The Oregonian just keeps churning out stuff about the Blazers every single day. Today is no exception.
Jason Quick gives us an article explaining the ups and downs of the Greg Oden decision. There isn't much in there you haven't heard before but it makes a lot more sense when it's put in one, cohesive retrospective.
The most interesting part of the article to me was when Jason went over all the trade offers KP fielded for the first pick. It showed the complex psychology behind trading, namely that at some point hearing amazing offer after amazing offer actually makes you less likely to deal. It's like having a vintage baseball card. If some guy comes and offers you $1500 cash for it you're going to think pretty hard about that. But if some guy comes up and offers you $1500 then another guy comes and offers you $3000 and then you get $7000 and $10000 and $20000 at some point you're going to say, "I'm not trading this card for nothin'!" The reinforcement of its perceived value actually makes it too valuable to trade.
A side note on that: it seems pretty obvious to me that Oden was the target around the league. You didn't hear much about Seattle's offers and I'm thinking that if they had gotten the same kind of deals they would have pulled the trigger. Most of the league appears to agree we made the right choice.
Then Joe Freeman gives us a look at the free agency situation. The basic message: the Blazers are going to give it the old college try but the chances of getting anyone fans would drool over is basically nil and they may even have trouble keeping both current fan favorites Ime Udoka and Travis Outlaw. It appears this summer may be more about buying out old contracts than signing new ones. Again, not exactly new info but it puts things in perspective nicely.
I love the daily coverage. Hopefully it will extend at least through Summer League. The shorter the trackless desert of July-August becomes the better for all of us.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)