Center position?

by KURTIS W on Nov 6, 2010 6:51 PM PDT

I was under the impression that the Blazers still have the rights to Victor Claver and Joel Freeland. Wouldn't one of those guys have been a better addition than Sean Marks. For one we could get the chance to see what either of those players is made of. Second if one of them is good than we have solidified a big man role for the future. The way that I think about it is we drafted them, they've been waiting over in Europe for years, it wouldn't hurt to give them a shot. It might even help us out, who knows. I know that Joel and Greg are going to be back but come on one of those two guys could be a part of the future for our team. Tell me what you think.

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Both of them are under contract currently

with their European teams. They can’t come over and play unless they paid the buyout (mostly on them, owners are only allowed to pay 500,000 of it, ask Rudy about that part) assuming they even have one in their contracts.

by BlazerTom on Nov 6, 2010 6:59 PM PDT reply actions

Claver is a sf, Freeland is a pf

I think the Freeland contract was negotiated with help of the blazers so the buyout probably isn’t bad, but I think his euro season and the nba season overlap so he won’t be coming over

by TP.5 on Nov 6, 2010 7:15 PM PDT reply actions

Freeland is as much a Center as Marks and half of the other guys they were looking at.

You are right about his contract though. Pryz will be back soon and Hopefully Oden by Dec 9th.

by Kaanyr Vhok on Nov 6, 2010 8:29 PM PDT reply actions

I don't think Claver will ever make it to the NBA.

I’m very interested in how Freeland would pan out though. Also, I’d love to see us at least give Koponen a chance, or we could trade his rights to Toronto, they’re all about being international aren’t they?

by gtbassett on Nov 6, 2010 10:42 PM PDT reply actions

I dont understand

Why do we draft these guys then if we know we are not gonna play them or try to develop them?

WITH ODEN ON OUR SIDE

by bowdown on Nov 6, 2010 11:57 PM PDT up reply actions

agreed.

international picks = a waste

Elitism - It's lonely at the top. But it's comforting to look down upon everyone at the bottom.

by thankyouforblaze on Nov 7, 2010 4:56 AM PDT up reply actions

No Rudy or Batum then.

seanmarksposse

by MadBlaze on Nov 7, 2010 5:16 AM PDT up reply actions

...or Petrovic

Sabas, or Ha Seung Jin, or Richard Anderson…

Treat people well because Karma can hit you at any second.

by Net Ranger on Nov 7, 2010 7:54 AM PDT up reply actions

Awww that's gross

You can’t put Ha Seung Jin in the same sentance as Sabas and Petrovic.

"AND THE GAME IS OVER! THE GAME IS OVER!! THE PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS HAVE WON THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!" Bill Schonely, game 6 of the NBA Finals, 1977 and 2011

by dirtboydave on Nov 7, 2010 9:52 AM PST up reply actions

Teams have one reason to draft untested Europeans with late first round picks

First round picks get guaranteed contracts for several years. If a team doesn’t feel any available players are worth the monetary investment and roster inflexibility, they can draft a foreign player that is unlikely to come over. That way they don’t spend any money on an uncertainty, and in the best case scenario the foreign player does become good enough to play NBA ball.

dinasour type of guys choir boys

by mittsabishy on Nov 7, 2010 9:35 AM PST up reply actions

this ^

at worst they’re punting the draft choice. The problem I have with Portland doing it in the past is they’ve never been shy about spending extra cash re: moving up for higher draft choices

But I guess I agree with the premise that you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs to find one Batum

When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!

by two4larue on Nov 7, 2010 6:28 PM PST up reply actions

Alright, so how does it work, exactly?

I mean, are we guaranteed to get these players when their current euro contracts run out, or what?

by NCBlazerfan on Nov 7, 2010 8:12 AM PDT reply actions

If the players come to the NBA

We hold their rights. They never have to come here though.

by gtbassett on Nov 7, 2010 4:02 PM PST up reply actions

The Blazers will fill in the gaps with scrubs until Joel and Greg come back.

I'm astounded by people who want to "know" the universe when it"s hard enough to find your way around Chinatown."

Woody Allen

by prajna on Nov 7, 2010 8:21 AM PDT reply actions

Think of it like players assigned to the D-League.

If we assign (say) Babbitt to the D-League, then, even though he’s playing for Idaho, we own his rights. Suppose another NBA team wanted to call him up – well, too bad, they can’t, even if we don’t want him, because we own his rights.

There are two points at which this analogy fails:
1. we’d be paying Babbitt. Unicaja is paying Freeland, Valencia is paying Claver.
2. we could recall Babbitt any time we wanted. We can’t do that with Claver/Freeland: they belong to their Spanish clubs until their contracts run out or those clubs agree to a buyout.

In theory, the clubs could agree to buyouts RIGHT NOW (after all, the Thunder acquired Krstic in the middle of his club’s season) but that is only likely to happen if the clubs go bankrupt.

by meru on Nov 7, 2010 9:13 AM PST reply actions