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"From what I have heard from these people, and they could be wrong, but these are coming from some pretty legitimate sources, it is a three-team race for Steve Nash in free agency: Portland, Phoenix and Toronto," Smith explained. SportsNet

Clearly, he might perceive us as a contending situation where he is paid adequately while assuring a starting role.

Why isn't dallas on his list?

He has had continual back problems the last few years. It's a huge risk, and quick fix; IF HE EVEN STAYS healthy. ALso, he is unable to contribute more than 30mpg nowadays, if that.

Personally,
#1 Dragic
#2 Lillard
#3 Sessions
#4 Hill

Nash is such a better idea than overpaying for Dragic.

Steve Nash is one guy that could really get some rookies involved in their first years in the league.. If we did draft Drummond it would be awesome to watch Nash setting him up all game long.. .. Oh and him and Aldridge would run an amazing pick and roll.. lol

I've been cooling a lot on Dragic personally. He has career averages of 8 and 3. He played great for 25 games sure but what about the 5 seasons of medicority prior to that

I'd rather take 3 years of Nash and then try again for another PG than 4-5 years of meh Dragic

Maybe he developed some type of relationship with LA on allstar weekend.

shaolin wrote:He has had continual back problems the last few years. It's a huge risk, and quick fix; IF HE EVEN STAYS healthy. ALso, he is unable to contribute more than 30mpg nowadays, if that.

Last season he played 62 of 66 games averaging nearly 32mpg. And in the last six seasons, he has missed a grand total of 27 games. Aldridge missed nearly half that much just last season.

mojomarc wrote:Nash is such a better idea than overpaying for Dragic.

Meh.. That's a tough call. If Dragic came in and was able to replicate his time in Houston as a starter then he's worth it.. If it's like the rest of his career then he's not.. It's all just speculation..

I do think Dragic could be successful playing with our group at the moment and I like his passing abilities.. His youth makes him my choice of the two but it's been sounding like Dragic might not be an option for long.

Portland could have 18 million in space

at least, that's what it was before the ruling about Hickson's bird rights. Counting his cap-hold gives the Blazers 12 million in space...

...which I'd assume would be mostly eaten up by a Nash salary

seems like a real short-term gain for the cap-space. But it would be fun to watch Nash in a Blazer uni. I'm kind of torn on the notion

one thing that's positive about this: if Toronto is focused on getting Nash, they won't be going after Batum early in the summer

mojomarc wrote:Nash is such a better idea than overpaying for Dragic.

I actually agree with that.

If he really wanted to come here, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

I'm not really a Nash fan, but if I look at it objectively I think he would be a massive bonus to the Blazer franchise. He's respected in the locker room and is a fierce and consistent competitor. Coming from a PG, those two things alone are worth their weight in gold. I can't think of a better option to keep LA and Batum motivated. And yes, if Drummond and say Lillard end up Blazers, both could benefit in a huge way from having a lead playmaker of his caliber.

I just don't think Dragic has the same kind of gravity amongst players in the NBA.

I hope that they do sign Nash. It would be smart to do so. If we were to do that I would offer him a two year deal with a player/team option for the third year. I would also not sign anybody, including our own free agents, to anything more than three year contracts. I would then put it out there that the Blazers were very serious about competing for a championship in the next three seasons. Go all guns blazing for the next three years but have no long term big money contracts on the roster past that date.

When Aldridge's next contract expires you again have big, big money available for free agency. It also happens to be the time Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall become free agents. Reload.

DusterBuster wrote:

mojomarc wrote:Nash is such a better idea than overpaying for Dragic.

I actually agree with that.

If he really wanted to come here, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Nash is a short-term solution, Dragic is a REAL long-term solution. That's why I want Goran 9 times out of 10.

This source forgot a team:
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... For_Knicks

It just makes you unsure who is really telling the truth here.

The best way to build a team is to give long-term contracts to long-term assets and short-term contracts to short-term assets and to build from the top down. IOW, first acquire and commit to star players and then commit to complimentary players second. So, you don't want to give a long-term contract to a player like Batum before you have a crew of star players that can win a championship.

I see no problem with signing Nash as free agent as long as the 1st free agent priority is DWill. If we fail to sign DWill, we still need to build our team. And, we need to avoid the trap of committing our resources for short-term fixes that will fail and limit future options to improve. Steve Nash could be an outstanding short-term solution as long as we limit the duration of our commitment.

The trap is using up future cap space on players that cannot LEAD a team to a championship. There will always be young complimentary players looking for a big contract who are good but not as good as the NBA's elite players. The teams that fall into this trap of impatience will forever flounder in mediocrity.

shaolin wrote:Why isn't dallas on his list?

IIRC he was pretty peeved at their offer before he signed in Phoenix.

Wizenheimer wrote:Portland could have 18 million in space

at least, that's what it was before the ruling about Hickson's bird rights. Counting his cap-hold gives the Blazers 12 million in space...

...which I'd assume would be mostly eaten up by a Nash salary

seems like a real short-term gain for the cap-space. But it would be fun to watch Nash in a Blazer uni. I'm kind of torn on the notion

one thing that's positive about this: if Toronto is focused on getting Nash, they won't be going after Batum early in the summer

So we can get something like
Nash / Nolan
Mathews / Williams
Batum / Claver
Aldridge
Hickson

plus the 2 picks for Drummond and Sullinger-Lamb or whoever?

Count me in. Nash might be aging but last season took a bunch of scrubs + Gortat to a 50% record, a team that without him wouldn't be much better than the Lolcats.

Oden2 wrote:

DusterBuster wrote:

mojomarc wrote:Nash is such a better idea than overpaying for Dragic.

I actually agree with that.

If he really wanted to come here, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Nash is a short-term solution, Dragic is a REAL long-term solution. That's why I want Goran 9 times out of 10.

I love when people capitalize words like "REAL" in these sorts of sentences. We have zero idea if Dragic is a long-term, short-term, or no-term solution because he has only performed at a decent level for about 35 games in his career. He is young, and if he is indeed as good as he showed during the 35 games, then he could be a REAL long-term solution. And even with a career high last year, his PER was still 2 points behind Nash's career average, which Nash pretty much hit last year as well. So what you REALLY have to conclude about Dragic is:

1. He showed some promise over a limited sample last season
2. That sample still doesn't put him among the elite PGs in the league
3. Houston says they absolutely want to keep him
4. Therefore in order to get him you'll have to give him a ridiculously expensive long-term contract with basically a 35 game stretch of a strike-shortened that may or may not pan out, depending on whether his small burst on the scene can be maintained going forward four or five seasons, and finally...
5. Even if he does maintain that pace, he's not going to be an elite PG in the league and thus the best you can likely expect is a solid to good starter at an all star salary.

It's the same situation reversed as we face with Batum. Like Batum, locking him up long-term at the price it will take to convice Houston not to match has incredible downside but not a huge amount of upside.

If we end up retaining Batum, Hickson, drafting Lillard/Drummond, signing Nash and getting Sloan as a coach color me very very excited for next season.

Well Portland is as close to home as possible for him in the NBA since he's from British Columbia so it makes sense. That's why I laugh when Toronto fans reason that he'll pick them over anyone else because he wants to "play at home." That's like me saying Demar Derozan and Ed Davis will leave Toronto for Portland so that they can "play at home."

He would help Lillard and Drummond immensely, he and Lillard could play together too easily. Lillard plays off the ball well, they did some of that with him at Weber St, and can obviously shoot the lights out. If we end up with those two guys or really either of them, I'm all for signing Nash.