FanPost

Free Agent DeAndre Jordan: The Next Blazer Center?

Would DeAndre Jordan be a great fit at the back-up center position and to start when whoever is starting (Oden, Camby) goes down with an injury at times?

After playing sparingly as a rookie and just a bit more in 2010, DeAndre Jordan has become one of the most intriguing young centers in the league, coming in as 12th in the NBA in blocked shots. While being a bit raw offensively, Deandre Jordan is a beast when it comes to blocks (1.8) & field-goal percentage (68%); good with rebounds per game (7.2) and points per game (7.0); and decent with steals and assists (both 0.5), turnovers (1.3) and fouls (3.2), while being horrific at free throws (45%), all the while averaging 25 minutes in every game (!) this season. He's on the verge of being a double-double machine.

DeAndre Jordan will be a restricted free agent this summer. 2011 Salary: $854,389. Taking the new CBA and probable lockout out of the equation, one prominent NBA agent pegged Jordan's value on the open market to be "around $9 million to $11 million dollars per season" and predicted he'd sign a contract "similar to the five-year, $60 million extension that Bulls center Joakim Noah signed in 2010 or even the four-year, $58 million extension Lakers center Andrew Bynum signed in 2009" (RealGM). Probably a bit less in my own opinion, closer to a 4-year $36 million contract, or a 5-year $45 million contract with a team option for the last year, roughly $9 mil a year for however long he gets.

Via ESPN: "He graduated from high school the second year after the NBA's new age-limit rule went into effect, precluding him from entering the 2007 draft, where he potentially would have been a lottery pick. He signed with Texas A&M just a few months before Billy Gillispie bolted to coach at Kentucky, and then clearly didn't fit in with new coach Mark Turgeon. He entered the 2008 NBA draft in one of the deepest, most talented draft classes ever, helping fuel his fall into the second round."

Is there another center more talented than DeAndre we can go for, whether in the draft or in free-agency?

This all takes into account Greg Oden being the future starter on the Blazers, whether by the start of next season or by next year's playoffs. However, we need a polished center to give us 30 or more minutes (not the 18 Camby is giving us) per game, either starting or playing key minutes behind Oden.