If James Jones opts out...

[SabasRevenge!]

Do we attempt to re-sign him or let him walk? He has surpassed my expectations this year on both ends of the floor and there is no doubt he's a very valuable player on this team, but...

Projections from the Travis untouchable? thread that seem pretty reasonable have Greg and Pryz sharing minutes at 5, Lamarcus with 35 at 4 with Channing backing him up. Assuming Martell is still our starting 3 and TO still gets big minutes off the bench, where does Jones fit? Of course, this is all assuming we have a healthy frontcourt next year.

[PDXKnight]

This is an issue that will need to be addressed. I wouldn't mind keeping him here and trading Martell and/ or Jack in a package for a point guard that fits our needs but even in that scenario, there's still the issue of finding playing time for Rudy, Roy, Outlaw, and Jones at the 2 and 3 spots. I like what I've seen from Jones and see him fitting very well with this team if KP elects to re-sign him.

[Spykes]

Cap space plan be damned, we have to keep James Jones. Teams that are consistently competitive need players like him.

More and more, it's becoming clear that a serious FA splash in 09 just won't happen. That's not saying we won't make a big move, especially with Raef's soon-to-be-expiring deal, but freeing up enough cap to offer a max contract? It's not happening.

[hkphooey]

From where I sit, James Jones is one of our top 5 most important pieces. I don't think it's pure coincidence that our winning ways coincided with James being healthy. So, I hope we do whatever we can to keep him.

[ss1986v2]

so, if a team drops a full MLE deal at jones' feet, do yall still feel the same way about him? are yall willing to pay more than 6 mil per for his services?

[DaVoiceMaster]

Why change a thing? Keep the team, add Oden and Fernandez next year and roll through the next 10 years with this team. From where I'm sitting, Jones is very important.

[Napoleon7]

I think Jones should be part of our future.

My thinking on the matter with Oden and Rudy on board next year is.
>Jack is gone in a trade.
>Then 1 of number of others could go depending on the value we can get for the package put together. Others being one of Prz, Frye, Outlaw, Jones, Webster, Blake.

Value wise and in my opinion rotation wise an Outlaw, Jack, #1 Draft pick might give us the best return.

[Yadadimean]

Nobody had an answer for this question last time I asked it. If he opts to stay with the team, would we have his bird rights? If so, I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to resign him AFTER we make our big free agent push. We would be able to offer him more than any other team, and he would be playing for a good team that just got even better (after the FA signing).

[UGotThrilled]

Why change a thing? Keep the team, add Oden and Fernandez next year and roll through the next 10 years with this team. From where I'm sitting, Jones is very important.

+1
I think that the cap space plan may have more to do with keeping all of the players we already have and making a push with them.

[Charcoal Filtered]

Nobody had an answer for this question last time I asked it. If he opts to stay with the team, would we have his bird rights? If so, I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to resign him AFTER we make our big free agent push. We would be able to offer him more than any other team, and he would be playing for a good team that just got even better (after the FA signing).

Yes, the Blazers would have his Bird rights.

However, it would be hard to imagine JJ passing up signing a long term deal with a handshake to be taken care of after next season. He plays one of the two positions that are a target.

[Wizenheimer]

Nobody had an answer for this question last time I asked it. If he opts to stay with the team, would we have his bird rights? If so, I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to resign him AFTER we make our big free agent push. We would be able to offer him more than any other team, and he would be playing for a good team that just got even better (after the FA signing).

As CF said, Portland has full bird rights to Jones...they came as part of the trade.

However, Portland won't be able to time or sequence his re-signing in 2009 to allow them to utilize more cap-space. It's that pesky CBA again. In that 2009 off-season Jones would be portland's free agent. His last salary would be 3.15 million, which will be less then the NBA average salary. That would mean his cap-hold would be 200% of his last salary, or about 6.3 million dollars. If Jones wants 4-5 million/yr at the end of this season, portland would be better off giving it to him...at least as far as 2009 cap-space is concerned.

Right now, Portland's rotations are working really well. Playing time problems arise when projecting the addition of Oden and Fernandez into the regular rotations. Joel is only playing 21 minutes, so assuming Oden plays 30 minutes, actually has a ripple effect on the plaing time all the way out to the PG position.

I think Jack will be traded, so that will help as far as distributing minutes in the backcourt (although it may be premature to trade him before it's certain that Rudy is the real deal)...unless it becomes apparent that Martell is developing the handles to play some at SG. And I don't know that's the case.

But the squeeze at SF and backup PF is the issue. I don't see how portland can let Jones get away. He's just been to integral to portland's success. And I think his ability to stretch defenses will be essential when Oden 'arrives' and is down on the block.

If that's the case, then it will be deciding who the odd man out is among the three of outlaw, webster, and frye. Assuming that webster and Jones can man the SF position and man it well is starting to look like a safe assumption. But if LMA is getting over 30 minutes a game at PF because Oden and Pryzbilla dominate the C minutes, it seems that the backup PF may have to be content and effective with 15-18 minutes a game. Can Outlaw do that or would Frye be better?

Maybe the choice will come down to which player has the highest trade value, and that may very well be Outlaw.

[kumquat]

Who knows, he might be another Udoka fill in, trying to search for that elusive guy. Jones will probably have the same fate if he did what udoka did. Going to be crowded if Rudy is the real deal

[BlackMamba]

how many things can change in a couple of months!

i think he has been proving how much he is worth for the blazers, but so are other players!!! but i think i agree with the idea of maybe having him istead of jack and martell.

[ph1sh55]

makes more sense to keep jones and Frye may be the odd man out. Outlaw would be paired with Pryz in that white unit..and pryz would eliminate any weakness of outlaw being an undersized 4.

[Yangsing]

Why change a thing? Keep the team, add Oden and Fernandez next year and roll through the next 10 years with this team. From where I'm sitting, Jones is very important.

If you add Oden, Frenandez and a draft pick for next year then there is simply not enough roster spots. Somebody has to go.

PG:
Blake
Sergio

SG:
Roy
Jack
Fernandez

SF:
Webster
Outlaw
Jones

PF:
Aldridge
Frye

C:
Oden
Pryzbilla
Lafrentz

That's 13 guys right there and not even including the draft pick, McRoberts, and Miles. You look at that list, and imo Jack is the odd man out.

[Mr Odd]

We resign him!! The 3xP (Paul, Pritchard & Penn)
can most likely resign Jones & pull some kind of
trade where we wont get to hurt for the '09 plan.

[Yadadimean]

Nobody had an answer for this question last time I asked it. If he opts to stay with the team, would we have his bird rights? If so, I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard to resign him AFTER we make our big free agent push. We would be able to offer him more than any other team, and he would be playing for a good team that just got even better (after the FA signing).

As CF said, Portland has full bird rights to Jones...they came as part of the trade.

However, Portland won't be able to time or sequence his re-signing in 2009 to allow them to utilize more cap-space. It's that pesky CBA again. In that 2009 off-season Jones would be portland's free agent. His last salary would be 3.15 million, which will be less then the NBA average salary. That would mean his cap-hold would be 200% of his last salary, or about 6.3 million dollars. If Jones wants 4-5 million/yr at the end of this season, portland would be better off giving it to him...at least as far as 2009 cap-space is concerned.

Right now, Portland's rotations are working really well. Playing time problems arise when projecting the addition of Oden and Fernandez into the regular rotations. Joel is only playing 21 minutes, so assuming Oden plays 30 minutes, actually has a ripple effect on the plaing time all the way out to the PG position.

I think Jack will be traded, so that will help as far as distributing minutes in the backcourt (although it may be premature to trade him before it's certain that Rudy is the real deal)...unless it becomes apparent that Martell is developing the handles to play some at SG. And I don't know that's the case.

But the squeeze at SF and backup PF is the issue. I don't see how portland can let Jones get away. He's just been to integral to portland's success. And I think his ability to stretch defenses will be essential when Oden 'arrives' and is down on the block.

If that's the case, then it will be deciding who the odd man out is among the three of outlaw, webster, and frye. Assuming that webster and Jones can man the SF position and man it well is starting to look like a safe assumption. But if LMA is getting over 30 minutes a game at PF because Oden and Pryzbilla dominate the C minutes, it seems that the backup PF may have to be content and effective with 15-18 minutes a game. Can Outlaw do that or would Frye be better?

Maybe the choice will come down to which player has the highest trade value, and that may very well be Outlaw.

Would it work if he opted out but then signed a one year deal, then after our FA push, resign him to the MLE? Highly unlikely I know, but theoretically, would that work?

[Wizenheimer]

-= original quote snipped =-



Would it work if he opted out but then signed a one year deal, then after our FA push, resign him to the MLE? Highly unlikely I know, but theoretically, would that work?

theoretically?...I don't think so. If he opted out and signed a 1 year contract for 5 million, then in 2009, he'd still be portland's free agent. And as the 5 million would be less then the average salary, the cap-hold would be 200% of 5 million, or 10 million...end of cap-space.

It's hard to believe that Jones would opt out of 3 million and sign for 1 million. And if Portland and jones had a wink-and-nod agreement for later years, then I suspect the NBA would take a long look at it. They have provisions in the CBA that teams can't 'circumvent' the intent of the CBA, which means the League Office could void the contract if they deemed it shady and I'd bet they would in that case.

[ss1986v2]

It's hard to believe that Jones would opt out of 3 million and sign for 1 million. And if Portland and jones had a wink-and-nod agreement for later years, then I suspect the NBA would take a long look at it. They have provisions in the CBA that teams can't 'circumvent' the intent of the CBA, which means the League Office could void the contract if they deemed it shady and I'd bet they would in that case.

besides the obvious league punishment that would come from that kind of deal, there is no way i can see jones, or any player, going for that kind of thing. no player is going to leave potential money on the table in a situation like that. what if jones stinks like an old shoe that next year? would portland (or any other team) still pay him a full MLE type deal? of course not. or what if he gets injured?

jones can only lose by being part of a situation like this (potentially tens of millions of dollars). or a better way of saying it would be that there is zero benefit for jones to do it.

[BigOrangeBalls]

Why change a thing? Keep the team, add Oden and Fernandez next year and roll through the next 10 years with this team. From where I'm sitting, Jones is very important.

Yes!

I doubt Pritchard is sitting in his office thinking, "Crap, we've just won 16 of 17. I need to trade someone! We are too deep!".