RedHot&Rolling

From the Trib/Kerry Eggers:
"Free agent center-in-waiting Joel Przybilla, who wants only a legitimate reason he should re-sign, now is seriously considering moving on to another club — perhaps Chicago or Toronto, Milwaukee or Minnesota."

The Trail Blazers are only able to offer Joel the MLE, because he was only signed for two year contract, no bird rights. These other teams also can offer him the same amount of money or more.

If you are Joel - what would you do?

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B_&_B

Did Joel tell Kerry that himself? I doubt it, its probably just Eggers trying to make a headline.

If I was Joel, I'd wait to see what the Trail Blazers do this offseason. If the guys who "dont get it" are still on the team, then I dont blame him for signing with another team, with more of a chance to win sooner.

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Blazer Maven

Joel is still technically a project, since he has not put up solid numbers over an entire season.

Chicago- T. Chandler is more athletic version of JP
Toronto- Could use him, but may not be willing to pay over the MLE.
Milwaukee- No need, Bogut and Magloire are better than Joel right now.

At this point, Joel has a history of injuries and needs to work on his passing, finishing and free throw shooting. His value is right at the MLE.

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Foulzilla

Depends entirely on what the offers are. If anyone is stupid enough to pay me significantly over the MLE, I would go there.

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Dan

Not much to worry about. If he leaves, he leaves. If he stays, he stays.

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STOMP

The going rate for a starting center is well over the MLE. Heck, 2 offseasons back reportedly Adonal Foyle had full MLE offers on the table from NY, Toronto, and Orlando... GS went over the MLE to retain their career backup. Up to that point Adonal had the same sort of injury, passing, and FT issues as Joel and right now I'd certainly rate JP's production over Adonal's.

Toronto's management proactively cleared a significant amount of capspace this season to be able to add someone. I think their future (immediate an down the road) would be much brighter with Joel's addition then the Blazers. Mike James, MoPete, Villanueva, Bosh, and Joel would seem to make a pretty talented/complimentry starting 5 IMO. Here's betting that they'll be extending an offer above the MLE. Sorry.

STOMP

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Schilly

I voted "Chicago" which is exactly why we need to be thinking about a big in the draft.

Dan

the raptors can't sign Joel for much more than the MLE, iirc, as long as they have Mike James situation unresolved. He has a player option on his contract I believe, so if he opts out and lose him, thats a bit hit to their team. Also, if they re-sign him, it'll cost them a decent chunk of what they do have in their cap. He'll probably get about 7 million, so that takes them up to about 40 million in salaries (not including Calderons). Also includes their draft pick (which'll be pretty high), which could be anything from 2-4 million. That puts them just about 44-45 million. So not much more than what Portland fan offer.

Plus, Toronto might want to draft a player who's younger, cheaper and healthier than Joel, and go after some other free agent who fits their needs better.

However, you could say they could just draft Gay and sign Joel, if they lose James.

But I'd be kind of dissapointed if our big free agent signing was Joel Pryzbilla.

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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

tlong

I see no reason for Joel to stay in Portland. The Blazers are a disaster and he could get more money elsewhere. He may like the city of Portland, but outside of that there is no incentive for him to stay.

mook

I voted Minnesota just because he'd be a really nice compliment to Garnett. of course, to go there he'd have to take the MLE, and if he does that he might as well just go to a good team that can use a quality, defensive center. Maybe Dallas, New Jersey, Indiana--even the Spurs.

He'd be a nice upgrade over Nazr Mohammed and Nesterovic, and when he was injured they'd still have other big men. Actually, he's exactly the kind of guy the Spurs seem to pick up all the time.

Maybe it'd make sense to sign and trade Przybilla in the offseason to San Antonio for Van Exel's expiring deal plus a first round pick. The pick would suck, given the Spurs' record, but at least it'd be better than losing Joel for nothing (which will happen if he goes away as a free agent).

The Spurs make this deal so they can retain his Bird Rights after the one season, allowing them to lock him up on a longer deal next summer.

We do the deal because something is better than nothing.

B_&_B

Arent the Canadian taxes one reason why players dont want to play in Toronto? I thought I read that somewhere.

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"People say we are coming, but I almost think it's to the point where we are here," he said. "I think it's no longer coming. We are here now."... Brandon Roy.

sa1177

yes

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Foulzilla

It's true, but not quite as big of a deal as some people make it out to be. My understanding is that player taxes are fairly complicated (any financial wizards, feel free to correct me). They get taxed based on the state they play each game in. Obviously they play more games in Canada so a lot of their income is taxed at the higher rate. However, half their games are played outside Canada so that mitigates the extra taxes to a degree.

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