I returned home from a trip to the beach late last night to see that Turkoglu had changed his mind and ended up signing with Toronto.  I'd initially been extremely anti-Turkoglu, but I had started to come around to the idea as he would take pressure off Roy and help Oden get more involved.  Now that he's unavailable, what other options are out there and which ones are realistic with our cap space?

I've been a little confused to see all the stories about the Blazers going after David Lee.  Maybe I'm missing something here, but signing someone like Lee to a large contract just to play backup doesn't make much sense to me.  I feel like we still need to address the PG problem, too, and it seems like that's not a high priority for the Blazers right now.  I think Bayless will eventually be the answer, but not this next year.  Therefore, here are my cap space ideas.  Feel free to disagree or tell me they're not possible, but I want to throw them out there and hear opinions.

1. Sign Ramon Sessions.  I think out of every possible PG option, Ramon Sessions is the best option as far as skill vs. cost go.  Sure, I'd love to see Rondo or Harris, but I don't want to totally disrupt our team in the process.  Hinrich is also a nice option and I thought he would have been perfect with the signing of Turkoglu, but now that that option has passed, I think we need more of a playmaker.  Hinrich is a great defender and is a decent spot up shooter, but he's not going to create as much as a player like Sessions will.  We need someone who can take their defender off the dribble to take some pressure off of Roy.  Sessions can do that and his ceiling is extremely high. 

However, the Bucks are looking like they'll want to retain him.  This doesn't mean that the Blazers won't be able to steal him away, but it means it will be more difficult.  How much should the Blazers offer for Sessions so that the Bucks won't match it, but so that we still have extra space to sign a back up PF (reminder: the Gilbert Arenas rule is in affect here for Sessions)?  This brings me to my next suggestion.

2.  Sign Brandon Bass.  Bass seems to be a fan favorite here on Blazer's Edge and I think he could be a great fit.  He is a much more realistic option than Lee or Millsap, too, as he is cheaper and probably wouldn't demand as many minutes.  However, many teams are interested in him and will we have enough cap space left over after signing a player like Sessions? 

3.  The above two options would solve our biggest needs.  At this point, though, I'd want to do a trade of Blake, Outlaw, and maybe one of our recent draft picks for a starting SF.  Here's where I'll leave it up to suggestions.  I'd love to have a Gerald Wallace, Shane Battier, or Caron Butler, but I think those 3 are a little unreachable.  Any other suggestions for someone that could start for us for the next year while Batum gets a little more experience?  What about Grant Hill? 

In summary, we'd be signing Sessions and Bass while trading Blake and Outlaw for Hill (lopsided trade to clear up cap space).  The 2010 lineup would look like this:

Sessions/Bayless/Mills

Roy/Fernandez

Hill/Batum/Webster

Aldridge/Bass/Pendergraph

Oden/Pryzbilla