Ballscientist

That is crazy conference. All reporters will run away right away.

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Ed O

Dickau was in several commercials for the Blazers, and look how much good it did HIM.



Weird that they'd have a press conference just to accounce they signed Hassell, but I don't think that they're going to have anything unexpected to announce... things tend to leak out somehow.

Ed O.

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"In the end, it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what that means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win -- if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth, and nice guys with no talent finish last."

-- Sandy Koufax

trifecta

Not that he knows anything but the radio guy for the Twolves was just on the fan and he said that he honestly though that they would match.

His reasons were that he is only 25, was actually a good midrange shooter and Spree only has a couple of years left in him.

He also made it clear that he hadn't talked to anyone in the front office.

Blazerfan024

Any recap on the conference would be awesome

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ABM

Of course, someone will fill us in on the ado - right?

Paxil

I can't remember a press conference to announce the signing of an offer sheet. Very weird.

Trader Ed

1080 the Fan is talking Ricky Williams now

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

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

baler

Seem to just be announcing the signing of the offer sheet. They talked about how he is a very good perimeter defender. Seem to think that Minny will not match. But who knows.

baler

you can watch it live on blazers.com

e_blazer1

Well, that was a little weird. Signing the offer sheet at a press conference? Nash says that he doesn't know which way the T'Wolves will go on matching, but you'd have to think that he's pretty optimistic that they won't or he wouldn't have orchestrated the press conference.

ebott

I think the Press Conference is a move to put added pressure on Minnesota not to match Hassell's offer sheet. If we can show how much we really want Hassell and he expresses that he REALLY wants to be here and not in Minnesota it might do some good.

In the recent past bringing back restricted free agents against their will has not been a great move for any team. But everybody still does it cause you don't want to let a guy go for nothing. Maybe this kind of PR outpouring will help to disuade the Timberwolves from matching.

We'll all see how it goes in 15 days.

ABM

I just hope Miles doesn't pull a similar stunt.

ebott

I don't think he will. Everything I've heard says that his only problem with the Blazers is that we're not offering him enough money. But why should we when nobody else does? If he does find another team to give him big bucks we'll match as long as it's not insane. After than time and money will heal all wounds.

Leroy131

The idea of holding a press conference for an offer sheet signing is very odd indeed. From what I heard, Hassell was fairly non-commital when asked if he was hoping that Minnesota wouldn't match. He basically said that he was happy to be in Portland right now, but that he'd have to go back to Minnesota if they matched.
Clearly Trenton had to use the Blazers as leverage to get the kind of contract he wanted (supposedly the Wolves initial offer was 2 yr/3 mil). I think it's very likely that he'd be happy playing either place next season and doesn't hold anything against the Wolves.

I still have no idea what the Wolves will do. Even though they low-balled Hassell initially, they probably did the right thing by letting other teams set the market instead of bidding against themselves. $4.5 million is likely fair value for a solid defensive player who will likely improve on offense, but 6 years is a long commitment and might make it difficult to match. If the Wolves could strike a shorter deal for similar money with Eric Williams it might make their decision easier, but I think they believe they're close enough to winning a championship that they can't afford not to keep him.