trade that gets a McGrady, making the free agent acquisitions that follow actually meaningful.

baler

Fisher WILL NOT sign here. I don't care for him since he played for the Lakers but he's a great defender and clutch 3pt shooter.

STOMP

Great defender??? Take away the ridiculous flop calls he's recieved as a Laker (not getting those in PDX) and you all you're left with is the guy who lacked the footspeed and size to guard Chauncey and Parker in this last years playoffs. He has been unbelievable at times draining 3's in the playoffs, but he shot under 30% from there last season and presumably wouldn't be getting the same looks with Zach instead of Shaq on the block. He turns 30 in less then a month.

No thanks.

STOMP

FeloniusThunk

I see little point in signing Fisher. He's not a good shooter, no longer a great defender, and not young enough to build with. The Blazers have plenty of pg's to give minutes to and see what develops. I'd much rather bring back Omar Cook as a 3rd or 4th point guard to see minutes.

Dan

Derek Fisher made Mike Bibby, Tony Parker, and Troy Hudson look all world.

pass.

__________________
A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't