Anderson Varejao
by tcwoods on Jun 1, 2009 5:49 PM PDT
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PrintThis is my first post, so bear with me.
Word is that Anderson Varejao will be opting out of the final year of his contract, making him a free agent. My thought is that he would make an excellent backup PF for our team. I also think that he fits the culture that KP has been building here in Portland. Do you think it realistic that Varejao might be willing to sign with Portland? If so would how big of a contract would we have to give him? My take on it would be that we give Roy and Aldridge extensions first and then go after Varejao. I think that there's a small chance that he'd sign with Portland. The main concern he'd have is playing time and the fact that he'd be coming off of the bench. He's good enough where he'd be a starter on some teams. Let me know what you think.
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he wants 10 million a year
go down a little where it talks about anderson.
plus, he flops too much
bayless leaves over my dead body
sign mike bibby
I'm not sold.
First off, I agree that we shouldn’t pay him 10 million.
He’s a high-energy guy, grabs rebounds, but I think he got exposed in the playoffs as a slow, sub-par defender. Can’t shoot or create his own shot, scores all of his buckets garbage-style.
Plus, if you remember, he fell out of the rotation in Cleveland for part of the year, and only worked his way back in when Ben Wallace got hurt, Big Z got old, and Joe Smith had this happen to him.
The inbound to McGinnis, drives, stops, pumps, shoots, short, no good...AND THE GAME IS OVER! ~ Bill Schonely
by SandbergOnSports on Jun 1, 2009 6:14 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Varejao is a borderline all-defense caliber player
Orlando is the worst possible matchup for him since he’s a 4 and is going to have trouble with a legit 5 like Dwight and a 3/4 hybrid like Lewis. I think calling him a sub-par defender misses the mark by about as much as you possibly can. He’s the 2nd best defender (after LeBron) on the best defensive team in basketball.
I like Varejo, but for 10M I'd much rather have David Lee
But I do agree that Varajao has good skills and good size to become an all-defense caliber player, but I’d like the rebounding and scoring that comes from David Lee much better.
by Portland Dynasty on Jun 1, 2009 8:58 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah, Anderson Varejao isn't physically strong enough to adequately defend Dwight Howard.
On the whole, though, Varejao is a nice man-to-man defender against fellow power forwards — albeit not true centers, which is why Kendrick Perkins did a much better job than him against Howard — yet, he’s neither a banger on offense nor a proficient offensive rebounder, so he’s thereby not on my radar as a reasonable option at the Portland Trail Blazers backup power forward spot.
I don't know how much you can blame him for not rebounding at an elite rate
He plays next to Z, Big Ben and LeBron, 3 very good rebounders. The team as a whole is almost exactly the same rebounding the ball with him on or off the court. Although I do agree. If Joel is your backup center, Anderson can’t be your backup power forward. One of those two players has to be able to do something offensively.
Money
I think he gets around 5-6 million and wants more, that doesn’t fit our bill…. Wouldn’t mind having him though (with a hair cut).
Brandon Roy, 'nuff said.
Best draft of all time: "1942, right after Pearl Harbor….everyone got drafted" --- 92wastheyear
Love Varejao's energy, rebounding and defense
Given the Blazer roster, I highly doubt the Blazers will be able to make a competitive starter— someone will offer him starter minutes and starter money. The Blazers won’t be able to do so.
Welcome to BlazersEdge
I would like the Blazers to get a player “like” Varejao, but I think he values himself too much for the Blazers. By that I mean he wants too much money for what he brings, he is opting out of around $7million right? That is about at the top of what i would want to a backup PF.
Good post, good idea, keep it up.
I like him
While watching the Cav-Magic series, I really liked him. He is a good defense of guy. And there is absolutely no way he gets 10 mil a season. I would be surprised if he gets 6 mil a year.
by rip city coming alive on Jun 1, 2009 6:48 PM PDT reply actions
I would flip my lid if the Blazers picked him up.
He doesn’t provide much offense, which would be something we need in the second unit if Travis gets traded. I’m no fan of his flopping/whining either.
Certified blazer.fangirl
It's a skill we don't have yet, except if you ask Rockets fans who think Joel is a flopper (while closing both eyes at Scola)
I liked Varejao’s defense in many games this year, and his ability to play 2 positions. If he could be had for the MLE, I would be all ears.
And he already wanted $10 million x 5 years last time two years ago and nobody made him a competitive offer (I think the Bobcats ultimately made a much lower one that the Cavs matched). But indeed I doubt we will get him for what we want to pay and what minutes we will have available.
Good points as always, Norskie.
I can totally live without the Blazers having that skill though.
I have realized quite a few opposing fans think Joel is a flopper and just pretty much hate him. It’s pretty hypocritical of me to say this but…I love it. I love that opposing fans despise him and I will now enjoy it even more when he draws an offensive foul.
Certified blazer.fangirl
I don't think anyone will ever pay him what he wants
I mean, 10 million bucks a year?! That would be overpaying for Ben Wallace in his prime, and Varejao is not Ben Wallace in his prime. He is a very good role player who hustles and plays hard defense and plays within himself.
The MLE should be perfect for him and I don’t see anyone giving him any more than that— around 7 million bucks, or less.
He would be awesome as a backup who can guard both big man positions (match-up depending). He is the sort of player we want coming off the bench. He might want to be a starter and play big minutes, so perhaps he doesn’t wanna come to a team where that won’t happen, but his sort of player is what WE want.
And lucky for us, hustling hard defending and rebounding solid backup PF is almost the easiest position to fill. He’d be a perfect one, but there is a perfect one (or two, or three) every draft.
Mortimer
Isn't the optimal player we want next to Joel (assuming he is the future backup) an inside SCORER
Rebounding and defense are important to have from a backup 4/5 of course, but what Joel doesn’t provide is putting points on the opposition in bunches, and his true strength is defensive rebounding. Otherwise I made pretty much the same points like you above regarding Varejao.
With a guy like Rudy
And, right now, guys like Webster and Outlaw, I dunno how much inside play we’re gonna have in the 2nd unit. Now, you won’t run any offense for Andy or call plays for him, but he can hit an open mid-range shot and has a decent touch around the basket. Better than Joel, for instance.
It’d be part of a hustling, more loosey goosey 2nd unit, I guess.
I don’t think we need a guy who can score in the post in the 2nd unit, just two guys who can rebound and play good defense as the bigs. Let the perimeter bench guys run the show and see what happens. We should have more than enough post scoring in the starting lineup, after all.
And guys who play defense AND can score in the post are starters and allstars or guys like Joe Smith who are on their last legs (and not really true post scorers and defenders anyway), so I dunno who we’d get who could do both and backup LMA. Since we need defense and rebounding and NOT scoring from our backup bigs the most, I’ll be fine with “settling” for a role player of the Varejao variety.
Until recently, Joel was totally useless unless he was dunking it. Varejao can at least throw it in when the ball is dished to him close to the basket. As long as a backup PF can do that and not be totally clueless close to the hoop, I’ll be more than happy to have rebounds, defense, and no complaining about playing 15 minutes.
Mortimer
A second rebounder would be highly important, getting a bit more scoring inside in the second unit would be nice though
Nick Collison could do the trick (not a free agent). Antonio McDyess.
Charlie Villanueva is probably too much like a better Channing and thus not interested to be a backup.
Freeland fits that desription
We already have him,if he pans out he would be dirt cheap for years and the fact that he box’s out well is worth a couple boards a game that dont show up in his stats.
by southern oregon on Jun 2, 2009 12:24 PM PDT up reply actions
I love Nick Collison...
his strength and rebounding is underrated and his offense is good. I think Collison is very well rounded role-player who would be an excellent 2nd unit player or fill in if LMA has any injuries.
by Portland Dynasty on Jun 2, 2009 9:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Channing Frye has a future still in the NBA...
There are plenty of players who at 25 are decent or who can’t really get solid rotation time, but with a team change and consistent minutes I can see how consistency to Channing’s game would make him a good and exciting pro. I do believe CHanning will be a great part of some teams rotation. Especially when you see the players with similar skill sets (Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Robert Horry) who are so proficient at creating mismatches with thier combination of size and outside shooting.
by Portland Dynasty on Jun 2, 2009 9:12 PM PDT up reply actions
Sideshow Bob would be great (at the right price)...
but who would be our Krusty the Clown?
MLB2PDX!!! (someday...)
by The Cactus Leaguer on Jun 1, 2009 8:59 PM PDT reply actions
Mike Rice.
"A bizarre and extremely rare hybrid Blazer/Laker fan, Timbo has always struggled to contain the Beast Within, like Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, or Ted Kennedy." — Miled Animal
I can't stand watching him play
everything he does on the court annoys me. I hope he never plays in a Portland uniform. He’s a good back-up but we I think we can sign someone cheaper.
OHHHHH Brandon! Do it, do it, do it til your satisfied!!!!!! - Wheels
"We ran the football. We could run it all day long, and again that's what we do." -Mike Bellotti, 65 - 38
Turkeyglue is going to be in the 10 million range
Varejao is worth a lot less cause he is not near as good
by southern oregon on Jun 1, 2009 10:58 PM PDT reply actions
Varejao isn't gonna be opting out as a Cleveland starter to become a Porland backup...
"A bizarre and extremely rare hybrid Blazer/Laker fan, Timbo has always struggled to contain the Beast Within, like Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, or Ted Kennedy." — Miled Animal
Aren't Przbilla and Varejao kinda the same guy except Prz is bigger?
Besides, who’s gonna score if we keep adding all these offensive stiffs? Brandon reliably, LMA sometimes, Travis like once every third or fourth game and……???????
Blazer Fan
Andy's advantage over Joel (perhaps his only one)
Is that he has better hands to catch passes and finish shots. That would do well with Rudy.
I really don’t think we will want for scoring in the near future. We got a lot of offensive firepower whose surface is just barely being scratched.
Oden, LMA, Roy, Rudy, Batum, Webster/Outlaw, whoever our PG is, all will be able to score rather easily in the long run. Our extremely efficient and good offense, while still being an extremely young and inexperienced team, leads me to think our offense is not something we need to worry about. It’ll only get better as our young dudes develop.
Our defense, on the other hand, is something we need to look at and I’m fine with getting guys who are really good defenders at the cost of their offense (as long as they aren’t TOTALLY useless on offense).
Andy might not be the right guy for a variety of reasons, but his TYPE would work well.
Mortimer
I agree we need a hustle/garbage/banger type but in a perfect world he'd have some offensive skills too
And I’m not convinced that upgrading our defense is a bigger priority than the offense. Point taken about if Webster, LMA, Oden, Rudy, etc improve their weaknesses they will become more reliable scorers (sorry Travis, you’re dead to me) but I think you’re making assumptions based on projected improvement that may or may not happen.
I also think there’s quite a bit to the gripes that the Blazers offense was horrible sucky and inefficient this season, especially once everyone caught on to what these young guys can and can’t do.
Blazer Fan
by leeroyjenkins on Jun 2, 2009 11:07 AM PDT up reply actions
In other words, maybe I'm placing too much of the blame on the players for not being used correctly
For example, LMA should be cutting down the middle constantly with his long arms, great hands, and quick feet. Instead we’re throwing him the ball down low against a guy twice as big as he is and expecting him NOT to fade and shoot a jumper.
Those kinds of things.
Blazer Fan
by leeroyjenkins on Jun 2, 2009 11:08 AM PDT up reply actions
Varejao's best role
is to kill Cleveland’s ability to put solid players around Lebron. I hope he resigns for $10 million+ with Cleveland.
Eww
I do not like Varejao at all, or anyone who makes a living off of flopping as much as he does.
"Sasha? That's a sissy name." -Mike Rice
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