It seems like the Blazers have a plan B and it involves a trade of some sort this summer. Quick reported they were already back on the phone lines. However, I would almost like to see us wait until the trade deadline now. That is when and where we will get the best value. Other GM’s are going to see that we are sort of reeling from this Turkoglu let-down. If I were them, I’d play hardball in any deal with the Blazers. Hopefully the Blazer’s braintrust will remain steady and won’t do anything silly and stupid.

for Hedo. Now I’m ready for anything.

I am so mad it is unquantifiable. Hedo was perfect. Portland is debilitated when it comes to signing free agents. The only advantage we have at the moment is to execute a lopsided trade. I hate that people are taking the stance that they didn’t want Hedo in the first place. That is a defeatist attitude. We should be striving to create the best roster possible, Hedo presented that possibility and we should be pissed that we missed that opportunity. apologies for my anger, I have been drinking.
jigga

I could see how he made us better on the offensive end. I could see how he could make us so much better that whatever he lacked defensively (and who will forget that block of Kobe in the finals?) was a net positive. But—unless KP & co. had a trade that would have perfectly fitted Roy, Hedu, Aldridge & Oden (or some other combination)—I didn’t see the Blazers so dominant that a championship was imminent.

It really all depends if 8-9 exceptional atheletes can cohere on both ends of the floor after playing nearly 100 full-tilt games. And I can’t see him fit on this team. Hell, I can’t see Oden fit, and he’s been with us for a year.

Good luck, KP. I hope you guys can figure something out while you have the chance.

I however, work graveyard with internet access so I will stoke the midnight posts for ya!

Just like Dave said, he looked more like a Raptor than a Blazer. Lets move to PG talk!

but I’m glad we Turkodidn’t.

I’d much rather have a hammer-hard defensive PG vet or pick-and-roll expert backup PF than a super-spendy old man SF (that would eat up player-development time from Boom-Boom Batum, our future all-star SF).

Well what a day that was.

I was warming to the idea of Hedo, not his contract but what he could possibly do with the team. I have thought that this is the FA class for overs. Detroit started it with Gordon and Villa and it will only continue.

Now Hedo was plan A (possibly plan B, C and D as pointed out by Ben on twitter), big thing is what KP and Co do about plan B, personally at the moment I hope plan B doesn’t involve free agency as I’m not a huge fan of what is left, maybe Odom but not ideal in my opinion. Hopefully Lee and Marion aren’t plan B, don’t think either will fit that well with the Blazers.

So plan B might be via a trade, things here get a bit risky. Hopefully we get something out of the cap we have, wouldn’t be surprised to see the squad as is at the start of training camp, I would be slightly annoyed but not surprised.

This will be an interesting few months indeed.

them last night. To be frank, signing Turkoglu would’ve been a grave mistake that’d’ve screwed this team up for years. Again, I’m scared that Pritchard and his crew don’t quite fully grasp a certain thing known as roster construction.

I’ve seen that with the lack of a legitimate third-string pivotman for two straight seasons, rosters in 2007-2008 that included four point guards and in 2008-2009 that included five power forwards, et cetera.

Why was the front office intent on signing some declining, high-usage wing player when the team’s franchise cornerstone, Brandon Roy, was already employed in that capacity and just beginning his prime?

Why doesn’t the front office look to address the squad’s main flaw of perimeter defense? With all due respect to Turkoglu, he’s an average, albeit slow-footed defender against bigger wings and physically less imposing forwards; that isn’t a quality needed on this team.

If there was a course available on roster construction, I’d advise every member of the Trail Blazers basketball operations department and coaching staff to attend it.

…inwhich, I myself am probably incapable of doing right now.

One question, do you think it’s legitimate in regards to Hedo as a Blazer fan to feel like we were “played”? I’m not being paranoid, but I do.

I know in hindsight and 20/20 it’s easy to say, I ALWAYS knew…but I swear I didn’t feel good about Hedo becoming a Blazer after listening and watching his interview in PDX. He seemed distant and flat and I noticed that whenever anyone directly pushed him on his desire to be in Portland his answer was non-commital. I can’t say it was anything much more than instinct, but I had the feeling just watching the interview that he wasn’t really very high on being part of The Blazers.

So what has KP always said about ANY player, potential or otherwise? We want Players that want to be here and be part of what is happening here. If that definition doesn’t apply we don’t want them.- Hedo doesn’t want us? We don’t want Hedo.

I just can’t shake the feeling that we were Played by The Player. And in a way, if it’s true, then I also feel that we dodged a bullet, that isn’t a quality in an individual I want on our team. I know we are talking Millions of Dollars, but it’s still a case of someone going back on his word. How can I like that?

This is the summer of KP’s failures. His Midas touch has turned into a Mr. Hankey touch. I how have no faith in him improving the Blazers.

we’d be trying to dump his contract in 2 years anyway. I hate to say it but KP revealed to us that he is capable of doing something really dumb.

Seems like he had his eyes set on HT and nobody else. The other potential signees went ahead and agreed to deals while we were busy going overboard in our courtship of just one player. We did everything short of throwing HT a parade and it seems like the other teams just picked up the phone and said “Hey, you want to play here for X amount of money?” “Great, welcome to ____, we are happy to have you”. Well the music has stopped now and the Blazers are left without a chair. I’m not saying I was big on HT, but I’d rather have something to show than have wasted the most crucial days of the FA period only to have the world pass us by in the mean time.

that Portland isn’t likely to get him. He dominates the ball and that’s not really what Portland needs. I would rather have Artest or Ariza to beef up the perimeter defense. I can’t believe Artest is only getting $18M from the Lakers. Portland should give him a call and offer more though I don’t think it’s about the money.

No one should feel jilted by Turkoglu. He didn’t Boozer a blind man; he went on a job interview and evaluated all the factors, asked for a lot of scratch, didn’t get it and turned it down. He’ll find somewhere to play so he’ll be alright. Let’s be honest, if you were on a job interview and it didn’t feel right, would you still take it if you had other, possibly more lucrative options? Can you blame him? His wife wouldn’t have been happy in P-town and that’s a big factor though I could’ve introduced them to the three Turkish people I know in Hillsboro. Heh.

Maybe part of the problem is that Oregonians have a bit of an inferiority complex. The rest of the country thinks of us as a backwater and most Americans would be hard pressed to find Oregon on a map. “It’s somewhere in CA right?” We wonder if Turkoglu rejected the Blazers for reasons that diminish our town rather than from a business perspective.

Anyhow, I wonder what the heck Toronto is thinking. $54M would be a lot of money to replicate Bargnani’s skillset.

I would be happier if I got the sense that Portland was trying to upgrade its perimeter defense. Maybe another summer of work will make Batum a stopper, but it would be great to get some help from the PG spot.

This may end up being viewed as the day the Blazers’ championship ship hit a free-agency iceberg and sank like the Titanic. Or it may end up being seen as the day when a fifty million pound anchor was cut loose just before it sank the ship.

If that’s a tortured metaphor, my apologies; I’ve been up all night!!

but wants to use our cap space on a free agent first. Given Martell’s uncertain future and Outlaw’s pending exit, I think Plan A (Turk) and Plan B (???) is to get a SF free agent that can start and then Nic/Martell comes off the bench. Perhaps Odom is Plan B (he can play SF and also backup LMA – another need) but I don’t know how we persuade him to come to Portland, although he has often been at odds with Jackson which might help. Getting Odom would also weaken LA, which would be an added benefit. Odom’s an unrestricted free agent, but what are LA’s options to hang on to him?

And to me this offseason will a success.

Honeslty though we’ve got to remember that our own guys are likely to be improve. Oden, Roy, Aldridge, Rudy, Bayless and Batum are all expected to come in improved. If we get back last season’s Przybilla we’re pretty well off as is.

That said it’s a waste to not do anything. This is our only opportunity for the coming years to get something without giving much up.

Toronto’s offer is only 3 million more. Anything to please the Mrs I guess.