Final Z-Bo trade thread

by mjm6783 on Jul 12, 2007 2:07 PM PDT

Question. Now that the NY/PHX trades are finalized, what is everyone's assessment of the outcome? We clearly had financial interests, but are we better off on the court? You have to remember that Oden would have been here either way.

My opinion. Setting aside the issues of Randolph's undesirable influence on the younger players, and Aldridge's need to grow at PF. I still think it's important that he not be here. Oden's offense is going to be inside. Posting up, putbacks, cutting from the weak side. He's going to need space down there.

That being said, Francis is just a way to save money and dump a player. If you consider both trades as one, then you basically bought out Randolph for less than it should have cost, in exchange you traded Dickau, Freddie, and cash for Frye, Jones, and Rudy. When you look at it like that, we actually made a pretty awesome deal.

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Rudy is the deal breaker...

I've been an avid supporter of this trade because it accomplished the single most important task the Blazers had this off-season: Unloading Zach Randolph. Off-the-court issues aside, Randolph bogged down our offense, needed the ball every possession to get his offense (and his rebounds) and, in general, handcuffed the creativity and talents of the Blazers roster (including Coach Nate McMillan)...

But, a $30 million buyout of Francis is a little ridiculous. The Blazers could have made him sweat a little before the season and prevented him from working out at their facilities (a la Steve McNair or Trent Green in the NFL) and he most likely would've settled for less. Granted we didn't have a lot of bargaining chips, but we did have a few.

Where the trade gets interesting is the "throw-ins." It sucks we lost Freddie and Dan, because they were both world class character guys, but Channing Frye and James Jones should both be important pieces of our rotation. If Rudy comes over and shoots the lights out (Manu Ginobili minus the salmon-esque flopping), the trade is an A+ for the Blazers.

by Champs2009 on Jul 12, 2007 2:57 PM PDT reply actions

no

This has been stated elsewhere, but the buyout was negotiated before the trade.

The deal was in place (and HAD to have been in place for the Blazers to go along with it) before the trade was executed. Perhaps the Blazers could have legally broken the deal, but the fallout with NBA agents would probably not be worth sticking it to Steve Francis.

by matthewcc on Jul 12, 2007 3:24 PM PDT up reply actions